jlynnelseauthor's review against another edition
2.0
The author has a beautifully descriptive style to his writing. I really liked his metaphors and observations. I think the setting came to life well. However, the characters were lacking depth. They were not consistent in their reactions or have enough depth presented that they were relatable. It didn't seem like the author was a big fan of this period of time. The characters were overall very unlikeable. I was disappointed the way almost all the historical figures were painted with so many dark tones.
Overall, though, I had three problems with this book:
1) The main character, Rai Rahotep, was very ungrateful and didn't solve anything. By the end of the book, there was really no point to why he was sent for in the first place. He found clues, but he discovered nothing and solved nothing. He was mostly a pawn being moved around by the historical figures in the book. An example regarding him being ungrateful, after he was saved from being tortured (by having his fingers broken one by one), he rebuts back to the person who saved him when he's asked to deliver a message saying, "I'm not a messenger boy." Excuse me, you were almost a dead boy, so stop being a jerk. He also gets mad at someone for not trusting him "after all they've been through" even though Rai constantly questioned this other man's loyalty throughout the entire book to that point. Double standard, much?
2) What was the point of all the killings? Why would those things happen
3) There were too many modern references. For instance, Rai relates that a cat's tail looked like a question mark. Sorry, but the ancient people did not have the question mark symbol in their writings. Also, Rai references to moving something an "inch." That was not an Egyptian unit of measurement. Plus, the following paragraph used the correct unit of measurement! Sloppy. Things like this make me crazy. You've got to nail down the details to make the story believable.
The book wasn't terrible. I liked the author's writing style. However, the author needed to do a little more research to pull this story off. I also never felt there was a climax to things. Some peoples' lives got disrupted, and then everything was cleared up at the end with no help from Rai's influence. This story was lacking big time in the motivation and climax. Maybe for some, Ay's revelation was an actual revelation, but I knew what was going to be his "trump card" from the beginning. I was hoping the author would pull out something more to tie together the events of the story. Instead I felt left with a lot of underdeveloped plot threads.
Overall, though, I had three problems with this book:
1) The main character, Rai Rahotep, was very ungrateful and didn't solve anything. By the end of the book, there was really no point to why he was sent for in the first place. He found clues, but he discovered nothing and solved nothing. He was mostly a pawn being moved around by the historical figures in the book. An example regarding him being ungrateful, after he was saved from being tortured (by having his fingers broken one by one), he rebuts back to the person who saved him when he's asked to deliver a message saying, "I'm not a messenger boy." Excuse me, you were almost a dead boy, so stop being a jerk. He also gets mad at someone for not trusting him "after all they've been through" even though Rai constantly questioned this other man's loyalty throughout the entire book to that point. Double standard, much?
2) What was the point of all the killings? Why would those things happen
Spoiler
if the planner was not going after Nefertiti like the book had played it out to be. I don't mind a good plot twist, but this one made the first part of the story moot. What did faking Nefertiti's death or killing the other investigator or burning the priest have to do with anything? It felt like unnecessary violence, and there was never a motivation given for these occurrences. Was it supposed to be undermining Akhenaten's authority? I think Nefertiti's disappearance alone did that well enough.3) There were too many modern references. For instance, Rai relates that a cat's tail looked like a question mark. Sorry, but the ancient people did not have the question mark symbol in their writings. Also, Rai references to moving something an "inch." That was not an Egyptian unit of measurement. Plus, the following paragraph used the correct unit of measurement! Sloppy. Things like this make me crazy. You've got to nail down the details to make the story believable.
The book wasn't terrible. I liked the author's writing style. However, the author needed to do a little more research to pull this story off. I also never felt there was a climax to things. Some peoples' lives got disrupted, and then everything was cleared up at the end with no help from Rai's influence. This story was lacking big time in the motivation and climax. Maybe for some, Ay's revelation was an actual revelation, but I knew what was going to be his "trump card" from the beginning. I was hoping the author would pull out something more to tie together the events of the story. Instead I felt left with a lot of underdeveloped plot threads.
sidewalk_pirate's review against another edition
1.0
could not get past the first few pages!!!!! It just was too forced for me.
p12rochakt's review against another edition
3.0
This is my first excursion into historical ficton, so kindly bear with me.
