The Pharaoh's Daughter Book Review

Title: The Pharaoh's Daughter

Author: Mesu Andrews

Genre: Biblical Fiction, Historical Fiction, Egypt, Action/Adventure, Drama, Romance

Plot: Pharaoh Akhenaten's beloved wife Kiya dies in childbirth, leaving Tut, Anippa and Ankhe motherless at young ages. Anippe in particular is left traumatized after her mother's death and hides in a closet till someone finds her. Adopted by the childless General Horemheb and his lovely wife, Anippe grows up happy, leaving her shattered childhood behind her until, at age fourteen, she is given in marriage to her father's best soldier, Sebek, and sent away to live in the Delta where the new queen tragically lost her first baby while visiting there earlier in the year.

Thrust from lowly daughter to the position of commanding soldier's wife in charge of an estate and Hebrew slaves, Anippe has a lot to adjust to and her sister Ankhe isn't helping. After three blissful months with her intimidating yet kind new husband, Sebek leaves for war and Anippe has a new challenge on her hands; how to have Sebek's baby without getting pregnant and dying in childbirth. Fortunately for her, Tut's ill advised decree that all newborn Hebrew babies are to be executed lines up in an interesting series of events and Anippe finds the answer to her problem floating down the Nile in a basket. Knowing that if her deception is ever discovered, Anippe will pay with her life, she goes ahead with her decision to adopt little Mey as her son and the circle of who knows the truth widens alarmingly till war distracts everyone and Tut is murdered, throwing everything off balance and into a horrible new reality as a bloodthirsty Pharaoh, hardened by war and grief, takes the throne. But Someone has a bigger plan in mind and Anippe will learn that the hard way.

Likes/Dislikes: While I've never cared for the story of Moses {that point in Egyptian history having lost my interest}, this was a very interesting story. I personally seriously doubt that all this happened during Tut and Horemheb's reigns, but the author's choice to set the story during their times was intriguing. It made for an interesting story, yet that little element made it seem more like fiction than historical events to me because I just really don't think it was Tut and Horemheb. You would have to have a very broken bent man like Horemheb was portrayed as to issue orders to kill babies and to gruesomely murder any traitors the way he did when he assumed the throne. I read Michelle Moran's Nefertiti last year and the characters of Mutnodjmet, her husband, and Horemheb and how they were all related to each other was portrayed very differently, adding another annoying element to this story for me. My nit-picking of Egyptian history aside, this story spanned many years in nice little chunks, was beautifully written and showed the harsh realities of that century {especially for women, slaves or not} in such a way as to make you understand how bad it was without going into horrible graphic details that would leave you with nightmares. And the twist at the end of how Anippe survives was brilliant.

Rating: PG-18 and up, mainly for content {violent deaths and executions, thinly veiled talk of marriage activities and bad guys taking ruthless advantage of women off camera, etc.}. Recommended for mature readers only.

Date Review Written: December 15th, 2015