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moosethemoose 's review for:
Neferura
by Malayna Evans
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
1.25 stars out of 5
Trigger Warning: incest, graphic descriptions of animal killing (it's a blip but it made me GAG), rape, absue, death (a lot of it), forced marriage, extreme power differences
Have you ever read a book that has just left you sitting there like *what the actual fuck did I just read?* cause that's how I feel right now. I had hope for this book - I love a good history book, I love a good retelling. But I think there's a VERY fine line between retelling history to tell the story of the victims of time versus making up a complete story.
Evans has a PhD in Egyptology and that is definitely noted. However, knowing the history does not a good author make. I can tell you did the research and know what you're talking about. But the way you go about it is just absolutely disgusting. Historically, Neferura is a blip in history. The encore to a Pharoh we all know - Hatshepsut. But there's a vast differnce between her actual history and this. I know that it was supposed to be fiction and that's FINE - but don't market it as a retelling when it's NOT.
I don't even necessarily know where to start with this as I'm just sitting here - left so confused with everything. I finished the book in a day and enjoyed (that's not right but that's the only word I can think of that fits this) the pacing and the history. I was always a bigger fan of Rome but I spent my time researching Egypt too (Forever on the Search for the Sea People - gone but never forgotten and the Library of Alexandria). However, Evans did a huge disservice to the actual legacy of these people.
There was NO need to include some of the stuff that was there about the abuse and the rape and everything. I understand you're trying to be faithful to what happened, like truly I understand, but I did not need to read about how her brother raped her and then she had sex with her lover who then talked about a dog getting it's head sawed off while it was still alive!
For a so called feminist retelling, the women in this book read like they're written by a misogynistic white man from the 50's. There is an extreme power imbalance between Neferura and Satiah. Someone else mentioned it in a review but even though Satiah consented to it; was it really consent? Neferura was a high priestess of the high god, and Satiah was just a troupe leader. That counts as cohesion in my book. And let's not even get on the topic of how Hatshepsut was characterized. She had to fight her way to the top of everything and even for her name to be rewritten into the books of history. She was not some weak Pharaoh who could easily be shoved away by a death she KNEW was fake. She was Egypt's second female Pharaoh and deserves the respect put to her name.
Some people write because they have a story to tell. Some people shouldn't have access to write. Evan's unfortunately fits into the second section - despite the earnest attempt to tell the story of a forgotten princess who got lost within the long history of Egypt. I wanted to like this. I wanted to care. But I feel like I have to shower in bleach and even then I don't think I will be clean of the mental scars that this book gave me. I wish I wasn't literate! Honestly!
Thanks to NetGalley, SOURCEBOOKS and the author for giving me this book in exchange for my fair and honest review.
Trigger Warning: incest, graphic descriptions of animal killing (it's a blip but it made me GAG), rape, absue, death (a lot of it), forced marriage, extreme power differences
Have you ever read a book that has just left you sitting there like *what the actual fuck did I just read?* cause that's how I feel right now. I had hope for this book - I love a good history book, I love a good retelling. But I think there's a VERY fine line between retelling history to tell the story of the victims of time versus making up a complete story.
Evans has a PhD in Egyptology and that is definitely noted. However, knowing the history does not a good author make. I can tell you did the research and know what you're talking about. But the way you go about it is just absolutely disgusting. Historically, Neferura is a blip in history. The encore to a Pharoh we all know - Hatshepsut. But there's a vast differnce between her actual history and this. I know that it was supposed to be fiction and that's FINE - but don't market it as a retelling when it's NOT.
I don't even necessarily know where to start with this as I'm just sitting here - left so confused with everything. I finished the book in a day and enjoyed (that's not right but that's the only word I can think of that fits this) the pacing and the history. I was always a bigger fan of Rome but I spent my time researching Egypt too (Forever on the Search for the Sea People - gone but never forgotten and the Library of Alexandria). However, Evans did a huge disservice to the actual legacy of these people.
There was NO need to include some of the stuff that was there about the abuse and the rape and everything. I understand you're trying to be faithful to what happened, like truly I understand, but I did not need to read about how her brother raped her and then she had sex with her lover who then talked about a dog getting it's head sawed off while it was still alive!
For a so called feminist retelling, the women in this book read like they're written by a misogynistic white man from the 50's. There is an extreme power imbalance between Neferura and Satiah. Someone else mentioned it in a review but even though Satiah consented to it; was it really consent? Neferura was a high priestess of the high god, and Satiah was just a troupe leader. That counts as cohesion in my book. And let's not even get on the topic of how Hatshepsut was characterized. She had to fight her way to the top of everything and even for her name to be rewritten into the books of history. She was not some weak Pharaoh who could easily be shoved away by a death she KNEW was fake. She was Egypt's second female Pharaoh and deserves the respect put to her name.
Some people write because they have a story to tell. Some people shouldn't have access to write. Evan's unfortunately fits into the second section - despite the earnest attempt to tell the story of a forgotten princess who got lost within the long history of Egypt. I wanted to like this. I wanted to care. But I feel like I have to shower in bleach and even then I don't think I will be clean of the mental scars that this book gave me. I wish I wasn't literate! Honestly!
Thanks to NetGalley, SOURCEBOOKS and the author for giving me this book in exchange for my fair and honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment