DAUGHTER OF EGYPT from the reigning Rani of women in historical fiction

DAUGHTER OF EGYPT
MARIE BENEDICT
St. Martin's Press (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$14.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict, returns with a sweeping tale of a young woman who unearths the truth about a forgotten Pharaoh—rewriting both of their legacies forever.

In the 1920s, archeologist Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon of Highclere Castle made headlines around the world with the discovery of the treasure-filled tomb of the boy Pharaoh Tutankhamun. But behind it all stood Lady Evelyn Herbert—daughter of Lord Carnarvon—whose daring spirit and relentless curiosity made the momentous find possible.

Nearly 3,000 years earlier, another woman defied the expectations of her time: Hatshepsut, Egypt’s lost pharaoh. Her reign was bold, visionary—and nearly erased from history.

When Evelyn becomes obsessed with finding Hatshepsut’s secret tomb, she risks everything to uncover the truth about her reign and keep valued artifacts in Egypt, their rightful home. But as danger closes in and political tensions rise, she must make an impossible choice: protect her father’s legacy—or forge her own.

Propelled by high adventure and deadly intrigue, Daughter of Egypt is the story of two ambitious women who lived centuries apart. Both were forced to hide who they were during their lifetimes, yet ultimately changed history forever.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: I like this sentence as a statement of purpose for this story:

I've been a student of Hatshepsut since the day Mr.Carter entered my world. The narrative of her existence is one I've been constructing as long as I can remember. The nature of her life and the manner in which her successors were positively determined to erase her from history is a puzzle I'm determined to solve myself.

Based on the few extant facts of two erased women's lives, intertwined in a way I found very compelling, this novel of erasure is so infuriating I want to chew nails to relieve my frustration. How many women, strong, intelligent, and capable, have suffered this fate without the unique concatenation of societal circumstances that preserved the barest bits and patches of their life like these two?

It doesn't do to dwell on it. I'm prone to rumination as it is.

I found the story of these two flinty women very involving. Their shared unwillingness to make themselves small enough to be unthreatening to the men around them truly inspired me to look more deeply into their factual lives. Historical fiction often does the opposite for me, leaving me more or less as informed as I ever want to be; these lives were sufficiently powerfully rendered that I wanted still more. There is not any evidence of Lady Evelyn doing any discovering, but she was clearly deeply intrigued and passionately invested in her father's and Howard Carter's discoveries in Egypt.

I was not entirely delighted by the, to my way of thinking, cursory nods at the deeply contentious subject of Empire and imperialism more generally. After all, Hatshepsut's own imperial project draws a distinct parallel to England's commercially motivated one. I know asking for more is asking for Author Benedict to choose to write *my* preferred story not her own, so I'm not holding that against the rating.

I felt this was a four-star read mostly because I found the ending a bit contrived for my taste. I do not think it is an ending that flows naturally from the two intertwined stories preceding it; more it was the set-piece everything on the way was going to support. It didn't ruin my pleasure in the read, but it did tarnish that pleasure just a bit to feel I was being pandered to when, until then, I was being lured along with strong storytelling.

Liking for ancient Egypt as a storytelling venue will go a long way towards wrapping you into the tale. It's not perfect but nothing is, and it's far more perfected than the lives these women were left with by the patriarchy of their times. Our times ain't great, but things have been worse.

RAMESSES, LOVED BY PTAH: The History Of A Colossal Royal Statue, deep beautifully illustrated dive into a very famous statue

RAMESSES, LOVED BY PTAH: The History Of A Colossal Royal Statue
SUSANNA THOMAS
The American University in Cairo Press
$24.95 paperback, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: The dramatic story behind the 3,200-year-old colossal Grand Egyptian Museum Ramesses statue
King Ramesses II ruled Egypt for an extraordinary sixty-six years (1279–1213 BC) during the Nineteenth Dynasty. A great warrior and lavish builder, he fathered dozens of children and is widely regarded as the most celebrated and powerful pharaoh of the New Kingdom.

This wonderfully clear, engaging book recounts the dramatic history of the famed red granite colossal statue of Ramesses II now residing in Egypt’s Grand Egyptian Museum. One of the biggest statues ever made and part of the urban landscape of modern Cairo, the statue lent its name to Ramses Square and the city’s mainline train station, and was so much a symbol of Cairo that it featured in countless Egyptian films. Susanna Thomas recounts the full history of the statue’s creation and installation in the Great Temple of Ptah at Memphis during the reign of Ramesses II, its reuse by Ramesses IV, and the later history of the statue during the Greco-Roman and Islamic Periods.

