Scroll of Saqqara

by Pauline Gedge

Prince Khaemwaset is a powerful man. The son of Ramses II and a revered physician, his wisdom is respected throughout Egypt. But Khaemwaset harbours a strong and secret desire—to find the mysterious Scroll of Thoth and receive the power to raise the dead. When Khaemwaset hears of the discovery of a hidden tomb on the plain of Saqqara, he is quick to break its seal and take its secrets—secrets that he soon learns he should never have disturbed.

Richly detailed with the exotic realities of Ancient Egypt, Scroll of Saqqara is a compelling tale of power, lust, and obsession.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Egypt, Historical, Fiction, Fantasy, Mythology, Horror

460 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

I was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on December 11, 1945, the first of three girls. Six years later my family emigrated to England where my father, an ex-policeman, wanted to study for the Anglican ministry. We lived in an ancient and very dilapidated cottage in the heart of the English Buckinghamshire woodland, and later in a small village in Oxfordshire called Great Haseley. I grew up surrounded by countryside that I observed, played in, and grew to know and love passionately, and I wrote lyrically of its many moods.

My father had his first parish in Oxford, so in 1956, having passed the eleven-plus exam, a torture now fortunately defunct, I attended what was then the Oxford Central School for Girls. I was a very good student in everything but mathematics. Any academic discipline that is expressed and interpreted through words I could conquer, but math was bewildering and foreign, a maze of numbers and ridiculous symbols with which I had nothing in common. I liked chemistry, because I was allowed to play with pretty crystals and chemicals that behaved as if they had magic in them. I studied the violin, an instrument I struggled over and gave up after two years, and the piano, which I enjoyed and continue to play, along with the recorders. Music has always been important to me.

Then in 1959 my father accepted a parish in Virden, Manitoba, and the family left for Canada. After three months at the local high school, I was sent to a boarding school in Saskatchewan. It was the most dehumanizing, miserable experience of my life. In 1961 I began one inglorious year at the University of Manitoba’s Brandon College. I did not work very hard, and just before final exams I was told that my sister Anne was dying. I lost all interest in passing.

Anne wanted to die in the country where she was born, so we all returned to New Zealand. She died a month after our arrival, and is buried in Auckland. The rest of us moved down to the tip of the South Island where my father had taken the parish of Riverton. For a year I worked as a substitute teacher in three rural schools. In ’64 I attended the Teachers’ Training College in Dunedin, South Island, where my writing output became prolific but again my studies suffered. I did not particularly want to be a teacher. All I wanted to do was stay home and read and write. I was eighteen, bored and restless. I met my first husband there.

In 1966 I married and returned to Canada, this time to Alberta, with my husband and my family. I found work at a day care in Edmonton. My husband and I returned to England the next year, and my first son, Simon, was born there in January ’68. In 1969 we came back to Edmonton, and my second son was born there in December 1970.

By 1972 I was divorced, and I moved east of Edmonton to the village of Edgerton. I wrote my first novel and entered it in the Alberta Search-for-a-New-Novelist Competition. It took fourth place out of ninety-eight entries, and though it received no prize, the comments from the judges and my family encouraged me to try again. The next year I entered my second attempt, a bad novel that sank out of sight. Finally in 1975 I wrote and submitted Child of the Morning, the story of Hatshepsut, an 18th Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh, which won the competition. With it came a publishing deal with Macmillan of Canada and the rest, as they say, is history.

Reviews

[Samane Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

پس از ده سال، دوباره اومدم سراغ این کتاب و اینبار دوتایی خوندیمش و حسابی از داستان فوق‌‌العاده‌ش کیف کردیم و لذت بردیم! فکر نکنم هیچ‌وقت تکراری بشه برام...
با همه علاقه‌اي که به داستان‌هاي باستاني درباره مصر و مقبره‌ها و نفرين‌ها و خدايانشون دارم، ولي بين خدايان باستان، خدايان يونان و روم رو بيشتر از خداهاي مصري دوست دارم! خدايان مصر خشن و بي‌عاطفه و بي‌گذشت بودند، ولي خدايان يونان به نظرم آسيب‌پذيرتر، انعطاف‌پذيرتر و در عين حال جذاب تر از بقيه خداها هستند! حتي خدايان اسکانديناوي هم، به اندازه مصري‌ها خشن نبودند! در کل، اول خدايان يونان و روم، بعد اسکانديناوي، آخر از همه، خدايان مصر!😅
همين.

