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.