Kim's Review : Cleopatra's Daughter

Cleopatra's Daughter is a work of Historical Fiction by Michelle Moran - Other than Madame Tussaud, I think this is my favourite by her so far, and my top choice in her Egyptian series. I think this book is much better researched (could also be because the Romans kept better records) than the others in the Egyptian set.

Cleopatra's Daughter follows the life of Selene and her twin brother Alexander (through Selene's voice) - children of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony  - from the time of Octavian's assault on Alexandria and the death of her parents to her marriage and escape from Rome and Octavian's immediate influence.

Children of deposed / murdered Royals lead a tough life. While originally accustomed to comfort and every luxury, when their parents are defeated, they too are subjected to the worst humiliations, from being turned into slaves, to being murdered or manipulated for political purposes.

Selene sees all of this happening all around her. To further complicate matters, she and Alexander are put under the guardianship of Octavia - Octavian's sister and Mark Antony's first wife whom he divorced to marry Cleopatra - their mother.

Men and women of the ruling class in Rome are treated like chess pieces by the rulers or their parents, they are made to marry and divorce according to what would best suit the manipulator at that point of time.

To add a bit of intrigue to this story, we have the anonymous character of "The Red Eagle" who tries to stand up to all the injustice and iniquities faced by the slaves in Rome.

I teared up a bit in places when reading this book, but the Roman - Egyptian conflict History is pretty depressing when you think of all the lives that were lost and the despicable condition of Prisoners of War who were brought back as slaves.

This is one of Michelle's best researched books - especially into Roman Laws of that time. The Rome of Selene's time was not the Rome that is today renowned  for its order, planning, laws and development. The Alexandria of this age was vastly superior to Rome in terms of town planning, culture and development. This makes the comparisons in the story interesting.

If you like Historical fiction, definitely pick this one up. Just remember it deals more with Rome than Egypt - If you are looking for Egyptian Historical Fiction, then try Michelle Moran's Nefertiti and the Heretic Queen.

Rating : 4.25 / 5

Brajesh's Review: Tutankhamun - The Last Secret

I loved Christian Jacq's Ramses series so much, that I was quite excited when I got my hands on this book. I guess my big expectations from the book is what let me down.

However on a stand-alone basis, this is an interesting approach to tell the story of Egypt's freedom movement. The backdrop of the story has characters like Nasser, King Faroque, Suez Canal, CIA and Egyptian Intelligence services. The other story is around the myth of John Howard and Tutankhamun's legend. The myths, magic and mystery kept me engaged, but the end really let me down :( .

As I said, this book probably let me down on expectations and so did the ending. I still remain a big fan of Christian Jacq and I'm sure I will delve into his books at regular intervals given my interest in Egyptian History & Mythology

Rating: 3 / 5




     

Kim's Review: Nefertiti

When I first read The Heretic Queen, I wasn't very impressed. I felt it was more Chicklit than Historical Fiction. But by then, I had already bought Madame Tussaud, also by Michelle Moran and so after a month, I read that too and thought it was brilliant.

So I finally decided to try reading Nefertiti too. Nefertiti was the Queen of the Heretic King Akhenaten and hence there is very little information about her that survives today. as the suceeding generations tried to wipe out all evidence of their existence.

Nefertiti was way more impressive as a story, than The Heretic Queen was. A lot of reaerch has gone into this book and again like  Madame Tussaud, this book I would definitely classify as Historical Fiction and not just chicklit.

Nefertiti tells the tale of Nefertiti and her sister Mutnodjmet. They are both daughters of the same father but different mothers. The book begins when Nefertiti is 15 and Mutnodjmet is 13. They have been brought up by their father, Ay, away from the Royal court. Even though their father himself is a Vizier and his sister is the reigning Queen.

Nefertiti is beautiful, ambitious, sly and cunning. Mutnodjmet is much simpler and more interested in her herbs and plants and is renowned for never lying.When the Prince Regent, Tuthmosis dies, his brother Akhenaten is next in line. But Akhenaten already has dangerous ideas that conflict with reigning beliefs and his mother wants a wife for him who can sway him from his eccentric ideas. She chooses Nefertiti.

