Egyptian Historical Fiction

filled star filled star filled star filled star star unfilled
cyireadbooks Avatar

By

The New Kingdom is the author’s seventh novel in his The Egyptian Series. This being the case, some readers may want to defer reading this novel until the other six prior novels are read. However, I found that The New Kingdom could be read as a standalone, albeit there was a soft ending — not conclusive, but not open ended.

The characters are varied and many. There are more than a dozen actors in this novel. And for me, that was probably too many to fully grasp each player’s personality and their place in the narrative. Perhaps the character development started with Smith’s first novel, River God. And I probably need to read the first novel to fully appreciate the seventh novel in this series. However, there are a few characters that stood out for me. Hui, the main protagonist, Khyan who took Hui under his wing, and Fareed, a tracker that stood by Hui through thick and thin. Nevertheless, Hui by far stood out for his perseverance, bravery and courage.

The world-building was a little lax and this too probably has to do with not reading the first novel in the series. However, there is enough information to get a feel for the era, the cities, townships, and weaponry.

The New Kingdom is an enjoyable read. Especially if the reader enjoys ancient Egyptian history. I found The New Kingdom absorbing, but I wanted more excitement, and mystery. At 432 pages, it wasn’t a slog to read, but there were some dips in the pacing of the novel. Still a four adventurous star read.

I received a physical ARC from Bonnier Zaffre through the Bookish First Raffle. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.