A God Against the Gods

Amarna #1

by Allen Drury

The Royal House of Thebes - Supremely Powerful...Fatally Flawed...
Horemheb--the bold and popular General who hungered for the sacred crown of the Pharaoh, and would do anything to make it his.
Tiye--the Queen Mother and Great Wife who ruled Egypt for decades behind the facade of her husband's leadership. She had already lost one of her children to the merciless demands of power - now she would have to sacrifice her beloved Akhenaten for the good of the Kingdom.
Nefertiti--the most beautiful woman in the world bred from birth to be the Pharaoh's devoted slave - and follow him into whatever tortured obsession his restless mind conceived.
Akhenaten--the dream-filled King of Egypt who dared to challenge the ancient order of his people and dethrone the jealous deities of his land for the glory of one, almighty God...

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Egypt, Historical, American, Ancient

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

In late 1943, Allen Stuart Drury, a 25-year old Army veteran, sought work. A position as the Senate correspondent for United Press International provided him with employment and insider knowledge of the Senate. In addition to fulfilling his duties as a reporter, he kept a journal of his views of the Senate and individual senators. In addition to the Senate personalities, his journal captured the events of the 78th & 79th Congresses.
Although written in the mid-1940s, his diary was not published until 1963. "A Senate Journal" found an audience in part because of the great success of "Advise and Consent," his novel in 1959 about the consideration in the Senate of a controversial nominee for secretary of state. His greatest success was "Advise and Consent," was made into a film in 1962. The book was partly inspired by the suicide of Lester C. Hunt, senator from Wyoming. It spent 102 weeks on the New York Times' best-seller list. 'Advise & Consent' led to several sequels. 'A Shade of Difference' is set a year later. Drury then turned his attention to the next presidential election after those events with 'Capable of Honor' & 'Preserve & Protect'. He then wrote two alternative sequels based on a different outcome of an assassination attack in an earlier work: 'Come Nineveh, Come Tyre' & 'The Promise of Joy'. In 1971, he published 'The Throne of Saturn', a sf novel about the 1st attempt at sending a manned mission to Mars. He dedicated the work "To the US Astronauts & those who help them fly." Political characters in the book are archetypal rather than comfortably human. The book carries a strong anti-communist flavor. The book has a lot to say about interference in the space program by leftist Americans. Having wrapped up his political series by '75, Drury began a new one with the '77 novel 'Anna Hastings', more about journalism than politics. He returned to the timeline in '79, with the political novel 'Mark Coffin USS' (tho the main relationship between the two books was that Hastings was a minor character in 'Mark Coffin USS's sequels). It was succeeded, by the two-part 'The Hill of Summer' & 'The Roads of Earth', which are true sequels to 'Mark Coffin USS' He also wrote stand-alone novels, 'Decision' & 'Pentagon', as well as several other fiction & non-fiction works. His political novels have been described as page-turners, set against the Cold War, with an aggressive USSR seeking to undermine the USA. Drury lived in Tiburon, CA from '64 until his '98 cardiac arrest. He'd completed his 20th novel, 'Public Men' set at Stanford, just two weeks before his death. He died on 9/2/98 at St Mary's Medical Center in San Francisco, on his 80th birthday. He never married.--Wikipedia (edited)

Reviews

[Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Years ago I read Advise and Consent by Allen Drury and absolutely loved it. I recommend it to anyone interested in the turmoil and complications of politics. Coming away from that experience I purchased another of his novels, A God Against the Gods, and it has sat on my shelves ever since. I think I was deterred by its setting, Ancient Egypt, to whose history I have never been drawn. I finally pulled it off the shelf as part of my efforts to read what I already own and was very pleasantly surprised; I love it when that happens.

The story focuses on the reign of Amonhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten to honor his chosen God. He is credited with choosing to worship one God versus many, which had been the Egyptian approach. His wife was Nefertiti. As I read the story I occasionally went to other sources to learn what is known about Akhenaten and Nefertiti. I learned that Drury made choices in cases where little is known and that his choices don’t all align with the predominant theory today, although some of those differences are likely due to discoveries since the novel was written. You could argue that Drury’s version is one possible history of Akhenaten and more interesting than some other possible scenarios.