The book also provides an overview of how statues were made in ancient Egypt and includes a brief discussion of the statue cults of Ramesses II, kingship, temples, and the expansion of the New Kingdom capital city of Memphis and its temples. The final section covers the history of the statue since its rediscovery and subsequent rescue in the mid-nineteenth century until its installation in the entrance hall of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza.

Written by a New Kingdom specialist and curatorial expert and illustrated with over 130 images, Ramesses, Beloved by Ptah tells the fascinating story of this magnificent statue within the wider context of statue cults and the reign of Ramesses II, and its subsequent rescue and restoration in modern times.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I am so very grateful for the internet when I get knowledge of, and access to, wonderful books like this. No way would the American University in Cairo Press's catalog ever have crossed my path if we didn't have services like Edelweiss+ and NetGalley to aggregate offerings from publishers everywhere. Bloggers and reviewers have a huge increase in the field of operations for their choices.

Now that I have been down this very temptingly baited, deep rabbit hole, I am glad I made the trip. This statue is famous for being famous, if you see what I mean; lots of people see it and think "Egypt" and never consider its history, or who it's of, or why it matters.

Moving the Pharoah to a new, permanent home in Cairo was quite a feat

A god-king's work is never done

Quite a stylish cartouche, don't you think?
I was absolutely amazed and riveted at how very much is known about this glorious work of art, and about Egyptian art in general. The great statue of this pharaoh, grandiose braggart that he was, fittingly has embedded itself in the world's mental eyes as an image of Egypt with the Pyramid of Khufu and the "Sphinx". Pharoah Ramesses II was very keen that he should be the ONE face associated with his kingdom and that all people should know who he is and remember how very powerful he was. Have to say it worked.

The art that the author has shown us in this book does a much better job than I could at convincing you to pick up this book for #Booksgiving perusal, possibly to be regifted if you have an Egyptology fan among you, or possibly someone who is interested in the idea of Celebrity...Ramesses is one of the very first Celebrity faces in the history of the world.

Enjoy this selection of beautiful ancient Egyptian artwork chosen from the book's many, many images.

Pharoah as style icon
I do not expect that too many of us will have the opportunity to visit Cairo and tour its glorious museums while the world is as unsettled as it is. I hope you'll get this beautiful book and dream over it as winter's nights get longer. If you're in the global south, staying inside while the a/c blasts you and dreaming of a winter holiday is equally lovely use of the pages.

A GIFT OF GEOLOGY:Ancient Egyptian Landscapes and Monuments, will give the mummyhead bad wanderlust

A GIFT OF GEOLOGY:Ancient Egyptian Landscapes and Monuments
COLIN D. READER
The American University in Cairo Press
$29.95 paperback, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: An introduction to the geology of Egypt and its influence on ancient Egyptian culture

While much is known about Egypt’s towering pyramids, mighty obelisks, and extraordinary works of art, less is known about the role played by Egypt’s geological history in the formation of pharaonic culture’s artistic and architectural legacy. The fertile soils that lined the Nile Valley meant that the people of Egypt were able to live well off the land. Yet what allowed ancient Egypt to stand apart from other early civilizations was its access to the vast range of natural resources that lay beyond the Nile floodplain.

In this engagingly written book, Colin Reader invites readers to explore the influence of geology and landscape on the development of the cultures of ancient Egypt. After describing today’s Egyptian landscape and introducing key elements of the ancient Egyptian worldview, he provides a basic geological toolkit to address issues such as geological time and major earth-forming processes. The developments that gave the geology of Egypt its distinct character are explored, including the uplifting of mountains along the Red Sea coast, the evolution of the Nile river, and the formation of the vast desert areas beyond the Nile Valley. As the story unfolds, elements of Egypt’s archaeology are introduced, together with discussions of mining and quarrying, construction in stone, and the ways in which the country’s rich geological heritage allowed the culture of ancient Egypt to evolve.

