Relentlessly Purple

I received The Awakening Aten By Aiden K. Morrissey to review, a crime/thriller/mystery novel based in Egypt. You are quickly enveloped in an Egypt of whispers, fears, webs within webs and deceit upon deceit through the eyes of two families.

The Awakening Of Aten

The Awakening Aten is full of murder, intrigue, political and rebellious conflict, corruption, tomb robbing war and executions. All set against a background of fundamental ideological change. We discover all this through the eyes of two families, one royal and one a commoner.

Yuya, whose tomb is in the Valley of the Kings, is a foreigner who rises from slavery to become Regent to an infant Pharaoh. This Pharoah is the most powerful man in the world’s wealthiest empire. His children and descendants will remain at the very heart of the country’s destiny.

Kha is a tomb painter and builder who experiences the despair of imprisonment and the horror of war. As overseer of the King’s works, he restores the Great Sphinx and inscribes the ‘Dream Stela’ placed between its paws, still visible today. Through tragic and deathly events his family and that of Yuya become entwined.

This is a fictional tale of real people, whose possessions and artefacts can be seen in museums throughout the worlds. It gives a voice to those people, inspired by their personal items buried with them 3,000 years ago.

Aidan K. Morrissey

Aidan is of Irish heritage and was the first member of his family to be born outside of Ireland. His professional life has caused him to travel the worlds. Now settled in the North East of England he concentrates on writing. A graduate in Law, having worked in a commercial environment, he qualified as a Solicitor in 1981. Aidan’s career developed in an unusual way allowing him to work in various countries including Italy, Brazil, USA, India and Germany.

A holiday in Egypt sparked his passion for Ancient Egypt, specifically the latter part of the 18th dynasty. A history, which Pharoah Horemeb (Djeser-Kheperu-Ra circa 1319-1292 BCE) tried to destroy, only came to light in 1922 with the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. Aidan has built up a substantial collection of academic books and novels on Ancient Egypt. Learning its customs, traditions and daily life so The Awakening Aten is the culmination of many years of research. He has visited all of the major museums containing artefacts from Egypt throughout the world. As well as spending months in Egypt itself studying the funereal valleys and other sites. All of this supplemented by internet research.

The Awakening Aten is the first in a planned five-book series, looking at the fictional lives of real people through a period of major political and religious change, spanning approximately 130 years.

My Thoughts

I remember first learning about Ancient Egypt in school and like Aidan, it sparked a passion for learning more about Ancient Egypt so I was excited to read The Awakening Aten. Thankfully I wasn’t disappointed! It reads more lke a first party account of events instead of a fiction novel. Aidan’s writing is realistic and leaves you imagining everything so clearly, his depth of research shines throughout the entire book. Knowing The Awakening Aten is the first of five books I genuinely can’t wait to read more. Combining my love of reading and passion for Ancient Egypt, Aidan K.Morrisey has created an entirely unique series I’ll be hunting down for sure!

Do you enjoy historical novels? Do you have a passion for Ancient Egypt too?