Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this eARC. I'll give a full review closer to the publication date.

Intrigue, romance, and political upheaval set in ancient Egypt, seen through the eyes of Neferura.

The blending of historical accuracy with a compelling first person narrative is done well, and provides readers with a deeper understanding of the period. The author has a PhD in Egyptology, and it shows.

The character of Neferura is well developed, and her struggles, aspirations, and growth really allow us to empathize with her.

My only criticism is the pacing. A somewhat slow start with a rather rushed ending made it seem a little uneven. Still a very immersive and overall enjoyable read.

Neferura is the story of the only child of Pharaoh Hatshepsut manoeuvring court intrigue in order to protect her mothers unprecedented reign which happens to occur in a strained co-regency with her half-brother (and Hatshepsut’s step-son) Thutmose. There have been so many historical fiction and mythological retellings that have centred on Greek and Roman histories in recent years, it was refreshing and exciting to be able to read about Ancient Egypt, especially through the lens of a woman (who was surrounded by powerful women) and set during one of the most intriguing and captivating periods of Egypts 3000+ years of history.

I appreciate the way this story is structured, using language that is contextual to the time and place (rather than what the audience may already know from general knowledge or school) it really helped maintain a sense of immersion in the story. The story was well written, Neferura’s feelings and emotions came off the page and the detailed descriptions meant that much of what she saw or heard was incredibly easy to visualise. Each characters motivation was clear and believable, particularly the ‘big three’ powerplayers (Neferura, Hatshepsut and Thutmose), who were written quite well, there were windows where I felt sympathy for Thutmose even though he was the villain. The plot was well paced an engaging, without being difficult to follow. Additionally, while there was some very brief (and relevant) explanations or accounting of cultural or religious events or practices that took place, there were no lengthy explanations that bogged down the story or patronised the reader.

With my own background in Egyptology, I had to put my own thoughts and interpretations of this period to the back of my brain to enjoy the story. Ultimately, the personalities were characterised and presented in a manner that clashed with my own thinking. In saying that, the beautiful thing about Ancient Egypt is the many different interpretations that are available based on evidence. While this story did differ from my own thinking (such as strong hostilities between Hatshepsut and Thutmose) the overall structure adhered to the evidence we have available. I really enjoyed connecting the characters in this story with the names of people I have come across in my non-fiction reading. Often, I struggle to ‘turn off’ in historical fiction, especially given my time in university and teaching background, but found that I wasn’t annoyed with any anachronisms or glaring historical errors, which made the reading experience all the more enjoyable.

I found the end a little bit rushed, I would have liked it to be a bit more fleshed out, I had a few plot questions while reading the epilogue.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review, these thoughts are all my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC of this novel.

"This is a dangerous game you play, girl," she warns.
"I was born to this game," I retort. "Don't you think it's past time I actually play it?"

~

First off, I would like to mention this cover... It is absolutely gorgeous and I might have to print a poster of it for my wall.

This book was lovely. It was full of history with a sprinkle of mythology and abounding intrigue. This novel follows the personal and political journey of the title character Neferura through the shifts of power in the Pharaoh's palace. She begins this story naive and passive, but becomes a force to be reckoned with once she allows herself to take control of her own life.

There were quite a few things that I really enjoyed about this book. Firstly, the setting was spectacular. The author of the book has a PhD in Egyptology, so the world is vibrant and obviously very well researched.

For me the most important part of any book is the characters and their interactions with each other. This book did not disappoint. There are so many side characters that interact with Neferura throughout the novel who made me love and root for them. (And also some who made me want to plan some revenge.) I do think that the friendships in this novel were executed much better than the romantic relationships. There were only a handful of interactions with the love interest through the entire book, and those that were included had me wanting a bit more. Kind of making up for that however, this book was full of strong women supporting other women, which is something that I adored.

This book did have quite the slow start, and it took me a long time to get into the flow of the story. Once the plot got moving, though, I was hooked. The internal and external struggle of Neferura kept me turning the pages to see how she would react to the next obstacle thrown at her.

I would absolutely recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction, Egyptian mythology, court intrigue, and badass female characters.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought the FMC was really well fleshed out and had a lot of depth. I enjoyed the supporting characters layers as well, and thought they were meaningful to the story. I feel as though some scenes and events could have been done in a little more detail, I felt like the book could stand to be a bit longer. Writing style is clear and concise.

I’m a huge fan of historical fiction and love antiquity in particular, so I was excited to pick up this book and learn more about ancient Egypt. I definitely feel like I learned a lot. The author has a PhD and it clearly shows in all the rich details and world-building she includes in the story! I really enjoyed that aspect, although it did make the first third of the story go by very slowly.

In contrast to the historical aspects, I do feel like some other parts of the story and writing were less well developed. It’s admittedly difficult to convey such a large quantity of exposition to an audience with little background in it. However, with historical fiction I do feel like there needs to be a balance between character building and world building, and this story leaned more towards the latter.

Watching Neferura‘a development from naive princess/priestess (so naive at first I can’t tell what age she’s meant to be) to cunning spymaster is a satisfying journey. Yet for someone with such a detailed, descriptive narratorial voice, she seems to have much less of an *inner* voice. She tells us what she’s thinking and feeling, but rarely shows it.

My other main critique of the book is that romance/sex is treated very clinically and awkwardly. I definitely didn’t expect that given the romanticizing the main character does in the beginning of the book. It kind of felt like the author was really uncomfortable with that part of the story, so she tried to gloss over it as quickly as possible.

I’m assuming this book is YA, and I understand this is not a romance story, but there’s still a lot Neferura can tell us about her lived experience, even if the actual act is a closed door scene. For a character who is never shy in telling us how she feels about the most mundane things, this somehow merited fewer words than some of the meals or outfits she describes.

Overall, I really enjoyed the world building and history in this story, but I would have to give it 3/5 stars.