Sphinx's Princess
Sphinx's Princess
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Paperback ©2009--
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Random House
Just the Series: Princesses of Myth   

Series and Publisher: Princesses of Myth   

Annotation: Although she is a dutiful daughter, Nefertiti's dancing abilities, remarkable beauty, and intelligence garner attention near and far, so much so that her family is summoned to the Egyptian royal court, where Nefertiti becomes a pawn in the power play of her scheming aunt, Queen Tiye.
 
Reviews: 7
Catalog Number: #5417907
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Random House
Copyright Date: 2009
Edition Date: 2011 Release Date: 08/24/10
Pages: 370 pages
ISBN: 0-375-85655-2
ISBN 13: 978-0-375-85655-6
Dewey: Fic
LCCN: 2009013719
Dimensions: 21 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
ALA Booklist

Using the scant information known about the legendary Egyptian queen, Friesner imagines the early life of Nefertiti, crafting a complex teen character who is in turns intelligent and brave, impetuous and fiery, and has little concern for the prospect of marriage or trading in on her remarkable beauty. When she is forcibly engaged to her cousin, the morose crown prince, Nefertiti reluctantly leaves her happy, coddled home life to live amidst the political infighting and power struggles of the royal palace. The princess has little contact with her fiancé, but she soon develops a deep friendship with the soft-spoken Prince Amenophis that fuels an intense rivalry between the brothers and puts her own life in danger. Dramatic plot twists, a powerful female subject, and engrossing details of life in ancient Egypt make for lively historical fiction, and readers will be pleased to find that the book's ending leaves the door open for a sequel.

Horn Book

This heavily fictionalized tale of the quasi-historical Nefertiti creates a possible childhood and adolescence for the Egyptian royal. Friesner's protagonist is a goodhearted independent thinker surrounded by people in high places with low motives--and she's ready to take them on. Imbuing its speculations with somewhat modern sensibilities, the text attempts to flesh out characters that history has only sketched.

Kirkus Reviews

Friesner imagines the childhood of legendary queen Nefertiti, as she did for Helen of Troy in Nobody's Princess (2007) and Nobody's Prize (2008). Here she weaves the little information known with various historians' theories and a definite sense of contemporary tween/teen princess fantasies. This Nefertiti may be a little too good to be true—she dances! She's smart! She's kind to slaves! She's impossibly beautiful—and a little too modern to please true history buffs. However, the first-person, past-tense narration, laced with the glamour of ancient Egypt (painted friezes, paper-thin linen, beautiful jewelry) and topped with a dollop of tension (Nefertiti is engaged to Pharaoh's cold, possibly mad oldest son but falls for his kind brother instead) makes for an undemanding but satisfying foray into a time and place not often written about. The rare reader who knows Nefertiti's later role in creating a new religion will see the clues being laid; most will just enjoy the ancient princess who reads and writes, drives chariots and always looks fantastic. (map, afterword) (Historical fantasy. 11 & up)

School Library Journal

Gr 6-9 Nefertiti is a bright, beautiful, graceful child, indulged by her prosperous and influential family. She is also willful and independent, learning to read and write at a time when women are not expected to do so. But when she is summoned to the court of her uncle, Pharaoh Amenhotep III, she is stunned to learn that her fate has been decided for hershe is to marry her cousin, the crown prince, even though she doesn't know him, and as she gets to know him, she doesn't like him. Nefertiti uses her wits and skills, and forges alliances in the shady recesses of the palace at Thebes in order to take matters into her own hands. Certain liberties appear to have been taken with the birth order of Pharaoh's children, but in most other respects, the story is carefully constructed so as to fit plausibly into Nefertiti's story, about which little is known until she marries Akhenaten. In some instances, Nefertiti also seems suspiciously modern in attitudeshe is extremely democratic in her relations with her servants and slaves, and occasionally lapses into 21st-century language. The architecture, dress, food, and court life of Egypt during the New Kingdom are described in moderate detail. Readers who enjoyed the "Royal Diaries" books (Scholastic) will welcome this novel. Paula Willey, Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MD

Word Count: 97,908
Reading Level: 5.7
Interest Level: 7-12
Accelerated Reader: reading level: 5.7 / points: 15.0 / quiz: 133059 / grade: Middle Grades
Reading Counts!: reading level:5.4 / points:22.0 / quiz:Q48339
Lexile: 830L
Gathering Magic almost a year after I tamed my dream-lions, during the Festival of the Inundation, my life began to change as surely as the rising river changes the deepest heart of the Black Land.

