Tagged: huy
The King’s Man by Pauline Gedge
(Cover picture courtesy of The Globe and Mail.)
Twelve-year-old Amunhotep III has ascended the throne to become king of the richest empire on earth. The boy’s mother is regent, and she has brought to court the renowned seer Huy, son of a humble farmer, to act as scribe and counsel to her royal son. It’s a position of power and responsibility, one that is fraught with intrigue and the lure of corruption. For it is Huy who controls the treasury, the military, and all construction and taxation—and perhaps most important, it is Huy who chooses the young Pharaoh’s queen. His actions and premonitions, as well as his legendary past, make him very few friends and a great many enemies…
In The King’s Man, Huy’s rise to power and fame—as chronicled first in The Twice Born and then in Seer of Egypt—reaches its resounding climax.
With her meticulous research and compelling prose, Pauline Gedge transports readers into the ancient and fascinating culture that was Egypt.
I will still like the first book of the King’s Man trilogy the best, but the concluding volume, the aptly named The King’s Man, is still a decent book. The ending lets readers use their imaginations, but it also gave me a sense of satisfaction because it took the trilogy full circle. Huy is a confident, powerful old man in this book and that in itself is satisfying because of the drastic change from when he was younger.
The King’s Man is slightly faster paced than the two previous novels, but it is by no means a thriller novel. If you love long, winding narratives filled with tiny details and political intrigue, you will love this book. If you will read a book because it has three dimensional characters like I do, you will absolutely love Pauline Gedge’s latest novel. The characters of Huy, Mutemwia and Amunhotep develop at natural paces that also make sense when you look at what they actually did as historical figures. The best historical fiction authors are able to assign realistic motivations to historical figures and Pauline Gedge is indeed one of the best.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Seer of Egypt by Pauline Gedge
(Cover picture courtesy of EBooks Vault.)
Huy has risen from lowly origins to become the Seer to the King. Yet Amunhotep’s patronage proves both a blessing and a curse to Huy, who feels imprisoned by his psychic gift and the life he must live to keep it. Though rewarded by wealth and influence, he longs for the pleasures enjoyed by those around him, especially love, which seems forever lost to him.
When the King demands Huy’s presence at court, he obeys. But he soon realizes that he is being asked to approve a lie aimed at supplanting the god Amun. Afraid of losing the King’s favour, Huy jeopardizes Egypt’s future by concealing the truth. The gods, however, agree to give him a chance to redeem himself. Although the privileged life Huy knew is coming to an end, his contribution to Egyptian history is only just beginning.
If you’re a lover of fast-paced plots filled with excitement and romance, this is not a good book for you. But if you love good characters, authentic historical details and vivid imagery, Seer of Egypt is a book that you must read.
Although its plot is not fast-paced by any stretch of the mind, its plot is quicker than that of the first book, The Twice Born. Since Huy is an adult now and becoming more used to his ‘gift’, things really pick up, especially when Pharaoh Amunhotep II summons him to court. Huy is forced to make a choice between lying and upsetting the balance of Ma’at or likely being executed, so he makes the choice 99.9% of readers would make. But in doing so, he sets the stage for Egypt’s decay by helping the sun god achieve prominence over Amun. Of course, Anubis is not pleased (to put it mildly) and Huy pays dearly for not trusting in the protection of the gods, but is given a second chance.
Huy is an amazingly brave, yet flawed character that most people can sympathize with. His life is certainly not easy, what with his forced virginity and his opium addiction that gets worse as the novel progresses, but he sticks with what he knows is his duty. He also finds himself alone when his best friend Thothmes marries his oldest friend, Ishat. Yet he finds comfort in bringing up the future Pharaoh Amunhotep III, which certainly keeps readers interested and on their toes.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
The Twice Born by Pauline Gedge
(Cover picture courtesy of Amazon.)
Young Huy’s family is thrilled when his uncle offers to pay for the boy to attend a prestigious school at Iunu. Thanks to his generous benefactor, the farmer’s son will now have a chance at a better life as a scribe. But one away at school, Huy is unprepared for the jealousy his easy success stirs in fellow pupils, and he becomes the victim of a vicious attack that leaves him dead—or so it would seem.
His inexplicable return to life makes Huy a pariah, ostracizes him because of his visions of the deaths around him. But priests believe his powers could be the key to interpreting the Book of Thoth, and Huy’s newfound fame attracts the attention of Pharaoh Amunhotep. It’s only then that Huy begins to realize that his power is not granted to him, but owns him, for he is no longer his own master. He is the King’s Man.
Well, here it is: the book that started my obsession with ancient Egypt. I received this book on a bitterly cold Christmas Day and the lure of a story in a nice, warm climate was too hard to resist.
When I first began reading The Twice Born, I tried to take what little I knew about ancient Egypt and apply it to the novel. But then I let go and surrendered myself to Pauline Gedge’s slow but compelling narrative. The novel opens when Huy is four years old, a selfish and spoiled child, but drops hints as to his future: “When he was an old man, feared and worshiped by the whole of Egypt, wealthy beyond the dreams of any save the King himself, Huy would find himself pondering those words.” (Pg 14)
The Twice Born is an excellent story, rich in historical details and wonderful character development, but it is not a book for those who love fast-paced plots. It follows Huy from the time he is four years old until the time he is eighteen, with very few interesting events in between (aside from when he is twelve years old). You simply have to sit back, enjoy the wonderful scenery and the realistic characters and let go of your preconceived notions of what ancient Egypt was really like.
I give this book 5/5 stars.