The Empire of Darkness
( Queen of Freedom #1)
By Christian Jacq
Published Year : 2001
Page Count: 306 pages
Medium Used: Paperback
Genre : Spirituality, Ancient Greece, Hyksos Invasion, Action, Adventure, War, 2025-read.
Rating : 4/5 🌟 😎 😀 🤣
I couldn't put this book down. It seemed like a small book but the pacing is fast and the script is utterly un-boring.
The Hyksos army comprising of men from various ethnicities like Annancites, Cyprians, Syrians etc, catch the Egyptians unaware, coming on their novel horses and horse drawn carts, weilding sophisticated artillery, defeat the naive,gentle folk and establish their tyrannical rule which is called the empire of darkness. All the provinces and major cities of the Egypt are brought under their thumb. Only Thebes remains free and independent. It is tolerated by the Hyksos emperor Apophis, to ensure that people don't fall into complete despair and desolation over their future. Minor and major rebellions around the new capital city, center for trade Avaris, are quashed and the detractors are brutally killed. Those Egyptians who are spineless and willingly serve the Hyksos are rewarded richly while all others are heavily taxed irrespective of their living conditions. Women from rich houses are made into sex slaves and forced to perform despicable acts for the pleasure of the elite. It's a sad and disheartening picture the narrator paints of the Egypt under Hyksos take over.
When everybody is under the state of apathy and desolation because there is no hope for their future, Ahhotep, princess of Thebes, under the rule of her mother and Queen Teti the Small, creates hope and plans for a carefully plotted and executed rebellion. With her husband, Seqen, they train a battalion of warriors under the camouflage of willing surrender to the emperor. There are Hyksos sympathizers and agents everywhere in the kingdom. And the news of this brewing rebellion and army training eventually reaches the emperor Apophis. The rebels stage a worthy retaliation and enjoy initial victory while the emperor is looking elsewhere. The story ends on a note for more to come. For more action and planning for the queen and regent ( as Ahhotep has now become ).
The wiring and the narrative are simple, fast going and easy to follow. The Hyksos emperor Apophis quashed all opposition to his empire - from Minoans, Nubians, Cyclades - big and small, it didn't matter. He was very brutal in dealings with those he perceived enemy forces. While reading, I imagined rivers of blood flowing though the sands of mighty Egypt which had built Pyramids that still awe the world with their marvel. I wonder what would have happened to the fate of Egypt without the efforts of the likes of Seqen-En-Ra and Ahhotep I.
Onto the second book in the series!
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