Drury tells a good story, though. This novel grabbed my attention for two reasons, neither of which had anything to do with ancient Egypt. As Drury did in Advise and Consent, he focuses on political maneuvers, ingratiating behaviors, power shifts and the different points of view of the period. We identify the characters based on their position in society, their responsibilities and their influence. The second characteristic that made this special was how the story was told. We get a rotating point of view from a variety of characters whose version of events never completely agree and are often in conflict with one other. We trust some characters, take others more cautiously and doubt much of what some say. Ego is a big part of many of these characters and gets in the way of how they perceive their world. Through this blend we develop a picture of a very dynamic environment. It is messy.

I recommend this novel to those who enjoy historical fiction or like reading about royalty or politics. Drury wrote a sequel titled Return to Thebes that I have not read, but which continues the story of this period and the royal family.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so good even though I must confess I was scared to read about something such a world away from my comfort zone...the names, the language & the customs are so alien to me being a complete novice concerning Ancient Egypt.
I needn't have worried - the diary style of the book puts you straight into the mindset of the main characters and everything is explained perfectly...and is fascinating.
Let's face it people are people not matter what time or place!
Big thanks to Randee for recommending this as I've never read anything concerning Ancient Egypt before and I will be reading the follow up book ...and hopefully others for this time period.

[Sarah Mac · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF.

I can't even deal with this. The prose is so grammatically correct & finely tuned (overly tuned, IMO) that it comes off as lifeless & stilted. The epic block paragraphs o' Literary Fiction(tm) make my eyes cross with boredom.

Also, a pet peeve is trotted out with alarming regularity; i.e., the translation of cultural things that would be best left to context, even if the reader might not know exactly what they're referring to. Examples: They gave me the most important of all, the 'Ankh,' or symbol of life, which comes every day from the God Amon... or She stands in the prow of the barge, which is painted with electrum, the mixture of gold & silver so popular with the highborn...

Um. Yeah. These characters are narrating first person IN THE TIME THEY LIVED. They're not going to explain that shit. We don't write blogs wherein we say "I unpacked my new iPod today -- that is, the device which holds all my digital music -- and charged it while watching DaVinci's Demons on Netflix -- the arch-rival of Hulu, another streaming tv network."

Nope. Not gonna happen. Goodbye & good riddance.

[Lewis Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book (and the sequel, Return to Thebes) several times over the years and have enjoyed it every time. I like the way the characters are drawn, the way they interact and the reason why they act that way, and I really like the changes in viewpoint -- almost like seeing into their heads, told in first person for different characters. Ancient Egypt is brought to life vividly, as are the problems and intrigues in the Royal Court. Admittedly, some details have been overturned by recent archaeology experts, but for me that does not detract from the story -- Allen Drury was following what he thought were the experts at the time (his introduction to the book is worth reading: he discusses how he agonised over the contradictions in the expert opinions and how he had to come down on one side or another in order to write the book.)

Thoroughly recommended.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I hope you know what you are doing, Son of the Sun.” “I do, Uncle. And it will be best for all. I, who am living in truth, promise it!”

Why settle for one unreliable narrator when you can have a swarm? Drury projects readers into the minds of a dozen key players to an existential crisis in the Egyptian eighteenth dynasty. The result is confusing and realistic. No one knows and sees all; most are biased and self-serving. Nothing quite so dangerous as believing that you alone know God’s will.

For if Pharaoh himself does not believe in the gods, then what will happen to the land?

A monumental portrait of a controversial historical figure. Plausible, but Drury projects modern ( published in 1976) politics and psychology into ancient Egypt. Over long and boring. Drury depends on the reader to know what happened to Akhenaten; he leaves that out of the story.

Together we will be happy and together we will make Kemet happy. I so decree it and it will be so: For I am Akhenaten, he who has lived long, and I will live in truth forever and ever, for millions and millions of years.

[Jess Kissir · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the historical accuracy of this novel and the writer's style, but I wish there was just one novel that did not portray Akhenaten as a deformed lunatic. I guess I'll have to write it myself! Seriously though, this was a great read if you are as obsessed with the Amarna period as I am!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beloved Aunt Sharon recommended this to me as a teen and I adored it - it was a very absorbing, ficitonal account of Akhenaten and tried to explain why he was such a weirdo (no, it does not involve aliens).

[Darnoc Leadburger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Give me one second to grab my copy of the book so I can spell these confounded names right.

Alright, now that I'm prepared, let's talk about the first half of Allen Drury's epic Egyptian fiction duology, A God Against the Gods. I don't remembered where I got my somewhat-knackered hardcover of this book - I think a library sale? - but after it sat on the TBR Towers for about three years, my sister finally picked it out for me to read. It's not my usual faire (I'm an avid science fiction reader, as you'll know if you glance at any of my reviews), but I still like a good historical story and have always wanted to dive deeper in Egyptian history. While this book might not be the best representation of true Egyptian lore, Drury did a pretty good job of researching the era as it stood in the seventies, and I do like a lot of the authorial decision he made. Still, it made it a bit hard for him to tell a compelling story. A warning before we continue: this review will probably host a lot of spoilers. I'll try to cover them up best I can, but I may fail.

