The Year of the Cobra by Paul Doherty
March 20th 2007 13:13
I finished this novel last week while commuting though I am kind of mystified why I did not get down to review it earlier than today. Anyways, Paul Doherty's The Year of The Cobra is set in one of the most scrumptious periods of human history--the end days of Thutmosid Dynasty. I love this period. Remember this is the time of Egyptians and Hittites, the Sea peoples, Moses and Exodus and the arrival of fascinating peoples like Hebrews, Phoenicians and Philistines onto the stage of human history. Suffice it to say that any novel set in this period will gain my attention for that reason alone.
The Year of The Cobra is the last of the trilogy, the earlier novels supposedly deal with Akhenhaten and other intriguing figures like Nefertiti. I never got to read them and started with the third and realised that it was supposed to be part of a trilogy only after half way through.
The novel is narrated by Mahu, a spy chief in Pharoah's court, also Tutankhamen's guardian. As it opens, Egypt is facing some dark times. The renegade pharoah Akhehaten has disappeared and Tutankhamen is young and inexperienced and the court is awash with intrigue. Meanwhile, Hittites under their chief, Suppiliulama are massing in the north and threatening to march over Canaan. Mahu is sent to Tyre on a mission.
He is deeply troubled to leave Tutankhamen behind but leaves for his mission along with his Apiru( Hebrew sidekick) Djarka. Mahu also has a secret mission, he wants to find out what happened to Akhenhaten, who according to rumours was hiding somewhere in Canaan. And even before he sets foot on his journey, he gets mysetrious messages.
It should take lot of skill to twist sketchily known historical facts into a coherent plot and Paul does a neat job of it. The novel reads smoothly and Paul's solutions to the many puzzles of the era are interesting.
Still, there are a few downsides. For most of the novel, Mahu is passive. For an allegedly spy chief, his thinking is almost done by others, either by Djarka his assistant or his wife Nabila. There is no sense of Sherlock Holmes kinda aura either. At no time, we are told that Mahu already knew what his sidekicks were speculating before him, a la Sherlock Holmes. So, the passivity of the hero is just that, passivity; it's not redeemed later in the novel. All through the beginning, we are told of an assassin in Mahu's group but this plot point is forgotten in the denouement.
The biggest disappointment for me, which I don't think is the author's fault, is that it is filled with rather crude violence which kind of took away the romantic sheen of this era. The violence did not bother me but the dingy portrayal and the failure to add richness, colour and depth to these intriguing civilizations were big downers for me.
All in all, a very nice way of spending time.
The Year of The Cobra is the last of the trilogy, the earlier novels supposedly deal with Akhenhaten and other intriguing figures like Nefertiti. I never got to read them and started with the third and realised that it was supposed to be part of a trilogy only after half way through.
The novel is narrated by Mahu, a spy chief in Pharoah's court, also Tutankhamen's guardian. As it opens, Egypt is facing some dark times. The renegade pharoah Akhehaten has disappeared and Tutankhamen is young and inexperienced and the court is awash with intrigue. Meanwhile, Hittites under their chief, Suppiliulama are massing in the north and threatening to march over Canaan. Mahu is sent to Tyre on a mission.
He is deeply troubled to leave Tutankhamen behind but leaves for his mission along with his Apiru( Hebrew sidekick) Djarka. Mahu also has a secret mission, he wants to find out what happened to Akhenhaten, who according to rumours was hiding somewhere in Canaan. And even before he sets foot on his journey, he gets mysetrious messages.
It should take lot of skill to twist sketchily known historical facts into a coherent plot and Paul does a neat job of it. The novel reads smoothly and Paul's solutions to the many puzzles of the era are interesting.
Still, there are a few downsides. For most of the novel, Mahu is passive. For an allegedly spy chief, his thinking is almost done by others, either by Djarka his assistant or his wife Nabila. There is no sense of Sherlock Holmes kinda aura either. At no time, we are told that Mahu already knew what his sidekicks were speculating before him, a la Sherlock Holmes. So, the passivity of the hero is just that, passivity; it's not redeemed later in the novel. All through the beginning, we are told of an assassin in Mahu's group but this plot point is forgotten in the denouement.
The biggest disappointment for me, which I don't think is the author's fault, is that it is filled with rather crude violence which kind of took away the romantic sheen of this era. The violence did not bother me but the dingy portrayal and the failure to add richness, colour and depth to these intriguing civilizations were big downers for me.
All in all, a very nice way of spending time.
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