But feeling herself in competition with Akhenaten's previous wife Kiya, Nefertiti chooses to encourage Akhenaten and his ideas to ensure that she is crowned first wife. Mutnodjmet is forced to follow her to the palace and be her chief lady-in-waiting and keeper of secrets. The tale then proceeds with 2 differing points of view of the two sisters being offered for each significant event.

Although Akhenaten and Nefertiti temporarily succeed in building their dream city of Amarna against all voices of reason, their world is shatterred when the city begins to die from the plague, shortly followed by the deaths of their own children. Plunged into the final throes of madness, Akhenaten drives into the city and is attacked by his own people and comes back to the palace to succumb to the plague himself.

The tale ends when Nefertiti dies at the hands of an assassin, along with her daughter Meritaten whom she had anointed Pharoah. The reigns are then taken up by Tutankhamun (son of Akhenaten and Kiya) and his wife Ankhesenamun (daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti)

Although this book ends here, we know that their reign did not last too long either, the next significant Pharaohs were Seti and his son Ramses. Ramses II marries Mutnodjmets daughter Nefertari and their story is told in The Heretic Queen.

I completely loved Nefertiti. There is enough intrigue and court politics in this book to interest any reader, so its not confined to a female audience.

Rating: 4.2/5

Kim's Review: The Heretic Queen

 

I was browsing through flipkart last week and saw a link to Michelle Moran's- Heretic Queen which was supposedly based on the life of Nefertari. Having just finished Christian Jacq's 5 part series on Ramses which had a large part of it dedicated to his realtionship with Nefertari, I thought it would be interesting to read another historical fiction authors take on the same.

The difference was like chalk and cheese, except for perhaps the character of Ramses who just has varying degrees of rashness. If Jacq's Tuya was an intelligent, delicate Queen who helped Seti rule Egypt according to the rule of Ma'at, Moran's Tuya is an overindulged, overweight indolent queen only interested in her iwiw (pet dog)

If Jacq's Seti was a Pharoah with deep insight and who could see into each man's soul and beyond, Moran's Seti is easily led astray by his sisters. Jacq's Isis is a woman of noble birth, completely in love with Ramses who quietly acknowledges her position as secondary wife to Nefertari. Moran's Iset is granddaughter of a harem child whose father is unknown, who is easily led astray and whose only interest in marrying Ramses is to be queen, even though she is in love with another man. Jacq's Uri-Teshup is a violent Hittite forced to seek refuge in Egypt but who continues to plot against Ramses while being his guest. Moran's Urhi is a gentle 17 year old Prince.

Moran's book feels less like a book of historical fiction, and more like a book of fiction with names of historical characters. From whatever I have read on Pharaonic Egypt, Moran's depiction of the court and courtiers is more akin to the English and French courts, than the Pharaonic Egyptian court.

She herself confesses that since so little is known of the actual history, she has played around a lot with the accepted facts. So in her version, Nefertari is the daughter of Queen Mutnodjmet who was the sister of Queen Neferatri. After the death of the heretic king Akhenaten and his Queen Nefertari, their daughter Ankhesenamun who married her half brother and Akhenatens son Tutankhamun came to the throne before his early death. Next it is Neferatri's father Ay, who was Vizier who became Pharoah. General Horemheb, kills them all, sparing only Mutnodjmet who is pregnant with a child from her first husband General Nakhtmin. He keeps her alive and forcibly marries her to claim a right to the throne of Egypt. Queen Mutnodjmet dies giving birth to Nefertari.

After Horemheb's death, his general Ramses I - an old man is named Pharoah. His son Seti is Pharaoh after him and his daughters Henuttawy and Woserit are High Priestesses of Isis and Hathor respectively. Nefertari as a Royal Princess is brought up with Seti's children Ramses II (3 years older to her) and Princess  Pili who is the same age as her. Unfortunately Princess Pili dies at the age of 6, but Ramses and Nefertari grow up as brother and sister. But as a niece of Nefertari who resembles her in looks, she is always under the cloud and suspicion of being a heretic.