We open upon 1392 BC with the arrival of the mysterious Kaires and the death of one godling and the birth of another (you see, the royal family truly think they're all gods; you'll learn to deal with it). Pharaoh Amonhotep III hears about the death of his son and suspects that he was drowned by the priests of Amon-Ra for political reasons, so he pledges the life of his newborn son - Amonhotep IV - to Aten-Ra, Amon-Ra's rival. On the same day Amonhotep III's wife's brother Aye has a daughter who is named Nefertiti.

The second and third portions of the book deal with the reign of Amonhotep III and his wife Tiye (the power behind the throne) and the raising of Amonhotep IV. He is struck by some physical illness in his youth which permanently ails him, and while this doesn't seem to have historical basis, it does add credence to his later descent into insanity. He's raised with Nefertiti, who his parents intend him to marry. He takes her in as a confidant relatively early on, and she's the only one who knows what's going on inside that mysterious head of his. They do worry their teacher since they seem to doubt the gods in some ways, and Amonhotep IV seems to take his father's crusade against Amon-Ra to a whole new level. When he's still a boy his father Amonhotep III grants him co-Regency - he too will now by a Pharaoh, but he quickly uses this power to affront Amon-Ra by renaming himself and Nefertiti in Aten's honor (he is now to be called King Akhenaten) and moving the capital of the Two Lands of Kemet to a city allotted for Aten-Ra. This actions horrify Amonhotep, Tiye, Aye, royal assistant Kaires, and the rest of his family, but none of them feel they can do anything about it.

Over the years and in the last part of the book, Akhenaten and Nefertiti, the woman who manufactured her entire life to support her husband's, drift apart. The Queen-Mother dies and Kaires promises to her that he'll kill the ever-more-so-power-hungry Akhenaten if it's for the good of Kemet. It comes out that part of the estrangement between Akhenaten and Nefertiti goes beyond the fact that she has not bared him sons to continue his lineage, only six daughters, but also that he has an intimate relationship with his brother, Smenkhkara. The family does not approve and after Amonhotep III dies and they've mourned for seventy days, Tiye gathers Nefertiti and the rest of the family to confront Akhenaten, now the sole Pharaoh, and try to stop his insanity. Sadly, they fail, and on the day of his father's burial, Akhenaten not only weds himself and his brother but decrees that all temples of Amon-Ra and any other god that is not his own shall be torn down and replaced with shrines to Aten-Ra. He is not openly opposed and his will shall be done. The book closes with a peasant seeing him sail down the river. The peasant doesn't like Aten-Ra as much as Amon-Ra, but he has the same thoughts we've been having; what do the way of these gods matter when I've got my own life to attend to?

The plot, which is a good plot on paper, is told from a variety of perspectives. The first-person narrators bounce back and forth and I found this to be really smart. It gave a fuller picture of the interpersonal dynamics and highlighted how unreliable they all were, even if multiple broodings on the same mysterious announcement can get repetitive. I think the prose was good even if it wasn't breathtakingly-gorgeous or anything of that like. Some of the character dynamics, like the heart-breaking relationship between Akhenaten and Nefertiti , made me think and will stick with me for quite a while. The book reinvigorated my long-dormant and admittedly-casual interest in ancient Egypt. Despite everything I say in the next paragraph or two, this book was a success.

The book's faults lie in how Drury must cleave to historical fact. He writes character arcs into a box and must provide unsatisfying conclusions because of that. Yes, I know that there's a book after this, but this book ended in a jarring points regardless of that and Drury should've written these characters better in the first place.

For example, at the end of the book, Akhenaten begins to tear down everything that the royal family has ever held dear. No one raises a hand to stop him; no one shows initiative. I get that Drury has to have Akhenaten reach the apex of his power and that he can't kill off the family that is historically present after said apex in order to create a martyr or a true sacrifice, but... Akhenaten doesn't appear to have too much power. Sure, his family holds an intervention for him, but for the most part, he's just given leeway because of his godhood. That might work with peasants, but not with his own family. It's... Drury tries to explain it, but you can't have strongly drawn and independent characters and have this sequence of events at the same time. If you want to keep your cake, you can't eat it too . I'm probably being a bit too harsh with this, but I found it all unsatisfying at the end of the day, and it weakened almost every member of the principle cast.

