Nefertiti: A Novel (edition 2008)

Who knew I could get sucked into Egypt so wholeheartedly. This book is about a woman reigning power as Pharoh in Egypt, the rules she broke, the role she stepped into, and the many firsts she celebrated. I really liked the way this book was written, I could hardly put it down. I liked how the story is told from her sister's point of view, and how that makes the reader view the family. The historical facts are fascinating to me, and I am already looking for more to read about this time period and these people in this country. I feel the book makes one think about roles we play, morals, and breaking through barriers, and overall it was a fast read for me. ( )

I saw this one in Target along with The Heretic Queen and I couldn’t resist not picking them up because of the great covers. I’m glad I did because Nefertiti was picked as a group read for Historical Fictionistas and Michelle Moran ended up joining the group and getting in the discussion. She really is interesting and sweet to talk too, if you ever get the chance.

While I was reading this I couldn’t help being reminded of The Other Boyelan Girl, but with an Egyptian setting. The first reason lies in the perspective of the story. The book details Nefertiti’s rise to power and her eventual downfall as told through Mutnodjmet, Nefertiti’s younger and lesser known sister. Mutny is the gentler, less pretty sister not really interested in court politics, but nevertheless thrown into the mist of it due her family’s ambitions. Quite honestly, Mutny and her future husband are really the only likeable characters in this book. Both Amohotep and Nefertiti come off as over ambitious, reckless, selfish and bratty. The parents as well come off as cruel and over ambitious with all their planning and scheming to get Nefertiti the crown. However, it seems to work coming from the perspective of Mutny.

The second reason this reminds me of The Other Boleyan Girl is because of the liberties taken with the historical piece of the story. It’s definitely a fictional account, so if you are into history and don’t like your authors taking liberties don’t read this one or you will be annoyed. Personally, I don’t mind…I’m reading for entertainment reasons anyway and if I want a history lesson I will go to google or a non-fiction book, which is what I did after reading this. The story left me wanting to read more on Nefertiti to discover the mystery behind her. What I did like was that Moran added a historical note at the end of the book explaining what liberties she took and her reasoning. This helped me put the story into perspective and figure out what I needed to research further.

Over all I thought the book was well done despite the historical changes and I highly enjoyed it due to its entertainment value. I can’t wait to read more by Moran.
( )

This is somewhere between a 2 and a 3 for me.

For the good: It's a well written story, and if you read it as historical FICTION (emphasis on the fiction), you won't mind the liberties Moran took with history. She mixed up a few things, took some liberties, added some spice and spit out this story. I can't blame her, she's an author who wants to (theoretically) entertain and make some money, and she did that. In the afterward she claims to have been faithful to history, but that's not true, there are some seriously wild leaps going on, and I would have been happier *without* the afterward trying to claim otherwise.

I also bumped it from a 2 to a 3 because this book makes for a great audiobook and the reader was quite good.

For the bad: It felt too modern. While I don't think that people as a whole change much, even over large swathes of time, this story and some of the attitudes seemed a little too modern for me.

Two of the main characters - Akhenaten and Nefertiti were obnoxious as hell. Akhenaten was a spoiled half-crazy man child that no one reined in and Nefertiti was a damn spoiled brat. I just couldn't buy these two as magnificent leaders of an ancient civilization.

The narrator of the story was Mutny (Mutnodjmet), who (in this story) is the sister of Nefertiti. In fact, the title is a little misleading, because the entire story is Mutny's, it's just that her sister was the center of her family's world, so we heard a lot about her.

I liked that the story covered from Nefertiti's marriage as a girl until her death, it wasn't just a piece of her story.

It was entertaining, so I don't have too many complaints, and I'll go ahead with Moran's Heretic Queen (which I understand to take some wild deviations from known history from Moran's own website.) ( )

This is somewhere between a 2 and a 3 for me.

For the good: It's a well written story, and if you read it as historical FICTION (emphasis on the fiction), you won't mind the liberties Moran took with history. She mixed up a few things, took some liberties, added some spice and spit out this story. I can't blame her, she's an author who wants to (theoretically) entertain and make some money, and she did that. In the afterward she claims to have been faithful to history, but that's not true, there are some seriously wild leaps going on, and I would have been happier *without* the afterward trying to claim otherwise.

I also bumped it from a 2 to a 3 because this book makes for a great audiobook and the reader was quite good.

For the bad: It felt too modern. While I don't think that people as a whole change much, even over large swathes of time, this story and some of the attitudes seemed a little too modern for me.

Two of the main characters - Akhenaten and Nefertiti were obnoxious as hell. Akhenaten was a spoiled half-crazy man child that no one reined in and Nefertiti was a damn spoiled brat. I just couldn't buy these two as magnificent leaders of an ancient civilization.

The narrator of the story was Mutny (Mutnodjmet), who (in this story) is the sister of Nefertiti. In fact, the title is a little misleading, because the entire story is Mutny's, it's just that her sister was the center of her family's world, so we heard a lot about her.

I liked that the story covered from Nefertiti's marriage as a girl until her death, it wasn't just a piece of her story.

It was entertaining, so I don't have too many complaints, and I'll go ahead with Moran's Heretic Queen (which I understand to take some wild deviations from known history from Moran's own website.) ( )

Michelle Moran is a masterful storyteller. That is the first thing you should know. The second thing is this novel is incredible. Had it not been for the List Swap Challenge, I would not have picked up this novel on my own. I would have passed this up when browsing through the bookstore. I literally rolled my eyes heavenward when Julie suggested it convinced she was trying to torture me with this nonsense. I was not looking forward to 400 pages of 1351 BCE. In Egypt. With odd names I can’t pronounce.

The magic of Ms. Moran is that within 10 pages I was hooked, totally and completely hooked. Right away, I held onto Mutnodjmet, Nefertiti’s younger sister, and didn’t let go. Nefertiti is about two sisters, so different in their wants and desires. Bound together by love and blood, one sister had a sense of entitlement while the other a command to please at the risk of her own happiness. Their relationship spanned though their joys and tribulations. Nefertiti’s rule over Egypt is merely the setting while the sisters’ bond is really the star in this novel.

I really enjoyed how different the two sisters are. I loved how headstrong and manipulative Nefertiti is. She can fiercely rule a kingdom but her deepest desire is to be loved and exalted, especially by her younger sister. Mutnodjmet wants her own happiness, her own life. She knows the only way for that to happen is to break the selfish stronghold Nefertiti has on her. To be happy, she must hurt Nefertiti.

I love when I start reading a novel, crossing my fingers that I can get through it, and end up gobbling up every single page, loving where the story is leading me. I learned about a time I knew very little about. In the end, I really enjoyed it. Julie was right about this one. (And she usually is.) Give me a book about sisters, even set in Egypt, and I will love it. And I did. ( )