At the age of 17 Ramses is crowned co-regent and with the machinations of Henuttawy, he is married to Iset. Woserit takes Nefertari under her wing. The book then deals with the power struggles between Iset and Nefertari, Henuttawy and Woserit, the struggle for freedom of the Habiru (Hebrews) under Ahmose (Moses), the struggle of the Egyptians to survive after 4 years of failed flooding of the Nile.

The book is a page turner. It was very difficult for me to put down, but at the same time I was also questioning what I was reading. "Could it really have happened like that?"

Given the lack of finer details of Pharaonic Egypt, there will always be 100's of theories about the details, the trick for any writer, writing fiction about this age is to come up with a new angle and keep it interesting. Moran  has definitely succeeded in doing that. But saying that, it also veers more towards the chicklit and Romance novel genres than historical fiction. I think what I'm trying to say, is that Heretic Queen is a good story with a good plot but lacking in the depth of content that would truly make it a work of historical fiction.

I already have a copy of her Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution, and I'm quite looking forward to reading it. After that I will decide whether I want to buy the rest of the books in her Egypt series.

Rating: 3.2/5

Also check out my detailed reviews of Christian Jacq's series:
Ramses - The Son of the Light
Ramses - The Temple of a Million Years
Ramses - The Battle of Kadesh
Ramses - The Lady of Abu Simbel
Ramses - Under the Western Acacia

Brajesh's Review : Christian Jacq's Ramses Series

Read this Christian Jacq Series on RAMSES II over last month. The fact that I finished all 5 in a row should be proof enough that this is an exciting series to invest time in.

You must read this if you have lived in Egypt, like Egypt, are interested in Egyptian History, fascinated by Pharaonic Culture, want to understand a legend or just plain and simple like a good read.

1st one "The son of the light" is mostly about the legend of Seti, father of Ramses and introduces us to some important characters and making of Ramses the king. (4.5/5)

2nd in series "The temple of million years" builds on early years of Ramses's rule and introduces us to his evil brother but really builds on his friend's quartet which includes the legendary Moses. (4.5/5)

3rd book "The battle of Kadesh" gives a unique take on this important historical event. By this time we are also introduced to wonderful characters in the Hittite Empire (3/5)

4th book "The lady of Abu simbel" handles all the complex webs and intricate workings of Ramses's empire as he grows older. The book ends with the opening of my favourite Egyptian monument of Abu Simbel (3.5/5)

5th book "Under the western acacia" winds down the story to Ramses's final years as a King. However since the attempt is to make each book independent by now the extent of repetitions start to get boring. (2.5/5)

Also check out Kim's detailed reviews of:
Ramses - The Son of the Light
Ramses - The Temple of a Million Years
Ramses - The Battle of Kadesh
Ramses - The Lady of Abu Simbel
Ramses - Under the Western Acacia

     

Kim's Review : Ramses - Under the Western Acacia

Halfway through reading Ramses: The Son of the Light, I placed an order for the next 4 books in Christian Jacq's Ramses series. Ramses : Under the Western Acacia is the Fifth book in this series.

This book begins 33 years into Ramses reign. At 55, Ramses has lost a lot of his closest advisors. His mother Tuya, wife Nefertari, dog Wideawake, lion Invincible & his 2 horses who helped him win the battle of Kadesh. Moses one of his 4 closest friends has shepherded all the Hebrews and left Egypt.


After the period of Royal mourning for Nefertari, he raises Iset from the rank of Secondary wife to that of Great Royal wife. His son Kha 37, holds high religious offices. His daughter Meritamon 33, lives the life of a recluse at the temple of Gurnah in Thebes. His son Meneptah 27, is athletic like his father with a taste for command and  Ramses names him Comander in chief.

While Ramses wishes only for peace and for his nation to prosper, Emperor Hattusilis has other ideas. He threatens to break the peace treaty with Egypt unless Ramses marries his daughter Mat-Hor and makes her the Great Royal wife. But Ramses cannot tolerate such an insult against Iset and the law of Ma'at.

