Book review for Zenobia - Challenging a Legend
Historical Novel Society Review:
https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/zenobia-challenging-a-legend/
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Russ Wallace continues his series of the adventures of the youth of the woman who will go on to become the famous Queen of Palmyra who leads a revolt against the Romans in the third century AD.
The first book in the series, The Birth of a Legend climaxes with our young heroine triumphing at a world-famous horse race in Alexandria, and this next volume hits the ground running, plunging Zenobia into one adventure after another, all narrated by Wallace with enormous spirit and a very sharp ear for dialogue.
This second novel is fuller and more pleasingly complex than the first, bursting with engaging secondary characters and the believable deepening of Zenobia’s personality.
I very much look forward to further novels in this series.
Goodreads reviews at https://www.goodreads.com/book/zenobia-challenging-a-legend
Julie rated it 5 stars
Book two in the Zenobia book series has it all with education in Alexandria, Egypt as the primary focus at the beginning of the book. You experience Zenobia's first crush. The 2nd half of the book is full of adventure with kidnappings, hunting, fighting, revenge, chases, escapes, and piracy.
Zenobia learns a heart breaking truth about love and this will mold her into the women she's destine to become. This was an ARC and so the story is not released to the public yet but I promise you, you'll want to put this book on your TBR list.
Bethany Swafford rated it 4 of 5 stars
Set immediately after the first book, Challenging A Legend continues to detail Zenobia’s journey to become the strong-willed, charismatic woman history remembers her to be. She learns the benefit of being a legend, and the heartbreak of a first love. She takes on her enemies with the intelligence I’ve come to expect from her character.
She learns the wiles of being a woman and how to use it her benefit, which was fun to see because at first she thinks it ridiculous. We see Zenobia’s first bout with grief and heartache, and we see her rise above it all.
A must-read for anyone who enjoyed the first book.
I was provided an ARC as part of the LovingtheBook blog tour.
Great story -Diana Silva on Amazon 4 of 5 stars
As luck would have it, I happen to receive two books in the same month about Zenobia. "Zenobia- Challenging a Lengend" was an excellent introductory read. Wallace gave many interesting details about Zenobia. This was my first time hearing about this historical figure. It was a fantastic introduction and even though I did not read the first book in the series it did not impede my enjoyment of this story. Having read about Hatsheput last year, Zenobia was another great woman to learn about.
I loved Zenobia's strength and determination, her vulnerability and humanity made her more real to me. The book is lengthy but the pacing made it fly by and the tension filled scenes were very entertaining. Last but not least, the romance was a wonderful addition. I'm a sucker for romance and Zenobia was a passionate individual. I already placed the first book on my to-read list and really enjoyed this story.
Onebookshy.blogspot.com gave 4 gems out of 5
"I like reading original and creative takes on actual people or events in history. It makes it so much more enjoyable to learn about the past when you can imagine along with the author what the characters may have been like in their personal relationships or situations.
I was lucky enough to be able to read and thoroughly enjoy both this second book in the series and the first: Zenobia - Birth of a Legend. While you could be satisfied with just reading this book, I found it to be very rewarding to start at the beginning and follow along her journey into the second story.
Zenobia is another of the historical warrior women who became a legend and a true inspiration to her people. Much has been written and theorized about her. I found this book/series to be a refreshing change from many of the other books as we are introduced to the person she may have been and we see what things may have shaped her and the world around her.
There is a lot of action, emotion and adventure in this tale along with plenty of historical figures and events. The author has done a fine job of blending fact and fiction to create a lovely story that most any reader will find enjoyable. I highly recommend this series and am looking forward to the next installment."
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5.0 out of 5 stars Great historical series!
ByJoyce DiPastenaon April 7, 2016
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the second book in Russ Wallace's Zenobia series, Zenobia – Challenging a Legend. This book picks up right where Zenobia – Birth of a Legend left off. In Challenging the Legend, we get to watch Zenobia as she develops into a brave, intelligent, cunning young woman. Her overriding motivation as she grows is to establish justice and defeat injustice in the world. No easy task in the time of the corrupt Roman empire. The story was fast paced and kept me reading to see what would happen next. Through Zenobia's experiences in this volume, the reader begins to see what a formidable foe she will one day be to Rome. I, for one, can't wait to read more of her story in volume three.
This is the second book in a series, but it is not necessary to have read the first one to understand and enjoy Part 2.