The title's still strong, though. *A God Against the Gods*. Can be interpreted many ways, sounds elegant, and gets the intended (if not achieved) epicness of this text across. Awesome title.

I could probably ramble on about this book for another couple thousand words because of its intricacies, but I'm not going to do that. If I was an expert on Egyptology it might be warranted, but I'm really just a spaceship-and-lasers guy who likes the occasional dash of historical fiction. I'm going to try and read more of that this year, starting with Return to Thebes, the aptly-named return to the world of Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and the former's little brother who you may know as King Tut. The first part of this saga gets a 7/10 (brought down from 7.5/10 because of the ending), but I hope that its sequel can redeem and maybe even re-contextualize this conclusion. See you all for that review in a couple of months, and until then, make sure you don't get your head lodged as far up your own butt as these characters have theirs.

[David Kamioner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Melodrama in ancient Egypt. good stuff especially on the tortured and creepy Akhneton.

[Kokoro · Rating 5 out of 5]

No sé por qué tenía la idea de que esta novela trataba sobre Tutankamón, pero es sobre su padre (aunque en la novela no es así) Akenatón y su cruzada por volver monoteísta a su pueblo, el cual en la novela no reacciono muy bien a esta y otras acciones del faraón.

Hay que reconocer al autor se documentó muy bien con la información que existía en ese entonces sobre estos últimos reyes de la dinastía dieciocho, pero solo hay dos cosillas que no hacen a esta novela del todo “perfecta”, aun con sus cinco estrellas, una es el estilo en el cual esta escrita y puede resultar aburrida, de hecho tuve problemas en engancharme a la historia pues resulta un poco monótona al inicio, de ello mi tardanza en terminarla. El otro detalles es que el personaje comenta cierto objeto con su nombre original (en transcripción al egipcio) y en seguida explica lo que es, esto resulta raro pues a quien le explica tal cosa, creo sería mejor la explicación para uno como lector estuviese a pie de página.

Dejando eso es una novela que en cada capítulo esta dedicado al POV de un personaje en particular, la gran mayoría integrantes de la familia real, generalmente no soy fan del POV pero como en este libro van intercambiándose que la información que oculta uno otro la da, así que esta bien. Cuenta con una historia muy interesante y entretenida de lo que pudo ocurrir en aquellos años.

Inicialmente me causó pena Akenatón y entendí sus acciones, pero al final mi simpatía fue para Nefertiti, quería agarrar al otro de los hombros y sacudirlo (o mejor aún, golpearlo) al estilo que-rayos-te-pasa-idiota.

“If they can answer the prayers of the lowliest superstitious peasant along the Nile, then they could have answered mine. But they did not.” Akenatón.

[N.L. Holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning Advise and Consent, Drury was also the author of yet another contribution to the Akhenaten sub-genre -- and dang, it's the best one I've read by a long shot. Actually a duet, A God traces the rise of Akhenaten and his Aten cult before the death of Amenhotep III. Props for making it clear that this movement begins with his father. Like Naguib Mahfouz's Dweller in Truth, A God is narrated first-person by various members of the court who have different opinions of Prince Amenhotep. The royal family is shown to us as both loving and conniving. The book is definitely about the man more than his actions, so he'd better be an interesting character -- and he is. Some of Drury's takes are the result of literal readings of Egyptian art, but he was writing in the 1970s (deformity of A; incestuous affair with Smenkhkara, etc.). While I don't agree with some of his portrayal of A;, I give him credit for presenting the reforms as politically motivated, rather than the fruit of some benevolent mysticism. Drury is a writer who understands politics. Best of all, this is an intelligent, psychologically plausible, and beautifully written example of Akhenaten lit, in which an occasional anachronism didn't make me put down the book-- it was too much of a pleasure to read. Too bad it isn't better known.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was expecting something on the lines of Christian Jacq and was pleasantly surprised by the distribution of the narrative between up to a dozen narrators. It is very effective in capturing the unknowability of these events (known only through fragments and a lot of contradictory hypotheses). So we have no omniscient narrator - a good idea. Meanwhile Drury lets his Bronze Age protagonists be modern (ie 1970s) people manoeuvering their way through bewildering changes, and it works. When Great Wife (ie First Lady) Tiye is scrutinising her Pharaoh's fragile "ego", it does not feel silly. You grasp that Tiye is someone who would do that regardless of what she called it. Drury reduces grand ideological disputes to personal and familial politics. For me, this is credible, especially as the exact extent of the doomed Amarna "revolution" is not known. Was it lived as a revolution or a weird palace cult? It raises a lot of questions too, as Drury was writing in Watergate-era USA and a disenchanted view of a powerful but erratic government is somewhere in there. The novel is fun to read despite its chief flaw, which is a lot of repetition.

