Sphinx's Princess

Title: Sphinx's Princess

Author: Esther Friesner

Summary:   Nefertiti, niece of the Queen of Egypt, is brought to the palace at Thebes.  She is coerced into marrying the crown prince, Thutmose, in three years' time.  He turns out to be a cold, boring person.  Nefertiti prefers his sister, Sitamun, and his brother, Amenhophis.  But then Thutmose becomes jealous and forbids her from seeing Amenhophis.  Then he gets her accused of a crime she hadn't done - killing his beloved cat.  It's only a crime because cats are sacred to Bast, an Egyptian goddess.  She is imprisoned, and a viper comes in to kill her at night - an obvious murder attempt.  

Stars: 7.  This was pretty good, actually.  Great description and all.  

Violence: 6 for Nefertiti kicking Thutmose in the leg and a bruise on Amenhophis (because Thutmose hit him).  

Romance: 7, there's an entire romantic tangled rivalry between Amenhophis and Thutmose.  Though Thutmose is obviously the worse choice for most of the book (the 5% in which he's being nice is a total fake, as Nefertiti finds out later), he is the crown prince.  In addition, he was the one who was supposed to marry Nefertiti.  

Language: 4, if you count swearing by Egyptian gods as swearing.  If not, then 0.  

Appropriate for:  Younger teen

Other: Friesner really captures my attention with her writing.  I barely even notice the writing style, because the story is so absorbing.  It sucks you in.  Luckily, reading is a pretty healthy addiction.  Just get everything you need to get done first before picking up this book, okay?