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Nefertiti

Author: Nick Drake
Publisher: Black Swan
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

11 reviews
Sales Rank: 27840

Media: Paperback
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5 x 1.3

ISBN: 0552152447
EAN: 9780552152440
ASIN: 0552152447

Publication Date: April 9, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Minor creasing and edgewear to covers, otherwise a very clean intact copy - despatches same or next day from the UK

Also Available In:

•	Paperback - Nefertiti: Te Book of the Dead
•	Hardcover - Nefertiti

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Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Very well written suspense novel February 1, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

I must admit that I chose this book as a birthday gift rather by chance. Yet was not disappointed. For everyone who is interested in Ancient Egypt - from Cleopatra's nose to the Book of the Dead - this is a must read.
If you like me have wondered what daily life must have been like in Ancient Egypt, then buy this book. The author has taken great pains to elaborate many aspects of Ancient Egyptian life, showing us not only how the pharoahs lived, but also middle class workers, soldiers and the poor.
Using the real story of Nefertiti's mysterious disappearance, he creates a modern-day detective story set against an intriguing backdrop, which can hold one spellbound for hours at an end.

2 out of 5 stars

Detective story set in Ancient Egypt September 7, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Hopefully the author will continue the career of the Medjay detective Rahotep. With the fall of Akhenaten, the affairs of Egypt are going to get worse and worse, in the next few years. The plot of the story was rather unbelievable, but most detective stories are--- they are usually more about the people in them and what they go through to solve the mystery than a truly believable plot anyway. Rahotep does solve it, though the ending sort of surprised me, not to give it away, but I didn't expect what he found when he got home, not in that time and place and not with everyone he had angered...

Anyway. Its a fascinating period of time and the Medjay were real people, originally a Nubian tribe who for centuries were first warriors for phaoraoh and then eventually the hereditary police force. The author doesn't clarify that, as Lauren Haney does in her excellent series about the fictional Lt Bak (also a mystery/police series)who leads a group of Medjay at the edge of the empire in the days of Queen Hatshepsut. And to go way back, the first pact between Egyptians and Medjay can be read about in Pauline Gedge's wonderful trilogy: "Lord of the Two Lands" where the Medjay tribesmen help the descendents of last Pharaohs fight to free Egypt from the Hyksos conquerors, centuries before the events in this book.

A much superior book if you are fascinated as I am with Nefertiti is the non-fiction book by Nicholas Reeves: "Akhenaten, Egypt's False Prophet" which is highly readable, loaded with excellent photographs from the carvings and images of the era, and tells the whole true history of the Amarna era as it is now known to be.

5 out of 5 stars

'Nefertiti'--a royal whodunit! July 16, 2007
6 out of 11 found this review helpful

It's an incredibly confusing, frustrating, and frightening time in Ancient Egypt. The "heretic" Akhenaten is on the throne as pharoah and he is more than determined to bring Egypt from poly- to mono-theism. Such an enormous transition does not go easily, as the previous powers of the priesthood, coupled with opposition of some of the military, economic, and political leaders, are determined that he must stop, at all costs.

Nick Drake, in his first Egyptian novel of the period, brings us directly into this deadly intrigue with "Nefertiti," a police procedural of the age. Drake joins a number of other good ancient Egyptologist works of histo-fiction and certainly this one is among the best.

Well-written, "Nefertiti" introduces us to Rahotep, a young and upcoming Medjay "investigator of mysteries" from Thebes, who's been called to the newly constructed city of Akhetaten, the capital of the new faith, which is one the eve of celebrating its grand opening. Everyone in the known world will be there. It is to be the celebration of the millenium.

Everyone is to be there--except, it seems, Akhenaten's queen, The Perfect One Nefertiti. She's disappeared. Rahotep faces a formidable task:
find her, he's told by the pharoah himself, in ten days' time or else. The else means the death of the policeman and his beloved family.

Every step of the way, however, is marked by obstacles, many deadly, as bodies seem to pile up like Act V of "Hamlet." Reduced, it seems, to only one loyal assistant Khety, Rahotep finds search filled with complicated plots, causes, reasons, and excuses. He must proceed, facing fatal objections from the court, the police with whom he's to work, the military, and the royal family itself.

This period of Egyptian history is perhaps the most famous era and Drake seems to capture the spirit of it. Not as dark as Mailer's "Ancient Evenings," "Nefertiti" nevertheless manages to couple the police procedural genre with the historical period's nuances and drama and comes through in an exciting read, so much so that, thank goodness, Drake is publishing a second Rahotep episode in 2008 called "Tutankhamen." Clearly, Rahotep succeeds in this first try, but not without careful and considerate planning and action. If "Nefertiti" is any indication, the next installment should be well worth the wait.

1 out of 5 stars

A glorious title, a dreary story June 15, 2007
5 out of 12 found this review helpful

One if not the worst book I've read for years, where can I start, well it takes ages to set the scene, and while the lead is supposed to be a skilful investigator, his best investigation method seems to be walking around aimlessly, following cats in graveyards. and when he finally actually did some detective work he didn't follow it through and 150 pages down the line we find out that if he did the book would have taken at most half the number of pages it took to finish it, and the sorry thing is the story would've been the same. In addition, there are loads of questions that were asked and never answered... I just found it to be irritating, very pretentious and the story line very confusing and weak....

5 out of 5 stars

Egypt's Sun Queen : a gripping and dark tale set in the most remarkable period and personality of ancient Egypt May 28, 2007
11 out of 13 found this review helpful

Nefertiti has always evoked major interest as she was at the heart of a cultural revolution of unprecedented impact in ancient Egypt: the change from multiple gods to just one. The revolution occurred at the peak of Egypt's might and led to a rapid decline.

In his first ever book Nick Drake lead the readers to the heart of it all: the court of Akhenaten and Nefertiti and its dangerous power struggles. Nick Drake puts his fictional character Rahotep into this world of Pharaoh's court and he has to solve the great mystery which turned out to be of very different nature as expected. It is strong plot, bold of characterisation, adventure and dazzling evocation of the past. The description of the ceremonies is brilliant. It is excellently plotted and superbly entertaining: in this short a page turner of first order. I am looking forward to the next book by Nick Drake!!