Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh Paperback – April 30, 2013

Unlike Laura Colpus' review, I did not find the first book so removed from possibility. The time that we are dealing with is the dynasty that produced Akhenaten, who was the only pharaoh to worship a single deity. His queen was the famous Nefertiti and his son and heir was the boy king Tut/ Very little is known about Kiya. She rates only a few mentions that appear where Nefertiti's daughters have taken over her temples. This proves that at one time she was highly rated by Akhenaten and either died, was disgraced or something happened to her. This leaves very little factual data and a great time period to play with. The bodies were analyzed for which was the mother of Tut, but no one knows for sure which body was Kiya's.Katie Hamstead has come up with an great but unprovable concept. Some academics think Akhenaten was the Pharaoh that Joseph interpreted dreams for, but no one knows for sure. Katie places Naomi in a family that is of direct descendents of Joseph and whose father is the Hebrew leader. She is educated and trained along with his son and heir and is much beloved by her father. She has never been betrothed at 18, because her father thinks there is no man who is her equal and she is described as a princess by the Jewish community. One day Pharaoh has a dream that he will produce a living son and heir if he marries one of the daughters of the descendent of Joseph, who was considered a high born noble by Egyptian royalty, regardless of his Hebrew begiinings. Naomi hears an uproar and heads toward it to be stopped by her sister and told to hide. Her father is going to give her two sisters to them. Everyone knows how dangerous and corrupt the Egyptian court is and Naomi knows her sisters have no chance to survive. Horemheb, the legendary killer, is there to escort them and when Naomi offers to take their place her father is crushed. He has no great love for those daughters and will gladly sacrifice them to save his Naomi. Horemheb is impressed by Naomi and promises her father no man will touch her before her marriage.Naomi enters the intrique of the Pharaoh's court and takes on the dangerous Nefertiti. She faces death every day for practicing her religion, for her battles with Nefertiti, and even from her champion Horemheb and the slipping sanity of Akhenaten. Everything depends on having a son....

This is Historical FICTION. If you want it to follow history, shop elsewhere. If you want a fun read set in a long ago space, enjoy!Yes, there were/are historical inaccuracies, BUT IT'S FICTION! Yes, there were a few places where modern words and phrases jolted, but over all, it was a fun and light read.There isn't a great deal known about Kiya, but there is some. If you're a stickler for accuracy in fiction, well, wander on down the aisle, my friend. If you can suspend your disbelief, you just might be pleasantly surprised at the tale. Hamstead makes Kiya a Hebrew woman named Naomi, for starters, rather than the more or less accepted Nubian. This gives her a lot of room for culture clashes and storyline. (Being Hebrew also makes her, in this instance, a slave. Yes, I know, that's been pretty well debunked by historians, but it plays well in the story.)If you're looking for an historical romance, I think you might be a tad disappointed in the book. There is love in the book, and hate, and jealousy, but I don't think it would qualify as a romance. (If it had, you probably wouldn't be reading my review, because I probably wouldn't have finished it.)Naomi is the favored daughter of her father, and is educated as his son is educated. When Horemheb comes to Thebes to choose a virgin to marry the Pharaoh, he chooses her sisters. Naomi volunteers to go. Akhenaton wants a Hebrew wife because his God, Aten, has said that Hebrew women are pure, and that a Hebrew wife will give him a son and heir—Tutankhaten.Naomi is given a new name, Kiya, and made a wife of Akhenaton, a man she has been raised to view as evil, a man who is ill and deformed (possibly Marfanes disease), and a man she learns to love and respect. All is not peaches and cream in the royal palace, though, and Kiya must tread lightly and with cunning if she and her son are to survive. None of Pharaoh's sons survive their first night, but young Tut does.Given the time and cultures in which she was born and raised, Kiya's behavior is not altogether unbelievable. The Hebrews did not treat their women any better than the Egyptians treated theirs, especially in harem situations. Women were property, and were to produce heirs. Period. If they were intelligent and educated that was fine, as long as they knew their place, and did not become a threat to their husband/owner.Kiya is intelligent, educated, and strong-willed. She will do anything for her husband, and for her children.

