A nice fictional view into life during the reign of Hapsheptsut, the queen who would be king. I enjoyed wondering how close to fact this would have actually ended up being.

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Very good read. I enjoyed reading it as a teen and rereading it now.

"A compelling story of adventure, romance, and intrigue, set in ancient Egypt."

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At the age of thirteen this was my absolute favorite book. The characters transcend the time period and it's amazingly easy to get into even if you're not a history nut. To this day I wish they'd make a movie of this. I'd strongly recommend it to people trying to encourage weak readers.

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I'm taking a class on ancient Egyptian women, and I already knew about 1/3 of all the course material just from reading this book! It's a wonderful romance/spy novel with amazingly accurate historical detail and original, sympathetic characters. I recommend it for adults as well as teens - you definitely won't regret taking the time to read this story!

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My mother gave me this book when I was studying ancient Egypt in middle school. Even after re-reading it every year for over 10 years, it still has me on the edge of my seat at the ending. The writing is that good.

"Mara" has everything a good book needs. Nuanced characters populate an immersive version of Ancient Egypt. With Mara acting as a double agent in a complex political plot, danger and mystery fill the pages. There's also a strong romantic plot, which features what may very well be the only romantic attempted murder in literary history.

The one thing that takes half a star off my rating is the fact that "Mara" is more fiction than historical fiction. Hatchepsut and Thutmose were real, but my readings into their lives indicate the plot to overthrow her never actually took place and she wasn't all that bad of a ruler. Still, if I'm forced to pick just one favorite book, this is often the one I choose.

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Read this during our Ancient Civilization study of Egypt. It was one that I read to my children a few chapters at a time. I snuck and finished it because I could not wait to see how it ended. My daughter took it and read it herself; over ten years later it is still her favorite book.

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An excellent addition to our homeschooling study of Ancient Egypt - especially for our daughters!

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