Customer Reviews

An Evil Spirit Out of the West (Ancient Egypt Trilogy)

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The Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten has been the subject of many, many novels, most of which I have read. P.C. Doherty is the author of many books, most of which I have read as well. I must say, however, that as novels about Akhenaten goes, this one is better than a lot I have read. And, as a book by P.C. Doherty, this book is also somewhat better than many of his medieval mysteries and a hundred times better than his other ancient Egyptian mysteries (The Slayers of Seth, etc.) which are marred by abysmal research and ridiculous plots. It reminds me a little bit of Naguib Mafouz's novel of Akhenaten, "Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth", but the plot is far more convoluted. I look forward to seeing how the series progresses.

This is one of the more exciting books about ancient Egypt I have ever read. It is part one to trilogy about exhilarating events surrounding end of 18th dynasty of Egyptian pharaohs including famous Akhenaten, the ancient ruler who was trying to introduce the belief in one and omnipotent God - Aten, his most beautiful but quizzical wife Nefertiti, and Akhenaten's son, Tutankhamen. The story is told through memoirs of former Chief of Police and Head of Security, Mahu, who apparently left behind him the entire story written and later translated into Greek and Latin. I highly recommend the book and would rate it 5 stars except I would prefer Mahu not be a narrator and to read this book from the 3rd person point of view. Mahu is too me a bit too indulgent, self-made and irritating. But if Paul Doherty is accurate about truthfulness of Mahu's memoirs, this is one engrossing and vibrant tale about fabled Akhenaten (called the Veiled one or Grotesque one due to his body deformity), his rise to power, and sudden disappearance. The book is extremely rich in description of ancient Egyptian religious customs, everyday life and traditional lore. Paul Doherty, known from his medieval and other ancient Egyptian mysteries, comes up with intriguing tale of love, deception, revenge, greed and faith. He paints a breath-taking picture of ancient Egypt and its rulers, describes social issues and depicts religious struggles enfolding during introduction of Sun-disc God and desertion of traditional Egyptian deities, who happened to be irreplaceable and led to Akhenaten's demise. Paul Doherty uses extremely affluent but easy language to follow, and the book is well researched from the historical point of view, but doesn't confound people with lack of ancient history knowledge.

As an Egyptologist, but most especially as an Amarna Period scholar, this book was hideously painful to read. To begin with, it is generally accepted among Egyptologists that Akhenaten was NOT deformed: the extreme art style of the early Amarna era is due to symbolic and ideological reasons. It is highly significant that Akhenaten is shown as completely normal in his statues from later in the reign. Doherty's portrayal of every single major historical character from Akhenaten and Nefertiti onwards grated on my nerves. The book is full of historical inaccuracies, from fountains (needs Roman plumbing, folks!) to wooden chests all over the place (Egypt has always been a wood-poor country; they used baskets for storage), to Tiye and Aye as the driving force behind the Aten heresy (the Aten is first attested in the reign of Thutmose IV, Akhenaten's great-grandfather). And that's just for starters!

Do not waste your time on this book; and if the rest of Paul Doherty's "historical" novels are comparable to this one, I certainly won't!

Paul Doherty is the consummate professional when it comes to writing historical novels. I for one do not know how he can be so prolific with his offering of books and yet make sure that each of them is well researched. Whether they be 13th, 14th, or fifteenth century they are always true to the period. He also writes about Ancient Egypt and Alexander the Great. Paul Doherty has the rare talent of making you feel as though you are there, be it medieval England, or battling with Alexander. The sounds and smells of the period seem to waft from the pages of his books. In this series he returns to Ancient Egypt.

This book has as its main character, Akenhaten, perhaps one of the most written about Pharaoh's of Ancient Egypt. Known as the Veiled One he had a turbulent and at times astounding reign. Akenhaten is thrust to the forefront of the political stage after the death of his elder brother. It is then that the ambitious and ruthless Mahu realises his own chance for fame and wealth, by becoming the protector of the young prince. He knows that by becoming the Akenhaten's protector and confidant he can rapidly increase his own status and power at the Egyptian court.

First in the believable fictional trilogy about Akhenaten, the mysterious mystical pharaoh, and the turmoil of his reign in which he attempted to entirely overthrow the old religions of Egypt. Paul Doherty, a professor of history who seems to research his books very well, is also an outstanding writer. This is the first in the series, narrated by Mahu, an actual historical character, the chief of police. Wonderful book!

The vendor delivered the book very quickly and well-packaged.
The book itself was very entertaining. I have read a number of Doherty' other
Ancient Egypt books and found this one to be equally enjoyable. The author's level of knowledge and detail of life in ancient Egypt is outstanding.
The story itself chronicles the life of an Egyptian who becomes the bodyguard
of one of Egypt's most controversial rulers. The author develops a storyline to
coincide with known facts of Akenhaten and those around him. This series is not so
much a mystery series as the Amerotke books are, as it is a chronicle of what
might have happened to Akenhaten and Nefertiti. I look forward to reading the other books in this series.

Doherty has done his homework about the most important aspects of Akhenaten's great heresy, and given us a psychologially plausible portrait of a remarkable man who began as a truly spiritual religious believer, but ended up doing more damage to his own country than just about any other king in Egyptian history. The reader, through the eyes of his loyal friend, sees him evolve from a likeable, deeply devout young man to an ambitious prince convinced of his own divine destiny to a zealot and fanatical persecutor of the old religion. Since every effort was made after Akhenaten's reign to erase his memory, there has to be a lot of guess-work involved in reconstructing how he arrived at his monotheistic beliefs and then succeeded, temporarily, at least, in imposing them on his empire. But I wouldn't doubt that it took a few bloody battles and purges before he consolidated his power. And of course there would have been ambitious power-seekers supporting him, whether or not they believed his religious doctrines. I can also believe that the Egyptian people were initially glad to be free of the immensely wealthy and powerful cult of Amun, before realizing that they'd traded it for something worse. That often happens in a revolution that leads to a theocracy (as in contemporary Iran!)

Another reviewer has attacked Doherty for historical inaccuracies, but there is no such thing as an historical novel that can escape them completely. It's always easy and fun to play the "gotcha" game -- for example, when you sail from Thebes to Tel el Amarna, you're going downriver, not up, and you certainly would not have sailed past fields of maize 3000 years before Columbus discovered the Americas. Maize is a new-world plant. And yes, I agree that Akhenaten was probably not deformed. It's possible, if we can take his portraits literally, that he had Marphan's Syndrome, but if he had it, then so did "beautiful" Nefertiti, whose portraits are stylized in exactly the same manner. The elongated hands, feet and faces in Amarna-period art might simply be a new artistic convention, possibly an exaggeration of personal features in the manner of a political cartoon, although obviously with a more serious intent. Artists who were suddenly encouraged to pursue realism might have gone to the opposite extreme from the idealized representations of earlier kings. But I'm willing to give Doherty his artistic license, and accept in the context of the novel that Akhenaten was grotesque while Nefertiti was beautiful. It is, after all, called "historical fiction" for a reason.

Overall this is one of the better novels about Akhenaten and the Amarna era. The main character, Mahu, is believable and strikes one as very human. The portrayal of Ay was refreshing as well since most writers have him as either very paternal or sadistic, never as both. There are a few inaccuracies, but unless the reader is very familiar with ancient Egypt, they are not noticable. Nefertiti's demise was tragic as she had so much potential as a pharaoh. After reading this novel, I anticipate reading the next one in the trilogy.

Very exciting look at an era of ancient Egypt that has never been completely explained. Combined with mystery and suspense.