Insta Review: Cleopatra in Space by Mike Maihack

Insta Review gives you a new book recommendation in under a minute. Go ahead, time it!

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Take Cleopatra, the infamous Pharoh, and inexplicably plant her in space. In the future. At the age of fifteen. Still with me? Well then you’ve got pretty much the whole point of the graphic novel Cleopatra in Space. Teenaged Cleopatra accidentally travels through time and discovers that she is the prophesied savior of the future human race. Then, she has to fight to prove it. You know that I love a heroine wielding a weapon – but Cleopatra in Space is another girl power book that just misses the mark. Cleo can shoot and doesn’t run from the bad guys, but her tiny waist, short skirt, and pouty face kind of negate the feminism-factor (this is the cover of book two of the series, but you get my point). Also, it’s great that she’s independent and sassy, but her hatred of school and boredom with math and science got under my skin. Do young female readers really need any more messages that school is for boys and it’s cool not to care about math? Yawn. I hope my female graphic novel lovers won't fall for that old schtick.

A post shared by Ms. Fitz (she/her) (@fitzbetweentheshelves) on Apr 1, 2017 at 9:12am PDT