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An Evil Spirit Out of the West
(Egyptian Mysteries #1)
by
Known as the Veiled One, the ugly and deformed Akenhaten is a shadowy figure. As a child he is overlooked and despised by his own father. As an adult he is thrust into the political limelight when his elder brother dies. Mahu, ambitious and ruthless, watches the young prince carve his own path to power. He becomes Akenhaten's alter ego, his protector and confidant, standin
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Paperback, 608 pages
Published
April 5th 2004
by Headline
(first published January 1st 2003)
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Showing 1-30
Start your review of An Evil Spirit Out of the West (Egyptian Mysteries, #1)
Opening: I have swallowed their magic.
I call on their spirits.
My thoughts race like chariot teams ready for war,
Hot for the heat of battle.
Revisit:
Summer 2013 Egyptian Encounters:
Cleopatra (1963)
3* The Mummy Curse
2* Alexandria: The Last Nights of Cleopatra
4* The Complete Valley of the Kings
1* Ancient Egypt by George Rawlinson
4* Tutankhamen: Life and death of a Pharoah
2* The Luxor Museum
3* Tutankhamen's Treasure
3* The Black Pharaoh\
3* Nubian Twilight.../ complimentary reading!
4* River God
4* House ...more
I call on their spirits.
My thoughts race like chariot teams ready for war,
Hot for the heat of battle.
Revisit:
Summer 2013 Egyptian Encounters:
Cleopatra (1963)
3* The Mummy Curse
2* Alexandria: The Last Nights of Cleopatra
4* The Complete Valley of the Kings
1* Ancient Egypt by George Rawlinson
4* Tutankhamen: Life and death of a Pharoah
2* The Luxor Museum
3* Tutankhamen's Treasure
3* The Black Pharaoh\
3* Nubian Twilight.../ complimentary reading!
4* River God
4* House ...more
I rather enjoyed this book. It tells the story of Akenhaten through the eyes of a subordinate and occasional friend.
This is a curious era in Egyptian history and no matter how many stories I read about it, there always seems to be another way to interpret the people and events that is eminently plausible.
This is a curious era in Egyptian history and no matter how many stories I read about it, there always seems to be another way to interpret the people and events that is eminently plausible.
I was devastated to finish the amertoke series...finding this next short series by the same author made my day.
The same excellent writing , mystery , ancient Egypt what more could you ask for ? Cannot wait to read the second book
The same excellent writing , mystery , ancient Egypt what more could you ask for ? Cannot wait to read the second book
This book has several things in it that remind me of my childhood. I was always interested in Ancient Egypt and mummification. This book, and I can't really call it a mystery because it is more a revealing memoir of its narrator, does a good job of clarifying the unrest that took place during the brief, chaotic period before, during, and after the reign of Akhenaten, the heretic who brought down the worship of Amen and the ancient gods of Egypt. The central character and narrator is his friend,
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Paul Doherty is a well known writer of ancient Egypt. I am a not so well known fan of Akhenaten and read everything I can read about him and and ancient Egypt, in general. It would be fair to accuse me of having a crush on the thousands of years old Pharaoh. I would do him in a hot minute if possible even though he was deformed. Everything from Marfan's Syndrome to Frolich's Syndrom to Loeys-Dietz Syndrome to no malady at all has been tossed about as to what he and his family suffered. His defor
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I'm having a tough time sticking with this book. Too much of it is just not right.
Why, for instance, would the pharaoh insist that only mutilated people serve his son? There was no explanation that I caught.
Akhenaten was never called The Veiled One. He was given a name and called by that - it was Amenhotep. He later changed it to Akhenaten.
Also, many wrong things that just wouldn't be in that time. No amethyst, rubies, etc at that time. Also, silver was less common than gold, so you wouldn't fi ...more
Why, for instance, would the pharaoh insist that only mutilated people serve his son? There was no explanation that I caught.
Akhenaten was never called The Veiled One. He was given a name and called by that - it was Amenhotep. He later changed it to Akhenaten.