[Iset · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Scroll of Saqqara", published under the alternative title Mirage: A Novel in the US, is an insidious mystery tale that will get under your skin, and the sheer turmoil wrought on the protagonists will keep you gripped until the very end. Pauline Gedge draws her inspiration for the plot both from the life of the real Khaemwaset but also in large part from a later work of Ptolemaic literature, written about a thousand years after the real man lived, called "Setna and the Mummies" which was a fusion of fairytale and Egyptian folk memory about this royal prince of the past. Pauline Gedge uses the Ptolemaic text as a basis, and draws upon her own imagination with stunning vision to create a tale that is altogether darker than the original.

Truly chilling, "Scroll of Saqqara" has a plot of dark and terrible fascination. The unravelling of the lives of Khaemwaset and his family is a bit of a slow-burner, but I found this wildly tantalising and a spur to continue reading. I found myself practically tearing through the pages to get to the climax and resolution of this riveting and compelling story, built so up subtly and plausibly that failure of the characters to notice what is going on until it's too late was entirely believable. Each page I tore through in my desire to see how the tale would spin out was also a page of delicious agony; I was deeply engaged with these characters and cared about what would happen to them, but as a reader on the outside looking in I was powerless to help the characters I'd come to root for. There were definitely moments where I was mentally yelling at the protagonists for one of them, any of them, to come to their senses, but the great thing is that Gedge never wavers from letting these characters take their own paths and the result is a powerfully riveting story. As the sting in the tale is played out, you get a deeply unsettling sense that things are very, very wrong, but the plot is so compelling that one cannot wrench one's eyes away from the unfolding disaster.

The characters are fleshed out real people with three-dimensional motivations, personalities and complexities. Each and every single one of them is sensible, plausible and most importantly thoroughly believable. This ought to be something which readers expect and demand from every single book we read. Every scene has a purpose, every piece of dialogue fits the character speaking it and is well-constructed and well thought out. Pauline Gedge is a class act as an author, and once again her writing skill shines through here as in every novel she turns out, the sheer quality of her storycraft and knowledge of language is rarely matched. With both, she weaves together a whole package that transcends the nonsense that's so often put out these days (so often in fact that I was beginning to wonder if people had begun to just accept it and lower their expectations!) and is in a stratosphere which few books inhabit. I found only three reviews of this book on Amazon UK and one of those was a copy of a review on Amazon USA, which itself only had 8 reviews - astonishing given just how good this novel is, suggesting to me that this novel has been overlooked for far too long.

Pauline Gedge is a star of a writer, and "Scroll of Saqqara" is a hidden gem of a book whose complex characters and searing plot will stay with you long after you've turned the last page. Gedge's knowledge of the setting and environment in which her characters move, the culture and day to day life of Egypt is genuinely astounding. The worlds she creates are vibrant, vivid and colourful, and bring the ancient world to life as a real time and place where our flesh and blood ancestors really existed and made their lives. Her descriptions are sublime, springing to life in the reader's imagination with all the clarity of the original vision of the author.

"Scroll of Saqqara" is deliciously well-written, chillingly unsettling, and one hundred percent compelling. Enough said!

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emocionante historia que te sumerge en el antiguo Egipto, La autora consigue una novela histórica de misterio muy fácil de leer, que a mí me ha atrapado. Bien narrada, describe los usos y costumbres de la época, añadiendo connotaciones de vértigo que te hipnotizan como un hechizo. Es muy entretenida, y aunque al principio el arranque es algo costoso poco a poco coge velocidad y el final, con ciertos pasajes visibles me ha dejado pasmada. La solución es pura magia y prestidigitación.

[Kris43 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a big fat book. I imagine I could kill rats with it:)
But don't let that intimidate you. It may be huge, but it has the the special kind of charm that only a huge tome can have.


It reads like a historical fiction, only later if twists into horror. First 1/4 of the book is spend in interesting day to day description of Princes family, life, land, culture.
And all that at first lulls you in, before I know it I just wanted to know what will happen next.

Very fast in the book, I had my first big surprise. From the summary, I expected a greedy, power hungry, mean grave robber. The kind that kicks kittens....

Instead I got a gentle, rational man who has a lot of respect for his culture, country, history. He is very proud of his ancestry and sure in the rightness of his doing. He is a Egyptian prince and treats his subordinates well, not at all power hungry. He actually restores the pyramids that have been violated and preforms rituals to appease the dead and the Gods.

