“If the gods cannot recognize your names,” she warned, “they will never hear your prayers.”

First, I wanna say I’m sorry for the long hiatus and for the long wait because I’ve been hyping this review up on my Instagram for too long, despite putting it off as well and pushing it away further and further, until I realized if I don’t stop being lazy now, then I will never.

And what better way to stop than to start off my first review of 2017.
Yes, another year, another chapter full of wonderful posts.

If you’ve followed my Instagram account for a while, you’ll know I’ve been too busy with exams and traveling to have had time to post, or read for that matter. That’s also another reason why this post has been put off for so long, and thats because I havent had time to finish it until sometime mid-January. And boy, was I happy to have finally finished it after putting it off for 2 months!

As you know, mythology books are getting more popular around bookstagram, specifically Greek mythology has been seen around a lot, but whats hard to find are Norse and Egyptian mythology, and doing my research I stumbled upon a few Ancient Egyptian ones, and being the history nerd that I am, I was stoked and decided to pick this book up. And had it not been for the exams in the way, I would’ve finished this book in max. 2 weeks with uni and homework included.

The story is essentially about Nefertari and her life leading up to becoming the Crown Prince’s wife, and soon events start to happen because Nefertari is the niece to Nefertiti, and how dare you marry the heretic queens niece!? ATROCIOUS!! SACRILEGE?! BLASPHEMY!?!?! 

“You want it to feel like a surprise. You want to keep him guessing whether he’ll make you smile entirely so that when you do, he will feel like he’s been given a gift.”

So basically, this book is set in Ancient Egypt, when Pharaoh Seti I was ruling, and it’s all seen from Nefertaris perspective, from her childhood years with Ramesses II, son of Seti I, to her Young Adult years. It’s a lot of political wars, love triangles, drama, sass, and all the guilty pleasures you may have, so you’ll love this book, and even though its set in an ancient time, the sassiness would still burn you even in present time.

To keep this book spoiler-free, I can’t say much about the premise but I can say that the author did a really good job portraying Ancient Egypt, especially when it comes to gender roles, religion, culture, politics, and romance. Also the various terms and keywords used in the book and the glossary in the back of the book was highly appreciated!

“This is how memories are; what seems so clear and unforgettable at one moment vanishes like steam the next.”

I actually really liked this book. It was a fun, light read, and it definitely brought me into another world and dimension because I was so invested in the story. The only thing that I thought was bad about the book was the awareness of the situations going on. I felt like most of the times it was as if the author was yelling “NEXT!” at every single event or tragedy, and that the characters emotions and thoughts moved too fast away from that moment and on to something else, it was a bit off putting, but I still highly enjoyed the story. It was very entertaining, and even though I’m the type to hate love triangles, I will say this one was fun to read and wasn’t making me cringe all the way through.

“You’ll know if he loves you by how long he’s willing to fight.”

I gave this book 4.5 stars, the half star because of the characters flaws above, but still a high rating because I really liked this book and it was soso entertaining and enjoyable, and definitely a fresh read since you dont see anything like this often!

I highly recommend this book if you’re a fan of historical fiction that isn’t heavy and slow but fast paced and enjoyable. If you want to learn more about Ancient Egypt, this is also a good choice for you!