According to the reader’s note penned by the author (I usually read such things, as I read the exordiums and the afterwords of other novels), he makes clear that this story is about a secondary character from previous novels he set in Egypt. This worried me for a bit. I feared that I wouldn’t be able to understand the story if so much of it came from novels I hadn’t read.
But my apprehension proved unfounded. I was caught practically from the first paragraph. Hui foolishly brings his friend Hyky to rob deadly and cruel desert bandits and I was mesmerized. I found myself tugged back and forth among the very different personalities of the three youths who dared much and had much to lose. I sensed that this minor raid was only a precursor and foreshadowing of greater struggles to come.
You see at once the differences between kind Hui and his older brother, the remorseless Qen. You understand how they will be set against each other in this re-imagining of an ancient battle. It’s potent stuff, reminiscent of all tugs of war between brothers at loggerheads with each other. This is glorious storytelling—affecting, savage, brutal and heartrending.
This was just a taste for me but now I find myself eager to read the other Ancient Egypt novels by this author. What a find for anyone who longs for stories of long-ago Africa, at the spot of the cradle of civilization.
But my apprehension proved unfounded. I was caught practically from the first paragraph. Hui foolishly brings his friend Hyky to rob deadly and cruel desert bandits and I was mesmerized. I found myself tugged back and forth among the very different personalities of the three youths who dared much and had much to lose. I sensed that this minor raid was only a precursor and foreshadowing of greater struggles to come.
You see at once the differences between kind Hui and his older brother, the remorseless Qen. You understand how they will be set against each other in this re-imagining of an ancient battle. It’s potent stuff, reminiscent of all tugs of war between brothers at loggerheads with each other. This is glorious storytelling—affecting, savage, brutal and heartrending.
This was just a taste for me but now I find myself eager to read the other Ancient Egypt novels by this author. What a find for anyone who longs for stories of long-ago Africa, at the spot of the cradle of civilization.