Neferura

The word that I think best applies to this book is ???adequate???, in that the characters and plot all seem to largely function as they should, and the worldbuilding also works quite well. There???s nothing about any of those things that I think functions terribly. But there???s a certain lack of depth that I was expecting to find, and didn???t.
The first contributing factor to this is the choice of narrative tone. Using Neferura to narrate the story is interesting, and telling it from her POV is also interesting, but the TONE used? Much less so, given that it reads like young adult instead of adult, which is what I expected when I picked up this novel. Nothing wrong with that age group, of course, but this book wasn???t marketed as such, and so I was expecting a higher level of maturity from the story than what I got. Maybe this is because the author writes middle grade books and hasn???t quite got the hang of writing for adults just yet? I don???t want to think this is the case, but it???s possible, given her bibliography.
Another issue is that the lead character and narrator, Neferura, seems to lack layers and nuance to make her a sufficiently compelling character and narrator. Because of this, Neferura???s concerns, while they SEEM genuinely troubling, feel narrow, because she doesn???t have enough layers to her to feel like a fully fleshed-out person. This is a problem with the other characters, as well. Hatshepsut, for example, is portrayed as a secondary villain in this novel, but her characterization feels so narrow in comparison to the historical reality of who she was. My perspective might be influenced by the fact that I read Kara Cooney???s Hatshepsut biography, but I think that there could have been more complexity and nuance in the way Hatshepsut was portrayed in this book. I???m not saying she cannot be portrayed as a villain; I???m just saying that there needs to be more nuance. The same goes for Thutmose: he???s easy to portray as unlikeable, and was portrayed as such even in Cooney???s biography, but even in his unlikability there???s room for nuance. There were moments when his behavior seemed psychopathic, which would have been an INTERESTING path to take, but the portrayal isn???t given any additional angles or nuance.
What makes this even sadder is that there are plenty of aspects in this book with immense potential. The worldbuilding, as I???ve said, is incredibly well done, and I appreciated the author using actual ancient Egyptian terms for things like the Nile and Hatshepsut???s mortuary temple. There are elements that are also really fascinating: that whole bit with the tattooed wisewoman and her spy network would have been incredibly interesting to explore vis a vis the themes of societal change and potential revolution that were touched upon (but not really explored) throughout the novel. Sadly none of these get the attention and development I think they deserved.
Overall, this book was something of a let-down. Hobbled by an underdeveloped protagonist, a juvenile narrative tone, and a lack of exploration of interesting themes, this novel left me feeling nothing much at all. This is an immense pity, given the potential of other elements in this story, but it is what it is, and perhaps other readers may find something in it to enjoy.