| Title | : | Twelfth Transforming |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0140249494 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780140249491 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 589 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1984 |
Twelfth Transforming Reviews
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And so I come to another re-read of one of Pauline Gedge’s magnificent books and a freshening up of an old review. I re-read her debut novel, Child of the Morning, right before this one, and it’s worth mentioning the key difference between that book and this. Child of the Morning oozed creative flair and talent, but lacked a bit of polish, which canted the pacing of the book slightly off-kilter. It’s an issue I’ve only ever seen in her first book, and by the time we get to The Twelfth Transforming, Gedge’s fourth novel, it is entirely absent. Now here is a true historical epic to be proud of.
Any passing layman will recognise the key names of this book – Tutankhamun, Nefertiti, and Akhenaten – but what has always interested me is that Gedge chose to delve deep into the lives of their lesser known contemporaries in order to tell the story of the Amarna era. It is Tiye who is our primary protagonist, a name Egyptologists and enthusiasts will know well, but certainly one which in the public consciousness is overshadowed by her infamous son. Personally, I find Tiye to be a fascinating individual: powerful in the reign of her husband, Amunhotep III, and a witness to many of the events of her son Akhenaten’s reign. Gedge’s portrayal illuminates a strong woman, calculatingly manipulative, ambitious, and a common-sense ruler (the two qualities are not mutually exclusive, despite some simplistic depictions out there of virtue versus villainy). One of Pauline Gedge’s finest skills as an author is in bringing historical people to life as fully fledged, complex human beings, and it’s working for every character here. Tiye is compelling, but so are Ay and Horemheb too. Each character is comprehensible and follows a line of clear, empathetic logic.
If you were looking to name an antagonist for this book, you’d probably cite Akhenaten, but he is no mere villain. It is Akhenaten’s portrayal that makes The Twelfth Transforming a true tragedy. Far from being hateable, Akhenaten is depicted as sympathetic and even pitiable. He has to struggle to gain his majority and his birthright against a prophecy of doom and a father who wants him dead. He shuns formality and favours naturalism and intimacy. His developing belief in the Aten goes hand in hand with a dream of a shining new city and a hope to spread peace and love across the ancient world. The problem is that Akhenaten is psychologically disturbed. He cannot conceive of being lied to, so corrupt individuals take advantage and Egypt’s empire begins to crumble. He hears the voice of the Aten in his mind telling him to initiate his family into a sacred circle of love. He thinks this will protect them and bless them all with prosperity, but what it actually means is that he forces himself on those who cannot consent or are impelled by his power as pharaoh to do so – When disasters strike, he believes it is punishment from the Aten, so instead of doing the practical thing and taking steps to provision against hard times, he actively impedes any such efforts, insisting that his deity will resolve all. The slow unravelling of his sanity occurs over the course of the book, meaning that his contemporaries in the beginning are uncertain but have little reason to oppose his changes or suspect where it all might lead. Akhenaten is at once admirable and reprehensible, the tragedy being that although he means well, he has no real conception of the damage he causes. This feels like the most real portrayal of Akhenaten that I’ve ever read in a novel. So many writers seem to want to depict the ancient king as either a saintly visionary or a deplorable villain. Why not both? It is my observation that human beings frequently embody a mix of good and bad; being complex and contradictory is a defining trait. Pauline Gedge understands this.
She also understands cause and effect, and how the actions of one individual can have a profound and lasting impact on another, which in turn affects their own relationships and on and on. In the aftermath phase of the novel, despite the fact that Akhenaten’s presence is removed, there is still a lingering sense of pervading corruption. The surviving characters carry the scars of trauma in their experience, and there can be no quick and easy going back to their happiness and innocence and Egypt’s prosperity. The legacy of Akhenaten’s tragic reign runs deep.
I’m not sure what more I can say about Pauline Gedge’s linguistic skill, after having written about it in many other reviews. It’s obvious that she has a broad knowledge from which to draw upon, and she creates the most wonderfully inventive metaphors in her descriptions. Her imagery is not only vivid, bringing to life an ancient world of epic scope with believable realism and detail, but it’s a pleasure to read: lively, unexpected, delightful. I always feel engaged when reading her books.“The court began to affect a simpering naturalness. Artificial flowers of amethyst, jasper, and turquoise set in gold appeared on necklaces and belts and in red-painted earlobes or were woven into the hair of wigs that hung to the waists of both men and women. No courtier with social aspirations paraded in the gardens without a monkey perched on one shoulder, a dog or goose at his heels, and a servant or two carrying kittens in baskets. Their women congregated on the lawns to share dainty sips of local beer and discuss the relative abilities of their respective gardeners. The harem acres, usually deserted until midmorning, were suddenly full of sleepy-eyed concubines who stumbled from their silken couches at dawn to breathe and exclaim over the new air. The trade in unperfumed oil began to soar. Tiye watched the courtiers transform Malkatta into an expensive imitation of a wealthy townsman’s summer retreat while her son moved oblivious at the centre of the new diversion. She hoped it would not last long. Her eyes followed Amunhotep as he nuzzled his cats, rolled on the grass with his monkeys, and ran laughing after the tame ducks that waddled out of his way”
Prospective readers who are Amarna aficionados will no doubt be curious as to how Gedge answers some of the key questions in Egyptology.
