A compelling story of adventure, romance and intrigue, set in ancient Egypt.
Mara is a proud and beautiful slave girl who yearns for freedom. In order to gain it, she finds herself playing the dangerous role of double spy for two arch enemies - each of whom supports a contender for the throne of Egypt.
Against her will, Mara finds herself falling in love with one of her masters, the noble Sheftu, and she starts to believe in his plans of restoring Thutmose III to the throne. But just when Mara is ready to offer Sheftu her help and her heart, her duplicity is discovered and a bettle ensues in which both Mara's life and the fate of Egypt are at stake.
My Review:
This is a thrilling mystery, love story, and historic event all rolled into one. The characters are so real and easy to relate to, and the dialogue interesting. The scenery description is beautiful, and a lot of Egyptian history is learned from reading it.
Age Stamp:
Pros:
The story of Mara is one full of quick wit and ingeniousness. She is brave, and courageous as well as inquisitive, which sometimes gets her in trouble. The story is adventures, with tales of treasure and fortune, and it promotes aiming high and achieving your goals.
Cons:
They describe swearing in the book in some places, but the words are never actually spoken. The characters of the book also believe in all ancient Egyptian gods. There is some romance in the book, and a bit of flirting. There is a bit of violence, and killing in it, whilst they are raiding a pyramid, but I believe it is quite mild.
Publisher Info, Other Versions, Series Titles & School Curriculum:
The book is published by "Puffin Classics". Book is (c) 1981. It is not part of a series. This book is part of the Sonlight curriculum. Sonlight recommends this for ages 11-13, grades 6-8, Cores 6 & 7.
My Ratings (10 being how much):
Violence: [#] [#] [#] [#]
Fear Factor: @ @
Romance: <3 <3 <3
Language: [!] Mainly using egyptian gods
Christian: (no)
Mature Themes: X
My Rating: * * * * *
4 Comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I am quite enjoying it and it is well written and makes the reader really envision life in Ancient Egypt, but I feel there is an underlying tone of sexual tension and romanticism between the 2 main characters that could heighten a young girls yearning for "that loving feeling" before they are truly ready for it.
Although there is nothing untoward that happens in the story and it is free of any specific sexual references there is that underlying tension that permeates the storyline which I was uncomfortable exposing a 13 year old girl to.
I am very pleased that I pre-read it as it really did come across very innocently and was highly recommended as quality literature. However, despite it's literary and historical value I have removed it from my daughters reading list.