KIYA: Hope of the Pharaoh

Kiya: Hope of a Pharoah by Katie Hampstead Naomi, a almost Jewish princess living in Egypt volunteers to save her sisters from the Pharaoh's harem by going in their stead. At Armana, Naomi is given a new name and declared mother of the heir to the throne. This declaration puts Kiya in danger from the King's favorite and harem ruler, Nefertiti. Kiya allies herself with Horemb, the palace commander. Kiya must steal the Pharaoh's heart and bear his child, but staying alive might prove impossible.
This novel brings a different view of Ancient Egypt into view. Her Jewish customs clash harshly with the pagan Egyptian customs. Kiya is fiesty and lively and she makes a great heroine. Akhenaten and Horemeb are great characters, while Nefertiti is evil. It was an easy story to get sucked into. A entertaining read.

Kiya has become the newest wife to the pharaoh King Akhenaten and hopefully the one that will prove strong enough to deliver an heir to the throne in the book “Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh” by Katie Hamstead.
While being born Hebrew with the name Naomi, she must give up everything she has ever known in order to save her younger sisters. Shortly after her marriage to the pharaoh, she quickly rises and becomes one of his most favored wives.
She also spends a lot of time learning under the Commander Horemheb. Throughout her time as a wife, she must work with Horemheb to uncover many plots against her husband. The Great Queen Nefertiti continually is jealous of Kiya and hopes to make her much less in the eyes of their husband. Akhenaten is a sickly pharaoh and Nefertiti hopes to make her daughters inherit the crown rather than a son, as it should be. Despite having so many wives and concubines, Kiya quickly sees how much Akhenaten loves each of them and only wishes to serve him. Her life was changed immensely in the one decision she made to save her sisters and she risks losing herself and her faith if she is not careful.

   This novel involved many plot twists, some predictable but most not as predictable. Katie Hamstead truly is an incredible author and made the passing of time throughout this novel easy to understand. This story takes place over few years and the way it was written, it was not rough, but smoothly flowed. The story was very detailed and interesting. The story continued to impress me throughout and I never grew tired of it. I didn’t want to put the book down and luckily I was able to read it straight through. It is an excellent story and has a lot of interesting dilemmas that must be resolved.

   Kiya/Naomi was a strong female character and I enjoyed the characteristics she contained and her ability to stick to her morals even when everything around her was changed so immensely. She is forced to worship her true faith in secrecy, must stick to her morals in her dealings with her husband, and she must fight to survive. She made many friends, few enemies, and even managed to find true love. Her story is well told and it is easy to like her in this novel.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

First off, please don't judge Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh by the tacky cover.� The story is so much better, I promise.

Since so little is known about the real Kiya (we don't even know if she really was Tutankhamun's mother), I'm willing to suspend my disbelief at the premise of her being Hebrew.� Okay, fair enough.� Most theories place her as Nubian, but they're just theories and I thought the whole premise of Naomi offering herself to Akhenaten to save her sisters was just too good to pass up.� After being presented with an Egyptian name, Naomi embarks upon a dangerous journey through the intrigues of a dysfunctional court and an even more dangerous harem.

Now,
this great premise would have been ruined if Katie Hamstead's characterization wasn't as strong as it is.� Naomi/Kiya carries the whole story on her shoulders as she learns to feel affection for and maybe even love Akhenaten, a man she was always taught was evil.� She also makes friends and enemies in the harem, the most notable being her rival, Nefertiti.� Or rather, Nefertiti considers Naomi her rival and the lengths she goes to in order to preserve her place as Great Royal Wife are incredible.� Whenever I picture the real Nefertiti, I can't help but imagine her as the vain, ridiculously beautiful, scheming woman Katie Hamstead has portrayed.� Other notable characters of the time like the ruthless, but oddly considerate Horemheb feel spot-on to me.� The characters don't always appear to be consistent, but the big reveals throughout the story show that they were acting believably the whole time.

The details of ancient Egyptian life are generally accurate, although Katie Hamstead used the modern name of Amarna to refer to Akhetaten.� But Akhenaten's fits, the fact he discarded the old religion in favour of one god and his utter lack of desire to make war are well documented and I couldn't spot any glaring factual errors.� In writing about Akhenaten, Katie Hamstead had quite a bit of leeway as there are very, very few records from the time.� Still, I can't complain about the historical accuracy.

