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A review by lisa_setepenre
The Hippopotamus Marsh by Pauline Gedge
5.0
Oh my god.
If you gave me one word, just one, to sum this book up, it would be: epic.
In The Hippopotamus Marsh, Pauline Gedge tackles (with all of her considerable skill and talent) one of the most defining moments of Ancient Egyptian history: the expulsion of the Hyksos, which led to the golden age of the Egyptian empire: the New Kingdom.
It's a period I've long been interested in, but not one I've read a lot about as most of the books I've come across talk about the Hyskos as a short prologue to introduce Egypt's New Kingdom. So it's incredible to see this time, and the pharaohs Seqenenra Tao, Kamose and Ahmose given the attention they more than deserve.
These pharaohs, and the rest of their family, are examples of Gedge's superb characterisations. She doesn't bash us over the head with how deserving they are of the Horus throne, but instead allows them to become figures that the readers can find believable, and admirable, attractive or at the least, understandable.For example, I didn't want Si-Amun to die, despite knowing that he betrayed his family and his relative unimportance to the historical explusion . This lends a sense of pathos to the story, and when beloved characters were in some way harmed or killed, I felt their pain and/or loss keenly.
If I had to pick a flaw, I would say that there could have been a little bit of time spent with Ahmose, but he'll probably come into his own in the next instalments. Despite this, he was one of my (many) favourite characters.
I adore that Gedge also used the Ancient Egyptian names for locations rather than the modern names (i.e. Weset instead of Thebes). It might be a bit off-putting for less knowledgeable readers, but I found it refreshing, not least because it makes the story feel more authentic to its setting.
I have to say that I was surprised to hear that others thought this book 'slow' – I thought it was anything but. It was a real page-turner for me, and I regretted not being able to really sit down and devour it in one go. As I write this review, I'm restraining myself from racing off to order the rest ofGedge's bibliography the trilogy because it's that good.
In short, it's an amazing, epic read, the beginning of a "lush, sweeping epic", if you'd like, and Pauline Gedge remains, in my head at least, the undisputed Queen of Ancient Egyptian historical fiction.
If you gave me one word, just one, to sum this book up, it would be: epic.
In The Hippopotamus Marsh, Pauline Gedge tackles (with all of her considerable skill and talent) one of the most defining moments of Ancient Egyptian history: the expulsion of the Hyksos, which led to the golden age of the Egyptian empire: the New Kingdom.
It's a period I've long been interested in, but not one I've read a lot about as most of the books I've come across talk about the Hyskos as a short prologue to introduce Egypt's New Kingdom. So it's incredible to see this time, and the pharaohs Seqenenra Tao, Kamose and Ahmose given the attention they more than deserve.
These pharaohs, and the rest of their family, are examples of Gedge's superb characterisations. She doesn't bash us over the head with how deserving they are of the Horus throne, but instead allows them to become figures that the readers can find believable, and admirable, attractive or at the least, understandable.
If I had to pick a flaw, I would say that there could have been a little bit of time spent with Ahmose, but he'll probably come into his own in the next instalments. Despite this, he was one of my (many) favourite characters.
I adore that Gedge also used the Ancient Egyptian names for locations rather than the modern names (i.e. Weset instead of Thebes). It might be a bit off-putting for less knowledgeable readers, but I found it refreshing, not least because it makes the story feel more authentic to its setting.
I have to say that I was surprised to hear that others thought this book 'slow' – I thought it was anything but. It was a real page-turner for me, and I regretted not being able to really sit down and devour it in one go. As I write this review, I'm restraining myself from racing off to order the rest of
In short, it's an amazing, epic read, the beginning of a "lush, sweeping epic", if you'd like, and Pauline Gedge remains, in my head at least, the undisputed Queen of Ancient Egyptian historical fiction.