Truth is the Soul of the Sun - A Biographical Novel of … (2024)

Truth Is the Soul of the Sun written by Maria Isabel Pita is a biography over the life of Hatshepsut, believed to have been the fifth pharaoh of Egypt, living around 3500 years ago. We follow her from childhood and up through adulthood and death, experiencing her daily life, and we get an idea of her dealings with family, religion, and royal life.

It was generally well written with quite nice flowing prose, and with excellent and lively dialogs, which makes the book a pleasure to go through during specific scenes or conversations. Unfortunately I also found it quite lacking in many other areas, so overall it was a somewhat dull experience for me. My major complaints were a complete lack of a plot, lacking descriptions, a setting that was relatively unused, and a love sick main character which made the entire book come of as a young adult novel without a plot. Most of the descriptions came through telling the reader what was going on, and I could have used much more showing of the world through the characters acting and dialogs. The story skips time periodes through her life, and it can be a bit hard to follow the jumps, since there’s a lack of descriptive time indicators, and the fact that Hatshepsut never ever matures.

Now, the story is proposed as a biography of Hatshepsut and the story is completely character driven, but while one would expect this novel to give a fictional account over the main points in her documented life that were important of the time periode, it is written more as a completely fictional account of what happened in her personal life. There are no historical anecdotes, no dwellings on the main characters decisions, or accounts from opposing characters. It is mainly centered around her emotions and thoughts, and apparently almost the entirety of her life evolves around the same things that 14 year old modern day teenagers care about. Her looks, other peoples looks, pointless minute problems, and who did what and why. Most major historical events are mere side notes, with out any effect on the overall story. It is quite a pity, because the writing was so good, because it all falls apart for the reader. You expect to read about an important historical woman who was presented as a ruler, and involved in several key points of Egyptian history, yet what you find is a story about an insecure young adult. A very materialistic young adult that is, one that has sex on her mind constantly. Her character is about as deep as a puddle after 10 minutes of brief rain. The three biggest conflicts in her life is apparently (Spoilers ahead): That her cat dies, that her husband leaves her at a party (Plot twist, he actually didn’t), and that she cant make out with random people she finds attractive. In the end all she can think about is her husband, and her age. Yet she still behaves as she did at the beginning of the book, like a superficial teenager.

While the story takes part during a distinct historical setting, it all falls to the background, except for the religious part. Now, that would be fine if there was a strong story to back it up, but there isn’t. So if you go into this book, expecting to learn a lot about the Egyptian culture, you will be sorely disappointed. For a book of this length, there’s also a lack of main characters, but I assume it was written like that to make sure there weren’t too many men that Hatshepsut could find attractive. I am also having a hard time remembering if there were any common citizens in the book at all, other than serving maids? We do get a small idea of how the royal life was behind their walls, and it does delve deeply into the religious side of things, but other than that, things are merely mentioned in a passing. Those characters there are present though, do come of as Egyptian in their acting, which I quite enjoyed. But in some cases the reader may be completely flabbergasted as to why people act as they do, if one has no insight into the ancient Egyptian culture. This is definitely not an educational book, despite the setting.
As mentioned, the religious side of the novel is quite well developed, and this is the only part where it really shone, world building wise. Unfortunately it takes over the story completely, and it goes on and on, without actually getting anywhere. It is a real pity, because there was so much potential where I would have liked to see Hatshepsut interact, or at least just be somehow indirectly involved, in the life or culture of the average citizen of the time. Everything happens at court, but nothing really happens outside of the teenage mind of Hatshepsut. A good example comes at the end of the book, where an important war is just fleetingly described, and essentially not something that could take up more than a few minutes of Hatshepsuts time, because she is busy figuring out how much her husband adores her.

The historical setting is often just fleetingly described, which for one not invested into Egyptian architecture, cultural icons, and setting, will likely come as quite lacking. Some things are well described, but most locations are not, which I felt that it was a real pity, as the Egyptian setting was quite unique. What we do get long descriptions of, and often repeatedly, are the men that Hatshepsuts teenage mind finds attractive. We hear about leg shavings, muscular bodies, dripping sweat, but almost nothing about the spectacular buildings that the Egyptians are so famous of. Only at the end of the book do we hear a lot of descriptions, for when she is building her tomb, but by then, it is too late for the reader. By then the book turns slowly into 50 shades of sand, with repeated sexual descriptions of Hatshepsut being dominated by men, despite the Egyptian culture by then being a matriarchal society. This book has the most diverse number of descriptions of the vulva that i’ve ever heard, despite the word never being uttered even once. There’s also the occasional mention of pedophilia, incest, and gang bangs, in case one does not like to read about those things.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author herself. She has a very clear voice, although I did find the reading a bit forced and flat, as if it is read as a script and not with emotions from a book, and thus somewhat uninteresting. Different voices for characters weren’t very distinct, which was a pity. The narration did somewhat fit the book though, given that I felt it was written like a young adult book all the way through, so any emotion was always put into Hatshepsuts voice, and never anything or anyone else.

Overall, great writing, but a dull story with no plot whatsoever. Essentially just the thoughts of a typical (modern) young adult (mentally) in ancient Egypt. If you like to read about sex in a setting that doesn’t matter much, then this is for you.

I received this audiobook for free in return for a review. I have no affiliation with the author, the narrator, the publisher, or their pets (Although I am sure the latter are quite nice!).

I've finished the first section of six in this very long novel. It describes the childhood of Hatshepsut. Though somewhat slow-moving (I'm hoping the later sections pick up a bit), the author has done a wonderful job recreating a world so different from our own, but still populated by realistic human beings. I do have some knowledge of ancient Egypt, and I am sure this book would be difficult to read without it. As it is, I'm letting some confusing details go by the wayside as I read. It is easy to see that this book is a very well researched labor of love.

ETA: I'm through the second book as well now, and I am enjoying it more. The style is very different from what I typically read. There is still little suspense, but the story moves more quickly now. There is a lot going on with multiple story lines and Pita does a good job bringing them together. I'm putting this book on hold until I get some time to read it in a big chunk. *Shakes fist at coursework*

ETA2: Now, almost a year later I have finished the book. Overall, the book was informative and sometimes engaging, but could have benefited from editing. Its most defining characteristic is the amount of detailed research that went into the book. I did enjoy reading it, but I am almost positive I would not have finished it if it had not been a first read. With my cursory knowledge of ancient Egypt, I was frequently confused. I also had difficulty keeping minor characters straight. Overall though, I am glad that I pushed through and read this book. I have learned a lot about Egypt at the time of Hatshepsut, as well as the pharaoh herself.