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A review by kittenmittons
Neferura by Malayna Evans
2.5
On the higher end of 2 stars, but this didn't quite work for me as I had been hoping.
Part of that may be due to expectations: this is billed as historical fiction, yes, but also mythology and fantasy (I received it from the Sci-Fi & Fantasy category of NetGalley, after all), and it truly is just historical fiction. Which there is absolutely nothing wrong with, but I do want to give it the benefit of the doubt that perhaps my expectations weren't in line with what the book was actually going to deliver.
With that out of the way, let's talk about what this book was about. Neferura is the daughter of two pharaohs, a princess of Kemet and god's wife (high priestess) for Amun. Her mother Hatshepsut and half-brother Thutmose are now pharaohs, with Hatshepsut having engineered her way into the true power position. Thutmose's return to the city threatens to upset that, as he is hungry for control and does nothing to hide this from his half-sister and step-mother. As rumours begin to rise that Thutmose will make his suspicions about Hatshepsut's involvement in his father's death known, Neferura decides to take steps to protect herself and her mother.
Sounds decent, right? Politics, family backstabbing, a web of characters, and all set in ancient Egypt, what's not to love?
I believe that I read somewhere that the author has a background in history, specifically Egyptology. This shows and is absolutely a good thing, in adding to the setting of the book, but the passion she shows for the history outstrips any passion she shows for the characters. I know Iset and Neferura are close, but who even is Iset? What is her personality? Kamut, Neferura's love interest, is likewise the same, and even Satiah, who has crazy potential for a cool arc, is given things to do but not much to actually be. All of these characters seem to exist just to worship Neferura, and everyone in her inner circle bends over backwards for her, and I'm left to ask: why?
The plot at its core was pretty simple, in a family politics way that I like. These kind of plots really need the characters to make them work, and with the characters and their development being the weakest part of this for me, it's no surprise that the story itself left me a bit cold.
I hate to fill this review up with criticisms, because I feel like my overall feeling on this book was more of the ambivalent nature and certainly not a feeling of dislike, but I'd be remiss not to mention one more thing that, once I noticed it, annoyed me for the rest of the book: characters could rarely just say anything. It always had to be something else, they cried, they advised, they retorted, they quipped, whatever it may be, and you know what? Sometimes, less is more.
I liked the history of this, and how detailed the setting was, I liked the idea of the plot and the idea of the characters, but I think the execution let it down for me, unfortunately.
Thank you to the publisher, Sourcebooks Landmark, and to NetGalley for the ARC.
Part of that may be due to expectations: this is billed as historical fiction, yes, but also mythology and fantasy (I received it from the Sci-Fi & Fantasy category of NetGalley, after all), and it truly is just historical fiction. Which there is absolutely nothing wrong with, but I do want to give it the benefit of the doubt that perhaps my expectations weren't in line with what the book was actually going to deliver.
With that out of the way, let's talk about what this book was about. Neferura is the daughter of two pharaohs, a princess of Kemet and god's wife (high priestess) for Amun. Her mother Hatshepsut and half-brother Thutmose are now pharaohs, with Hatshepsut having engineered her way into the true power position. Thutmose's return to the city threatens to upset that, as he is hungry for control and does nothing to hide this from his half-sister and step-mother. As rumours begin to rise that Thutmose will make his suspicions about Hatshepsut's involvement in his father's death known, Neferura decides to take steps to protect herself and her mother.
Sounds decent, right? Politics, family backstabbing, a web of characters, and all set in ancient Egypt, what's not to love?
I believe that I read somewhere that the author has a background in history, specifically Egyptology. This shows and is absolutely a good thing, in adding to the setting of the book, but the passion she shows for the history outstrips any passion she shows for the characters. I know Iset and Neferura are close, but who even is Iset? What is her personality? Kamut, Neferura's love interest, is likewise the same, and even Satiah, who has crazy potential for a cool arc, is given things to do but not much to actually be. All of these characters seem to exist just to worship Neferura, and everyone in her inner circle bends over backwards for her, and I'm left to ask: why?
The plot at its core was pretty simple, in a family politics way that I like. These kind of plots really need the characters to make them work, and with the characters and their development being the weakest part of this for me, it's no surprise that the story itself left me a bit cold.
I hate to fill this review up with criticisms, because I feel like my overall feeling on this book was more of the ambivalent nature and certainly not a feeling of dislike, but I'd be remiss not to mention one more thing that, once I noticed it, annoyed me for the rest of the book: characters could rarely just say anything. It always had to be something else, they cried, they advised, they retorted, they quipped, whatever it may be, and you know what? Sometimes, less is more.
I liked the history of this, and how detailed the setting was, I liked the idea of the plot and the idea of the characters, but I think the execution let it down for me, unfortunately.
Thank you to the publisher, Sourcebooks Landmark, and to NetGalley for the ARC.