Review: The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran

Title: The Heretic Queen
Author: Michelle Moran
Genre: Historical
Publisher: Random House, Crown Publishers
Pages: 464
Copy Origin: Borrowed from my local library.
Get Your Own Copy From: Amazon.com, The Book Depository

In ancient Egypt, a forgotten princess must overcome her family’s past, and remake history.

The winds of change are blowing through Thebes. A devastating palace fire has killed the 18th dynasty’s royal family— all with the exception of Nefertari, niece of the reviled former queen Nefertiti. The girl’s deceased family has been branded as heretical, and no one in Egypt will speak their names. A relic of a previous reign, Nefertari is pushed aside, an unimportant princess left to run wild in the palace. But all of this changes when she is taken under the wing of pharaoh’s aunt, and brought to the Temple of Hathor where she is educated in a manner befitting a future queen.

Soon Nefertari catches the eye of the crown prince, and despite her family’s history, they fall in love and wish to marry. Yet all of Egypt opposes this union between the rising star of a new dynasty and the fading star of an old, heretical one. While political adversity sets the country on edge, Nefertari becomes the wife of Ramesses the Great. Destined to be the most powerful pharaoh in Egypt, he is also the man who must confront the most famous exodus in history.>

I am familiar with the story of Nefertiti but was not with the story of Nefertari. The niece of Nefertiti was a constant source of embarrassment to the royal family as her aunt was a heretic. The nation of Egypt even in the walls of her own home were against the princess. People were scared she inherited her aunt’s religious ideas and the country would become a heretic nation once again. Nefertari struggled against all odds to make a life for herself that she could be happy with.
Growing up in a royal Egyptian court is quite hazardous for such a small girl alone. Her friends get her through. She becomes one of the most revered and important women in Egyptian history.
Moran’s writing style flows easily, and the character development is astounding. I felt as if I were in the court myself rooting for Nefertari to overcome her outcast status. No little child alone should have to endure the abuses she was living with. Moran paints Nefertari as a strong willed child and a strong minded woman. The book weaves through ancient customs and you learn so much and feel everything as you are reading. I could almost smell the incense in the temples.
I was very emotionally invested in this novel, and although I loved the ending I was sad to see the book come to an end. I could have continued reading about Nefertari in Moran’s setting for another four hundred pages. If you like Egyptian customs, queens, over coming odds. Then you have to pick up The Heretic Queen. Let us know what you thought of this book.
Four stars.