To save him from this situation, Iset commits suicide, leaving the position of Great Royal wife open for the Hittite princess. However the ritualists object to a foreigner being privy to all the secret mysteries and rituals that are the responsibility of the Great Royal wife. And here Christian Jacq comes up with a brilliant interpretation of the recorded fact that Ramses married his daughter Meritamon. Jacq explains it as Ramses solution to this dilemma. Pharoah requests is daughter Meritamon to play the symbolic role of an Egyptian Great Royal Wife for all the religious ceremonies.

Uri Teshup is released from house arrest and finds support in the spy Raia and Ofir's brother Malfi in his quest to destroy Ramses. He marries Lady Tanit, the richest widow in Pi-Ramses and hence now has access to money, black magic, Libyan mercenaries and a spy network at his disposal. Inspite of Serramanna's  best efforts, he does manage to cause some major problems for Ramses including the murder of Ahsha.

Clashes follow, Ramses remains supreme until his death.


Important facts and introduction to characters are all repeated, so you can read Under the Western Acacia, even if you havent yet read any of the others in the series. But this volume is difficult to appreciate as a standalone. It does tell a story, but its the end of the story. It would be like buying a mystery novel and reading just the last chapter.

A lot of this volume spends time describing ancient Egyptian costumes, medicines and rituals. While the book is interesting, it does not add as much to the story line as the previous 4 do. A lot of the material seems repetitive and reader fatigue does set in, in this book. Jacq may have been better off condensing the main story lines into an extra 2-3 chapters in the previous book.

Rating: 3/5

Also check out my review of:
Ramses - The Son of the Light
Ramses - The Temple of a Million Years
Ramses - The Battle of Kadesh
Ramses - The Lady of Abu Simbel

     

Kim's Review : Ramses - The Lady of Abu Simbel

Halfway through reading Ramses: The Son of the Light, I placed an order for the next 4 books in Christian Jacq's Ramses series. Ramses : The Lady of Abu Simbel is the Fourth book in this series.

Having defeated the Hittites at Kadesh, Ramses had hoped for the peace treaty to last. But the Hittites struck quickly stirring up revolt again amongst Egypts allies and the bedouin

Ofir sends his accomplice and Pharoahs sister Dolora back to the palace where she inviegles her way into Nefertari's good books and into Iset's service. Where she slowly tries to poison Iset against Nefertari, hoping to break the bond between the Royal couple who keep Ma'at in balance. Shanaar who escaped when being transported from a Memphis prison to an oasis labour outpost, rejoins Ofir and they hide out at the deserted capital of Akhenaten.

Moses has had an encounter with Yahweh in the form of a burning bush in the desert and believes that he is called to lead all the Hebrews out of Egypt to a promised land. So, this book sees Moses finally returning to Pi-Ramses from his flight into the desert with a wife Zipporah and their infant son.

Ofir heads the Hittite spy network in Egypt and uses his powers of persuasion and black magic to convince the bedouin that they have the same objectives and the Hebrews through Moses, that they all believe in monotheism

Ramses sets out to rescue Asha who is now a Hittite captive in Amurru. But the Hittites retreated from Egyptian land as swiftly as the Egyptian army approached. And again the lack of knowledge of Hittite terrain and the lack of blood thirstiness of the Egyptians convinces Ramses to return rather than pursue his enemy.

On return to Pi-Ramses, Moses meets with Ramses and demands that all Hebrews be allowed to leave Egypt. Ramses argument is 2 fold. 1. The Hebrews aren't slaves, they have assimilated into Egyptian society, they are free to practice their religious beliefs, why should they leave? 2. the Hebrews are also his subjects and with the Hittites threat around Egypt's borders, how can he allow them to leave with a clean conscience knowing that they could meet with complete annihilation?


Muwattallis dies and in the power struggle between his son Uri-Teshup and brother Hattusilis, Ahsha sides with the less blood thirsty Hattusilis and double crosses Uri Teshup while pretending to be his ally. However, in a stroke of genius, just before Uri-Teshup is about to be killed, Ahsha rescues him and sends him to Pi-Ramses to safety where he reveals all the details of the Hittite army to the Egyptians. But this angers Hattusilis who threatens war unless Uri-Teshup is returned to face trial in Hatti.

