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In our room, Nefertiti stood in front of the mirror. She pushed her dark hair from her face, imagining herself with the crown of Egypt. "This is it," she whispered. "I will be the greatest queen Egypt has ever known." Nefertiti by Michelle Moran



The greatest queen? Certainly the greatest spoiled brat. I suppose given my almost visceral reaction to Nefertiti it has to mean that the book could not have been that bad.

The book tells the story of Nefertiti's meteoric rise to the position of Egypts best known queen (and Egypt's abandonment of Amun in favour of the Aten, under Akenaten's rule), as seen from the eye of her sister, Mutnojmet. If, by the end of the book, your heart is not /bleeding/ for Mutny, then I would be very surprised. She's treated apaulingly by her self centred sister, and as the true obedient daughter, puts up with it for the sake of her family's position at court for a good two thirds of the book. Even when she finally gets 'free' of her sister's tyrrany, she's not truly free. Her fate is still bound up with that of Egypt's queen's.

While I ended up wanting to put Nefertiti across my knee and spank her, I did, in the end, enjoy the book. Not one for strict scholars of history, but a good enough, entertaining story. The writing style is easy enough, without losing any of the engagement, and where historical facts have been 'moulded' to fit the necessities of the story, though anyone with a knowledge of the history will spot these points, it's also easy to see why they have been written as they have. It doesn't detract too much from the story. It's not one of the best written books I've ever read, but it's not one of the worst either.

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An Evil Spirit Out of the West by Paul Doherty




From product information on Amazon:

This is the first novel in a trilogy set in one of the most turbulent and exciting periods of ancient history, written by the popular and highly acclaimed author Paul Doherty... Known as the Veiled One, Ahkenaten is a shadowy figure. When he is thrust into the political limelight when his elder brother dies, the ambitious and ruthless Mahu watches the young prince carve his own path to power and becomes his protector and confidant through a turbulent reign.

What is to say? I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. The characters were well written, (though I wouldn't necessarily have described Mahu as ambitious... ruthless, yes, by necessity, but not particularly ambitious), the setting excellently evoked, well researched and presented, and the story just fascinating. It really brought the Amarna period to life for me in a way that other thing I've ready has. It does highlight how harsh the political intrigue was... how dangerous it was at the top... and perhaps that's part of the appeal, that it doesn't particularly romanticise all of that in the way that some stories that are set in Egypt do and that's something that I find /very/ attractive.

I'd recommend this book, and its sequel to anyone... everyone. Even if you have no particular interst in the Amarna period, go read this book. :)