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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. :)

"We're here now!" she protested, fighting a dry sob. "And... I feel we have so little... time."
"We have eternity, beloved."
"You may have eternity. I have only now." Conversation between Paul and Chani God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert

I have been asked many times, and I have no answer for why I love the Dune series so much. Is it that I associate myself somehow with Chani? I do not know why that would be so. Chani had her love from the beginning, almost from the moment she met Paul - indeed he knew before, prescient as he was. I on the other hand, as a little girl, dreamed of a love that was put beyond my reach by the arrangement made by my parents when I was but a child of eight. Or so I believed. Perhaps it is in the depth of the love I found in Shar and the others of our bondmates, restoring to me the dream of love that I could never have found with my First Medjai husband. Enough perhaps to say that I understand the yearning then.

Thinnest by far of the series, God Emperor highlights so well the conflict between duty and love, desire and duty, religion and politics that is at the heart of the series. Perhaps that too is where I indentify with these books so well, since I was also the 'victim' of a political union, for all that we grew to care for each other, that was the truth of my being given to Ardeth. The 'Good Medjai Woman' meant to be a charm for him against the 'evils' of anyone else that his heart might choose. Our Elders are such a foolish and short sighted cabal.

So, In God Emperor, Paul struggles against those who would cast him in the role of Messiah, when all he desires is to live the life of a man with the woman he loves. He fights a future his prescient vision has shown to him, knowing there is no escape... and he lives with the knowledge that the woman who gives him life, through that which she desires so badly, will come to end her life and give her waters back to the desert.

( On Meiri )

Chani... Fremen woman... concubine only, yet more than a wife. She longs to give her man the son and heir he needs if the Atreides line is to continue, yet nothing she can do will bring her to conceive the child she longs to bring to birth, for she is thwarted by the wife, who is less than concubine, who conspires against her husband with the enemies who wish for his distruction. In this I can also identify with Chani. A product of our upbringing perhaps, but we women of the desert are charged with bringing life, bringing the future to our husbands. When the healers told me, following the birth of Tareef and Luloah that, for me to bear another child would likely be a fatal decision for me... it is like, to me, being told that I should not breathe, or eat, or sleep. So too I believe Chani felt when she could not bring to Paul the child she longed to give to him.

( On the fulfilment of wishes )

So with the birth of Leto and Ghanima, and Chani's passing, comes the end of this thin installment, with Alia - St. Alia of the Knife - also called abomination by some due to her 'in the womb' awareness, serving as regent for the Leto after their father, blinded by his enemies, follows the Fremen custom of walking out into the desert to give himself to the great worm... and we must wait to discover what becomes of them all.

And so the book ends, and I must again wait my turn to read the next installment. No doubt I will find other things to speak of then.