Empire of Darkness (Queen of Freedom 1) [Hardcover]

Christian Jacq (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 2002 | Series: Queen of Freedom 1

Set in C17th B.C., Volume One in the stunning new QUEEN OF FREEDOM trilogy, from the bestselling author of RAMSES. Egypt is a shadow of its former self. An army of barbarians, mounted on horse-drawn chariots, has swept through the Empire, destroying everything in its path. Known as the Hyksos, the 'leaders from foreign lands', they have reduced the land of the pharaohs to slavery. Only one city resists: Thebes, where the widow of the last pharaoh, Teti the Small, still reigns. But Teti knows it's only a matter of time before her men succumb to the barbarities of the cruel Hyksos. She has an 18-year-old daughter, however: Ahotep. Fierce, beautiful and courageous, Ahotep will never accept defeat. And so she decides to re-ignite the flame of Egyptian resistance. All by herself.

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About the Author

Born in Paris in 1947, Christian Jacq first visited Egypt when he was seventeen, went on to study Egyptology and archaeology at the Sorbonne, and is now one of the world's leading Egyptologists. He is the author of the internationally bestselling RAMSES series, THE PLACE OF TRUTH series and the stand-alone novel, THE BLACK PHARAOH. Christian Jacq lives in Switzerland.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Ahhotep had not moved for more than half an hour. When she saw the last guard walk past the main gate of the palace, the beautiful brown-haired girl took advantage of the few minutes before the guard was relieved and scurried into a thicket of tamarisks, where she hid until nightfall.

Ahhotep was the eighteen-year-old daughter of Queen Teti the Small, and she bore a strange name, which could be translated as "The Moon is Full," "The Moon Has Been Appeased," or even "War and Peace," for, according to the sages, the moon was a warrior god embodying the mystery of death and resurrection.

War...it was the only way to rid the land of the Hyksos who controlled it all -- with the exception of Thebes, the sacred city of the god Amon. Thanks to his protection, the Temple of Karnak and the town nearby had been spared by the barbarians, but for how much longer?

The Hyksos had flooded in through the Delta forty years before, like a mighty swarm of locusts. Asians, Arabs, Canaanites, Syrians, Scythians, Minoans, Cyprians, Persians, Anatolians, and yet more races, all armed to the teeth. They used strange four-legged creatures called horses, which had large heads and were bigger and faster than donkeys. The horses drew wheeled vehicles which moved incredibly swiftly and had enabled the attackers to massacre Pharaoh's soldiers.

Ahhotep cursed the softness and cowardice of the feeble Theban army. True, it could not hope to measure up to the large, powerful forces of occupation, with their terrifying new weapons, but failure to act would result in annihilation. When Apophis, supreme commander of the Hyksos, eventually decided to raze Thebes to the ground, the Egyptian soldiers would run away, and the population would be massacred -- with the exception of pretty women, who would be used by the brutish soldiers for their pleasure, and sturdy children, who would be sent into slavery. The last free men on Egyptian soil would bow their heads, incapable of doing anything.

What was left of the wondrous realm of the pyramid builders? A province caught between the occupying power in the north and its Nubian allies in the south, a temple built by Senusret I and left abandoned, and a palace that now looked anything but royal.

Without Teti the Small's resolution, even the House of the Queen would have been destroyed, and the Thebans, like all other Egyptians, would have become servants of the Hyksos. But, trapped in her isolation, Teti was beginning to weaken, and the supporters of Theban independence saw their numbers fall every day.

If there were only one rebel left, that person would be Ahhotep. The young girl had no fear of battle, suffering, or death. Even with a dagger at her throat, she still would refuse to submit to the Hyksos yoke.

The courtiers mocked her as mad, regarding her as amusing rather than dangerous. They were wrong. Today was the start of the war for freedom. With an eighteen-year-old rebel as its only soldier and a well-sharpened flint knife as its only weapon.

The guard had been changed, and Thebes was asleep. It was a long time since any banquets had been held or music played in the reception hall, with its faded paintings. And there was no longer a pharaoh to take his seat upon a desperately empty throne.

Ahhotep wanted to forget this heartrending sight, and she ran toward the landing stage. At the quay lay a half-derelict cargo barge, once used to transport blocks of stone from the quarries, which the Hyksos had closed down, and a few small sailing boats.

Among them was one small boat in good condition. This was the means of transport Ahhotep planned to use to leave the Theban enclave. She jumped nimbly down into the boat and seized the oars. She was heading north, and the current would be in her favor.

No one traveled on the river at night, for there were many dangers -- hippopotamus, crocodiles, whirlpools -- but Ahhotep had no choice. "And when we have no choice," she often declared loudly, "we are free."

Determinedly, the princess began to row.

Since no one could tell her precisely where the free area ended and Hyksos-occupied territory began, she would find out for herself. The queen's frightened advisers assumed that the Hyksos had made great progress since Apophis's seizure of power, and Apophis's reputation for cruelty exceeded his predecessors'. They were urging Teti to leave Thebes without delay.

But where could she live in safety?

As far as Ahhotep was concerned, the only refuge was in attack. The first skirmish would take place on the demarcation line, and, if necessary, the princess herself would command the tattered remnants of the Egyptian army.

In the past forty years, thousands of her compatriots had been massacred. The Hyksos believed they could act with complete impunity and continue their reign of terror over the Two Lands of Upper and Lower Egypt. Ahhotep soon would show them that they were very wrong.

Never had an Egyptian princess, accustomed to the luxury of court, been forced to wield heavy oars like this, at the risk of spoiling her hands. But the survival of the country was at stake, and the pretty brunette thought only of the goal she must attain.