As with any Amarna fiction, the choices of how to illuminate the many gaps are unlikely to please everyone, but if you’re happy to play in this sandbox, you will get some fresh twists and novel interpretations, along with a well-written, immersive story and a truly compelling tragic plot. Having read several efforts over the years, I can safely say that The Twelfth Transforming is still the best Amarna novel out there.
10 out of 10 -
I'm rereading this book after finishing the: ("Twice Born", "Seer of Egypt", "King's Man") trilogy. I first read "Twelfth Transforming" many years ago, probably when it was first published. I've long been a fan of Pauline Gedge. Well, ever since I first read "Child of the Morning". So a long time past now.
I usually find myself researching the subjects of her novels because I can't get enough. She brings ancient Egypt alive with her novels in a way that is compelling. Her characters were real people living in a time and place that is far removed yet she breathes life into them. They are human beings with strengths, weaknesses and especially human frailties that remind us of our own.
In a way Ms Gedge has brought them 'back' from their afterlife. Her characterizations breathe with me as I read. The people in her novels are that real to me. -
Quite a bit of research must have gone into this one to work out the timeline and fit the characters in.
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"The Twelfth Transforming" attempts to tell the story of a very interesting time in Egyptian history, the Eighteenth Dynasty. The key players from that time period are also the main characters in this book; Tiye, Akenhaten, Nefertiti, Horemheb and Ay. This is my favorite period of Egyptian history so I was excited to see how Gedge would portray the known historical facts while fleshing out the story with details we can only guess about.
To put it simply, this is the best Egyptian historical fiction book that I’ve ever read. It’s a rather large book but I tore through it and was never bored. Gedge’s writing style flowed smoothly from scene to scene. The settings were described excellently and made me feel like I was in ancient Egypt. She elaborated on what the characters smelled, heard, felt, etc. and those details helped to completely immerse me in the story.
Speaking of the characters, "The Twelfth Transforming" follows multiple characters and is told from many points of view. I do feel that the characters had plenty of depth in this book but there wasn’t a lot of character growth. Having so many characters and points of view made the story more entertaining but it also made it harder to get to know the characters or to see any change in them. This wasn’t a major issue for me, though, because I did enjoy the way the characters were written. They weren’t perfect by any means but that made them more realistic.
This book was also incredibly researched and historically accurate- i.e., my favorite kind of historical fiction. However, history wasn’t always pretty and certain things that were normal among ancient Egyptian royalty can be disturbing to read about. To put it simply, there is a lot of incest in this book and some of it is very disturbing. *Spoilers have been redacted, full review on my blog*
Akenhaten is almost always portrayed, in fiction stories, as being mentally disturbed. Gedge did a fantastic job of describing the infamous Pharaoh’s decent into madness and his religious fanaticism. It has been proven that Akenhaten had at least one child with his sister and that child was Tutankhamun. *Spoilers have been redacted, full review on my blog*
"The Twelfth Transforming" isn’t appropriate for all readers but if you love Egyptian historical fiction and don’t mind the historical, but gross, relationships, I can’t recommend this book enough.
For my full review and other reviews, go to
https://thebookandbeautyblog.com/ -
When setting a novel in ancient Egypt, one has only sketchy historical information to work with. The ancient Egyptian elite left many clues about their life and time, but also attempted to erase undesirable parts of their history. Pauline Gedge does a masterful job of weaving historical fact with fiction and brings us characters that are as fully formed and human as anyone we might know today. Some of the story is shocking and it is easy to pass judgment on the past from the cultural and time differences of modern Western society. For me, a fan of ancient Egypt, the saga rang true, except for the circumstances of young pharaoh Tutankhamun's death, which (spoiler alert!), we now know from DNA testing in the early 21st century on his mummy, was most likely caused by malaria. Rumors circulated for years that he may have been murdered, so it is an intriguing plot point nevertheless. How he died is less important than the events that ensued.