The book takes you on a journey to ancient Egypt (ca. 1350 BC). The great queen Nefertiti (sobriquet "The Perfect One") has mysteriously disappeared just before the King ("Akhenaten") has announced a festival to commemorate his overhaul of Egyptian religion (and by extension, politics).
Which brings our hero, Rahotep (the "Seeker of Mysteries") into the fray. Leaving his peaceful familial existence behind, the seeker must now trace the queen and return her in time before the festival to save the king embarrassment. Should he fail, threats to him and his family are made in no uncertain terms.
Rahotep balances through the quagmire of Egyptian politics and the envy of local police ("Medjay"), while constantly watching over his back for unknown yet potent adversaries out to get him, even as the time is running out.
The setting, character profiling and exploration of ancient Egypt (I did have to Google this) gratify my inner nerd sufficiently enough, so I am tempted to give it a 4 (this is after all my first historical fiction read). However, I certainly found the book lacking in terms of the mystery itself, maybe just a 2 then? (Admittedly, Ms. Christie has spoiled me for mysteries forever.)
I think I will settle this with a 3.
READER ADVISORY: Contains descriptions of graphic violence. May induce nightmares in over-imaginative readers.
The book takes you on a journey to ancient Egypt (ca. 1350 BC). The great queen Nefertiti (sobriquet "The Perfect One") has mysteriously disappeared just before the King ("Akhenaten") has announced a festival to commemorate his overhaul of Egyptian religion (and by extension, politics).
Which brings our hero, Rahotep (the "Seeker of Mysteries") into the fray. Leaving his peaceful familial existence behind, the seeker must now trace the queen and return her in time before the festival to save the king embarrassment. Should he fail, threats to him and his family are made in no uncertain terms.
Rahotep balances through the quagmire of Egyptian politics and the envy of local police ("Medjay"), while constantly watching over his back for unknown yet potent adversaries out to get him, even as the time is running out.
The setting, character profiling and exploration of ancient Egypt (I did have to Google this) gratify my inner nerd sufficiently enough, so I am tempted to give it a 4 (this is after all my first historical fiction read). However, I certainly found the book lacking in terms of the mystery itself, maybe just a 2 then? (Admittedly, Ms. Christie has spoiled me for mysteries forever.)
I think I will settle this with a 3.
READER ADVISORY: Contains descriptions of graphic violence. May induce nightmares in over-imaginative readers.
deni707's review against another edition
5.0
a thrilling novel that is beautifully written.
it gave me some feelings that in the end i felt like i have lost a good friend.
fortunately it has an happy ending.
it gave me some feelings that in the end i felt like i have lost a good friend.
fortunately it has an happy ending.
demelzavandermeulen's review against another edition
5.0
Super cool and interesting! Bit of background knowledge about ancient Egypt would be useful. Feels like Sherlock Holmes set in ancient Egypt.
muga's review against another edition
3.0
‘I am wary of the words “right” and “wrong”. We use them far too easily to judge things
which we have no competence to judge....
This is a historical mystery set in the 18th dynasty with Akhenaten as the pharaoh,the mystery being the disappearance of is very beautiful and famous wife, Nefertiti, before a great ceremony to unveil the new city of Akhenaten.
The writing in this book was absolutely breathtaking, I already knew it was written by a poet before I read about the author.The descriptions were very immersive and you could tell that the author went through a great effort and really did his research
I was a little disappointed with the story itself,the mystery was not engaging and the main character also our narrator was not very compelling ,I felt that the author was trying to fashion him after Sherlock Holmes, as a straight forward detective but did not quite pull it off.
The other thing was the modernity of some words that the author used like 'forensics' took me out of the story sometimes.
I also wish that the story ended the way it did in real life, we all know Nefertiti was never found after she disappeared and to me that would have been a more interesting avenue to explore.
All in all this story flitted from being interesting and fast to painfully boring and slow but I stuck it out and overall enjoyed it.
which we have no competence to judge....
