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    Queen of Kings: A Novel of Cleopatra, the Vampire
    Queen of Kings: A Novel of Cleopatra, the Vampire
    Queen of Kings: A Novel of Cleopatra, the Vampire
    Audiobook13 hours

    Queen of Kings: A Novel of Cleopatra, the Vampire

    Written by Maria Dahvana Headley

    Narrated by Katherine Kellgren

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Maria Dahvana Headley blends history, romance, and the supernatural for a fantastic tale set in ancient Egypt. Upon hearing news of her husband Antony's death, Cleopatra is distraught. In an effort to resurrect him, she summons the fearsome warrior goddess Sekhmet. Striking a deal with the deity, Cleopatra pays a terrible price in the bargain and is transformed into a terrifying vampire-like creature whose lust for blood is only matched by her desire to exact vengeance upon those who have wronged her. "It's rare that a first novel is so magical, so dark, so well-researched, so smart or so compelling."-Neil Gaiman
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateOct 14, 2011
    ISBN9781461849506
    Queen of Kings: A Novel of Cleopatra, the Vampire
    Author

    Maria Dahvana Headley

    Maria Dahvana Headley is a #1 New York Times-bestselling author and editor. Her novels include Magonia, Aerie, and Queen of Kings, and she has also written a memoir, The Year of Yes. With Kat Howard, she is the author of The End of the Sentence, and with Neil Gaiman, she is co-editor of Unnatural Creatures. Her short stories have been shortlisted for the Shirley Jackson, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards, and her work has been supported by the MacDowell Colony and by Arte Studio Ginestrelle, where the first draft of The Mere Wife was written. She was raised with a wolf and a pack of sled dogs in the high desert of rural Idaho, and now lives in Brooklyn.

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    Reviews for Queen of Kings

    3.5/5

    39 ratings4 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I love me some alt-history. I love me some Egyptian-Greco-Roman alt-history especially, so when I kept getting this listed as a recommendation, I took it.

      A good chunk of this book was three star for me. It seemed a wee bit on the cheesy side (Cleopatra does a blood oath with Sekhmet and becomes a vampire? really?), but I did get into it. I see why Neil Gaiman gave it his stamp of approval (the reason why this book actually made it from a recommendation to an actual book on my to-read list). It is fantastic pop-corn.

      So many of my favorite parts of the book were good surprises, so I’ll just keep it general. After Actium, when Octavian has taken the war to Egypt, Cleopatra gives her soul to Sekhmet, Egyptian goddess of destruction. After that, she’s immortal, but must feed on life for Sekhmet’s power. She goes to Rome to take care of business with Octavian/Augustus who has her children as well, and he is rightfully afraid. He surrounds himself with witches/priests/magicians (much to Agrippa’s awesome disgust) and they try to find a way to defeat her.

      Everyone has their own motivation, which may or may not actually align with Octavian’s, so he has to stay alive and find a way to kill the immortal before she exacts her vengeance on Rome.

      I loved that they brought in several different cultures/mythologies, and I do like that they brought in characters that are usually overlooked by most authors (Cleopatra Selene, Agrippa, etc.). It’s a great dark fantasy/history mash up.