[Vicki Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first of a two-book series about the pharaoh Akhenaten, his wife Nefertiti and brother and successor Tutankhamon. Akhenaten upset the powerful priests of the god Amon when he replaced all the gods of Egypt with the single god Aten, the sun. This book starts with the birth of Akhenaten and follows the palace intrigue around who really has the power in Egypt. It's told in separate narratives by different people near the royal family. I like the viewpoints of these people as they change over time.

[nx74defiant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amonhtep seeks to lesson Amon and his priest power and pays a high price. His son Ankenaten grow to hate Amon and love Aton. In the book Akhenaten starts out as a handsome child, then becomes the disfigured man of his portraits. As he grows and changes he becomes more and more strange. He also becomes obsessed with the Aton. The book ends shortly after he becomes the sole Pharaoh, when he has declared Aton the sole god of Egypt and moved his city.

I knew the Pharaohs married their sisters, but in this book they also marry their daughters. Somehow that idea really disturbed me.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story! I had a hard time putting it down. It is fascinating to read about how Akhenaten defied his family and began honoring one God only. Hard to believe that so long ago he somehow realized that there was and is one God only and most of his people were equivocally honoring too many statues representing a false religion.

[Lucy Beale Partridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful. Almost scary peek into the machinations of the Pharaohs and their families. Insightful.

[Nancy McQueen · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a sense, it was very disturbing

[Ming's fantasy myth library · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5 stars
(+) The twist is unpredictable, I can connect with the characters and feel the reasons behind their decision
(-) The pacing is a bit slow, some of the character's POVs is unnecessary

[Lucky Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction to Egyptology. Heartfelt and painful to read at times, but I have a new respect for that amazing period in time.

[Naticia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 'sweeping psychological drama' seems to come closest to describing this book. I loved the multiple POV style - partly because new characters introduced themselves! Amazing.

[Debra Giuffrida · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book and its subsequent part 2 A Return to Thebes on the Bart while I commuted to work in the Financial District of San Francisco.
I thoroughly enjoyed it then as it gave me a second look into the lives of the late 18th Dynasty rulers of Egypt. My first introduction having been The Lost Queen of Egypt by Lucille Morrison in the mid 1960s.
I imagine that the writing now is a bit stilted but the overall plot and characters still resonate with me. Enough so that I tried my hand at writing about this notorious family that includes Nefertiti, Akhenaten, and of course Tutankhamen and Ankhesenamen.

[bkwurm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this a long time ago and always wanted to own a copy. But it was out of print and I never found it until Amazon and the kindle came along. So bought it, re-read it and it is still an entertaining read.

The story of Egypt’s heretic pharaoh. Excellent historical fiction that holds up even after decades.










What was jarring was the account of how the original heir who had been dedicated to Ptah, was murdered by the priests of Amon. It seems surprising that given the number of priests involved, more than 100 from Amon and 200 plus priests of Ptah as witnesses, the pharaoh was unable to have the Amon priesthood punished.

[Kristyn Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I didn't really like his writing style of switching characters, but fairly quickly that changed. It was so intriguing to get a feel for all the characters and what a unique way to tell a story. The history is a little off due to some more recent archeological finds, but it was still a very good take on this incredible time in history when one man chose to live by his beliefs instead of tradition.

[Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun historical novel about the Pharaoh Akhnaton, his queen Nefertiri and the manner in which his religious fanatacism became monotheism for all of Egypt. I think the author took some liberties with the facts (or it could just be that the book is dated), but the story was really entertaining, nonetheless.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

sadly, I was not impressed. I will say that the characters are drawn out well... I can picture them clearly, and their motivations are understood... this is the main reason I kept reading. I was bored with large parts of the story though.

[Delafieldlib]

booklist historical fiction stared...egypt

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting historical fiction about Akhenaten and Nefertiti.

[Craig McGraw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just as good a story as it was when I first read it 40 years ago. Dury is one of favorite political storytellers

[Sharon Mullins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Akhenaten

He was the epitome of a madman, she a beauty that's never been repeated in history! Drury has caught and put out the most famous dynasty ever, the18th! A well written book