Kha - Ramses first born from Iset enters the priesthood a logical progression from his early love for learning and the mysteries. He is appointed the High Priest of Ptah and is hence one of the notables before whom Moses seeks to appear to plead his case.

Then follow the plagues which Moses claims to be sent by Yahweh to punish the Egyptians for their stubborness, but Jacq explains away each of them as natural phenomena and this could be the crux why, this series has not been taken up by Hollywood to be turned into a movie.

Shanaar, Ofir and Dolora keep trying to harm the royal couple and Kha. Finally they manage to infiltrate Kha's defenses and by black magic, cause him great sickness, which takes all of Nefertari's life force to keep him alive until the dark magic causing it is destroyed. This they had hoped would be the 10th plague. - death to the first born males.

However Ofir and Dolora are caught and sentenced. Shanaar meest his death at the hands of Nubian tribal chiefs whom he had incited against Ramses. Ramses and Hattusilis sign the historic Peace treaty between the Hittites and the Egyptians, due to the unwavering efforts and diplomatic tatcics of their wives and Ahsha.

Inspite of all this good news around, Ramses faces three crushing blows. the death of his mother Tuya and faithful companion dog - wideawake, to old age and Nefertari succumbs to the loss of her life force too.

Thus The Lady of Abu Simbel ends on an extremely somber note.

Important facts and introduction to characters are all repeated, so you can read The Lady of Abu Simbel, even if you havent yet read the Son of the Light or Temple of a Million Years or the Battle of Kadesh, but this volume is difficult to appreciate as a standalone. It does tell a story, but its the middle of a story, neither here nor there. Read this as a standalone only if your sole interest is in Jacq's interpretation of the Hebrews struggle for independence.


Rating: 4/5

Also check out my review of:
Ramses - The Son of the Light
Ramses - The Temple of a Million Years
Ramses - The Battle of Kadesh


     

Kim's Review : Ramses - The Battle of Kadesh

Halfway through reading The Son of the Light, I placed an order for the next 4 books in Christian Jacq's Ramses series. Ramses: The Battle of Kadesh is the Third book in this series.

This book begins with the complete annihilation of "The Abode of the Lion" - an Egyptian border village, by the Hittites who start pushing further inland, convince previous Egyptian allies Lebanon & Palestine to back them instead and harass the other Egyptian allies in Damascus & Phoenecia. The general peace loving Egyptian populace realises the inevitability of war with their neighbours and gear up their war machinery under the keen eye and confidence building measures of Ramses II.

Shaanar continues to scheme against Ramses with the help of Raia- a Syrian merchant of fine vases n Egypt, who is actually a spy for the Hittites, Ofir - a Libyan black magician and Ahsha the diplomat in charge of assessing the threats to Egypt. Shaanar tries to assist the Hittites under Muwatallis, hoping he can rule Egypt after Ramses defeat.

In a convoluted plot, Serramanna - Ramses personal chief bodyguard is accused of conspiracy and thrown into prison the eve before Ramses and the Egyptian army set off to fight the Hittites. It is left to Tuya, Nefertari & Ahmeni to govern in his absence. Ramses slowly retakes all the Egyptian protectorates that had rebelled and then, returns to Pi-Ramses instead of marching towards Kadesh on the advice of Ahsha.

Meanwhile in the Hittite capital of Hattusa, the cunning but aging Emperor Muwatallis has to maintain and control the power struggle between his son Uri-Teshup also Commander-in-chief & his own brother Hattusilis priest of the Sun Goddess, married to Putuhepa the influential daughter of the high priest. Uri Teshup controls the army and wants war while Hattusilis has the support of the priests and merchants and is more inclined towards peace.


On his return, having faced the possibility of his death, Nefertari who cannot have anymore children urges Ramses to have more children with his secondary wife Iset and to marry more women, so that there may be more possibilities for future pharoahs. Ramses, does have another son with Iset, but declines further marriages and decrees that all children who are educated in the palace school will be elevated to "Royal Son" and "Royal Daughter" and he would make a choice for his succession from amongst them.