So.........Where is the problem? How does a man like that offend the Gods and condemns him self in such a way? The Prince spend his life exploring Egypt past, opening tombs and restoring them and yearning for forbidden knowledge. He also disturbed the rest of many dead. All wrapped up in scientific pursuit, but really secretly hoping to find The legendary scroll of Thoth. It has two spells on it. One spell gives the power of bodily resurrection to the one who legitimately speaks it, and the other gives him the ability to understand the language of everything living under the sun. All this sounds like something the Gods would mind if you mess with it, right?

The first signs of something sinister came slowly and gradually. One small deed at the time, until it all build a monstrous thing that came later. This book creates a masterful atmosphere of suspense. Every next small thing that happened gave me the feeling of dread. It all accumulated to the point of no return where i just couldn't believe what was happening and how it all got so wrong!

And in the end your greatest wish is granted, sweet Prince. The best curses are made out of parody of our own dreams!


P.S. Scrolls are evil, never touch them!!!

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pauline eres una diosa!!!!
Personajes 10
trama 10
ambientación 10
mi único PERO es Tbubui porque mira, qué pesada, con el sexo y el rol de mujer fatal, pero ha sido leer el final del libro y es imposible darle menos nota. Muy bien hilado. Una historia con personajes que fueron reales y un conocimiento enorme de la época.

[Sonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Si alguien alguna vez es capaz de explicarme cómo es posible que esta DIOSA de las novelas del Antiguo Egipto no haya triunfado en España (donde es dificilísimo encontrar sus novelas), mientras que Christian Jacq que, a mi juicio, no le llega ni a la suela de la sandalia (por aquello de que estamos en el antiguo egipto, adapto el calzado), sea un número 1 en ventas...
En fin, a lo que vamos: Pauline Gedge logra una ambientación en sus novelas fuera de lo común. Casi casi parece que pinte sus novelas, más que narrarlas, porque tiene una maestría excepcional a la hora de sumergir al lector en cada época del Antiguo Egipto en las que sitúa la narración (y son escenarios variados, pues las va ambientando en diferentes Dinastías).
Logra que te sientas como una especie de "vieja'l visillo", cotilleando por una ventanita no sólo lo que les va sucediendo a los personajes, sino sus ciudades, sus casas, su comida, sus ropas, joyas, maquillaje... hasta que llega un momento en el que a ti mismo te parece estar viviendo ahí y, cuando separas tu vista de la lectura, se te hace raro verte de nuevo rodeado de cosas tan "modernas".
Creo que ya sólo por esta habilidad merecería la pena leer sus novelas. Pero es que además logra contarte, de un modo ameno, episodios de la Historia del Antiguo Egipto, en muchos casos plagados de intrigas, luchas por el poder, conspiraciones... y pasiones como las del resto de los mortales: amor, odio, envidia, desprecio, ambición...
Es decir, no sólo es interesante cómo cuenta las cosas y los escenarios en los que sitúa su acción, sino que también las cosas que cuenta, las tramas de sus novelas.
Y, de todas ellas, "El papiro de Saqqara" es, con diferencia, mi preferida.
Curiosamente no se trata de una de sus novelas en las que narre algún pasaje de la Historia de Egipto (como sí hace en "La dama del Nilo" con la reina Hatshepsut, en "El faraón" con la historia de Akhenatón y Nefertiti, o con la trilogía de "Señores de las Dos Tierras" con la historia de Seqenenra y los hicsos, por ejemplo).
En esta novela, ambientada en el reinado de Ramsés II, ficciona completamente la vida de un supuesto hijo del faraón (uno de muchos), erudito y aficionado a la Historia y a la proto-arqueología, y su familia, introduciendo un factor mágico y fantástico... de un modo muy egipcio.
Dioses, hombres, magia, ritos, la familia como frágil núcleo de estabilidad y polvorín a punto de estallar, pasión desenfrenada, amor, celos, ambición y el abordaje de las prácticas arqueológicas y hasta qué punto la búsqueda del conocimiento puede justificarlo todo...
Todo ello en una novela de ritmo reflexivo y pausado, que se va volviendo cada vez más opresiva y asfixiante, hasta desembocar en un final... ¡qué final!
Hay gente a la que precisamente ese ritmo narrativo lento y pausado (marca de la casa, por cierto... Pauline Gedge escribe así) les hace decir que la novela es "aburrida" (¡¡aburrida!! ¡¡pero si pasa de todoooo!!), o que le falta ritmo.
Que le falte ritmo, puede ser. Desde luego no desde mi punto de vista.
Y como yo las estrellas las pongo no en función de la calidad literaria objetiva de los libros que valoro, sino en función de la perspectiva SUBJETIVA de lo que me han hecho disfrutar a mí (tanto porque me parezcan buenas novelas, como porque además me hayan gustado muchísimo y sigan evocando en mí sensaciones, por mucho tiempo que haya pasado), pues le planto 5 estrellas como 5 soles.
Y me quedo tan ancha.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second attempt at reading one of Gedge's novels, and much more satisfactory. For starters, I love the premise of the novel, mingling folklore with the history. The characters, while flawed, are also more likeable - I particularly loved Gedge's Ramses II, however brief his appearance was.