The Inundation is always a season of wild rejoicing. It’s the time when the god Hapy, fat and generous, makes the river overflow its banks to bring new life to the farmlands. A good flood means a good harvest, a good harvest means we’ll have more than enough to eat, that our Pharaoh’s reign is blessed, and that the gods love us.

That year, when I was five, the priests of every temple in the city observed the rising of the Nile and declared that their prayers had given us a good flood and a fine harvest to come. All Akhmin filled the streets to celebrate the event with music, dance, song, feasting, and gladness. Sunlight flashed from the brilliantly painted walls of the temples and the enameled gold necklaces, bracelets, and earrings of the highborn men and women. The air was filled with a wonderful jumble of delicious scents from many food vendors. Everyone seemed to be laughing. Father carried me on his shoulders so that I could have a clear view of the festivi- ties. I was pleased to be able to see everything from up so high, but when I caught sight of the older girls dancing, singing, and playing their harps, rattles, and tambourines, I squirmed like a fresh-caught fish.

“What’s the matter with you, my little bird?” Father asked, grabbing my ankles when I wriggled so hard that I nearly fell off his shoulders.

“I want to get down!” I cried. “I want to dance, too!”

He chuckled, but he didn’t let me go. “You’re not a bird anymore; you’re a kitten, wanting to pounce on anything that catches your eye. Well, little kitten, this dance is to please the gods and to thank them for all that they’ve given us. It’s a sacred thing, not a game for little girls to play at. If you want to dance for the gods someday, you will, but not now. When you’re older.”

His voice was always loud, a trait he’d kept from his days commanding Pharaoh’s troops on the battlefield. One of the dancers who was waiting her turn to perform overheard him and left her group to approach us. I gasped when I saw her: She was so beautiful! Next to her, my dearly loved Mery would have looked like a little brown hen beside a long-limbed, dark-eyed gazelle. The dancer’s eyes were artfully outlined with black kohl, the lids glittering green as the reeds along the Nile, and her lips were tinted the rich red of sunset. I stared, fascinated by the dozens of gold charms adorning her tightly braided wig, but when she smiled at me and offered me her tambourine, I worshipped her with gratitude.

While I bounced on Father’s shoulders, beating the little instrument with more enthusiasm than skill, she talked to him. At first I paid no attention to their conversation, but I soon began to feel Father’s back growing straighter and straighter, his shoulders tensing.

“That will be enough, my darling,” he said, reaching up to still my hands. “Give the tambourine back to this young woman now and thank her.” I wondered why his voice sounded so strained, the way it did whenever I’d done something wrong that was too serious for him to laugh off.

“Why so eager to be gone?” the dancer drawled, glancing up at Father from beneath lowered eyelids. “She can play with the tambourine a while longer. The child has talent as well as beauty. You should stay at least long enough to see me dance. I promise you, you won’t regret it.” She gave him a strange little half-smile.

I didn’t know what the stranger was trying to do, giving my father such odd, sidelong looks; I just knew that he ?didn’t like it and neither did I. “I’m

Excerpted from Sphinx's Princess by Esther M. Friesner
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

She was far more than just a pretty face. . . .

Although Nefertiti is the dutiful daughter of a commoner, her inquisitive mind often gets her into situations that are far from ordinary, like receiving secret lessons from a scribe. And her striking beauty garners attention that she'd just as soon avoid, especially when it's her aunt, the manipulative Queen Tiye, who has set her sights on Nefertiti. The queen wants to use her niece as a pawn in her quest for power, so Nefertiti must leave her beloved family and enter a life filled with courtly intrigue and danger. But her spirit and mind will not rest as she continues to challenge herself and the boundaries of ancient Egyptian society. With control of a kingdom at stake and threats at every turn, Nefertiti is forced to make choices and stand up for her beliefs in ways she never imagined.

As she did in Nobody's Princess and Nobody's Prize, author Esther Friesner offers readers a fresh look at an iconic figure, blending historical fiction and mythology in a heady concoction.



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