Lita is found dead in the house owned by Shaanar and Ramses finally has proof to sentence his brother, but Shaanar escapes when being transported to a prison facility.


Ahsha sets off undercover to Hattusa to see for himself the state of preparedness and gauge how soon the Hittites will wage war against Egypt, but unfortunately is recognised by Raia (who has been identified as a spy and flees Egypt) and captured just before leaving with important information for Ramses. He only manages to send him a brief message : Kadesh. Quickly. Danger.

 At Kadesh, Ramses confronts the combined army of the Hittites with the prines of Syria, Mitanni, Aleppo, Ugarit, Karkemish, Arzawa and other smaller principalities. Faced with a 40,000 strong army, the Egyptian army which had hardly seen any battles until then scatterred without even fighting. Accompanied only by his 2 charriot drawing horses and Invincible his lion, Ramses succeeded in sending the Hittite allied army back into the Kadesh fortress. But the fortress itself seemed impenetratable.

However Emperor Muwatallis, agrees to a peace agreement in which Ahsha is freed and the borders are fixed at Kadesh. Ramses retrned triumphant to Egypt, but the Hittites return only thirsting to avenge their defeat.

The book ends with Ahsha being captured again by Hattusilis when on a routine visit to the Egyptian outposts, in a lightning counter attack

Another engrossing read by Christian Jacq. The book keeps you hooked throughout. This story is one of the most popular one from the Pharaonic history of Egypt and it is interesting to read Jacq's interpretation of the available information.

Important facts and introduction to characters are all repeated, so you can read The Battle of Kadesh, even if you havent yet read the Son of the Light or Temple of a Million Years and are only interested in this most famous episode of Ramses II life..


Rating: 4.5/5

Also check out my review of:
Ramses - The Son of the Light
Ramses - The Temple of a Million Years

     

Kim's Review : Ramses - The Temple of a Million Years

Halfway through reading The Son of the Light, I placed an order for the next 4 books in Christian Jacq's Ramses series. The Temple of a Million Years is the Second book in this series.

The Son of the Light ended with the death of Seti, The Temple of a Million Years begins with the period of mourning following Seti's death and Ramses ascent to the throne at age 23 despite the efforts of his brother Shaanar to take control himself.

With the support of his mother Queen Tuya (Seti's wife) and his Great Royal Wife - Nefertari, Ramses begins his reign under many auspicious signs. He is protected by his lion "Invincible", his dog "Wide Awake", a Sardinian Mercenary turned personal bodyguard - Serramanna and the magic of his wife and mother.

His 4 childhood friends Ahmeni, Ahsha, Moses and Setau have all taken up positions that assist Ramses in his kingly duties. However Shaanar tries to use Menelaus who was forced to stop in Egypt on his triumphant return from Troy due to ship trouble.

Menelaus is forced to stay on in Egypt against his will, as Egyptian law allows women the freedom of will and movement and Helen uses this opportunity to stay away from Menelaus and his cruelty and grow closer to Nefertari and Tuya. However to save Ramses from Menelaus treachery, she agrees to leave with him and his army and commits suicide once out of Egyptian waters. The poet Homer stays behind though and becomes a close friend of Ramses who suspects that the poet has a gift for foretelling the future through his poetry.

The rest of the book dwells on how Ramses slowly starts asserting himself as Pharoah, shaking up the administration, all for the greater good and to uphold the divine principles of Ma'at. He also embarks on a massive construction spree in Luxor and of a new capital - Pi-Ramses under the command of his friend Moses.

Shaanar continues to spin his schemes and comes in contact with a Libyan shaaman - Ofir who claims to believe in the one true God of Akhenaton and claims that his companion Lita is a descendant of Akhenaton, and hence,  the rightful heir to the throne of Egypt.

Ofir also tries to befriend Moses, whom he knows believes in monotheism and bring him around to his way of thinking. However, before he can accomlish this, Moses runs away into the desert after accidentally killing Sary - Ramses brother-in-law. This book ends with the flight of Moses and the Hittite threat approaching the Egyptian border.

