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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The book was well researched but the characters seemed very 2 dimensional. The main character didn’t seem as smart as advertised, and while she kept saying she wanted to help her people, she in no way described in what way she would help them or what she thought was lacking in their lives.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Neferura is the daughter of Pharaoh Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut however shares power with her stepson, Thutmose III. When Thutmose starts to love against her mother, wanting all the power for himself, Neferura's life is turned upside down. Both the princess and those she loves are in danger. Neferura must risk everything to save herself.
I love Ancient Egypt. I have been fascinated by their history since I was a kid. This book really captured the grandeur of the New Kingdom period. The depictions of the temples and palace were beautiful.
Neferura was a priestess of Amun. The rituals and beliefs surrounding the deities were well explained. She was a very likeable, strong character.
All the characters were well done. Thutmose was thoroughly unpleasant, a power grabbing, unkind man. The wise woman and her intricate web were intriguing. Hatshepsut though was the standout character for me. Historically, she was one of the longest reigning female pharoahs. In this book, she was ruthless. I did not like her as a person, but she was written incredibly well and her actions surprised me at times.
I did find the ending a bit abrupt. I found I was left with a few unanswered questions and would have liked a couple more pages tying up some loose ends. Overall though this was a great peice of historical fiction exploring one of my favourite areas of history.
I love Ancient Egypt. I have been fascinated by their history since I was a kid. This book really captured the grandeur of the New Kingdom period. The depictions of the temples and palace were beautiful.
Neferura was a priestess of Amun. The rituals and beliefs surrounding the deities were well explained. She was a very likeable, strong character.
All the characters were well done. Thutmose was thoroughly unpleasant, a power grabbing, unkind man. The wise woman and her intricate web were intriguing. Hatshepsut though was the standout character for me. Historically, she was one of the longest reigning female pharoahs. In this book, she was ruthless. I did not like her as a person, but she was written incredibly well and her actions surprised me at times.
I did find the ending a bit abrupt. I found I was left with a few unanswered questions and would have liked a couple more pages tying up some loose ends. Overall though this was a great peice of historical fiction exploring one of my favourite areas of history.
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really loved studying Ancient Egypt at university and was really excited to read a book about an Ancient Egyptian that I don't know much about, but I found this book a bit disappointing. The author clearly knows a lot about this time period and I was impressed by the detail of everyday life that was included.
The pacing and character development, however, left a lot to be desired. The pacing of the story was off, the first half was so slow but the second half was so fast I had to keep going back to check where we were. The plot was interesting but I feel like it was so crammed into the second half that you didn't really get to enjoy the mystery or the court intrigue.
The character development was also really minimal, there was way too much telling and not enough showing. I was genuinely shocked when Neferura stated that Isit was her best friend and became so emotional about her because for a fair bit of the early part of the book Neferura's descriptions of Isit were really scathing and dismissive. Similarly Neferura's intelligence is often stated but her actions are not often not very wise and she seems to find it hard to grasp things that, as a reader, I thought were obvious.I also realised immediately that her Tutor wasn't dead when there was talk of a reversible tunic or kilt after her meeting with the wise woman. Then, having faked deaths in the plot, it was pretty clear that Neferura would fake her own death, as she states many times how much she doesn't like politics and scheming but just wants to help the people. I was a bit shocked that she was going to take over the Scorpions, as I said above her intelligence wasn't really shown through the book so she didn't seem like a good candidate for that role at all. I also didn't love the way that the gods were dealt with in this book, in particular belief in them by different characters. Neferura spends a lot of time thinking about what the gods think of her and her actions, she whole heartedly believes that if she doesn't do her rituals the sun won't come up etc. I appreciate that differing levels of belief and devotion are to be expected in any society, but Hapshetsut's clear disregard for the gods was really jarring. I would have expected her to have used the idea that the gods allowed her to gain power etc. therefore her will is what the gods want because they want her. If this is was the author was going for then I think it was not clear enough.
Overall this was a distinctly average book but I've given it an extra 0.5 because the detail of ancient Egyptian life was so good.
The pacing and character development, however, left a lot to be desired. The pacing of the story was off, the first half was so slow but the second half was so fast I had to keep going back to check where we were. The plot was interesting but I feel like it was so crammed into the second half that you didn't really get to enjoy the mystery or the court intrigue.
The character development was also really minimal, there was way too much telling and not enough showing. I was genuinely shocked when Neferura stated that Isit was her best friend and became so emotional about her because for a fair bit of the early part of the book Neferura's descriptions of Isit were really scathing and dismissive. Similarly Neferura's intelligence is often stated but her actions are not often not very wise and she seems to find it hard to grasp things that, as a reader, I thought were obvious.
Overall this was a distinctly average book but I've given it an extra 0.5 because the detail of ancient Egyptian life was so good.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes