Neferura was an interesting historical fiction and I loved that it was set in ancient Egypt. It's so rare that we get to see Egypt as the setting place!

While I wanted to love this book, the writing was a little messy and read as more of a young-adult and I don't think that's how the author intended it to be written (but I could be wrong!). We're immediately led into the drama of this time and the lives of the priestess, queens, and kings. Neferura's mother is the sister Pharaoh of Egypt, with her step-son as the other Pharaoh, one she's banished to a life of war in the military. Now he's come home and is set to uproot their lives and all that her mother has worked for. Neferura wants to believe in her mother, but after making choices that affect them all she can no longer trust any one in the palace, especially her own family.

Not only is she dealing with the tensions between her step-brother and mother, but she's also being pulled into a dangerous world of a group called the Scorpions. A band of women protecting those they deem worth it and sending spies everywhere, Neferura needs to understand their intentions. She'll use her advantages of being close to many around her and her beloved status to find out the truth of what's going on, who the scorpion women are around her, and what it is that their group is doing.

While the beginning was kind of dull, it really picked up in the middle and I found myself enjoying the mysteries we had to unsolve. I also loved the ending and that made it worth some of the writing style.

🪷 A fictional account of Neferura, Hapshepsut’s daughter, and her tumultuous life as an Egyptian royal under the rule of a tyrannical Pharaoh.

Little is known about the actual Neferura, but Evan’s crafts an intriguing fictional tale of the trials and tribulations of her day-to-day life as the wife and daughter of dueling pharaohs. When Neferura’s peaceful, albeit lonely, life as a virgin priestess dedicated to serving her people is upended by the unexpected return of her half brother, Thutmose, she is forced to protect herself from his schemes to overthrow her mother as Pharaoh and thwart Neferura’s potential rise to power. As Thutmose’s nefarious plans begin to come to fruition, Nefertura seeks the help of an elder medicine woman who seems to know all the secrets of the kingdom. Through deceit, spying, intrigue, and help from a few select loyal individuals, Neferura hopes to find freedom from a life of suffering at the hands of a tyrant.

The unexpected twists and turns in this book were enthralling. I enjoyed the cunning and deceitful characters, the strong female representation, and was particularly pleased by the way Neferura used the Pharaohs’ arrogance and cruelty to serve her own purposes. While there were a few predictable moments, I found myself drawn into the story and invested in the outcome. This was an all around solid, enjoyable, and engaging debut novel. 4/5⭐️

I am all for female empowerment and LOVED that this story was about just that. The premise of the book was very interesting and was why I wanted to read it in the first place. The story was fast paced. However, the writing style wasn't for me. I felt that it lacked depth in certain parts where I needed/expected it and felt that some of the writing felt very surface level. I did however enjoy the characters and how diverse they were. Overall, I did enjoy the storyline and enjoyed the retelling. I just felt as if there was something missing.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Neferrura was a feminist retelling of Hatshepsut, a woman that became a pharaoh. I love Egyptian mythology and history so I was really looking forward to this book.

The only main issue I had with this book was the writing. It wasn't for me. It would take me out the story often.

Filled with court intrigue and strong female characters, this interesting novel about Neferura, the Pharaoh's daughter, provides a story about what her life might have been like.

This is the first book set in Ancient Egypt that I have read, and I enjoyed the journey a lot. There are many strong aspects of this novel — complex characters, the importance of devoted female friendships, a woman's struggle to remain in power next to a man, many complexities occurring inside of a royal family, political and court intrigues, and many more. The pacing was kind of weird – it was fast and intriguing at times, but it was also slow and slightly boring between some plot points. It took me a few chapters to get used to it. I loved figuring out all the mysteries happening throughout the book, however, I wouldn't classify it as a mystery. There is also a romantic storyline developing in the background, which was a very much needed dose of softness. However, the second half of the book was hard to read because of the many insinuations of Neferura having to unconsentingly please her husband.

I would highly recommend this to everyone who loves historical fiction, but especially to those interested in Ancient Egypt!

Neferura is a feminist retelling of Hatshepsut – a woman that become a pharaoh - daughter that focus around politics and winning back power to her family. This is a great book for those who, as me, enjoys an Egyptian history with female empowerment.

We follow Neferura’s life, traveling through an intricate network of secrets and conspiracies after the return of her half brother Thutmose. They both wanted to be the pharaoh that rule over Egypt. The premise of this book was very interesting, and it was the thing that made me want to read it, however, I felt like something was missing.

The writing style was not for me, and I wish there’re more character development in the story. I did like the authors notes that provided historical context to this story. Overall, it was a good retelling of a historical figure, the intrigue and the politics in this book was quite good. I wish the pacing was a bit faster than it was, but I recommend it to Egyptian mythology fans and historical retellings.

Thank you, NetGalley & the publisher, for approving me to read this arc and write this review.

Shoutout to NetGalley & Sourcebooks for the ARC!

I have been on a mythology KICK for the past few weeks and this was an excellent addition to the ever growing pile. Neferura was an excellent feminist retelling of a Pharoah's daughter. The book centers around court politics and winning back power for Neferura (and her family). A slight trigger warning for lots of grief for the entire novel.

Some overall thoughts:
- The plot was a bit all over the place for my liking, with some overall pacing issues. Some parts were super fast and some just dragged...and dragged until a new plot point was brought up.
- I struggled a bit with names and the who's who game. We'd meet someone chapters beforehand, see their name once, and be expected to remember exactly who they were/their positions/family members 100 pages later. I started writing some names down to make it a little easier in my head but I was frequently searching for a name to figure out who was doing what.
- The actual writing felt more young adult than adult to me, with repeated use of the same adjectives/words. HOWEVER, the author clearly has extensive knowledge of Egyptian mythology and history. There were so many details and specific customs added; I consider myself relatively knowledgeable about myths in general but this blew me out of the water. Massive shoutout the glossary that was included!

Overall a 3.5 out of 5; I really enjoyed this one and look forward to future retellings.

Soft dnf for now but thank you netgalleyfor the arc💗

I tried to start this twice but I’m not liking the pacing and writing but I am very interested in this somtort so I will reread this book eventually! I’m excited to pick it up again because I love reading about Egyptian mythology

I enjoyed reading this novel. I will admit that I highly admire Hatshepsut and her accomplishments, and I don't see her as she was portrayed in this novel, but I will admit that she might have to do questionable things to stay in power. I also don't see Thutmosis the same. Neferura, though, what a character. I loved reading her story, I loved her viewpoint of history., and personally, I've wondered if Hatshepsut's daughter was in fact fathered by Senenmut. I gave this book 4 stars because I love books about ancient Egyptian history and enjoyed reading it.

Neferura is a good read for those that enjoy Egyptian history and female empowerment. This follows the life of Neferura, the daughter of Hatshepsut. If you aren't familiar with Hatshepsut, I would recommend the Puppet History episode on Youtube about her as one of Egypt's greatest pharaohs!

My main struggle with getting through this was the pacing. It was kind of all over the place, with Part One being incredibly slow, and Part Three being so fast it barely felt like it existed at all. The "climax" was... underwhelming? It was very rushed, and then BAM, the book is just over.

I do think that the amount of female representation, especially in a historical context, should be applauded in itself. It is following in the trend of mythology retellings from female persepctives.

Other note, I think categorizing this as Sci-Fi / Fantasy is not okay. It is historical fiction, and that's it. There are no scifi or fantasy elements. So! Just keep that in mind.

I received the ARC copy of the book on NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

I’d love to say that I liked this book, but this is not the case unfortunately. “Neferura” is the story of Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s daughter, Neferura, and how her life changed with the return of her ruthless half brother, Thutmose. In the book, we follow Neferura in an intricate network of secrets and conspiracies, born from the rivalry between Hatshepsut and Thutmose, who both want to be the only Pharaoh to rule over Kemet (Egypt).

I had great expectations for “Neferura”, because I’m deeply fascinated by Egyptian history and mysteries. Although, while I was reading the book, I found really few things to like about it. I’d like to start listing them. I really enjoyed how Malayna Evans used the terminology an ancient Egyptian would have used. I perceived the solidity of her studies on the subject, and I appreciated her ending notes, where she explained where some of her narrative choices came from (for example, Neferura mysterious ending). I also liked how the relationships between the different female characters were handled. Except for some cases (like the difficult relationship between Neferura and Hatshepsut or some disagreement never solved), most of the women were bound by strong bonds and they supported each other during hard times.

These are the things I liked. Sadly, the things I dislike are more. I found the writing style childish and too casual. In my personal opinion, it isn’t suitable for the context or the target of the book. “Neferura” is sold as an adult book, but I think it would have been better as a ya. The main character felt like a two-dimensional character (maybe this impression is due to the fact that I’m not a big fan of first person narrative). Regarding the side characters, at the end of the day, it was like I haven’t read about them at all. Some of them were more interesting than others (like Senenmut and Hathor), but I couldn’t empathise with any of them. The pacing was irregular: some parts seemed to have no end, others were too rushed and messy.