The Temple of a Million Years has a lot more widely known factual base than, The Son of the Light. So reading it, is like reading a historical text with reinterpreted ideas. Christian Jacq writes a fascinating tale and keeps the reader engrossed.

Important facts are all reinforced, so you can read Temple of a Million Years, even if you havent yet read the Son of the Light.


Rating: 4.75/5

Also check out my review of:
Ramses - The Son of the Light

     

Kim's Review : Ramses - The Son of the Light

I had picked up this book in Cairo, before we left Egypt in January 2009, but didn't get around to reading it until last month. Once I was halfway through this book, I immediately placed an order for the next 4 books in this series and just read them all straight through.

Other than Tutankhamun, Ramses II is THE Pharoah who has captured the imagination of the world. He left his mark on practically every Pharaonic temple on a visitors itinerary in Egypt today. But he is also dogged by controversy. While every Egyptian temple displays large portraits and reliefs of his victory over the Hittites at the battle of Kadesh, the discovery of the agreement between the Egyptians and the Hitties in modern day Turkey, contradicts that premise.

Within Egypt, it is believed that Ramses' Father - Seti, was the one who fought all the hard battles, secured her borders, thus granting a period of unprecedented peace for Ramses II to rule in, which gave him the time, labour and resources to construct magnificient temples.

Christian Jacq has weaved a story encompassing the major documented highlights of Ramses life, but spun a different story out of them, contrary to a lot of popular beliefs. And that is what makes this entire series even more interesting.

The Son of Light begins with a 14 year old Ramses facing a test of courage set for him by his father Seti. His brother Shaanar is the Prince Regent and is being groomed as Seti's successor and Ramses is still studying at the Royal Academy. His 4 best friends are Ahmeni - a diligent student and scribe, Setau - a lad fascinated with snakes, their venom and their medicinal value, Ahsha - a cultured and smooth talker who dreams of becoming a diplomat and Moses - who knows he wants to do great things, but is not yet sure of his path.

Over the book Seti sets Ramses multiple tasks to test different aspects of his personality and ethics and Ramses feels that he is being groomed to be the next Pharoah, but Seti's intentions aren't quite clear until the end. Ramses faces multiple death threats but emerges stronger from each of them gathering "wide awake" a yellow dog and "Invincible" a mighty lion whom he and Setau rescue into his closest circle.

His inseperable bond with Invincible, and his mastery over a bull elephant, are exploits that are repeated across the land and the common people soon begin to believe that he is blessed by the Gods. However Shaanars smooth talking and clear focus on diplomacy and trade makes him better liked by the governing classes than the unpredictable, hot bloooded Ramses.

However by the time of his death at the end of this book, Seti makes it quite clear that it is Ramses whom he has chosen as his successor, thereby sidelining his older son Shaanar.


The tale woven by Christian Jacq is fascinating. Historical fiction is one of the most difficult genres to master. Everyone knows the ending of the story, so how an author tells the tale is of supreme importance. Can he/she bring enough of a fresh perspective to the story? Can they tell a tale that is intriguing, yet stays true to the most important facts? Can they hold the readers attention? In Jacq's case, the answer to all 3 questions is a resounding yes.

I would love to see this series made into a movie and I know it will be so much more fascinating than the Mummy or the Scorpion king. Can't imagine why no one has gotten around to it yet.

Rating: 4.75/5

     

Kim's Review: The Map of Love

 

Inspite of living 4 years in Egypt, I am embarrassed to say that I had never heard of Ahdaf Soueif. This novel, Map of Love was shortlisted for the 1999 Booker Prize. But while Naguib Mahfouz's English translations are available at every bookstore across Egypt, I don't recall seeing any books by Soueif in the bookstores, or perhaps I just didn't know where to look.

Ahdaf Soueif was another speaker at the Jaipur Literature Festival this year, which was how I came to hear her.

