Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Ancient Egypt, 51 B.C. Sisters Arsinoe and Cleopatra face a devastating choice: to allow Rome's army to siphon power from their ailing father, or to take matters-and the dynasty-into their own hands

It's the dawn of a new era for Egypt as Cleopatra and her brother, Ptolemy, are welcomed to the throne after their father's death. But joint rule breeds its own conflicts: can the Nile be shared? Long overlooked by his father in favor of the beguiling Cleopatra, Ptolemy is determined to prove his ability as both man and king-but, at eleven, he is no match for his elder sister, who's quick to assert her primacy throughout the land.

Their sister Arsinoe is torn between her siblings in one of history's greatest power struggles. As the palace echoes with rumors, scandals and betrayal, Arsinoe's love for her childhood friend Alexander deepens into a forbidden passion that could endanger both their lives. When Cleopatra is forced to flee a rebel uprising, Arsinoe decides she has no choice but to follow her sister into exile.

Yet while Cleopatra gathers an army to retake the crown, Arsinoe begins to doubt whether her sister is the champion Egypt needs. Faced with the choice of betraying her family or her country, Arsinoe will determine a kingdom's fate and the course of history.

It's the dawn of a new era for Egypt as Cleopatra and her brother, Ptolemy, are welcomed to the throne after their father's death. But joint rule breeds its own conflicts: can the Nile be shared? Long overlooked by his father in favor of the beguiling Cleopatra, Ptolemy is determined to prove his ability as both man and king-but, at eleven, he is no match for his elder sister, who's quick to assert her primacy throughout the land.

Their sister Arsinoe is torn between her siblings in one of history's greatest power struggles. As the palace echoes with rumors, scandals and betrayal, Arsinoe's love for her childhood friend Alexander deepens into a forbidden passion that could endanger both their lives. When Cleopatra is forced to flee a rebel uprising, Arsinoe decides she has no choice but to follow her sister into exile.

Yet while Cleopatra gathers an army to retake the crown, Arsinoe begins to doubt whether her sister is the champion Egypt needs. Faced with the choice of betraying her family or her country, Arsinoe will determine a kingdom's fate and the course of history.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

In this sequel to Cleopatra's Shadows, the Ptolemaic dynasty falls into disarray after the death of the Piper and the execution of his oldest daughter. The pharaoh's surviving children are locked in a struggle for control of Egypt. Ptolemy, the first son, is eager to marry one of his sisters, assuring the continuation of the pure line of rulers, and take the throne, but his youth and ineptitude put him at a distinct disadvantage to his older, and vastly more devious, sisters, Cleopatra and Arsinoe. After the two girls escape from Egypt and Rome's occupying legions, they recruit an army in Syria and return in the hopes of recapturing Alexandria. Cleopatra's choice to join forces with Julius Caesar casts the fate of the dynasty into even more uncertainty with open civil war breaking out. The narrative is told from each sibling's perspective through dynamic alternating chapters. The constant shifting of alliances among the protagonists speaks to the instability of the time and the region. VERDICT Readers fascinated by political intrigue and dynasty building of the ancient world will enjoy this, especially if they have read the first volume. [See Prepub Alert, 10/31/16.]-Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage P.L., AK © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Cleopatra's father, the Piper, is dying. But not quickly enough. Giving fate a shove, Cleopatra is free to rule, but only within a union to her teenage brother Ptolemy XIII. Instead, Cleopatra and her sister and close confidant, Arsinoe, soon face off in battle against their brother, until Julius Caesar arrives on the scene. Caesar quickly succumbs to Cleopatra's persuasion, and the two become lovers, uniting Egypt and Rome with a child on the way. However, the two underestimate Arsinoe, and her own desire for power is soon ignited by the growing distance between the sisters and their disagreements over Rome's power over Egypt. Soon Arsinoe rallies the troops to free Alexandria from Rome's influence and begins her own battle for the kingdom. Interspersed with tense battles and smoldering sensuality, Holleman's follow-up to Cleopatra's Shadows (2015) continues the story of the historically embattled Egyptian royal family and its overlap with the life of Julius Caesar.--Shaw, Stacy Copyright 2017 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

Second in Holleman's series about the last of the pharaohs that began with Cleopatra's Shadows (2015).Now that Cleopatra's sister Berenice has been deposed and beheaded, Ptolemy the Piper, their father, backed by a few Roman legions, has reclaimed the throne, but not for long. As the terminally ill king lingers overlong, Cleopatra, spurred on by younger sister Arsinoe, age 15, hastens matters with a dose of hemlock. The Piper's will provides that his son, 11-year-old Prince Ptolemy, will rule jointly with Cleopatra. (Tradition also dictates that brother and sister marry, and a purely ceremonial wedding ensues.) In chapters headed "Brother" and "Sister," Ptolemy and Arsinoe alternate points of view, sharing the conflicted perspectives of younger siblings torn between succumbing to Cleopatra's charisma and wanting to kill her. Cleopatra and Ptolemy plot to depose each other, both raising armies, and Arsinoe throws in her lot, serially, with each. Ptolemy heeds some bad advice to greet Pompey's proffered alliance by beheading that Roman general, hoping to win Pompey's rival, the more powerful Julius Caesar, to his side. This tactic backfires, though, when Cleopatra beats Ptolemy to a meeting with Caesar and soon has Rome's wiliest commander and best-known seducer in her thrall. Ptolemy finds himself confined to quarters when his plot to poison Caesar is discovered thanks to leaked pillow talk. With Caesar's backing, Cleopatra is on track to rule alone, but Ptolemy and Arsinoe, each surrounded by cabals of scheming courtiers, still have many tricks up their respective sleeves. On vivid display here are the paradoxical politics of a monarchy pitted against, and propped up by, a foreign imperialistic juggernaut. (The Ptolemaic dynasty itself, as Holleman's many ironic observations make clear, was founded by conquering Greeks.) Holleman's poetic language contributes to the atmosphere of intrigue and menace, expertly capturing the roiling anxieties of the principals as they battle for Rome's scraps. Holleman's gift of characterization will have readers rooting for all three Egyptian royals, hoping against historical fact that this sibling rivalry has no losersat least not until the next installment. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.