Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

I've read a lot of books this year (well, a lot for me), and I feel lucky because I enjoyed a good number of them. Out of these 60 or so books, Michelle Moran's Nefertiti is my favorite. This was my first foray into historical fiction that wasn't a war novel, and I was hooked from page one.

Nefertiti's quest for power as the chief wife of Amunhotep IV is told from the point of view of her beloved younger sister, Mutnodjmet. Nefertiti was supposed to rein in Amunhotep, but she wound up indulging his every whim. It doesn't take long for the pair to replace Egypt's polytheistic religion with a monotheistic one centered on Aten, the sun. Nefertiti's desire to be more powerful than the queens before her and even her husband, to hell with the consequences, ultimately leads to her downfall.

While she is a cold, unlikeable character at many points in the book, Nefertiti is fascinating. She is a strong women who knows how to get her way, mostly through charm and manipulation. Because her story is told by her sister, Mutny, who loves Nefertiti unconditionally and whose loyalty to her sister pulls her away from the quiet life she desires with her true love General Nakhtmin, the reader is able to feel some sympathy for the overbearing queen when tragedy strikes.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot; I knew nothing about the real Nefertiti when I opened the book, and I think that made it more enjoyable to read. I had no idea what would happen next. Moran does a brilliant job painting a portrait of ancient Egypt. I could see the scenes in my mind, and I got caught up in the story as if I were there. At first, it was hard to keep all the Egyptian names straight, but the family tree in the front was a big help. The long names didn't stop me from being absorbed by the story, though.

It's obvious Moran did her homework and visited the tombs in Egypt, and her writing is flawless. I've read several reviews saying her second book, The Heretic Queen, the sequel to Nefertiti, is even better. I'll be reading that one soon, and I bet I'm in for a real treat!

Read an excerpt from Nefertiti here.
Learn about the real Nefertiti here, and read an interview with Moran on her site here.

Nefertiti also was reviewed by:

A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore
At Home With Books
Book Addiction
Caribousmom
Chain Reading
Creative Madness (Q&A With Michelle Moran)
Peeking Between the Pages
S. Krishna's Books
Stephanie's Written Word

Did I miss your review? Please put a link in the comments, and I'll add it to the list!

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Michelle Moran, author of Nefertiti, will be a guest blogger at Diary of an Eccentric tomorrow! She'll be offering a paperback copy of the book to one lucky reader, so come back tomorrow for all the details.

Disclosure:  I won a copy of Nefertiti in a blog contest.