Helpful Score: 6
I really wanted to like this book, but... I almost gave up on it a few times. I'd like to say that I'm glad I finished it but I really could have lived without ever having read it.
Helpful Score: 6
Wow. Really disappointed. But I never made it past page 24. Glad to pass it on to someone who hopefully will enjoy his stilted writing style.
Helpful Score: 4
Nefertiti is the first in a series of mysteries featuring Rahotep, an ancient Egyptian policeman. As a detective story, it's not necessary to know anything about the Amarna period, but I think it adds to the atmosphere if you do. I liked it and would recommend it to anyone who likes historical mysteries of the sort which try to give a feeling of a different time and mindset yet are modern enough in language and incident to feel familiar.
Helpful Score: 1
Engagingly written...if this story were ever filmed, it should be done in the classic black and white noir stye of "Laura" with the settings and trappings of "The Egyptian."
Ra-Hotep is the 1,350 B.C. equivalent of Mike Shayne or Sam Spade.
Ra-Hotep is the 1,350 B.C. equivalent of Mike Shayne or Sam Spade.
I love the Amarna period and I'm glad the author did his research, the little details really brought the setting and characters to life.
As for the story, it was just okay. Our hero Rahotep solved the mystery halfway through and it was like the book went 'now what? Oh yeah, history! Here's what happened.' Or at least the author's proposal of what happened. Poor Rahotep and the reader were dragged along for the ride. Unless you are trying to read every Nefertiti book out there, you can skip this one.
As for the story, it was just okay. Our hero Rahotep solved the mystery halfway through and it was like the book went 'now what? Oh yeah, history! Here's what happened.' Or at least the author's proposal of what happened. Poor Rahotep and the reader were dragged along for the ride. Unless you are trying to read every Nefertiti book out there, you can skip this one.
A novel that seemed to be spinning its wheels in the dust of Amarna. Very disappointing, especially as I'd really enjoyed Drake's sequel, "Tutankhamum."
I found this really hard going. It didn't help that it has a Nefertiti-shaped absence where the most intriguing character should be-- detective Rahotep, who is an outsider from Thebes, is called in to investigate the disappearance of the Queen. His efforts to build up a picture of Nefertiti, beyond what he knows about her as a figurehead, from a great social and geographic distance, could have been interesting ... but it isn't. Drake -- and consequently Rahotep, as his avatar -- seems more interested in ticking the boxes of what we know about Nefertiti and her husband, the heretic Pharoah Ankenaten, and their lavishly planned and briefly inhabited new capital, Amarna. So, Rahotep must walk the streets, and he must visit the buildings, he must meet the people that we know about from the historical records, and from the archaeology, but it all feels like padding and, chapter by chapter, what clues emerge from all his historical tourism does so grindingly slowly.
Also -- how shall I say this without indulging in too much of a spoiler? -- for a novel that places a great deal of weight on its faithfulness, scene by scene, to the history, the ending makes no sense. As Drake says in his introduction, the real mystery that he hangs his novel on is that, about 12 years into Ankhenaten's reign, about 5 years before his death ended the Amarna experiment, Nefertiti disappeared from the historical record. What happened? Did she die? Was she disgraced, or fall out of favour? No one knows. Drake's melodramatic ending doesn't even remotely fit with what we know of subsequent events.
I may be coming down on this harder than strictly necessary, because I was so disappointed: I really liked Drake's "Tutankhamum," which I felt was a lovely example of being faithful enough to the history, while taking enjoyable liberties in order to create, and solve, a passable mystery. Here, I felt that he didn't do credit to the history or the mystery.
I found this really hard going. It didn't help that it has a Nefertiti-shaped absence where the most intriguing character should be-- detective Rahotep, who is an outsider from Thebes, is called in to investigate the disappearance of the Queen. His efforts to build up a picture of Nefertiti, beyond what he knows about her as a figurehead, from a great social and geographic distance, could have been interesting ... but it isn't. Drake -- and consequently Rahotep, as his avatar -- seems more interested in ticking the boxes of what we know about Nefertiti and her husband, the heretic Pharoah Ankenaten, and their lavishly planned and briefly inhabited new capital, Amarna. So, Rahotep must walk the streets, and he must visit the buildings, he must meet the people that we know about from the historical records, and from the archaeology, but it all feels like padding and, chapter by chapter, what clues emerge from all his historical tourism does so grindingly slowly.
Also -- how shall I say this without indulging in too much of a spoiler? -- for a novel that places a great deal of weight on its faithfulness, scene by scene, to the history, the ending makes no sense. As Drake says in his introduction, the real mystery that he hangs his novel on is that, about 12 years into Ankhenaten's reign, about 5 years before his death ended the Amarna experiment, Nefertiti disappeared from the historical record. What happened? Did she die? Was she disgraced, or fall out of favour? No one knows. Drake's melodramatic ending doesn't even remotely fit with what we know of subsequent events.
I may be coming down on this harder than strictly necessary, because I was so disappointed: I really liked Drake's "Tutankhamum," which I felt was a lovely example of being faithful enough to the history, while taking enjoyable liberties in order to create, and solve, a passable mystery. Here, I felt that he didn't do credit to the history or the mystery.
