Whenever the grandeur of Ancient Egypt is evoked, there is one name which comes immediately to mind - Ramses II, the pharaoh who reigned for more than sixty years. Here, he is still only fourteen years old. His father, Seti is worshipped by his people and has made his empire the most powerful in the world. But who will be his successor? Should it be his eldest son, Shanaar, a calculating schemer; or Ramses, still passionate and impetuous? Unbeknownst to Ramses, Seti sets about teaching him his supreme duty. The tests and traps, sometimes potentially mortal, begin to multiply. And meanwhile, will Ramses escape the machinations of his brother? Will he know how to choose between Iset the Beautiful and the mysterious Nefertari? He has only a few friends he can really trust: Moses, his Hebrew schoolfriend, who shares his spirited temperament; Setaou, the snake charmer; and Ameni, the scribe.
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About the Author
Born in Paris in 1947, Christian Jacq is one of the world's leading Egyptologists. He is the author of many novels on Ancient Egypt, including the bestselling RAMSES series and THE MYSTERIES OF OSIRIS series. His novels have sold more than 27 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 30 languages. Christian Jacq lives in Switzerland.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
...By describing ancient Egypt in a literary style, Christian Jacq has made this history instantly accessible and fun. The plot is engaging enough to allow accurate details regarding religious beliefs, mythology and geography to sink in effortlessly. But Jacq is incapable of building plausible characters of any depth. Ramses is just *too* perfect, and other characters are just too simplistic, sticking rigidly to wholly unrealistic models of behaviour. Moses has his spiritual unfulfilment, Ahmeni his tirelessness, Setau his down-to-earthness, but each alone is only two dimensional. Even though Jacq pays brief lip service to the importance of the roles played by women in ancient Egypt, this knowledge is not borne out by the female characters, whose important lies only in that they provide inspiration and sexual pleasure for men, and in a very cliched manner (e.g. chapters often end with the beginning of love-making). In fact, Jacq has allowed his own subjective ideas regarding women and beauty to alienate and spoil his female characters for his audience. As an Egyptian who sees real beauty in the proud and independent North African woman, I was disappointed to find that all his heroines, in addition to being submissive, had fair skin, fair hair, and blue or green eyes (i.e. they're European, like Jacq). Even a quick glance through papyri portraits of ancient Egyptian women shows that such features were not the norm and certainly were not fundamental to any Egyptian definition of beauty. If you want to experience something of romantic North Africa, ancient or modern, the Ramses series (and especially the later volumes) won't be much help.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Meech H
Format:Paperback
This book was highly recommended to me, and I must say that half way through the book I was wondering if it was gonna pick up a bit! Don't get me wrong, it was OK, but it didn't keep me engrossed at all, and the only reason I bothered to finish it was because I hoped something drastic would happen at the end, but it didn't. I will not be reading the others in the series. I'm not sure if reading Wilbur Smith's 'River God' had something to do with my expectations about this type of subject but, if you really want something you can get into read that! That is an amazing story and you will realise that the Rameses series is very weak in comparison.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book tries very hard to bring Prince (later Pharoah) Ramses to life. It begins when he is fourteen, nine years before he ascends to the throne. He may seem a normal teenager, but I doubt that any Prince would use such obvious Americanisms. The story goes on as he gets older, but seems to skip large portions of his day to day life. The supporting characters are somewhat unrealistic, from the God-like figure of Seti, to the scheeming, snake-like Shaanar. The women too, especially Iset the Fair,seem incredibly shallow. If you want to read a general overview of Ramses' early life, then read this, but you'll have to search harder for a fuller book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ramses Vol 1 Son of the Light
If you love novels about Ancient Egypt.And even if you dont,you will after this.Highly recommend you read this.A brilliant read
Published 3 months ago by Arline Doherty
5.0 out of 5 stars
Christian Jacq
These books are beautifully written and historically brilliant. Highly recommended by me and read several times. Christian Jacq is a fantastic writer of Ancient Egyptian fiction. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Helen
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable distraction
There are some unkind words on the author in many reviews of the Ramses series so I thought a little balance was in order! Read more
Published 15 months ago by Mr. C. P. Edwardson
1.0 out of 5 stars
Thick cut cheese
Do you like your protagonist to be 'Mr Perfect'? Do you pooh-pooh historical accuracy? Laugh in the face of contrived plot? Disdain all claims to female self-respect? Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2010 by mad_mushroom
1.0 out of 5 stars
About as historical as Carry on Cleo
How to write a historical blockbuster: start off with cardboard-thin characters and a central hero who is just a compendium of noble virtues, and a few female characters - just for... Read more
Published on 28 April 2007 by K. Lester
1.0 out of 5 stars
so bad it was insulting
My history with this book is as follows. I picked it up one day at the library and started reading. I got about halfway through it when I got fed up and put it back. Read more
Published on 16 April 2007 by Misha
4.0 out of 5 stars
good for reading on the bog
reminded me of the Harry Potter books- in so far as the language was fairly basic, yet there was just enough of a story to keep one interested. Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2005 by Tony Blair
4.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting introduction to ancient Egypt
I knew little about the ancient Egyptian civilisation and found this series a fascinating introduction to it. Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2005 by George Michalopoulos
1.0 out of 5 stars
Stunningly bad
Don't read this book. Its poor. Very poor. Atrocious dialogue (see earlier review). One-dimensional characters . Risible plot. Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2004 by "morethansomewhat"
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good read
This is an easy book to read. It sets out the relationships of the main characters at the start of the book and these build throughout the whole series. Read more
Published on 15 Dec 2003 by "minklemar"
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