A Jewish daughter finds herself the wife of an Egyptian pharaoh. The intrigue between the court, the wives, and the gods they worship create an intricate dance that may cost a life.

This one is hard to write a review on. As a book for adults, it's terrible. As a book for young adults, tweens and early teens, it's pretty good. However, it's not advertised as YA book, hence the 3 stars.Dialogue is very simplistic (which is a shame, because a good 80% of the book is dialogue), descriptions are vague and it does a lot of telling, not showing. However, the book is well-paced with an interesting plot. If you don't know anything about the people or the period, you might enjoy it. If you know anything about Nerfertiti, Horemheb, Akhenaten or the Armana period, probably steer clear because you'll just get wound up. The Pharoah's women are presented as a happy little commune who immediately adopt Kiya as their leader over wicked outcast Nerfertiti (who has not one redeeming feature). Horemheb is the so-say cruel military leader who spends half his time shepherding the Pharoah's new wife from A to B, and is unbelievably open and candid with her (emphasis on unbelievably). Akhenaten is the slightly deformed Pharoah with a hint of madness who doesn't mind his wife holding hands with and hugging his general, and just takes everybody's word for everything, knows about all the palace plots and does nothing to intervene or punish the plotters.I also struggled with the total lack of formality between characters, how often Kiya had the opportunity to spend time alone with another man (and how little that bothered anyone) and the very modern phrasing like 'finding out what's on the agenda', 'I seem to have that down', etc.As a young person's novel very loosely based on real people and events, it's pretty good, I think I would have really enjoyed it when I was about 13, and it would have been a good introduction to get me interested in actually learning about the period. As an adult's novel, it doesn't do so well because it's just a little too basic and far-fetched.

Kiya was a book that I neither liked nor disliked. I read till the end and that was only to give it the benefit of the doubt, Plot was feeble and it saddened me to see such noble characters reduced to almost laughable characters all outwitted by a simple girl. If you want a cute story and a smattering of history then fine but don't look for actual facts. The great Pharaoh trusting this girl then kicking and beating her as he had never been known before. Then turning again to make love to her during the day when the other wives were all kept in the confines of the women's quarters.Really this Naomi so trusted by all, of course, I think not. The Main people in this story are all too well known and their strengths are also known, a nice book for a younger person who is not really into Egyptology

I have been waiting to get my hands on a copy of this book for ages . I kept putting off buying it and I have to comment it seems to hold its value in book stores and even amazon.Historically and factually the book may by be accurate . But as novel set in this era . It was amazing. I read it in over the course of one day and couldn’t put it down! I loved the perspective of Kiya. Most novels set in the time of Akhenaten refer to Nefertiti and the plot doesn’t pay much attention to the lesser wives. I loved the characters , the relationships and most of all kiya I think her personality was written perfectly !Can’t wait to read the next book

Love it, love it, love it! I always enjoy stories set in ancient Egypt, and this book does not disappoint. This is the tale of an eighteen year old girl raised in Thebes by devout Hebrew parents. With her older brother and two younger sisters she is happy. Until the Egyptian commander of the Pharaoh comes looking for a new bride for his master. Her life changes completely, she is thrust into the plots and intrigues of the royal court, and must keep her wits about her just to stay alive. Can't wait to read the next book in the series, having already read a taster, I want it now!

I enjoyed reading this. Centainly ignited an interest in the period and had to look on the internet as to who the characters were. I don't think Akhenaten was disfigured as his art suggested, but as his goddess is 'the mother of all' he depicted himself as so. It's good fiction, easy to read and gripping in parts. The only gripe is that the second part seemed rushed. I shall investigate the other two books in the series.