Take a photo of a barcode or cover
fbahram 's review for:
The Heretic Queen
by Michelle Moran
I wish there were still a thousand more pages to read but alas I have finished reading all of Michelle Moran’s fantastic fiction! I could not have imagined a more fulfilling journey through time back to Ancient Egypt than the one taken through Moran’s genuine voice and her simple yet beautiful prose. “The Heretic Queen” tells the story of young Nefertari which takes place nearly half a century following Nefertiti‘s reign.
In her historical fiction, Moran clearly identifies fact from fiction and the reader has a clear idea what may have perhaps taken place, in so much as we know the facts of history at the time, and what is the flight of beautiful imagination on Moran’s part. The simplicity of the writing style and story telling grasps your attention for much longer than it should by all logic.
The story becomes addictive in small, measured steps and your imagination gets the better of you, because how can you exit the world of Ancient Egypt after entering it without learning the outcome?
Thebes, Egypt. 1283 BC. The Egyptians have taken back their banished Gods (after the fall of Pharaoh Akhenaten and Nefertiti) and have promptly erased this Pharaoh and his Queen from history. The enormous city of Amarna is reduced to sand and dust and Thebes is once again the glorious capital. Akhenaten is regarded as the Heretic King who took away their Amun and Nefertiti the Queen whose name is uttered neither within the walls of Palace nor in the streets of Thebes. Mutnodjmet, mother to Princess Nefertari and sister to Nefertiti, lost everything – her parents, her son, her husband – in an intentional fire by Horemheb whom she was then forced to wed. She died giving birth to little Nefertari who was raised by her sweet, loving nurse, Merit. She loves Merit as her own mawat, mother. It was easy to do; I fell in love with Merit’s character as much as with Nefertari herself.
We run through the palace halls and courts and gardens through Nefertari’s innocent eyes. She is a wild child with a good heart and great love for Ramesses II but she has little notion of the forces around her. While still treated like an outcast – with a “Heretic” family – she is undeniably a Princess, a Queen’s daughter, regardless of her akhu, the soul and deed of her Ancestors, and Ramesses has loved her since they were both children. Naturally, the evil forces in the palace exploit Nefertari’s relations to her bloodline as an irrevocable flaw, a tattoo stamped on her forehead through no actions of her own, and use it as enough reason to get her banished from palace and court altogether. Nefertari triumphs only too beautifully.
My most favorite moments in this book come from watching the duckling turn into an intelligent, well-groomed and visionary future Queen. It was only too pleasurable to see the complete oversight of her enemies in assessing Nefertari’s determination. Only too shocked with the turn of events, they could not begin to imagine that education can surpass beauty and a Pharaoh may highly seek that trait in his future Chief wife. Nefertari learns 5 languages by the time she is 15, along with defense strategies of defending the Egyptian land from enemies at war, settling problems at court, and winning the hearts of a nation that called her an outcast.
LOVE all of Moran's writing.... you won't be disappointed to read this one!
In her historical fiction, Moran clearly identifies fact from fiction and the reader has a clear idea what may have perhaps taken place, in so much as we know the facts of history at the time, and what is the flight of beautiful imagination on Moran’s part. The simplicity of the writing style and story telling grasps your attention for much longer than it should by all logic.
The story becomes addictive in small, measured steps and your imagination gets the better of you, because how can you exit the world of Ancient Egypt after entering it without learning the outcome?
Thebes, Egypt. 1283 BC. The Egyptians have taken back their banished Gods (after the fall of Pharaoh Akhenaten and Nefertiti) and have promptly erased this Pharaoh and his Queen from history. The enormous city of Amarna is reduced to sand and dust and Thebes is once again the glorious capital. Akhenaten is regarded as the Heretic King who took away their Amun and Nefertiti the Queen whose name is uttered neither within the walls of Palace nor in the streets of Thebes. Mutnodjmet, mother to Princess Nefertari and sister to Nefertiti, lost everything – her parents, her son, her husband – in an intentional fire by Horemheb whom she was then forced to wed. She died giving birth to little Nefertari who was raised by her sweet, loving nurse, Merit. She loves Merit as her own mawat, mother. It was easy to do; I fell in love with Merit’s character as much as with Nefertari herself.
We run through the palace halls and courts and gardens through Nefertari’s innocent eyes. She is a wild child with a good heart and great love for Ramesses II but she has little notion of the forces around her. While still treated like an outcast – with a “Heretic” family – she is undeniably a Princess, a Queen’s daughter, regardless of her akhu, the soul and deed of her Ancestors, and Ramesses has loved her since they were both children. Naturally, the evil forces in the palace exploit Nefertari’s relations to her bloodline as an irrevocable flaw, a tattoo stamped on her forehead through no actions of her own, and use it as enough reason to get her banished from palace and court altogether. Nefertari triumphs only too beautifully.
My most favorite moments in this book come from watching the duckling turn into an intelligent, well-groomed and visionary future Queen. It was only too pleasurable to see the complete oversight of her enemies in assessing Nefertari’s determination. Only too shocked with the turn of events, they could not begin to imagine that education can surpass beauty and a Pharaoh may highly seek that trait in his future Chief wife. Nefertari learns 5 languages by the time she is 15, along with defense strategies of defending the Egyptian land from enemies at war, settling problems at court, and winning the hearts of a nation that called her an outcast.
LOVE all of Moran's writing.... you won't be disappointed to read this one!