I did dislike Khaemwaset, though, mainly because I spent the whole novel getting frustrated with him always making clearly the wrong decision, even in spite of his logic. But I suspect that was deliberate.

Additionally, I felt that the novel ended too soon. I would have loved to have seen the aftermath in more concrete terms - and more Ramses!

[Joyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars for the first ¾ of the book, 3 stars for the last quarter

I have a confession to make: I didn’t really know what this book was about before I started it. All I knew was that it was set in Egypt, it seemed to promise action, and it had a high average rating (4.08 at the time of writing). Thus, I expected a good book which would wow me with its spectacular contents and make me applaud my decision to just spontaneously pick up a book and read it.

Their loss had not brought them together, indeed without music, entertainments or the feasting of guests, the bare bones of their estrangement from one another began to show through, stark and cruel. Nubnofret had completely withdrawn from them all. Hori, too, had retreated into his private hell where even Sheritra, though they spent much time together, could not follow.

This book is more family drama than anything. In one sentence, it is about how a man’s mid-life crisis slowly destroys his family.



But wait! There’s more! There’s also a predicable mystery involved! And, and, and…sex! There’s sex, here, too! From all the members of the family! There’s also a lot of shouting and irrational actions which makes you want to punch the main character in the face!

Now, if that’s not the definition of interesting, I don’t know what is.



Let me explain my points one by one.

Point #1: The Predictable Mystery
Hmm…picture this. You have been searching for a scroll with the power to raise the dead all your life, so presumably you are familiar with the scroll and all its properties.

Suddenly, you find your first heretofore unopened tomb. It houses a husband-and-wife duo. What’s more, you find an ancient scroll sewn into the hand of one of the mummies. You steal it (obviously), and after translating it from ancient Egyptian to modern Egyptian, you realise it is a spell of some kind.

Falling silent, it occurred to him suddenly that the rhythm was familiar because the words were the building blocks of a spell, and as every magician knew, spells had a particular flow to them, when chanted, that poetry did not have. I have been singing a spell of some kind, he thought, sitting back with a shudder of apprehension. That was stupid of me, to voice and thus give power to something that I do not understand. I have no idea what just came out of my mouth.

Then, a few days after you do so, your son comes to tell you he found a secret room in the tomb the scroll came from. What’s more, although obviously designed to house mummies, there are no mummies present, and he also found a turquoise earring in the tunnel leading out of the tomb.

At the same time, you begin to obsess over a woman of mysterious origins. She lives with a man she claims is her brother. She also claims to be some kind of nobility from a backwater town, with no ambitions whatsoever.

At this point, WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK THAT SCROLL WAS??? WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK THE WOMAN IS???



Point #2: The Sex
Well…this one’s kinda self-explanatory, isn’t it? Basically, all the males in the family lust after the same woman (bonus points if you can guess which one), and the homely daughter falls at the feet of the woman’s son, because he’s (a) handsome and (b) the first one to show interest in her.

Seventy days imprisoned here, away from Harmin, away from Tbubui, no desert sunsets feeding honeyed dates to the yellow dog, no board games played lazily under the palms, no Harmin in my bed.

(Also, again maybe as a bonus, all the romance in this book is insta-love.)

Point #3: The Irrational Actions
This one just makes me mad.







You know that frustration you feel when you’re reading a book (usually YA), and the main character is just consistently TSTL? Yeah, that’s what I’m feeling right now. Times 2.5. Because that’s two of the characters throughout the entire book and one of the characters throughout half the book.