While at first glance, Map of Love may seem like a romance novel, it is much more than that. It covers Egyptian history of the 20th century, the disconnect felt by rural Egypt, the position of women, Egyptian history and culture on a personal level, juggling of multiple cultures for the 2 main female protagonists.

In 1900, the recently widowed Lady Anna Winterbourne visits British Occupied Egypt and falls in love with Sharif Al Baroudi an Egyptian patriot. In 2000, an American divorcee Isabel Parkman - visits Egypt with an old trunk, meeting up with Amal (Omar's sister) and both of them turn out to be related to Anna & Sharif.

 There are multiple themes, voices and narratives in this novel. Fictional characters interact with historical figures. The mutual fascination between East and West, the relationship between Britain and Egypt, cultural differences and commonalities are some of the themes running through this book.

At 500+ pages, it is a long novel but it flows smoothly with very few glitches. Stories are interwoven and intermingle. It is a lovely tale, but it may come across as overly Romantic to some. The Romance is a very much a part of the story and integral to the story moving forward. This is defintiely not Chiklit, but if you are put off by tales of Romance, then avoid this book.

Rating: 3.8/5

Brajesh's Review: The Exodus Quest

Second of Will Adams, this didn't live-up anywhere close to the expetations set by the previous one

Rating: 3/5

Kim's Review: The Exodus Quest

The next in the Egypt based Daniel Knox series by Will Adams. Daniel Knox is now famous in Egypt as the Archaeologist who discovered Alexander's tomb. On a visit to an Alexandrian market, he chances upon an antiquity that might be a Dead Sea Scroll Jar lid and the vendor admits that he sourced it from a foreigner run excavation, South of the Mariut.

His girlfriend Gail is on assignment in Assiut, forced to accompany and assist a pompous and obnoxious author of populist history - Charles Stafford.

In standard Will Adams style, their paths and investigations criss cross until Gail is kidnapped and appears on tv in a hostage tape.

The mystery in this book surrounds the Jewish Exodus from Egypt and Adams brings out a lot of the currently existing theories on this matter. The heretic pharoah Akehnaten, Moses, Nefertiti, Adam and Eve are all invoked in various myths and theories. Adams has an interesting style akin to the filming of Jack Bauer's 24. He focuses on different characters, shifting the narrative to their respective points of view and then leaves the character in a cliff hanger before moving to the next.

This is an exciting book, but does not quite come up to the standard of his first novel - The Alexander Cipher.

Rating: 3.5/5

Brajesh's Review: The Alexander Cipher

This is how a thriller should be written. Truly unputdownable.

Rating: 4.5/5
0.5 extra for Egypt ;)


 

Kim's Review: Alexander Cipher

The Alexander Cipher introduces an Indiana Jones type character with Daniel Knox a disgraced American Egyptologist with 25% Bedouin heritage, currently biding time as a diving instructor for hire in Sharm el Sheikh.

In Will Adams, first book: The Alexander Cipher Knox tries to unravel the mystery behind the whereabouts of the remains of Alexander the great and his magnificent catafalque. The action constantly shifts from Sharm to Cairo to Alexandria to Tanta to Siwa and to the Suez. Adams has an interesting style akin to the filming of Jack Bauer's 24.He focuses on different characters, shifting the narrative to their respective points of view and then leaves the character in a cliff hanger before moving to the next.

This technique makes his books unputdownable and I often felt like skipping sections to continue where the current character's tale continued.

In The Alexander Cipher, Knox has quite a few people gunning for him - an influential shipping agent, the head of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, a rich Macedonian businessman and the daughter of an Egyptologist he used to work with. But he also has friends who would do anything for him.

Alexander today is identified as a Greek hero, but his empire was actually the Macedonian Empire. Most of the region was divided by the Treaty of Bucharest of 1913, following the Ottoman defeat in the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria each took control of portions of Macedonia.

Macedonian seperatists, a corrupt Head of the SCA, opportunistic locals - all have their own motives and agendas for finding the tomb. The Alexander Cipher is peppered with a lot of trivia from Egyptian and Macedonian History.

Its a wonderful read and quite unputdownable. A real page turner. I can't wait to read the next in the series

Rating: 4.5/5