The Egyptian: A Novel Paperback – 1 April 2002

This book is a journey through one man's life in ancient Egypt. It's enthralling and immersive. It made the time of the Pharaoh's come alive in this reader's imagination. Wonderful from start to finish.

Originally read this as a teenager. It's set at the time of the heretic pharoah, Akenaten. The style of writing may not be to everyone's taste being a little "dated" but a good story nevertheless.

Historical novels come in various types: for example the Bodice Ripper, the Anachronistic, and the Immersive. Waltari's novel is in the last category, he endeavours, and successfully I feel, to immerse us in a real Egypt which has an understandable taxation, religious, social, and military system. His hero, the marvellously ambiguous Sinuhe, speaks in "ye olde Egyptian" which effect can often by risible but works splendidly here. Sinuhe is a doctor (a most useful device as it gives him transferable skills) with whom we journey through school and training into a very varied adulthood. In the course of the novel we visit Syria, Babylonia, Hatti and Crete. At every stage I got the same feeling as reading the accounts of 19th century travellers - of fully formed realities not some two dimensional reconstruction of ancient lives.Sinuhe lived in interesting times serving the "heretic" Pharaoh Akenaten, his successor Tutankhamun and the last Pharaoh of the Dynasty, Horemheb.If you enjoyed Gore Vidal's CREATION then I think you will enjoy this one. But if you enjoy the blood and sandals genre there may be a bit too much talking for you.

This book is just wonderful. It is full of adventures and historical detail. One of the most enjoyable books I have ever read and completely under-rated.This book was forbidden in Spain for many years (not anymore but it was during Franco times), and it is not published in the UK nowadays.I have lent this book to a number of people and every single person has completely fallen in love with it.Great entertainment and a lot to be learnt from it

"A woman who combines malice with intelligence and beauty is dangerous indeed – more dangerous still when she can add to this the power of a royal consort."The Egyptian is a classic historical novel by Finnish writer Waltari and set in the Egypt of the 14th century BCE. The main protagonist and narrator is Sinuhe, priest-physician to the Pharaohs Amenhotep III and Akhenaten (called Akhnaton in the story), whose consort, Nefertiti, is the subject of the above quotation. What I found surprising in the story is that Nefertiti plays a much lesser role than history implies.he Egyptian is not a novel to read for great excitement or high romance. The strength and beauty of Waltari’s work lies rather in the wealth of historical information and in the interaction of the historical figures he introduces in novel format. Perhaps unusually for a novelist in the 1940s, his scenes of sex and violence are quite graphic and he depicts the realities of life and death in all their sordid and gory detail. The Egyptians are presented as a people stuck in a rich/poor society, dominated by a polytheistic priesthood and consanguinious monarchy yet, despite their hardships, resistant to change.Actually, I'll give it three nd a half stars!

The journey of Egyptian doctor from his birth to his death. Can’t stop reading

I am happy with the book but didn't expect that it would travel all the way from the USA so it took quite a while to arrive. Not really a problem if you are not relying on it as a last minute present.

my boyhood fav book ever, based on an ancient Egyptian legend, a gripping story that contains a round trip of the Ancient world, Mycenae, Syria, Babylon all come to play before return to Egypt for the grand finale