His father had ceased to be a calm, kindly man, and had let the administration of the country slide towards a chaos that could well ruin them all. His mother was imprisoned in an icy unhappiness. Sheritra’s response to his revelations about Tbubui had been instantly selfish and defensive of Harmin, and it was clear that her world had shrunk to the lineaments of his body.

The only redeeming factor is the ending. I’ve always been a fan of plot twists which explain everything, and whilst most of the revealed ‘twists’ were predictable, there were some surprises. Hence, 2.5 stars instead of 2.

In conclusion, let me say this: if you're looking for family drama set in Egyptian times, this is the book for you. If not, skip it. You can do so much better.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

The novel is an effective retelling of an Egyptian fiction from the Ptolemaic period known as The Book of Thoth.

This story follows the fiction/myth/legend rather closely follows the original from what I can gather resulting in a fascinating painting of the times, religion and life of ancient Egypt in the age of Ramesses II. The characters are historical for the most part, actual big time personages from the 13th century BCE Egypt.

To a modern reader the is an element of horror to the story, but one based on religion. I see this as mythic as well as historical fiction, if we can agree that religion has been based on myth throughout human history.

Highly recommended for all interested in ancient historical or mythic fiction.

[Ana Pineda · Rating 5 out of 5]

El papiro de Saqqara es una lectura emocionante, que me ha atrapado desde el  primer capítulo.
Y de nuevo la autora ha logrado sumergirme en la vida del antiguo egipto. Con unos personajes perfectamente construidos y definidos, donde una vez más Pauline Gedge mezcla genialmente personajes que existieron con una historia de ficción, paseándote genialmente por esa magia que desprende el antiguo Egipto.

Recomiendo este viaje; os espera toda la majestuosidad del antiguo Egipto, increibles aventuras tras un pergamino que ofrece un increíble poder oscuro y te mantendrá pegado a la historia hasta el final.

[Belinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,75 stars - English hardcover - Thanks Amy for the read. Mystery, action and a man who wants all power. A Son of the farao and a doctor but still he wants that scroll. This was a book I did read in two days. Every night I did read until late. Simply loved it. What a writter. 🌸🌷🌸

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one very much. Mirage takes place in ancient Egypt; Gedge's writing is as excellent as usual. Horror builds slowly and crept up on me. The novel started slowly to set the background then gained momentum. The novel was a page-turner; I read till 3 a.m. last night, to finish the novel.

We are introduced to Khaemwaset, a prince of Egypt. He is also a physician, skilled magician, and a historian. He excavates tombs to renovate them; he is in hope of finding the Scroll of Thoth [the ibis-headed god of wisdom]. Through its use one can become immortal. In the course of his explorations of a certain tomb in the necropolis of Saqqara, he steals a mysterious old scroll. After deciphering some of the hieroglyphs, he chants the text that he's transcribed. He realizes immediately afterwards it's rhythmical, a possible curse, but it's too late to take back his words. Is it a curse? What has he unleashed?

We also meet his loving, close-knit family: wife [Nubnofret], son, [the young man, Hori], and daughter [the young woman, Sheritra]. All characters are well-rounded and have distinct personalities. In the town one day, Khaemwaset sees a mysterious woman and is immediately obsessed with her. She disappears. His men cannot find her after much searching. One day, a young man, Harmin, comes and asks him to treat his mother's possibly infected foot. Khaemwaset's family and her whole family: herself (the widowed Tbubui), brother [Sisenet], son [Harmin] do meet after he treats the woman; they are invited to his house for dinner one evening. Khaemwaset is consumed by lustful feelings for Tbubui. She and her family insinuate themselves into the lives of Khaemwaset and family. I had goosebumps all through the rest of the story once the two families met and became close. Tbubui begins pursuing her agenda with Khaemwaset and his family, who begin to be pulled apart; their idyllic life is destroyed slowly bit by bit. Hori takes it upon himself to visit Tbubui's hometown and to find out her true background and that of her family. He feels they are not what they seem--Tbubui is the mirage of the title.

Gedge maintained an eerie and horror-filled atmosphere all through the novel, no mean feat. I was suspicious of Tbubui's family from the first. I did feel the epilogue connected [but not quite] with an incident fairly early in the novel but was superfluous. I thought the last chapter would have made a perfect ending. As always, Gedge painted a realistic and evocative picture of ancient Egypt.

Highly recommended! This also has the alternate title: Scroll of Saqqara

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cómo explicar la experiencia inmersiva que he tenido con este libro elegido para el #agostoegipcio...

