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A review by melcanread
Neferura by Malayna Evans
dark
emotional
medium-paced
3.0
When Neferura discovers that her ascension to the throne is on the line, she watches as the people around her grapple to fight over her power. Soon enough, she's forced into a life and a role she never wanted, and has to do her best to make the most out of the situation.
It's incredibly important to note that the story of Neferura written by Malayna Evans is based solely off of scholarly theory and scholarly theory alone. Unfortunately, due to Thutmose III's actions at trying to erase his stepmother's legacy from Egypt, it's likely that Neferura's name was erased by proxy meaning that everything we know of her comes from fragments and provides us only with the most basic of information. All we know of Neferura officially is her name and lineage, alongside the people who tutored her - and that is it.
Right off the bat, I want to talk about my love for this book - specifically how it shows women coming together and showing solidarity for one another in the face of adversity. How Satiah knew her beauty, and knew how to use it to her advantage, to the point where she was able to manipulate herself into a Pharaoh's bed with zero resistance. I adored Hathor, and Hathor's secret society of scorpions, and how she and a bunch of other women, were able to use Egypt's sexism to their advantage and spy on the elites, and using that information against the upper classes and extorting them for their own gain. I would honestly enjoy a spin-off book based on this, going into more detail about Hathor's life and career working as a tattooed woman in the shadows of Ancient Egypt. The side romance with Kamut was... fine. It felt a little forced, if I'm being truthful, but I'm honestly glad that Neferura got some love from a decent man, you know?
There were, however, a few things about this book that didn't sit right with me - the first was the way Evans portrayed Hatshepsut. As Evans mentioned in her author's note at the end of the book, we have no way of knowing what Hatshepsut's personality was like, as it was never recorded like her career was. So, for argument's sake, Hatshepsut very much could have been the cruel, coldhearted woman that Evans wrote her to be. However, I hate this narrative that often comes with women in power being cold and cruel. A woman can be assertive without being a narcissist, or without doing half of the things that she did.
I also despised the portrayal of Neferura as well, how Neferura was the complete opposite of her mother to the point where she was a grown woman being naive and condemning the people around her for doing what they needed to do to survive. Every time someone used a death to their advantage, Neferura was there yelling at them for it - only to then use the exact same tactic herself later on in the novel.
Evans' writing style also just wasn't cutting it for me - but this is something that I find with all stories written in first person, present tense. The sentence structure in this format always seems a little over-simplified and easy to read, in my opinion, which makes me feel like I'm reading a middle-school grade novel. While the story itself wasn't boring, the writing style made it feel like it was.
This is why I rated this book 3 stars.
It's incredibly important to note that the story of Neferura written by Malayna Evans is based solely off of scholarly theory and scholarly theory alone. Unfortunately, due to Thutmose III's actions at trying to erase his stepmother's legacy from Egypt, it's likely that Neferura's name was erased by proxy meaning that everything we know of her comes from fragments and provides us only with the most basic of information. All we know of Neferura officially is her name and lineage, alongside the people who tutored her - and that is it.
Right off the bat, I want to talk about my love for this book - specifically how it shows women coming together and showing solidarity for one another in the face of adversity. How Satiah knew her beauty, and knew how to use it to her advantage, to the point where she was able to manipulate herself into a Pharaoh's bed with zero resistance. I adored Hathor, and Hathor's secret society of scorpions, and how she and a bunch of other women, were able to use Egypt's sexism to their advantage and spy on the elites, and using that information against the upper classes and extorting them for their own gain. I would honestly enjoy a spin-off book based on this, going into more detail about Hathor's life and career working as a tattooed woman in the shadows of Ancient Egypt. The side romance with Kamut was... fine. It felt a little forced, if I'm being truthful, but I'm honestly glad that Neferura got some love from a decent man, you know?
There were, however, a few things about this book that didn't sit right with me - the first was the way Evans portrayed Hatshepsut. As Evans mentioned in her author's note at the end of the book, we have no way of knowing what Hatshepsut's personality was like, as it was never recorded like her career was. So, for argument's sake, Hatshepsut very much could have been the cruel, coldhearted woman that Evans wrote her to be. However, I hate this narrative that often comes with women in power being cold and cruel. A woman can be assertive without being a narcissist, or without doing half of the things that she did.
I also despised the portrayal of Neferura as well, how Neferura was the complete opposite of her mother to the point where she was a grown woman being naive and condemning the people around her for doing what they needed to do to survive. Every time someone used a death to their advantage, Neferura was there yelling at them for it - only to then use the exact same tactic herself later on in the novel.
Evans' writing style also just wasn't cutting it for me - but this is something that I find with all stories written in first person, present tense. The sentence structure in this format always seems a little over-simplified and easy to read, in my opinion, which makes me feel like I'm reading a middle-school grade novel. While the story itself wasn't boring, the writing style made it feel like it was.
This is why I rated this book 3 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and Rape