Also, many wrong things that just wouldn't be in that time. No amethyst, rubies, etc at that time. Also, silver was less common than gold, so you wouldn't fi ...more
Like many people, I'm fascinated with Akhenaton and Nefertiti and have read heaps of novels about them. Nearly all of them portray them as illuminated saints or religious fanatics. Doherty, very intelligently, depicts a shadowy portrait of both characters through the eyes of their police chief, Mahu, and lets the reader decide (he even hints at the Jesus/Akehnaton parallelism so often established) A good mystery novel with an original historical point of view.
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Finished 27th February 2009
Very good. I like this particular time in Egyptian history and a lot of the information can be verified from information on the wall of one of the tombs in Egypt and also in a diary written at the time, so with a little padding to make the story more "human", it is a very good read ...more
Very good. I like this particular time in Egyptian history and a lot of the information can be verified from information on the wall of one of the tombs in Egypt and also in a diary written at the time, so with a little padding to make the story more "human", it is a very good read ...more
I got to one page into the second chapter and had to stop. I don't typically abandon books, but in the end, I wanted to finish the book as quickly as possible without actually having to read it. Naturally, that's a red flag when it comes to me finishing the book.
This is a rather over-the-top and, yes, inaccurate, version of Ancient Egypt during the reigns of Amunhotep III and Akhenaten. There's no heart, no entertainment. It's a melting pot of all the typical Amarna tropes and clichés that someh ...more
This is a rather over-the-top and, yes, inaccurate, version of Ancient Egypt during the reigns of Amunhotep III and Akhenaten. There's no heart, no entertainment. It's a melting pot of all the typical Amarna tropes and clichés that someh ...more
The first of the trilogy of which The Year of the Cobra is the last, Manu tells the story of the rise and reign of the Veiled One, Akhenaten, and Nefertiti, through his fellow pupils of the Kap (Royal Nursery) including Horemheb, as Ay and Queen Tiye scheme to their advantage. Akhenaten, the Grotesque, comes across as a real person, as do many of the characters. 1300s BC Egypt is well-realised and Doherty, as always, uses his research effectively. Eventual Chief of Police, Manu, treads a delicat
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Not half as exciting as the synopsis suggests. It's not so much a mystery novel as it is a fictional memoir, or rather a confession. A dry one at that. The vivid descriptions of places, garments and food do not make up for the lack of character development, including that of the protagonist himself. Still a somewhat entertaining read, if only out of curiosity to see how the author tackles the many unanswered questions about Akhenaten's reign.
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Andy's review
Downloaded this as I remember getting this novel from my local library years ago, and I'm glad I did - it's got more twists than a slithering snake! Can't wait to read the next one in the trilogy!! ...more
Downloaded this as I remember getting this novel from my local library years ago, and I'm glad I did - it's got more twists than a slithering snake! Can't wait to read the next one in the trilogy!! ...more
Painfull sense :
Strong characterization appeals to me. Carefully thought out meaning to actuall history. I like this,I almost wish I did not,as great ugliness is chronicaled.
Strong characterization appeals to me. Carefully thought out meaning to actuall history. I like this,I almost wish I did not,as great ugliness is chronicaled.
An insider's look at the rise and fall of the so called heretic pharoah Akenhaten, and the circumstances of Tutankhamun's rule and the ending of the eighteenth, and most powerful, dynasty of egyptian pharoahs.
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ı thought i can learn some usefull about Egypt before i started the book. But i don't find so interesting it. it tell a pharaoh's son who want to new pharaoh and his servant who is name Mahu.
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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
He has been published under several pseudonyms: P.C. Doherty, Celia L. Grace, Paul Harding, Ann Dukthas, Vanessa Alexander, Michael Clynes and Anna Apostolou but now writes only under his own name.
Paul Doherty was born in Middlesbrough (North-Eastern England) in 1946. He had ...more
He has been published under several pseudonyms: P.C. Doherty, Celia L. Grace, Paul Harding, Ann Dukthas, Vanessa Alexander, Michael Clynes and Anna Apostolou but now writes only under his own name.
Paul Doherty was born in Middlesbrough (North-Eastern England) in 1946. He had ...more
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