Even if I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I wanted to, I have great respect for the author, who choose to write a feminist retelling an ancient and mysterious figures of ancient Egyptian history.

**thank you to net galley for my advance reader copy
3.5/5 rounded up to 4

Neferura transports you to ancient Egypt in a largely fictionalized account of an Egyptian princess born of two pharaohs with an unusually prominent role in the court for this time.
Very little is known of the real Neferura's life, allowing the author to intertwine themes related to coming of age and gender roles with ancient Egyptian politics, history, and mythology. She navigates friendship and romance with those of "lower rank", family tension and power struggle, religious devotion, and grief without positive role models and thus behaves naively, often bringing more danger to those she loves.
I recommend this to anyone interested in Egyptology, Egyptian mythology, gender studies, and for lovers of The Royal Diaries series.

This book was really good. I read this during a reading slump and was pleasantly surprised. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a historical novel on Egypt.

Thank you to Malayna Evans, Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The energy put into this book is phenomenal. The atmosphere is there, as is the historical aspect, albeit with some liberties. Honestly, the 5 stars are deserved, for the work that goes into it, whether it's research or the desire to share the story of Neferura, the child of the famous Hatshepsut, about whom we know almost nothing.

I was immediately immersed in Egyptian antiquity, with the characters, both main and secondary, who have a soul, a story and a purpose. I particularly liked Kamut, even though I didn't see as much of him as I would have liked. But at least the story doesn't focus on an imaginary romance but on political intrigue and Neferura's evolution in a court where everything is deception and lies.

What's more, I was absolutely delighted to find the characters I discovered in the manga La Reine d'Egypte, which follows the footsteps of Hatshepsut and features a glimpse of Neferura and her brother. The treatment of these two works is quite unique, and the emotions of the characters are handled differently, as are the political choices, but I enjoyed both versions.

I gave this one two tries, but it just failed to capture me. It *should* have been right up my alley, but just felt so flat and uninteresting. 40% in, I was bored with the scheming that never seemed to go anywhere. I grew weary of Neferura and found myself thinking that she didn't deserve to succeed since she was so manifestly bad at the game she was trying to play. If I can't root for the main character, especially in a first-person POV, the book becomes very hard to enjoy. DNF at 40%.

Neferura is a story for people who like "The Wolf Den" and "Kaikeyi" - and I find that to be partially true - I say that because the two books in reference were both five star reads and paced perfectly in their respective stories. Neferura on the other hand took me so much longer to get into, and I felt like the pacing was just very all over the place. I think the story overall is well-done, but I was struggling at times to keep my attention on this book. I just didn't feel very enraptured by it, I found myself picking up my phone quite a bit. I wouldn't say I had to force myself to get through it, but I was already thinking about my next read before I had even finished this one.

I honestly didn't finish this book. The fantasy aspect was too far for me and I didn't "get into" the story. It was well-written, but the story just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

One of my favourite topics to study is Ancient Egypt to this was right up my street. This comes from the perspective of a character in Ancient Egypt that isn't well known and I enjoyed reading from her perspective.

I think the author did a brilliant job at creating the scenery of ancient Egypt. I liked how they merged historical characters with the characters that have been created. If you wasn't familiar with Ancient Egypt you would never know. You can tell the author put in a lot of research for this story which I can appreciate.

This had high stakes, espionage, power struggles and a love story. However, it was really slow until part 3 and there was just too much political intrigue for me.

A fascinating take that will satisfy any reader looking to explore more of Egypt. I couldn't help but root and hope for the main character, while learning about the history that was taking place around her.

don't get me wrong, it's not that i disliked the story. i am just very confused about the execution.

this is generally a very interesting story involving family drama in kemet (egypt nowadays) which i believed to have some fantasy into it, but not really. i thought that it could end up like circe or ariadne, but also... not really.

there is nothing wrong with the beginning or middle, but more towards the end. i feel like the ending has no consistency or connection with everything that she went through in the beginning, and everything felt like a circle from a little girl barely knowing what she was doing to try to have some advantage over her throne. i was waiting for a great moment but... there wasn't really?

i also feel like since we were stuck inside her head all the time, we couldn't see anything else about other characters. they didn't feel very "alive", they were just people in there to make a plot. i also don't feel like neferura was a strong protagonist herself.

so generally speaking, i will give it three stars. not because it's terrible or anything of the sort, but just because i liked the story in a middle term level even though there were minor disappointments.

and a small useless observation: using the term "Adam's apple" to refer to the man's neck doesn't sound coherent with a kingdom that existed 4,500 years before Christ. i get it that it's just a very common term now but this is just a detail i noticed that could've been avoided.