The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran

I bet you would have never guessed that I have an absolute obsession with Egypt. Three books all based on ancient Egypt (and a little bit of ancient Rome thrown in for good measure) and ironically all by the same author. When I initially purchased these books I had no idea they were all by the same author. That is just not something I look at when buying a book. Why would I care who wrote it? It's the content that is of interest to me. But, here I am, my third book by Michelle Moran, lets see if I liked it, shall we?

Here's a hint, does Dumbo love peanuts?

We start with lovely and young little Nefertari, niece of Nefertiti. She worries over losing her two closest friends as they are older than her and leaving school. Ramesses becomes pharaoh (and if you haven't heard of Ramesses the Great then you have issues and need to go read some history books) and her friend Asha becomes a ranking member of the army.  Little Nefertari, what is she to do? Perhaps join the priestesses of Hathor and plot with the high priestess into becoming Ramesses' wife and overthrowing the high priestess' plotting sister's plans to take power form the throne. 

Just maybe. 

In a nutshell, this book is about love, struggle, war, and some rather devious plots whether they be for good or ill. The high priestess of Hathor (Woserit) has a sister named Henuttawy who is high priestess of Isis and she is, as Nefertari put it, a viper. Henuttawy spends all of her time plotting and planning on gaining a way to power from the throne by pushing a woman of her choosing, Iset, toward Ramesses who takes her as wife. Woserit and Nefertari have other ideas. Nefer becomes known as the Warrior Queen as she is made a wife and goes with her husband into battles and assists Egypt instead of sitting on her tush in a palace surrounded by every luxury. My kind of woman.

This story, as the others of Moran's, is full of historical fact as well as fascinating fiction. My main complaint, again, is that she really does not finish books well. I always feel like the climax is anti-climatic and the ending is rushed. It just doesn't feel quite right. The rest of the story is fascinating and completely engrosses me but the ending is just...stale. If she could just end her books better this one would have easily gotten a five, but as it is, this book gets four offerings to Amun out of five.


This book inspired me to make Fresh bread.
     The common Ancient Egyptians' diet was largely centered around breads and only the more wealthy had a steady diet of meats. 

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call

To storm or fire the world must fall

An oath to keep with a final breath

And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death

Oh, the fad of reading books geared toward teens and pre-teens. We all know Harry Potter. How can you avoid those? Better yet, who would want to avoid those? Rick Riordan has written a couple of different series for a similar audience and I'm not ashamed to say I love them. Adore them. Have read them multiple times. The Mark of Athena is the latest in his The Heroes of Olympus series and Riordan did not disappoint. 

For the most part. 

We start with both Romans and Greek demigod (a mythological being who is partly divine and partly human) teenagers meeting in California. Yes, Cali. Near San Francisco to be exact. This is the part of the book that got the "for the most part" comment. I don't understand why it is important. I understand why it is important for both branches of Greek and Roman demigods need to meet, but then they start fighting and the Romans decide to try to blow the Greeks out of the sky. Riordan did not clarify why this was an important event and it seems to have no solid hold on the story other than the cop-out "they are supposed to." I just have to hope the Riordan follows up on this in the next book and explains why this needed to happen because it seemed so ruddy pointless. 

The story centers around Annabeth who is the daughter of Athena. She and her friends Percy (son of Poseidon), Jason (son of Jupiter), Piper (daughter of Aphrodite), Leo (son of Hephaestus), Frank (son of Mars), and Hazel (daughter of Pluto) need to get to Rome to stop Gaia from rising and destroying the world. Sounds like fun for a bunch of teenagers. Of course on the way they get waylaid multiple times, possessed by servants of Gaia, nearly shot down by the now angry Roman demigods, and stop to have tea and cookies with Aphrodite. Wait, what?

Upon reaching Rome, Annabeth goes off on her own quest as given to her by her mother. Her quest is really quite interesting so I won't spoil it for you here but I have to say it is the most interesting part of the book. Yes yes, running around saving the world from the evil Earth Mother is wonderful and all, but, once you read it you will understand why Annabeth's quest (hence the title Mark of Athena) is so compelling. 

At the end of the book, Annabeth and Percy are in Tartarus heading toward the Doors of Death while the rest of their friends are topside heading in the same direction. I can't wait for the next book in the series to come out, but unfortunately that will be about a year. Hurry up, Riordan! I'm on pins and needles. As a whole, I'd give this book three and a half Greek statues out of five however the series as a whole is a solid 4.5. 


This book inspired me to make Crunchy Taco Chickpeas
      Not only are they vegan, which would appeal to Piper, but they are full of protein to keep the demigods on
      their toes and spicy enough to keep things interesting.