Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead
Author:
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Paperback
Author:
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Paperback
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.
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