En primer lugar, tengo que mencionar la narración magistral de Pauline, con todo lujo de detalles y descripciones y una ambientación que hace trasladarte en cuerpo y mente al Antiguo Egipto. Me he sentido una protagonista más de la historia. Nunca había leído a la autora y ha sido todo un descubrimiento.

Y en segundo lugar, todo el misterio que lo envuelve. Desde los primeros capítulos hay pequeñas dosis que van aumentando conforme avanza la lectura, lo que se convierte en un libro obsesivo que no puedes parar de leer si no quieres tirarte de los pelos.

Y el final... Justo cuando empezaba a pensar que no iba a tener uno a la altura del desarrollo de la novela, da un giro sorprendente. Increíble.

Así que si te gusta el tema de Egipto, no hay motivos para no leer este libro, porque lo tiene TODO: buena narrativa, múltiples descripciones, misterio, rigurosidad y todo ambientado en el Antiguo Egipto.

[Helen Cazadora De Libros · Rating 4 out of 5]

En esta novela egipcia se nos narra la vida del príncipe Khaemuast, 4° hijo de Ramsés II, que estaba obsesionado por lo mágico y lo místico, y quería encontrar el pergamino perdido de Thot, que revelaba la fuente de la vida.
.
En su empeño, los dioses le gratifican con hallar lo que buscaba y le mandan un castigo en forma de mujer.
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En esta historia se conjugan la magia, la familia, las tradiciones, lo mundano y lo místico.
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Pauline Gedge es una experta en hacernis ver el mundo egipcio. Y su exquisita documentación, precisa y detallada, te hacen entender aquellos años y cómo se fueron desarrollando.
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No es una novela egipcia al uso, es algo más. Tiene todos los ingredientes necesarios para disfrutar de una novela histórica en estado de gracia.
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Para mí Gedge es la escritora que hay que buscar para conocer el Egipto de los faraones.
.

[Lila Gloria Fernández de Castro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnífica novela de Pauline Gedge. Nos adentra en el mundo antiguo egipcio el cual maneja muy bien . Aparte aquí nos presenta, como ya lo hizo un poco en su novela El adivino, el elemento mágico y lo hace de una manera muy interesante y amena. Recomendada.

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

NTS: 1) Has alternate title, Scroll of Saqqara; 2) No ebook or Audio. 3) Have to buy in hard-copy or local library hard-copy.

[Cristina (bibliotecadepueblo) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5★

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prince Khaemwaset is the middle-aged son of Pharaoh Ramses of Egypt. A well-renowned physician and scholar of ancient knowledge, he has made it his life's work to open and restore ancient tombs desecrated by tomb robbers. Broken furniture is mended, food offerings are replenished and crumbling paintings are restored. Such work is done with all due respect for the dead occupants. But Khaemwaset is also seeking for the legendary "Scroll of Thoth" purported to give its owner the power of life after death.

At a feast he is approached by an old and ailing man who hands him an ancient scroll but begs him to destroy it immediately. The man states that he is prevented from doing the task himself. Khaemwaset accepts the scroll but makes a fateful decision to study it first. On the way home the scroll disappears and a massive search for it turns up nothing. A few days later, Khaemwaset spies an unknown woman walking through the marketplace. He's aware of her sensuous walk, her trim body, her long dark hair. When he tries to discover her identity, she disappears into the crowd. Similar incidences happen over and over. His search for her begins as a curiosity and rapidly develops into an obsession. He must have her...at any cost.

A tale of horror and sacrilege, magic and dark secrets. Guaranteed to scare the daylights out of readers as it builds to its climactic ending!

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that made Pauline Gedge one of my favorite authors of all time. Not only did she take a twist on an ancient being who I've never seen in the spotlight, but the story was brilliant. Every plot twist had me biting my nails and trying to read as fast as humanly possible to get to the next page. The ending left me shell shocked, and I remember wondering if I was ready to cry or start the whole thing over again. Not every story ends the way you think it will, and this one is flawless.

[LibroLivre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Estoy atónita después de terminar esta maravilla.

Es impresionante como la autora consigue una armonía perfecta entre la cantidad de información, la narración, el ritmo, el suspense y los personajes.

La autora consigue que al igual que el protagonista el lector también esté embrujado con la historia y que se convierta en adictiva.

Solo una palabra más, impresionante.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent retelling of an Egyptian legend/tale. As always, Gedge writes ancient Egyptian very well. I loved the twist at the end.

