Entertaining

Excellent narrative spoken with passion and enthusiasm
Some of the example context was inaccurate e.g. Henry VIII was Tudor not Elizabethan
Despite this the facts were intriguing as I have only ever heard the misogynistic point of view in history books or movies

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Interesting and insightful

After reading the reviews, I was hesitant to read this book, but I thought I’d give it a go. I’m glad I did. I feel that if it were written by a man, people would have a different opinion of it. I found it interesting and insightful. As with all history publications, the information should be approached with an open mind, and you must be willing to look at things from an alternate point of view, which in this case, means to take off the patriarchal glasses our society gives us at birth.

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So interesting!

This book is brilliant. I loved every minute whilst listening. Kara has a very pleasant voice and she narrated beautifully. I Highly recommend this book. You don’t have to be a history buff to enjoy it. I learned more about the women who ruled in Ancient Egypt from this book than I had learned from any class or research project I’ve done in my entire lifetime. Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Thank you.

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Long live the queens...

So intriguing and immensely enjoyable, Kara Cooney weaves the lives of these amazing women into stories that will transport you back to ancient times, while simultaneously remain relevant today.

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A very mixed bag

A fascinating topic for a book about some very remarkable Egyptian queens. When focused on the fact and what the sources demonstrate, this book is excellent. However, the greatness is ruined by the frequent imposition of the authors very evident political, sociological and feminist viewpoints. While I agree with much of the authors opinions, it added nothing of value to a historical investigation of these queens. The ideals the author espouses would likely have been anathema to the queens and I don't feel looking at women from several thousand years ago with a modern (very modern!) lens actually does them any justice.

What probably ruined it the most was the rampant 'anti men' narrative. It's very difficult to remember a single example of a positive comment about any of the historical men mentioned with it their flaws being mentioned too or a comparison to Trump.

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I really wanted to like it

Kara reads well and is clearly passionate about women’s rights and the male gaze which has written history. What I found hard to manage was the quick transfer between what we can’t know and then assumptions inferred, while at the same time criticising many assumptions having been made in the past.

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Historical Inaccuracies Abound

There are some glaring historical errors in this book. For example in the last section about Cleopatra VII, the author compares the Ptolemaic removal of spouses akin to Henry VIII in a ‘Elizabethan Court’. Henry VIII operated in a Tudor Court NOT Elizabethan. Elizabethan was a term used for the reign of Henry’s daughter Elizabeth I. There cannot be an Elizabethan Court BEFORE she was even out of swaddling clothes let alone giving the appellation to a child 3rd on the list of possible Tudor monarchs!!

It is just so ridiculous that a historian would make such a fundamental and embarrassing error. Just one of many errors....

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