The boat bumped hard against something and almost capsized, but by great good luck it righted itself. Ahhotep glimpsed a dark form moving away, its powerful tail thrashing in the water. She had disturbed a crocodile.

Refusing to be afraid, Ahhotep rowed on. Thanks to her excellent eyesight and the light of the full moon, she avoided the wreckage of a boat and a grassy islet where pelicans were sleeping. On the banks, the peasants' houses stood abandoned. Fearing that the invaders were coming, the people had taken refuge in Thebes.

Not far away, she saw smoke.

Ahhotep slowed her pace, steered the boat toward the bank, and hid it in a papyrus thicket, disturbing a cloud of sleeping egrets. Fearing that their cries might give her away, she waited some time before moving. When she eventually climbed up the sloping bank, she found herself in an abandoned field.

Was the smoke coming from a burning farm or from a Hyksos camp? Whichever the case, the enemy was very close.

"Well, well, little girl," barked an aggressive voice. "What are you doing here?"

Without a moment's hesitation, Ahhotep swung around and, brandishing her flint knife in her right hand, hurled herself at the enemy.

Copyright © 2001 by Xo Editions. All rights reserved.

English translation copyright © 2003 by Sue Dyson --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (November 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743230841
• ISBN-13: 978-0743230841
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,082,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hire a new translator, Mr. Jacq, January 5, 2004

By 

David L. Gilbert (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Empire of Darkness: A Novel of Ancient Egypt (Queen of Freedom Trilogy) (Paperback)

I adored the Ramses series. I enjoyed it so much that it inspired me to take a tour of Egypt after I had finished reading it. I read the "Place of Truth" with equal relish, but it failed to capture the magic of the Ramses series. It became ridiculous towards the end, with the main character thwarting hundreds of bad guys at every turn like some comic superhero.

Now, with the "Queen of Freedom" series, Christian Jacq has returned to his historical fiction roots which made the Ramses series so thrilling. However, it still failed to engage me. I don't think that the fault lies with Mr. Jacq, but rather with the translation. When compared to the Ramses series, it seems like a different author. In addition. the descriptions are brief and the dialog is very lazy. Even the character names are lazy. It was odd to have someone introduce themselves as "Moustache," or "Mouse face."

It's a shame, too. The story is fascinating, but it is a chore to plow through. I'm finding myself reading it out of obligation more than anything else.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's no Ramses..., April 5, 2004

By 

ilmk "ilmk" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Empire of Darkness: A Novel of Ancient Egypt (Queen of Freedom Trilogy) (Paperback)

Christian Jacq's trilogy opener, `The Empire of Darkness' is set in 1690B.C, covering a decade during the time known as the Second intermediate period. It is, as the title suggests, a period of darkness in Pharaonic Egypt, with the Two Lands beset by the Hyksos invaders who have achieved their conquest with the introduction of the horse and chariot to the military technology.
As a result the only nominally free city is that of Thebes were the aging Queen Teti rules without her Pharoah, but her headstrong daughter, Ahhotep seeks to raise the resistance and vanquish the invaders. At her side, comes the common-born Seqen and her guard dog, Laughter. The former quickly declares his love as they seek to garner some support for their rebellion and becomes her husband and Pharoah. Ahhotep dedicates her cause to Mut and is blessed by the Eygyptian Gods.
The Hyksos are represented by the evil Apophis, his henchman Khamudi and their wives, who enjoy torturing, murdering and suppressing the Eygptians, the resistance grassroots by the wily Afghan and his growing band of rebels. However, a sympathetic Hyksos appointed overlord, Emheb, ensures that Ahhotep and Seqen are able to maintain the facade of Thebes' subservience throughout the years whilst secretly removing all the Hyksos sympathizers and creating a small army with which to strike back. By the end of the first novel, they have two strong children and eventually cast off their cloak of meekness to attack and defeat the Hyksos in two river and then one land battle, the last ultimately costing the Pharaoh his life. Nevertheless we are set up the for the next two novels for Ahhotep to continue her liberation of Egypt.
As ever Jacq's style is very limited and punchy and his novels would benefit from more `fill'. It is as though he wants to move from key scene to key scene as quickly as possible and, as such, there is little character empathy or even understandable reason for their actions most of the time. Indeed the entire novel is screenplay in its effort. Nevertheless, this has been Jacq's style (or the style of Dyson, the translator) for most of his novels now, so it is to be expected. For now, novelisation of historical Egypt is dominated by Jacq's prolific pen, but there is room for substantial improvement.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Huge disappointment, July 17, 2006

By 

Yaran "Yarecki" (Secaucus, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Empire of Darkness: A Novel of Ancient Egypt (Queen of Freedom Trilogy) (Paperback)

After reading 'Ramses' 5 books I was salivating on hope of another extra ordinary book by Mr. Jacq on ancient Egypt. However, this book is a huge disappointment. 'The Empire of Darkness' is set during the time when Egypt was ruled by Hyksos (people from the sea) and the remnants of Pharaoic Egypt had been represented by Queen Ahhotep and her husband Seqen in Thebes. It's the story of war of independence. It could be fascinating when comparing with so many historical wars of independence in not so distant past in Europe, Africa or Asia. But this book is nothing like a good historical or political thriller. It's more like a light adventure mixing or omitting historical facts. This book is far from what Mr. Jacq achieved in 'Ramses' series. The language is very simple (maybe this is just the issue of translation?), descriptions of country and main characters are very dubious, and the flow of the sory not that exctiting. If you really want to read a great historical book on Hyksos invasion and Egypt's struggle for independence, get 'Lords of the Two Lands' by Pauline Gedge.