Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73557 in Books
• Published on: 1998-06-30
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 368 pages

Synopsis
This title is the first in a series of five novels chronicling the life of Egypt's greatest pharoah, Ramses II. The story opens with Ramses aged 14 years. His father, Sethi, has created a powerful empire and favours Ramses as his successor, rather than Ramses' scheming older brother, Chenar.

Customer Reviews

About as historical as Carry on Cleo
How to write a historical blockbuster: start off with cardboard-thin characters and a central hero who is just a compendium of noble virtues, and a few female characters - just for eye candy. Add a wafer thin plot about a non-existent evil brother and a lame subplot about watered-down ink supplies (who cares?) and you're almost there. Now stir in plenty of historical gaffes and rope in a few characters from myth and history who could not possibly have been alive at the time (eg Homer who lived a full 500 years later than the time of this book). Finally finish the book before the hero becomes Pharaoh so the reader has to buy the next volume in order to complete the story of the first! If you're interested in historical fiction then try Manfredi's far superior Alexander (which he manages to fit into 3 volumes) or something by Mary Renault.

so bad it was insulting
My history with this book is as follows. I picked it up one day at the library and started reading. I got about halfway through it when I got fed up and put it back. Three months later I had the displeasure of having to do a book review on it. A HISTORICAL book review. Reading it on your own is fine, if you can stomach it, but please, don't make the mistake of trying to find every single innacuracy in it. You will be at it for weeks. First of all, he does not have a scheming older brother, Ramses was long dead when Homer was born, and it seems that the Trojan war started thirteen years after he was dead also. And that's just the beginning of it. From the creative writing standpoint it was horrible also. The dialouge was awkward and there was way too much slang in it. Ramses annoyed me, first of all for being 'perfect', but also for having random changes of character that are completely unrelated to the plot. The characters were also as flat as the hieroglyphs on a wall. They fit into specific categories and never strayed from them. Shaanar was the fat, ugly villian. Ramses was the slender, beautiful youth brimming with energy. Seti was the wise old man, ect. Another problem I found with it was that there was too much of "tell me" as opposed to "show me". Generally, 'he was scared of spiders' is less effective than, '"SPIDER!" he yelled as he jumped into his girlfriend's arms.' There was a lot of the former in the book. There also seems to be the problem with women in Egypt. For one thing, women didn't have as many freedoms as is described in the book. In fact, didn't the public opinion of women diminish after Hatchetsup took the thrown from her stepson? And even if it didn't, the women in the book seemed to be ornaments, put there for man's pleasure. They don't act upon their so called 'rights', and seem discustingly submissive.
Overall, I must say that, even though it is a self appointed chronologue through Ramses' life, it should not be taken seriously. Either a LOT was lost in translation, or Christian Jacq should stick to being a historian, and leave the story writing to professionals.

good for reading on the bog
reminded me of the Harry Potter books- in so far as the language was fairly basic, yet there was just enough of a story to keep one interested. picked it up before taking a dump and finished it within a few trips! There is no real ending though; the book builds up to Rameses coronation and the climax of his brother's plottings, and yet they don't happen!! this is frustrating becuse it means that I now have to buy the next book to find out the end, and I really don't know if its worth the effort. On the whole its light and inoffensive reading- but certainly not the best historical fiction out there