Ideal for non-specialists and specialists alike, and supported with over one hundred illustrations, A Gift of Geology takes the reader on a fascinating journey into Egypt’s geological landscape and its relationship to the marvels of pharaonic culture.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I'm not a rockhound. I'm not an Egyptologist. I am, however, really glad I read this very accessible book about how geology affected, guided, and limited the culture and economy of Egypt during its entire history.

Is this your mental image of Egypt? Or maybe this:

Fine and dandy, both are correct and accurate. Neither is the Egypt that met the very first humans who settled it:

A wholly different world that met those very first refugees from the Sahara's vast grassland, containing a Lake Chad that had a greater surface area than the entire United Kingdom, as it gradually turned into the enormous desert of today. Those humans left us some petroglyphs to know them by:

...so we have a clear picture that they were culture-having modern human beings.

Before they turned into these guys:

...the cartouche-drawing people we think of as "the Egyptians" who populate our psyches, they had to learn to survive in a world that was HUGELY different than the one they found in that top map:

...an altogether less hospitable, drier place as you see...but still, as you also see from the sites marked on map, very much a homeland and a landscape that they were in command of and at home within.

The author takes us through the life and times of ancient Egypt in as thorough, and as interesting, a way as any I've ever read. I myownself am never really sure how the relative dating by stratigraphy really works, but felt much more able to follow what the author was telling me because:

...he showed me, in the actual landscape being discussed, what the heck was going on instead of only using useful-but-limited drawn diagrams. I am sure y'all being attentive readers have noticed my four-star rating above. It is not because I think the book is in any way deficient in its execution. I don't give it a full-five rating because the entire purpose of the book is to pass along information about Egypt, its culture, and its history, and the illustrative photos are not solely aesthetically purposed. This being the gifting season, and my purpose bringing the book to your attention being to inspire you to gift this to your Egypt-obsessed giftee, I wanted it to be clear that the book wears multiple hats that might not all suit the same visual reader.

Really, though, can any book do better evoking a sense of place than this?

THE QUEST, fourth Ancient Egyptian novel, goes over the top

THE QUEST
WILBUR SMITH (Ancient Egyptian #4)
St Martin's Press
$9.99 mass market, available now

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Wilbur Smith has earned international acclaim for his bestselling River God, The Seventh Scroll, and Warlock. Now, the unrivaled master of adventure returns with the eagerly awaited sequel to his thrilling Egyptian series with his most fantastic story yet. The Quest continues the story of the Warlock, Taita, wise in the lore of the gods and a master of magic and the supernatural.

Egypt has been struck by a series of terrible plagues, killing its crops and crippling its people. Then the ultimate disaster befalls the kingdom. The Nile fails. The waters that nourish and sustain the land dry up.
Something catastrophic is taking place in the distant and totally unexplored depths of Africa, from where the mighty river springs. In desperation the Pharaoh sends Taita, the only man who might be able to find his way through the hazardous territory to the source of the Nile and discover the cause of all their woes. But not even Taita can have any idea of what a terrible enemy waits in ambush in those dark lands at the end of their world.

No other author can conjure up the violence and mystery of Ancient Egypt like Wilbur Smith. The Quest marks his stirring return to the acclaimed series and proves once again why fans such as Stephen King praise him as the world's "best historical novelist."

My Review: Okay. I started the series with an historical novel, shifted into overdrive as a fantasy element came to the fore in Warlock, and now we're in full-blown fantasy mode. The story isn't remotely believable as history, but it's s a good deal of fun.

What's disturbing to me is the squicky sexual politics. A eunuch is de-eunuched supernaturally to make the beast with two backs with a (young) reincarnated version of his long-dead love. I'm not sure that makes me all warm and fuzzy about love spanning the ages or really, really uncomfortable with old men sexing up little girls. Well, okay, she's not an actual little girl. But something just doesn't sit right with me. I don't know exactly what it is, in that the author isn't in any way making this prurient and sexual but is presenting it as lovers separated by death being reunited. I am not, however, comfortable with it, and it significantly clouded my enjoyment of the exciting, adventurous, and action-packed Wilbur Smith novel surrounding it.

The goddess battle was, I'm sorry to say, not a worthy end to the build-up we got. It was almost an afterthought, and it should have been a centerpiece. On balance, the Smith novel aspects are redeeming only to a middling extent. The pages turned, they will for all Smith readers, but the essential backing of history's known Egypt wasn't quite enough on this outing.