She was the most formidable and successful woman to ever rule in the ancient Western world, and yet today few people can even pronounce her name.

Kara Cooney clearly has a passion for Ancient Egypt and especially for Hatshepsut, that is evident in this book. I realize now that as a reader who is looking to learn more about Ancient Egypt (and who is not passionate about it) that I might not have been a part of the target audience for this book.

Usually when I read a biography or a book on a topic in history I like to be able to read actual facts about that topic. With Ancient Egypt (and especially Hatshepsut) readers are left to rely on hypotheses based upon ancient artifacts that have been found. Having said that, this book contained a lot of conjecture not only on the details concerning Hatshepsut's reign but also concerning her motivations and emotions. I don't necessarily mind the conjecture concerning her reign, it was the conjecture about her motivation that I didn't like and felt was unnecessary. The attempt to really humanize Hatshepsut didn't work for me as there is little evidence of any person's motivations during those times.

In the middle of the book Cooney really starts to focus on Hatshepsut's reign as king and what she accomplished (instead of her motivation) and it was really quite interesting. There is no doubt that Hatshepsut was an important and powerful woman in the ancient world and this book really reinforces why we should all strive to learn more about her. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the galley.

Ugh...It is just taking me forever to get through this, and I had such high hopes for it. I admit that Hatshepsut is a very interesting woman that deserves to have her story told. She ruled Egypt as a woman when it was extremely unheard of. Unfortunately there is not much concrete knowledge of the details of her reign. That shows a lot in this book. This is filled with conjecture (which the author admits to right away). While the author uses knowledge gained from being an Egyptologist for many years, it is frustrating hearing mostly theories and not fact. Pretty much the words I am using to describe this so far are: Perhaps, Possibly, and Probably. Also the author tends to obsess about what Hatshepsut or other people were feeling or just random things about their daily life (like whether Thutmose III laughed a lot, or whether he didn't pay attention to his training to become King). With all the talk about feelings and motivations a historical fiction book could have been written instead.

Disclaimer: ARC via the publisher and Netgalley.

                When you think of an Egyptian female ruler, who do you think of?

               If the answer is Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra, Dr. Kara Cooney wants to talk to you.

So I started The Witch's Cradle on my way home from work today.  Now tonight I find that Netgalley has approved me for The Underground Girls of Kabul and The Woman Who Would be King.

I keep starting a gripping novel on my kindle and than Netgalley approves me for books.

There are worse problems I know.

First, we must discuss the oversharing of inane details. Because I don't need or want to know what this person did at 6pm, and then at 7pm, and then at 8pm. We run through the MC's daily schedule over and over and over. This could have been 30 pages shorter if the author left out all this nonsense of daily activities.

My second issue would be the MC: Olivia. She is all bravado. She's told not to pick a fight with the all-powerful vampire, so she immediately picks a fight with the all-powerful vampire, backing it up with a sense of superiority she is in no way entitled to. She blames herself for something bad that happened - she thinks she pushed people to do things that put them in danger. While wallowing in this guilt, she then decides to push somebody else into doing something rash and dangerous in order to find out who caused the something dangerous that already got people killed. That makes no fucking sense! "Oh, I can't believe I did that. Let me do it again!" She is no warrior. And with the political setting this book has, that seemed like it would be alright. Until you actually read the story and you're like "This girl is such a wimp!" She runs away constantly.

"I have powers?" Run away!
"Somebody is targeting me via demon?" Run away!
"When I called for help, somebody actually showed up to help!" Run away!
"Is that a sexy guy?" Run away!
"Mom's been drinking." Run away!
"My boyfriend doesn't like my job." Run away!
"You know who my father is and you didn't tell me?!" Run away!
"I need to think about my next move." Run away!