About book Ramses: Under The Western Acacia (1999)
Read in Dutch.The final part of Christian Jacq's Ramses series. I bought the whole series once on a book market for 5 euros total, money well spent! I read the series in between other books in the last couple of years, and finished the last part a week ago on holiday. It was a great series to pick up a part when I didn't have anything else to read. I will shortly review the whole series here.The first part of the five starts off with the child years of Ramses, the person who would later become one of the great pharaohs of Egypt. The Egyptian mythology always intrigued me, but I never really got a chance to dive into it. That is one of the reasons why I first picked up these books. Of course, this series is not historical, it is written as a fictive story about the life of Ramses. One question I have is how much of the series is fiction, and how much is based on facts. But all in all, the whole series does provide a good insight in ancient Egyptian lifestyle, thanks to Jacq's detailed writing style. One of the downsides is that he tends to repeat stuff, and some of his passages are very well written with great use of words and eye for detail, while other parts are almost childish.Through the rest of the series Ramses ages and grows, becomes the pharaoh and leads the country of Egypt through both internal and external struggles. Some of these events are in-depth, but some are a bit more hasty and are probably used as filler material. Especially in the last part, Under The Western Acacia, some new "bad guys" pop up just to keep the storyline interesting. Others however are very interesting, such as the biblical figure Moses who has an interesting role, and the struggle with the neighboring Kadesh. Also the backstabbery of Chenar makes an interesting story.In conclusion, I would award the whole series 3,5 stars if I could, but I can't. Therefore I generously rounded it up to 4 stars. The series gives a good look into the world of ancient Egypt, with detailed attention to gods, rituals, the Egyptian lifestyle etcetera. The real storylines are sometimes very interesting, and sometimes filler material. The writing style varies from childish and repetitive to lyrical, detailed and almost poetic. Luckily it goes more towards the latter, and therefore a good score for this series. Anyone who is interested in Egyptian lore should check this series, since it provides great details written in a novel style.
Romanzo che conclude la Saga di Ramses. L'ultimo nemico di Ramses sembra quasi creato ad hoc per poterci raccontare l'ultima parte della vita di questo grandissimo personaggio storico e giustificare con uno sforzo di fantasia alcuni fatti ricavati dall'interpretazione dei reperti archeologici, come le varie feste di rigenerazione, la costruzione della tomba KV5 dove erano state probabilmente raccolte le mummie di un gran numero dei suoi figli reali, il mantenimento della pace con l'impero ittita, l'ascesa di Iset al ruolo di Grande Sposa Reale e i successivi matrimoni diplomatici. Come nei precedenti volumi, trama scorrevole che si legge veloce e storia che appassiona. Vi consiglio di leggere tutta la saga completa, non ve ne pentirete, soprattutto se siete appassionati dell'Egitto e delle storie dei Faraoni.
Do You like book Ramses: Under The Western Acacia (1999)?
I loved the whole series of these books. The detail and characterization of a historical personage such as Ramses I was amazing. The court life descriptions and the political backstabbing was representing most cunningly. The story gave an alternative answer to the question of how Ramses had over 100 children. His beautiful wife, Nefetari to whom he built a monument to at Abu Simbel.Even the exodus of the Hebrews have been respectfully but interestingly written of.I will be reading this book series many times over my lifetime.
—Rosemary Paul
So, the last in the Ramses series. Since it's based on a historical figure, the ending didn't come as much of a surprise.... I'm not quite sure what to think about this one. It covers Ramses' later life, so although there are things going on, it's somewhat slower than previous books. It didn't help that there wasn't much of my two favourites, Ahsha and Setau, in this one either. On the whole, I do wonder if this could have been combined with the fourth in the series, since, as with that one, there are some passages that didn't really seem necessary. Combining the two might have removed some of the filler.On the whole, the series was likeable, though I doubt that I'll ever reread it. I suspect that there were some things "lost in translation," and it was difficult sometimes to work out where fact and fiction should be separated. Clearly M. Jacq knows his subject matter, and I presume that Egyptology is a field he is passionate about—but that passion just really didn't come across in these books.
—Sam
I deserve all the agony I got reading this trash! I am not a best seller person - so the cover label "THE INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLER" should have put me off, especially seeing it was written in a font nearly the size of the book title. It was also a pity the version I picked off the library shelf didn't indicate this was book 5 in a series.Nothing in this torrid little bodice ripper inspires me to go back to the earlier books.Some reviewers have commented that the translation doesn't do the author any favours - But I can't believe the misogynistic treatment of women gets lost in translation. This can't be excused by saying - that's how the Egyptian men treated women back then - Its more than that - it's the tone of a dirty old man or school boy snickering about boobs but too coy to mention the sex directly.Lowest form of trash - but obviously trash sells.YUCK!
—Graham Crawford
