Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Twice Born | 2007 | Pauline Gedge | Buy |
| 2 | Seer of Egypt | 2008 | Pauline Gedge | Buy |
| 3 | The King’s Man | 2010 | Pauline Gedge | Buy |
The King’s Man trilogy by Pauline Gedge is set in Eighteenth Dynasty Egypt and follows the life of Huy Son of Hapu, a historical figure who rose from ordinary beginnings to be worshipped as a god after his death. Gedge takes the sparse facts of his life and builds a rich fictional biography around them, tracing his path from a spoiled child to the most powerful man in Egypt outside the pharaoh himself.
The Twice Born begins with young Huy being sent away to school, where a terrible and miraculous event changes his destiny. By the novel’s end, the eighteen-year-old Huy and his childhood companion Ishat have moved onto an estate granted by a grateful king. Seer of Egypt picks up years later as Huy’s life of comfort is disrupted by the demands of Atum, the creator god, who requires Huy to decipher the ancient Book of Thoth. The final volume, The King’s Man, follows Huy’s rise as advisor to the boy king Amunhotep and his mother, the Regent Mutemwia, culminating in his death as a man already being worshipped by the common people.
Gedge spent years researching the Eighteenth Dynasty for this trilogy, and her detailed knowledge of the period shows in the daily routines, religious practices, and political maneuvering that fill these pages. The trilogy is her most recent major work and represents some of her most accomplished writing about ancient Egypt.