The Twelfth Transforming

I love all of Pauline Gedge's novels about ancient Egypt. She seems to know how to make that era come back to life, and to be able to inhabit the minds of the people and bring them to life as they were in their own time. Akhenaten is one of the most mysterious figures of the distant past, and she attempts to recreate him. It is difficult, as even the Egyptian experts argue over whether he was mad, a megalomaniac, suffering from a genetic disease, or all of the above. Read this together with a non-fiction book, Nicholas Reeves' "Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet" which has lots of beautiful photographs and illustrations, and does, despite what some reviewers wish to hear, agree that he fathered children on his older daughters (as did other pharaohs). Whether he married Tiye, his mother, is unknown according to what I have read, but certainly possible in the context of Egyptian beliefs at that time. What is most important is the turmoil he plunged the nation into by suppressing all worship of the old gods and insisting on the worship of the Aten (sun disc) which could be worshipped only by worshipping him--- so it was not really true monotheism as history books used to say. At any rate, this is a fascinating book, attempting to explain him and his time, and make it feel as if you were there in the almost claustrophobic court of Amarna where a mad, mystic king is the sole ruler and everyone waits for him to fall, and his heir is the child Tutankamun.

And she certainly doesn't talk down to the reader!The Twelfth Transforming is a rather ambitious telling -- that of Akhenaten's reign told from the eyes of his mother, Queen Tiye. Tiye is a strong, aggressive heroine, and almost always not someone to admire. Still, she carries the story forward forcefully, and you follow her footsteps from Amunhotep's ending days to Akhenaten's height of power and his eventual downfall.A warning to those not familiar with the storyline out there -- Akhenaten's rule over Egypt was filled with incest. If this sort of thing will turn you away from the story, then I advise you not to read this. The author does NOT pull punches in this, and every act is detailed in full depth -- even the ones you think are almost too bad to print. It creates a dreamlike, ... air over the book, which is exactly what it's supposed to do. After all, you're not supposed to feel sorry for Akhenaten; you're supposed to hate him. It's nonetheless compelling.Those of you that are fans of historical Egypt should pick this up. Gedge fans should not HESITATE to pick this up. I will warn the casual reader though -- if you are looking for light summer reading, I would advise against this book. The tale is deep, dark and monstrous, but Gedge carries it off to a tee.

In the Twelfth Transforming, Pauline Gedge takes us back to a world that existed over 4,000 years ago, in ancient Egypt. She brings to life characters that we know historically existed, but she breathes humanity into them, replete with virtues and many fallacies. These characters are not one-sided as sometimes happens with protaginists in a novel, but complete with persons which you sometimes like, and then dislike. You're transported back to palaces along the Nile, walking alongside Akhenaten and his queen Nefertiti, their children, family and extended retinue, with their intrigue and excesses, and political outmanuevering intertwined with daily life. Her writing is rich in depth, and she is a writer whose book I buy just because she's the author. A definite 5 star!

Pauline Gedge has written many excellent books on the subject of ancient Egypt. This, in my opinion, is her finest. In the Twelfth Transforming she brings to life the remarkable political events of the last years of the reign of Amenhotep III through to the end of the dynasty. The period is particularly interesting because we have so much information and yet, the actual facts are shrouded in mystery. Relying heavily on the interpretation of Christianne Desroches-Noblecourt, Gedge has produced a logical and believable tale set in a period that fascinates Egyptologists, particularly since the discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamon. If you enjoy historical fiction set in ancient Egypt, this is a must-read.

Personally, I believe that this is Pauline Gedge's Magnum Scriptus. I have read her triumphant Child of the Morning, her Stargate, her Eagle and the Raven, and her House of Dreams and Illusions, and this one is the true triumph. How ironic it is that the story itself is anything but triumphant! The bizarre cast of the Amarna royal family of Egypt is the subject of this novel. Immediately the reader can tell that the book will revolve around several large characters, with the rest of the prolific cast revolving around them, very much like moons around planets. At the center of the book is the tragic, aging heroine. Queen Tiye is the unforgettable protagonist that encompasses so many qualities she is almost ethereal. Yet despite being a divine being in the eyes of her people, an empress of the most powerful nation on earth, Tiye is painfully human. She is forced to marry her own son in the hopes that she can salvage the wreckage of the empires of Egypt. She is forced to accept the murder of her daughter by her niece. She is forced to make decisions that put Egypt on the balance. And ultimately, the brave and illustrious queen commits suicide. Akhenaten is the visionary that romanticists have protrayed him to be. The Sun Pharaoh is everything the reader expects: he is a dreamy, detached being, out of tune with his nation, his family, and even himself. He cares for none but his great god Aten. Nefertiti is the dominant power-struggler here. She is part malicious, but this malice comes from the stress of being incapable of producing a male heir, from being forced with the choice of either commanding the murder of her cousin or dying herself, and from the horrors of a loveless marriage to a raving lunatic that is destroying all of Egypt. One catches glimpses of everything from almost evil to frustration and soft emotion with Nefertiti, but nothing solid except for her pride and strength. She is every bit the Great Queen and Divine One as her part-enemy Tiye is. The book is filled with poignant scenes that history has left behind. Ankhesenamun, Princess and Queen of Egypt, is the most striking. She is the sole survivor of her family after her father, brothers, and husband are murdered, her five sisters die, one committing suicide, and her two children dying at birth. The princess is jerked along with fate: after finding love in a marriage her husband is murdered, her children die, and she is compelled to marry her clever and scheming grandfather Ay. The farewell scene where Ankhesenamun, now queen, bids goodbye to her mother, the funeral scenes where the royal family variously mourns or ignores the deaths of so many of their relatives, all touch the reader's heart. This is a true must-read. Though sometimes a little dry, Pauline Gedge lacks none of that luster she seemed to be missing in Mirage/Scroll of Saqquara. Egypt truly comes to life under her hands in this novel. Whether or not you like emotion, romance, or suspense, th