[Neus Gutiérrez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me esperaba más de la Gedge.

[ᴅᴀʟᴜ ♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.6 ☆

[Claudia Marcela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Khaemuast acarició pensativamente el pergamino. Aquello pertenecía al reino de lo urgente, lo sagrado, algo de vital importancia para el príncipe cuyos quebradizos huesos lo agarraban tan posesivamente. «Al menos, me merezco echarle un vistazo —pensó Khaemuast, en un arrebato de rebelión contra su innata virtud—. Honro a los muertos con mis restauraciones. Que este muerto me honre a mí, por una vez, en mi búsqueda de conocimientos».

Khaemuast, cuarto hijo de Rámses II, encuentra placer en su búsqueda infinita de conocimiento en los antiguos pergaminos y tumbas de Egipto, incluso en una recién descubierta en Saqqara, pese al ambiente enrarecido y maligno que perciben todos, Khaemuast se obsesiona con el pergamino que está cocido a la mano de una de las momias y se lo lleva a casa para estudiarlo mejor, porque podría ser el legendario Pergamino de Thot. No es robo cuando piensa devolverlo, ¿cierto? Lo que no espera es que tras leerlo en voz alta, sus sueños se vean perturbados por una mujer de belleza seductora, y cuando al fin la conoce, no cejará en su empeño de hacerlo suya, sin importar los malos presagios que rodean a todos sus allegados.

En este relato del antiguo Egipto (1250 a.C), la autora nos retrata la vida cotidiana de un príncipe egipcio, sacerdote de Thot y arqueólogo entusiasta, con un estilo fluido, al inicio tan enriquecido de descripciones que adentra al lector a los paisajes, el clima y el trato entre la gente que casi pareciera estar viéndolos enjoyados, debajo del despiadado sol y escuchando el fluir del Nilo. Más adelante se enfoca en ir posicionando las piezas del gran misterio que constituye la trama, para finalmente dar paso al drama más absoluto del desmoronamiento de la vida pacífica que tenía el protagonista antes de abrir esa tumba que se descubrió al inicio del libro.

Afortunadamente se nos hace partícipes también de las narraciones de los dos hijos de Khaemuast, cuando éste ya ha caído plenamente bajo el influjo de la maldición y es totalmente ciego a los razonamientos. Ya veíamos el desmoronamiento de la personalidad inicial de Khaemuast en sus capítulos, pero cuando se contrasta con las evidencias que a la mujer Tbubui no le interesa ocultar a los hijos, una vez que ha conseguido su objetivo, que confirman las sospechas del lector, la tensión alcanza un punto álgido que dura hasta el final.

La trama es adictiva, si bien es cada vez más frustrante ver el desarrollo de acontecimientos. Es más agravante por el hecho de que él es un sacerdote qué debiera saber o detectar el embrujo bajo el qué está. Cuando pasa de la simple fascinación a la absoluta obsesión, cuando un hombre serio y siempre responsable de sus deberes y familia de repente pasa a dedicar cada segundo de sus días primero a fantasear con la mujer que ha visto a lo lejos y luego en hacerla suya cuando al fin la conoce y finalmente en estar con ella cuando ya han compartido el lecho, habla de algo muy turbio. Y resulta estremecedor ver la caída de los cuatro miembros de la familia, que parecían tan armoniosos al inicio y revelan lo frágil de sus lazos en cuanto la lujuria consume a tres de ellos.

Sobre el personaje de Tbubui hay dos vertientes por explorar. Despierta aversión, a la vez que una intensa curiosidad sobre las razones de su proceder, y cuando se conocen, aun así queda una especie de admiración tétrica por su poder.

El final está a la altura del resto del libro y lo convierte en uno de esos que reclama residencia permanente en tu mente y que vas a recomendar a todos, no por ser tu favorito, sino porque es una obra maestra.

«No puedo vivir sin ella —pensó—. No puedo volver a la vida que llevaba antes. Sería la desolación, la soledad, sería la muerte. Ella me ha cambiado, ha estado trabajando en mí desde el principio. Ya no soy el Khaemuast de Nubnofret, el padre de Hori, la mano derecha de Ramsés. Soy el amante de Tbubui solamente.»

¿Qué Disfruté?
La atmósfera narrativa no descuida la psicología de los personajes, ni el retrato de ese Egipto ancestral.
Me encantó la forma en que la autora mezcló personajes históricos con una trama oscura y una pizca de mitología.

