Book Review: Queen of Kings

Queen of Kings by Maria Dahvana Headley

Set in the mystical ancient Egypt of the Pharaohs, the novel tells the story, with a supernatural twist of queen Cleopatra. One of the most iconic queens in history has had many portrayals in films, comic books, plays and cartoons.

 In this novel the queen has lost the war with Octavius, her lover Mark Antony is dying, distraught and desperate to stop the conquest of Octavius, she looks for divine intervention, any magical help however dark it might be. She is given by her servants a spell that allows her to call upon the gods. She performs the spell and calls upon the fierce lion-headed goddess Sekhmet. The angry goddess takes over the body of Cleopatra in return for bringing back Mark  Antony to life. Things go terribly wrong as Mark Antony revives only to die moments later and Cleopatra becomes a servant to the blood thirsty goddess. Now a powerful immortal creature, she must feed on blood and seeks to destroy Octavius. She struggles to maintain her humanity as the goddess possessing her begins to slowly take over.

The first question on my mind and probably other fans' minds was 'Is this one of those bad monster novels like Pride and Prejudice and zombies or Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter?' Fortunately it is not like those cheezy novels, it is way better.

Headley wrote an exciting and frightening novel with a character that every reader sympathizes with. All of us Interview with the vampire fans would understand. Cleopatra committed a desperate act and finds herself in a terrible and horrifying situation.

What is great about this novel is the connection between Ancient Egypt mythology and vampirism which are themes that are fascinating and that I love. In The Hunger it is mentioned that Miriam is from Egypt and in Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice the source of vampirism begins in Egypt with the queen Akasha. The themes go well together. Some people might say that it feels like a rip off of Anne Rice's novel but it's not.

The novel cleverly mixes together historical details with parts of the vampire mythos. Cleopatra is not technically a vampire but still possesses the abilities and weaknesses of a vampire that most readers are used to. For example, she is craves human blood, cannot stand sunlight and is burned by silver.

The novel later takes another great turn into fantasy as Octavius, fearing Cleopatra's wrath surrounds himself with sorcerers. There seems to not be a great level of violence in the novel, there is violence but it is watered down. It seems that Headley does not want Cleopatra to be seen as a villain or monster.

Overall the novel proves to be an exciting page turner with well described elements of vampirism and Ancient Egypt mythology.