The Shepherd Kings

By: Judith Tarr

Narrated by: Jessica Almasy

For a long, brutal century, the Kingdom of Lower Egypt has been occupied by the "Vile Asiatics", the conquerors called the Shepherd Kings. With their horses and chariots, they overwhelmed the armies of Egypt and swept over the Delta and the sacred cities.

Iry, daughter of an old noble house, the Sun Ascendant, has been enslaved by the bearded conquerors. But her new master is born of a different blood, son of the priestess of an ancient rite, the cult of the Horse Goddess and her avatar, the White Mare. The Mare's priestess-servant is dead - and the Mare chooses Iry, the child of a land without horses, to be her successor.

Meanwhile, in the wider world, the Pharaoh of Upper Egypt is arming to take back the lost kingdom. He forms such an alliance as his ancient land has never seen before, with the seafarers of Crete and the White Mare's servant, and rides to war against the Shepherd Kings.

©1999 Judith Tarr (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

A Marvelous Sweeping Historical Rpmance

This is a thoroughly entertaining historical romance. I've read most of Tarr's novels set in Egypt recently, and this is the best of them. It has a larger cast of central characters than usual with more than one romance storyline. There are more lively action sequences with hair breadth escapes, battles, storms, and political intrigue. Three cultures are portrayed: Egyptian, Minoan, and Hyksos. Magic as such plays no significant role in the book, although much of the action is built around a steppes Horse Goddess.