This is a historical mystery set in the 18th dynasty with Akhenaten as the pharaoh,the mystery being the disappearance of is very beautiful and famous wife, Nefertiti, before a great ceremony to unveil the new city of Akhenaten.
The writing in this book was absolutely breathtaking, I already knew it was written by a poet before I read about the author.The descriptions were very immersive and you could tell that the author went through a great effort and really did his research
I was a little disappointed with the story itself,the mystery was not engaging and the main character also our narrator was not very compelling ,I felt that the author was trying to fashion him after Sherlock Holmes, as a straight forward detective but did not quite pull it off.
The other thing was the modernity of some words that the author used like 'forensics' took me out of the story sometimes.
I also wish that the story ended the way it did in real life, we all know Nefertiti was never found after she disappeared and to me that would have been a more interesting avenue to explore.
All in all this story flitted from being interesting and fast to painfully boring and slow but I stuck it out and overall enjoyed it.
carollikesbooks's review against another edition
2.0
I bought this book from a second hand shop, as I do most of my books. Someone had ripped out the final page and I didnt realise until I got to it. First of all I wished death upon them, but now I'm wondering if the end is so disappointing they were trying to save others? I will never know.
bibliophiliadk's review
2.0
Completely unconvincing and unbelievable. The story takes place in ancient Egypt during the reign of Akhenaten, but practically nothing in this book portrays that, except for the names. Furthermore it is very historically incorrect, and it was a nuissance to read since I was constantly caught up in raging over inaccuracies. Then there was the plot itself, which was lacking and flat. It was supposed to be a mystery, but I never really caught on to it... Disappointing.
lisa_setepenre's review against another edition
3.0
The last reference to Nefertiti comes from Year 12 of Akhenaten's reign, and what became her has been one of the biggest areas of speculation in Egyptology – perhaps second only to the murder of Tutankhamun (now debunked, unless you like grasping at straws). At any rate, Drake uses Nefertiti's disappearance to write an exciting crime caper that you can't really take it seriously. But it is a lot of fun.
Drake's take on Nefertiti is particularly delightful, but his take on other historical figures, such as the admired Queen Tiye, fall flat. Tiye has been a long admired figure in Egyptian history, but Drake's version of her is utterly ghastly. Some characters start off with promise, but ultimately disappoint. His Akhenaten starts off a powerful figure, but ends up as a feeble old man. Ay and Horemheb both start off as strong, intriguing characters before falling into the roles of villainous conspirators they've been cast since someone first floated the Tutankhamun murder conspiracy.
As for the lead character, Rahotep? The best way to describe him is to call him an Egyptian cross between Sherlock Holmes with his science of investigation, and Philip Marlowe with his world-weariness.
The ending is ambiguous, and doesn't match with historical fact. I want to reread the sequel, [b:Tutankhamun|3279174|Tutankhamun (Rai Rahotep, #2)|Nick Drake|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51VLy9wkKTL._SL75_.jpg|3315474], to see how well they flow on from each other, but with a book this lightweight, I don't really care.
Drake's take on Nefertiti is particularly delightful, but his take on other historical figures, such as the admired Queen Tiye, fall flat. Tiye has been a long admired figure in Egyptian history, but Drake's version of her is utterly ghastly. Some characters start off with promise, but ultimately disappoint. His Akhenaten starts off a powerful figure, but ends up as a feeble old man. Ay and Horemheb both start off as strong, intriguing characters before falling into the roles of villainous conspirators they've been cast since someone first floated the Tutankhamun murder conspiracy.
As for the lead character, Rahotep? The best way to describe him is to call him an Egyptian cross between Sherlock Holmes with his science of investigation, and Philip Marlowe with his world-weariness.
The ending is ambiguous, and doesn't match with historical fact. I want to reread the sequel, [b:Tutankhamun|3279174|Tutankhamun (Rai Rahotep, #2)|Nick Drake|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51VLy9wkKTL._SL75_.jpg|3315474], to see how well they flow on from each other, but with a book this lightweight, I don't really care.