The novel begins during the last years of the reign of 18th Dynasty's Pharaoh Amunhotep III, told primarily from the point of view of his queen and empress, Tiye, who were the parents of the "heretic" king Akhenaten. The aging pharaoh has placed his hopes for succession on his son Thotmes (Thutmose), who dies prematurely before his father, allowing his younger brother, the strange and isolated Amunhotep IV (who will later change his name to Akhenaten), to ascend the throne, supported by his mother, who loves her son in spite of his unusual appearance and ideas, and tries to exert as much influence on his governance as possible. Akhenaten marries the beautiful Nefertiti, his cousin, whom he loves, and after a few years of a somewhat inept reign, declares the sun disk, Aten, as the one and only god, forsaking Egypt's other gods, particularly Amun, and has a new capital built called Akhetaten. The court moves to the new city from Thebes, which has been the Egyptian royal capital for decades, leaving it to decline and decay. Egyptologists know from written records and depictions of the royal family that Nefertiti produces six daughters and no sons. However, there are two young boys (whose maternal parentage is not clear), viewed as possible future successors: the lazy, spoiled Smenkhara, a late son born of Amunhotep III and (according to Gedge's account) Tiye, and the infant Tutankhaten (later Tutankhamun), Akhenaten's son with another wife or concubine.
The story takes us through Akhenaten's entire disastrous reign, and we see all the major players - Tiye, Ay, Horemheb, Nefertiti and her sister Mutnodjme, and other known historical figures - in the story that Gedge expertly allows to unfold. The novel concludes at the start of Horemheb's reign, who is the last ruler of the 18th Dynasty.
Gedge is careful to make the dialogue sound natural without seeming too modern and colloquial, which other authors have attempted to do with varying amounts of success. To anyone who is interested in ancient Egypt and fascinated in particular with the 18th Dynasty rulers, I would recommend The Twelfth Transforming (which may only be available as an ebook) as well as her previous novel, Child of the Morning, about the earlier 18th century pharaoh, Hatshepsut, a woman who defied tradition to become pharaoh. -
Some things I really liked about this book and other things not. I was conflicted in rating it.
It was up to Gedge's usual high standard in her novels on ancient Egypt: flowing, excellent, evocative writing. I did like the storyline and the events in the novel were plausible. However, I absolutely hated the characters and that alone drove it down from 4 to 3 stars for me. Each character was out for him- or herself only. The manipulation started with the main character, the ambitious Empress Tiye, wife of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who had her son named heir apparent. The same controlling quality spread like a canker through the rest of the royal family; the vizier, Ay; and General Horemheb. Figuratively, each was ready to stick a knife into someone else's back to advance in power. This overweening ambition led to the assassination by suffocation, of one of the pharaohs, Smenkhara, as he lay sleeping, and, on a hunt, the sabotage of the chariot of another pharaoh, Tutankhamen, and subsequent murder.
The main story was that of Akhenaten, the monotheistic pharaoh. Years before, a holy man had advised his family to have him killed, or dark days would fall upon Egypt. No one listens; the boy grows to manhood. Gedge's interpretation of Akhenaten in this novel was not the usual: that of the gentle martyr. She has him descending into madness with the promotion and promulgation of his worship of Aten, the sun god--"The Teaching". Akhenaten bankrupts the Egyptian treasury to build a beautiful new city of marble and alabaster, Akhetaten, for worship of Aten and where the royal family decamps. He forbids the worship of any other gods. The extent of Akhenaten's incest made me queasy. Extended drought, famine and plague kill many of the royal family and other population. Is the city cursed? A cabal plans to do away with him and to name another pharaoh.
The writing was so good I felt as though I were in ancient Egypt. I liked Gedge's description of the drought and plague years. Her telling of the assassination was chilling. But none of the characters had any redeeming qualities, except possibly for Tutankhamen.
Recommended for the depiction of ancient Egypt and an unusual portrayal of Akhenaten. -
The only reason I finished this book is because I paid for it through my Wordy Traveler subscription. If it had been free, I would have given up within the first 50 pages.
There were several reasons this book received ⭐⭐⭐ instead of ⭐⭐⭐⭐. While the subject of ancient Egypt isn't something I'm naturally drawn to, this book was simply not an interesting read. All the characters were selfish and self-absorbed. Most annoying, however, was the amount of pages dedicated to the Empress Tiye. She was so disinterested in everything around her and always backtracked on her initial impressions or thoughts about what was happening. I kept expecting some action or for her to take charge, but she literally committed suicide because she was bored with life.
What also seriously bugged and grossed me out about this book was the rampant incest. Ugh. -
My favourite book to date. I've reread it at least a dozen times. Dynamic characters in a vibrant, well-crafted world.
