I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Neferura The Pharaoh's Daughter by Malayna Evans Series: Standalone
Published by Sourcebooks Landmark on 2024 February 13
Genres: Historical, Mythology
Pages: 368
Format: E-Arc
Source: Netgalley
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For readers of The Wolf Den and Kaikeyi comes the thrilling tale of the forgotten daughter of a legendary Egyptian pharaoh and the path she must take to escape her own dangerous fate. There are many paths to power. They all come with a price. Neferura, princess and high priestess of Kemet, knows her duty is to her people. When your mother is the great Pharaoh, it is hard to forget. But Neferura's unique position at court comes with high stakes for her country, especially when she's forced to serve her vile half-brother, a man determined to stop Neferura's potential rise. Peace, it seems, never lasts for women who wield power in the open. Especially when they cross a vengeful man. When Neferura overhears Thutmose's plot to end her mother's rule, she knows he must be stopped, no matter the cost. The discovery of a mysterious tattooed wisewoman and her shadowy network of spies offers an uneasy alliance. But the wisewoman wields more power than Neferura knew possible -- power with the potential to rival her own. Neferura must decide where her loyalties lie and how much she's willing to sacrifice to protect the people she loves before everything crumbles at the hands of a tyrant.
Wow. The main theme of this book, women empowerment, is unquestionably superb. From Queen Hatsheput to her only daughter, Neferura, to the mysterious wisewoman to the female supporting characters, I have no words to say than, way to go girls! Their dynamics, they way they asserted themselves in a patriarchal world feels refreshing, did not feel forced, and did not give me the feeling that “bohohohohoh… these girls are a bunch of morally superior wokes that talk about feminism on Twitter all day.” I am glad that this was not the case with this book.
Please note that I picked up this book because any story about Egypt is appealing to me, more so that it’s about Queen Hatsheput. Although I am not well-versed with the history of Egypt, I liked reading about it because its rich, it’s one of the ancient civilizations, and well, I do like the royal scandals. 😀 This book, Neferura, delivered all the things that I was looking for when I picked it up from Netgalley. Malayna Evans did a good job in staying almost faithful to history and its chronology of events. Yep, after I read this book, I immediately jumped to Google and made some light reading about Egyptian History.
Another thing that I liked about Neferura is the several mysteries woven into the story. Oh, they did not feel like Game of Thrones heavy but I like how the author structured the plot to make each mystery interesting and surprising upon revelation.
Now, for what irked me about this book was Neferura herself. She’s main the female protagonist and the book was titled after her and told from her point of view. Look, Malayna Evans’ way of writing is perfect but it cannot change my mind that I really don’t like Neferura. As the main character, Neferura comes as this irritatingly morally superior princess and tells us, the readers, that she’s a good priestess to her constituents and she’s the best person for the position. But she’s telling us, not showing us. And you know, as I followed her journey in Waset, she seemed so naïve and even has the guts to question more competent people about what they’re actually doing to help the peasants. She has good intentions, for sure, but she’s way up her head thinking that she’s better than anyone else. I haven’t seen her getting to know the masses or immersing (incognito of course) herself in deplorable communities so she would actually know what it’s like being a commoner. All throughout the book, she’s busy telling us that she is better than her half-brother Thutmose III but spends all her time running around the castle spying on Thutmose, her mother, her tutor, and scheming on things. I did not see her actually working to better the lives of the commoners.
So yes, this book gets 3 stars from me because Neferura has gotten to my nerves so much I just want to slap her. She’s supposed to have more wisdom, more emotional control, has a more profound problem solving skills and yet, her brash actions have just led to a lot of fucking deaths. And that ending, really? Why her? The wisewoman could have made a better choice.
I am frustrated.