      I read (somewhere) that this is the first in a series, and I look forward to any sequels.
    • 4/5
      Having an ancient Egyptian Queen become the mother of all vampires is not a new idea. Anne Rice did it in Queen of the Damned. However, having that Queen be "the" Cleopatra, taking on the curse to bring back her true love, Antony, is something fresh. Cleopatra is a vampire, but this didn't feel like a vampire novel because that is not the focus. This is her story - the curse only one facet of it.I think what made this book so enjoyable for me was the mythology deeply woven into a new take on vampire myth. In a way, this book felt like one of those genre mash-ups, a la Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, only using Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra. The novel opens with a prologue, a historian telling us what really happened, and then jumps to Octavian's siege of Alexandria wherein Antony and Cleopatra are supposed to die. Only, she doesn't succumb to an asp - she calls upon the Daughter of Ra to give her back her true love and take revenge upon her enemies. Naturally, it doesn't go according to plan! Her quest for vengeance will take her out of Egypt, to Rome, and even to the Underworld. Gods and goddesses of myth make appearances as the plot unfolds.The writing here is solid. Though the middle section lagged somewhat, the book kept my attention with vivid description and entertaining characters. This Cleopatra is more real than I have read before. A queen and a woman, predator and prey - she is interesting. Overall, I thought the book was very well done and I hope the author pens a sequel. The ending is not cliffhanger, but it certainly leaves the door open for more. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      Different take on the legend of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, enjoyed the book a lot, but not something i would re-read
    • 5/5
      Despite the fact that it combines two of my favorite obsessions--vampires and Ancient Rome/Egypt circa the lifetime of Cleopatra--I almost didn't read this book. I was leery that it was going to be a bodice-ripper in disguise (nothing triggers my gag reflex like the words "paranormal romance") or, worse yet, a poorly written, poorly researched historical novel with just a dash of fantasy so it could jump on the increasingly burdened Twilight bandwagon. After weeks of circling it like a vulture over highway road kill, what finally caused me to click the "Add to Cart" button on Amazon was seeing that it had Neil Gaiman's seal of approval. I live by the "WWNGR" code (What Would Neil Gaiman Read?) and so it was done. I'm pleased to say that the book exceeded my expectations and avoided all of the pitfalls I feared.In Queen of Kings, Headley has taken a unique approach to reimagining the death of Cleopatra and I was surprised to find that this isn't exactly a vampire novel and it certainly isn't a rip-off of Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned. After losing the Battle of Actium, Cleopatra becomes desperate to stop Octavius' impending conquest of Egypt. She commands her scholars to search for a solution in the form of divine intervention. What they bring her is an incomplete spell that will allow the pharaoh to call upon the gods of Ancient Egypt. As the forces of Octavius invade Egypt and a dying Mark Antony is brought to Cleopatra, she uses the spell to call upon Sekhmet, a vengeful goddess of warfare also known as the Lady of Slaughter. Sekhmet, angry over Egypt's worship of new deities as well as Ra's banishment of her, takes over the body of Cleopatra in return for bringing Mark Antony back to life. Things go awry, Mark Antony still ends up dead, and Cleopatra is now a servant to Sekhmet's bloodlust. Now immortal and possessing the powers of a goddess, Cleopatra has all of the weapons needed to wreak havoc on Rome and punish Octavius. However, she struggles to maintain her humanity as the goddess within her begins to crowd out the woman she was.The first part of the novel skillfully weaves together historical detail with parts of the vampire mythos (the reasons for why Cleopatra craves blood, can't withstand the light of the sun, is pained by exposure to silver are all cleverly tied to Egyptian mythology). After that point, the novel becomes increasingly fantasy based but still manages to bring events back to historical correctness. As Octavius begins to fear Cleopatra's vengeance, he surrounds himself with sorcerers: an African tribesman with a gift for controlling serpents and the wind, a Norse seer with the ability to reweave fate, and a high priestess of Hecate who plans to harness the power of Cleopatra/Sekhmet to free Hecate from her imprisonment in Hades. All of these characters bring a fascinating array of possibilities to the story and, through them, Mark Antony's ghost is resurrected, gods and goddesses are called upon, and we are taken through Hades.There are flaws in the novel. Another reviewer said that there's not enough violence given the elements at play here and I agree; Cleopatra often talks a lot of smack about punishing her enemies in cruel and horrible ways consistent with Sekhmet, but, to quote Shakespeare's Antony, she never truly cries "Havoc! And let slip the dogs of war that this foul deed shall smell above the earth with carrion men, groaning for burial." There is violence, but it's watered down and certainly not of the kind one would expect as being the right of ancient gods and goddesses, emperors and pharaohs. Also, it seems as though Headley doesn't want Cleopatra to come across as a villain or a monster, highlighting her true love for Antony, her children, and her country. While I respect the attempt to show Cleopatra's humanity, there's little in this character to suggest the kind of ruthless intelligence she was capable of or her hubris as a goddess on earth. It would have been nice to see Cleopatra given more of an edge--she and Sekhmet probably had more in common than is shown here.In the end, the novel is a fun take on historical events that are as likely fictionalized as the novel itself. The first part of a planned trilogy, I'm definitely looking forward to the next novel. I hope I'm not wrong when I say it seems as though perhaps Headley has set the novel up to move out of the ancient period perhaps through more modern times--perhaps a vampiric Cleopatra causing mayhem in 2011? I'm definitely game for that.