Throne of Isis by Judith Tarr (First Edition)

Passion and politics, Imperial Rome and Ptolemaic Egypt, meet and clash in an epic recreation of the story of Cleopatra, Egypt's last queen, and her lover, Anthony, as told by Cleopatra's priestess cousin Dione, who witnesses Cleopatra's romantic and military alliances.

The author of Lord of the Two Lands brings to her newest novel the potentially potent combination of doomed lovers, crafty politicians and exotic settings. But Tarr's lethargic handling of these ingredients, coupled with an inability to animate one of history's most famous couples, dooms much of this book to tedium. Antony and Cleopatra, whose dalliance spans a decade, meet in 41 B.C. and immediately merge passion with politics. Cleopatra wants land, Antony wants ships; both encounter complications. Antony is saddled with a vindictive wife and an ambitious co-ruler, Octavian, in Rome. Civil war looms. Although major characters remain one-dimensional (Antony, for example, is portrayed as merely a drunken lout), Cleopatra's prescient cousin, Dione, sparks the story with her exuberant personality and manages to present a unique perspective on background events. She is joined in her pessimistic reading of signs and portents by Roman augur Lucius Servilius, an engaging figure whose stiff Roman pride crumbles before Dione's charms, and the two visionaries embark on a sizzling romance. Unfortunately, however, some finely rendered details of Egyptian life and one spirited love affair are not enough to rescue this effort.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Returning to Egypt following her romance based on Alexander the Great's sojourn there (Lord of the Two Lands, 1992), Tarr retells the story of the historical lovers Anthony and Cleopatra and adds a fictional pair, Dione and Lucius. In 41 B.C., following the death of Julius Caesar, the Roman empire is ruled by two men: Octavian, the future Caesar Augustus, claims Italy and the west, while Marc Anthony controls the east. Egypt's Queen Cleopatra, lover of Julius, must choose sides if Egypt is to survive. Summoned by Marc Anthony, Cleopatra makes her decision--the pair become lovers and soul mates, regarding themselves as gods incarnate. Anthony, however, has a Roman wife, who manages to enrage Octavian and thus disgrace Anthony. To mend the breach and prevent outright civil war, Anthony is obliged to wed Octavian's sister despite his passion for Cleopatra. Furious, the queen prepares to blast Anthony by magic and is only dissuaded by her confidante, Dione, a priestess of Isis, herself increasingly involved with the Roman augur Lucius Servilius, one of Anthony's companions. Later, after campaigning in Armenia and Parthia with varying success, Anthony musters Cleopatra's huge navy to challenge Octavian; but Anthony's Roman allies, tiring of Egyptian influences, begin to melt away, and Anthony suffers a disastrous defeat at Actium. Though Cleopatra escapes the debacle, Egyptian resistance collapses, and soon, with Octavian knocking at the gates of Alexandria and Anthony dead, Cleopatra commits suicide by snake bites. Tarr's historical outline is unexceptionable, her wealth of cultural detail impeccable. But again she fails to breathe life into famous characters; nor does she manage to translate all that expertise into anything resembling a compelling narrative. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

In this carefully researched, well-crafted novel about Antony and Cleopatra, Tarr weaves Rome and Alexandria, wars of conquest, pageantry and personality, earthly as well as supernatural powers together in a marvelously entertaining tapestry. Tarr moves her characters--some historic figures, others fictional--surely and swiftly through the tumultuous decade of constant struggle between Antony and Octavian, Julius Caesar's nephew and heir, for dominance in the ancient Roman Empire. During that confrontation, Antony is drawn to the East and the Queen of the Nile, and friction between East and West develops into factionalism within his ranks. Tarr never loses sight of the human side of history. She skillfully presents the homely queen whose regal splendor renders mere attractiveness superfluous; the brawny, compelling Antony, whose will to rule proves his undoing; and Cleopatra's faithful priestess Dione, voice of the goddess on earth but also mother of the rambunctious Timoleon and wife to the Roman augur Lucius. Such memorable characters, settings, and situations make this a welcome addition to general fiction collections. Whitney Scott

Tarr, the author of numerous fantasy novels, revisits the Egypt of The Lord of Two Lands (Tor, 1993) in this story of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Seduction, power, politics, and magic are the order of the day. The narrator is Dione, cousin to Cleopatra and high priestess of Isis. The historical facts of Cleopatra and Antony's liaison and their eventual defeat by Octavian are already well recorded, so it is Dione's circumstances and observations that are most interesting here. We learn of Dione's marriage to Lucius Servilius, a Roman senator and augur (i.e., priest); the pair's priestly duties and magical powers; Dione's son's upbringing; the clash of cultures Dione's life embodies; and the Hellenic, Roman, and ancient (even to them) Egyptian cultures. Despite these evocative details, Cleopatra is well represented in the historical fiction genre, so this is recommended only for large collections.
- Mary Ann Parker, California Dept. of Water Resources Law Lib., Sacramento
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.