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What distinguishes a visionary from a madman? That question lies at the heart of this sumptuous novel by Pauline Gedge, which takes us to the Egyptian court of the late 18th dynasty, in the mid-14th century BC. The Empress Tiye is the primary wife of Pharaoh Amunhotep III, whose failing health and debaucheries distract him from the everyday business of ruling. Tiye has commanded the reins of power for years, using her acute political sensibilities to keep Egypt prosperous and to maintain its military supremacy. Unusually, she is not of full royal blood herself, and her rise has also boosted members of her family, especially her brother Ay, a leading courtier. Now, in the twilight of her husband’s reign, Tiye is preoccupied with the issue of the succession. Her eldest son, also called Amunhotep, has spent his life imprisoned within the harem, hated and suspected by his father, but he is the only plausible successor if Tiye wishes to continue her control of Egyptian politics. She sets out to secure the throne for her son, planning to marry him off to her niece (Ay’s daughter) Nefertiti, thereby cementing her family’s influence. It is a fine plan. But Tiye hasn’t accounted for one crucial detail: the personality of the prince into whose hands she has consigned the future of her country. For Amunhotep IV – or Akhenaten, as he renames himself – has a vision of his own for Egypt, which will strike to the very heart of the country’s civilisation. Epic in every sense, this account of the Amarna period is richly intricate: a gripping story of Egypt’s most extraordinary, fascinating and enigmatic personalities...
For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2020/05/24/t... -
Once again, Gedge has written an immersive, plausible, realistic, historically accurate, passion-filled, human drama! I love that she chose to use Tiye as her narrator for most of the book. What a fascinating portrait of Akhenaten. It's kind of amazing how Gedge manages to write these novels completely outside of the filter of a modern mind. You never get the sense that a 21st century author is lending her opinions or conclusions. Just top notch.
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Nota media 3,5 estrellas ⭐️
He estado a punto de abandonar la lectura por la mala edición digital que tenía. No había capítulos ni siquiera había puntos y aparte. Una vez hube cambiado a otra edición el problema se solucionó y la lectura empezó a atraparme.
Con mucho detalle se nos describe la vida de los faraones en el antiguo egipto y sus costumbres. Las intrigas de la corte del faraón, las luchas de poder y la decadencia de la familia real. Centrado sobre todo en el reinado de Akhenaton la historia esta muy bien novelada y hará las delicias de los apasionados de la ficción histórica. -
Interesante para conocer la cultura del tiempo de los faraones, su modo de vida y forma de pensar, toda ella centrada en su Dios. De obligada lectura para los egiptólogos
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This was a good work if historical fiction dealing with the reign of the Pharoah Ahtenakten in ancient Egypt. Loaded with palace intrigue, murder and even incest (blech!). 3 1/2 stars.
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Troublant
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Muy buena. Junto con El adivino, lo mejor de esta autora.
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5/5 Stars
One of the best historical fiction books set in Egypt I’ve read! Entertaining and captivating take on the Amarna Period. -
The politics and story overall were fascinating, but sooooo much incest. I get that it’s historically accurate, but it made for a tough read.
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The story follows several generations of pharaohs in ancient Egypt, and we see the kind of family power struggles that play out very similar to any modern drama today.
Except the incest. And there is a LOT of incest, even by the standards of pharaohs. One of the main characters has ex with several of his sisters, his mother, his sisters' daughters by him (so, his daughters / nieces), his daughter's daughters (his daughters / granddaughters), and his brother. Say it with me -ewwwwwww. -
Another excellent book from Pauline Gedge. This one about the Amarna period with Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Tiye. As always beautifully written.
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En general el libro me ha gustado pero bien es cierto que el ritmo del mismo me parece algo lento al principio. Hasta la mitad del libro el ritmo hace que la lectura sea algo pesada pero, después, coge ritmo y resulta de lo más interesante.
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here in Twelfth Transforming, we are introduced to the Empress Tiye and her husband Amenhotep the III, ninth pharaoh of the eigtheenth dynasty and one of the greatest in Egyptian history. It was during his reign that Egypt reached it's peak in culture and world standing. Sad that his son had to tear it all down.
Amenhotep III had several children by Tiye, two boys and several girls who went on to become his wives as well. But it was the younger son that history remembers the most: Amenhotep IV who later changed his name to Akhenaten and nearly destroyed Egypt during his ten years of reign.
Twelfth Transforming follows Tiye for the most part, the last years of her marriage to Amenhotep III and the first half of her son's reign, but does follow along in the viewpoints of other key players such as Akhenaten's infamous wife Nefertiti and his subsequent successors.
So you're looking over the shoulders of some of the most famous and infamous people of Egyptian history, and their fame is not always earned favorably. Akhenaten and Nefertiti took Egypt from their worship of multiple gods to one, built a gorgeous city out of stone and sand, bankrupted the nation, and lost many vassal states to ignorance and neglect. And all this culminates in the death of the infamous boy king Tutankhamun.
The only downfall to this book is the last few chapters. Most of your favorite characters are dead, and the pacing is a little slow and tedious, but otherwise it was a fabulous read.
Love, lust, murder, and polical intrigue all set against the backdrop of the harsh and fertil beauty that is Egypt. Gedge makes her characters come to life, and despite the fact that you can Wiki most of their lives, she keeps you turning the pages.