¿Qué Prefiero Olvidar?
El orgullo y la vanidad cobraron un alto precio al protagonista.

—Deudas y propiedades, servicios prestados y hechizos para obligar a los dioses —dijo el dios, suavemente—. Nada de eso toca el vasto y oscuro lago de orgullo espiritual que permanece inalterado en la esencia de tu ser. El deber no lo ha alcanzado. Tus sufrimientos no han provocado siquiera una ondulación en su superficie. Crees aún que, mientras cumplas con tus obligaciones espirituales, deberías ser recompensado, o con la cancelación de una deuda o con el fin de un sufrimiento que aún consideras injusto. Los años no te han dejado nada más que resentimiento, príncipe.

[Audrey Driscoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somehow Gedge manages to combine a vivid picture of ancient Egypt (land, weather, and culture) with a melodramatic story full of sexual obsession and dark magic. The first half of the book is quite slow, with the plot unfolding in a methodical way, as Khaemwaset's choices affect him and his entire family. Details are revealed whose terrible significance becomes evident farther on, but there are many scenes of ordinary domestic life, in which people get up, are bathed and dressed by their servants, eat meals, drink beer and wine, etc. A gradual feeling of dread emerges, and the last quarter of the book is riveting. Finally, the Epilogue provides a jarring twist.
Despite the shocking revelations of the plot, I appreciated the author's serious approach to the religion of ancient Egypt, exemplified by quotations at the beginning of each chapter, and a scene involving a ritual near the end of the book. As with Gedge's other books, the place of scribes and personal servants is highlighted and forms a part of the plot.
This is another noteworthy book for readers who love fiction set in ancient Egypt.

[Mason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scroll of Saqqara starts off slow but confident. Gedge brings you into the world of Ancient Egypt with very descriptive prose that feels appropriate for the time period. She clearly knows her stuff, and I appreciate that and the confidence it brings to her writing. I do not believe that a "slow" book is a bad thing. Some stories are better when they take their time and grow naturally/organically to their conclusions. Unfortunately, the majority of Scroll of Saqqara is not so much slow as it is stagnant. While there is progression to the plot, it is so slow that it seems still. Worst, I always felt like I was ahead of the characters and their understanding of the events happening around them, which created a lot of resentment and annoyance within me. One could argue that the book is less concerned with a thriller plot and instead is really about the arrogance of man and classical tragedies, but even that generous interpretation does little to make the book engaging.

[Fatima Sarder · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first foray with Pauline Gedge's novels was a tedious one. And it was with some apprehension that I approached this novel (what can I say? I'm a sucker for Egyptian history and mythology).

Thankfully, this book wasn't disappointing. In fact, it kept me hooked with it's dark mysteries and machinations. The plot twist was a tad predictable - here, the author did a brilliant work for a set-up - and the ending was a delicious cherry on top.

Full of vivid descriptions and well-crafted characters that are both frustrating and empathic. I just wish the author could quit with the constantly repeating and often uncomfortable descriptions of woman's bodies. (This isn't an anatomy lesson.)

[Yvette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed most of the book, particularly the fact that it was set in ancient Egypt and very well researched.
The supernatural aspect was just perfect, it gave an eerie touch to the story.
The characters however were not really likeable, but I suppose that was done on purpose.
The way they continue to make the wrong decisions time after time however, keeps the reader on the edge of his seat.
Why only three stars and not four: a bit slow and at times a bit predictable ; too much detail given on the daily life in ancient Egypt (what they ate and how they dressed ...).

[Kim Cardinal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book - just read it for the third time. If you love reading historical novels for the love of them rather than picking them apart for historical mistakes, you will love this book. It's about the brother of the pharoh who spends his time repairing looted tombs, all the while searching for a historic magical scroll that can make it's owner immortal. There are so many twists and turns in this story - you will not get bored.

I know that I will read this book again - and the author Pauline Gedge does not disappoint.

[Gregorio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro me encantó. Considero es una novela de intriga lo tiene todo. Desconocía a esta autora y me he llevado una inmejorable impresión de su forma de conseguir la intriga en este libro. Ya tengo otro de la misma escritora y el motivo de las cinco estrellas es que en materia de entretenimiento me parece un relato más cautivador para pasar el tiempo de lectura mejor que otro autor que escribiendo en la época de Egipto ha escrito varias novelas. 100% recomendable si quieres un libro de intriga porque incluso su final es una mezcla de ficción muy buena.