The Shepherd Kings
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
For a long, brutal century, the Kingdom of Lower Egypt has been occupied by the “Vile Asiatics,” the conquerors called the Shepherd Kings. With their horses and chariots they overwhelmed the armies of Egypt and swept over the Delta and the sacred cities.
Iry, daughter of an old noble house, the Sun Ascendant, has been enslaved by the bearded conquerors. But her new master is born of a different blood, son of the priestess of an ancient rite, the cult of the Horse Goddess and her avatar, the White Mare. The Mare’s priestess-servant is dead—and the Mare chooses Iry, the child of a land without horses, to be her successor.
Meanwhile, in the wider world, the Pharaoh of Upper Egypt is arming to take back the lost kingdom. He forms such an alliance as his ancient land has never seen before, with the seafarers of Crete and the White Mare’s servant, and rides to war against the Shepherd Kings.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This 13th historical novel from Tarr (White Mare's Daughter) invites readers into ancient Egypt, then nearly buries them amid excavated details and repetitive sex scenes. As the story begins, the Lower Kingdom of Egypt has been conquered by the Retenu, barbaric, hirsute invaders who have enslaved the local shepherd kings. Despite her status as a slave, spunky Egyptian Iry is chosen by the powerful Horse Goddess (incarnate in an actual horse called the Mare) to be her priestess. Meanwhile, Iry's cousin Kemni's prophetic dreams bring him close to the true king of Egypt, and place him at the forefront of the plot to oust the Retenu. When the Retenu lord Khayan falls in love with Iry, he faces a dilemma: will his allegiance to her, and to the Horse Goddess, overcome his loyalty to his people? Kemni dreams, and then arranges, an alliance between the rebellious Egyptians and the sea power of Crete. Iry and the Mare escape from the Retenu, and the war over Egypt begins. All these events occur very, very slowly. Given to showy anachronisms (trousers are "all the fashion among the tribes" ), and lurid sex ("he found her hot secret place and plunged deep"), Tarr's purple and dense prose is heavy going. Despite its historical interest and wealth of events, the narrative is as lively as a mummy.