As for the plot, it was quite fast-paced for historical fiction and kept me reading into the early hours of the morning, far past when I should have gone to bed.� It was really that good.� Naomi was just a fascinating character and her confusion about Malachi and Akhenaten, her hot-cold friendship with Horemheb and the constant threat of Nefertiti's jealousy kept me on my toes the whole time.� Some of the plot twists were predictable, but others (especially at the end) I didn't see coming.� Especially the big reveal at the end involving a certain male character.

It's that big reveal that makes me want the next book this instant.� Although we know generally what happens to Akhenaten and Naomi's son Tutankhamun from history, I just can't get enough of Naomi.� She's definitely one of my new favourite characters and I've just found a new author to watch because if Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh is any indicator, we can expect great things from Katie Hamstead.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

Kiya was such a great read! Naomi is a strong character who will stop at nothing for what she believea is right. I loved the relationship between her and Akhenaten. A spellbinding story that I just couldn't put down as soon as I started reading it! 10/10 

After dreaming that a Hebrew bride will bring him a son, Pharaoh Akhenaten sends Horemheb, a ferocious warrior to obtain his new wife.� When her sister is chosen, Naomi offers herself up in her place.� Taken to the palace, Queen Nefertiti immediately despises Naomi and begins a campaign of terror against her.�

I found this book hard to put down.� It was well written, engaging and fast paced.� I do wish it had an epilogue, and perhaps that can be incorporated into future versions.�
Overall, an interesting novel, one I highly recommend.

REVIEW: Okay, I had no idea that King Tut's lineage was a mystery among historians. I thought Nefertiti was his indisputable mother, and I had no idea there was any doubt about that. Doing a little research after I read the book, I found that while DNA evidence supports the pharaoh Akhenaten as King Tut's father, his mother's identity is less certain. Kiya takes that uncertainty and runs with it, serving up a page-turning story about a lesser-known "mother" for King Tut. What a cool premise for historical fiction! The story is interesting and at times, difficult to put down.

Too adult? While I enjoyed the story, I disagree with the book's YA classification. Though Kiya is only eighteen, she is several times considered "too old" to marry Akhenaten. People just didn't live as long back then, and at 18, Kiya is clearly an adult. Also, Kiya is a married woman who has intimate relations with her husband several times, becoming a mother in the process. None of the intimate scenes are graphic or descriptive, but the idea of harems and orgies and incestuous relationships is pretty mature for YA.

Further, as with royal families throughout history, Akhenaten's lineage is full of incest (to keep the royal bloodline "pure"). Akhenaten's three oldest daughters are wives #2, #3, and #4, which is mentioned several times. The reader can only assume then, that Akhenaten had intercourse with his daughters. There are allusions to orgies, which is a big part of the story when Kiya has to make the list of which wives and concubines get to spend the evening/night with Akhenaten. With a whopping 312 wives and concubines, their nightly visits are scheduled in groups. All these things may be historically accurate, but in my opinion, the concepts are far too mature for a YA label.

I also wish the author or publisher had included a "Notes" section at the end, giving some insight into the historical events surrounding the real Kiya. I finished the book and was dying to know what was based on fact and what was fiction. Did Hamstead base Kiya on one of the other mummies found in King Tut's tomb? Was she real? What about the DNA tests in 2010? I was so curious about all this Egyptian stuff after I finished that I researched it for at least an hour after I finished. Historical fiction usually has a section at the end about the history behind the story, and in Kiya, this section is conspicuously absent.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Kiya
is a fast-paced, intriguing story about a fascinating period in Egyptian history. Readers will hunger for more information about Nefertiti, Akhenaten, Kiya, and King Tut after reading this book. An excellent choice for adults and mature teens who understand that, while we may find it abhorrent today, that's just how things were back then.

STATUS IN MY LIBRARY: No way we can get this--too mature.

READALIKES: Cleopatra's Moon (Shecter)

RATING BREAKDOWN:

Overall: 4/5Creativity: 5/5Characters: 4/5Engrossing: 4/5 Writing: 4/5Appeal to teens: 3/5Appropriate length to tell the story: 5/5CONTENT:

Language: none Sexuality: high; incest, harems, concubines, polygamy, orgies, virginity check--details are not graphic Violence: mild Drugs/Alcohol: none