The Forgotten: Aten’s Last Queen

Additional Info for Reviewers & Staff

Reason for indie publishing:

After writing and illustrating children's books and not breaking any new ground, I decided to research other options. I was inspired by the women of ancient Egypt after visiting a 2012 ancient Egypt exhibit and wanted to get the voice of King Tut's wife out into the 'book world,' I decided to go with BookBaby for "The Forgotten: Aten's Last Queen." For a newbie in the publishing world, this site was very helpful and did a great job with my cover design. After going through a second round of edits in preparation for my second novel in 2015, I decided to re-publish "Aten's Last Queen" through Smashwords and Amazon Createspace due to their lower cost for uploading a new version of my book. While I'm very proud of the end result, I have noticed that my sales have really gone down since breaking with BookBaby. I hope to find new reviewers to help rejuvenate interest in my first book and add interest to my December release, "Heir of the Heretic." I very much appreciate your interest in my book.

Editing process:

I went with Minnesota editors who have held writing workshops and who knew the format for published books/ebooks. Both have proven extremely valuable in getting my books ready for publication.

Additional comments:

As a fan of historical stories, I hope the setting will come alive for you as you read. I was looking for you on Goodreads to compare books with but could not find you (perhaps next time!). I hope you will take this journey with Ankhesenamun as she moves from princess to queen to heretic's daughter. Discover a forgotten world!

Last updated on: May 15, 2017
Originally submitted on: December 30, 2016.
Originally published on: August 15, 2013
Author’s contact info: teasippingnerdymom@gmail.com
Preferred/Interested/Selected reviewer: Kate Ashley

by J. Lynn Else

August 15, 2013

GenreComing of Age, Drama, Women's

Audience Adult

Format Book Length Manuscript

Type Historic Fiction

Word Count 180-200k (extremely long)

Amazon e-book: $7.00

Amazon hard copy: $26.00

Editing, Production, Marketing & Sales

Edited by Candy Czernicki

Cover design by Book Baby

Formatted by Book Baby

Published Through Amazon Createspace – KDP

Marketed by Book Baby

Reviewed at Historical Novel Society

(read review)

Displayed & sold at Barnes and Noble

Distributed by Amazon

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Scheduled for review – the information below will be filled out slowly. It will not be visible to the public until it is published on our magazine.

Tentative review date: May 22, 2017

Reviewer: Kate Ashley

The Rating: 3.5 Stars (out of 5): Pretty good. For the right audience, this could be great. Sure, there were some issues, but it was still worth the read.

The Rundown: While Tutankhamun’s reign as Pharaoh was known by many, his wife Ankhesenamun, An to her loved ones, holds a story that is mostly unexplored. She had a child at age 12, was forced to marry three times—to her father, her brother, and grandfather—and saw four pharaohs crowned within 23 years. That, in itself, would have made her life interesting enough. But there is more in between these pages to An’s story. Much more. She was the third daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Not much was expected of her. That is, until her mother bore a stillborn son leaving Akhenaten with no sons to call his heir. Too soon in her young age, An and her sisters were carried along the inbreeding traditions of the royal families of their time like dried papyrus reeds along the strong currents of the Great River Nile. Not yet knowing that a great storm was already brewing, intent on eradicating their family in Egypt’s history. While there was a small moment in the first couple of chapters when the story’s point-of-view confusingly went back and forth between An and Nefertiti, The Forgotten, without any doubt, tells the story of Ankhesenamun, a woman who has seen and experienced so much in the first two and a half decades of her life. The focus of the story never left her and the reader is effortlessly drawn into the mind of the beautifully developed protagonist. The extent of the author’s research was impressive and it certainly paid as it added a sense of reality to the story. What made the story so real, however, was the depth each character, main or supporting, had. The importance of family is constantly in every page of the book, as seen by the way An regards her own. It added to the realness of every character, bringing them to life. Overall, this book was a wonderful read. But while the story had a rich narrative, there were many moments when the pacing was too slow and there were too many unnecessary fluffs that didn’t have to be included. It made the story drag on for too long. One other thing was the way the story was laid out. It was told in a nonlinear narrative which, in some cases would have worked well, but in here it only brought confusion with how every chapter flashed forward and backward into events.

The Recommendation:

For fans of historical fiction, specifically that based on the ancient Egypt civilization, and readers who like stories based on an untold figure in history, this book may just find you delightfully surprised.

Pros: Believable, Characterization, Emotional

Cons: Starts slow, Wordy

The Rundown

While Tutankhamun’s reign as Pharaoh was known by many, his wife Ankhesenamun, An to her loved ones, holds a story that is mostly unexplored. She had a child at age 12, was forced to marry three times—to her father, her brother, and grandfather—and saw four pharaohs crowned within 23 years. That, in itself, would have made her life interesting enough. But there is more in between these pages to An’s story. Much more.
She was the third daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Not much was expected of her. That is, until her mother bore a stillborn son leaving Akhenaten with no sons to call his heir. Too soon in her young age, An and her sisters were carried along the inbreeding traditions of the royal families of their time like dried papyrus reeds along the strong currents of the Great River Nile. Not yet knowing that a great storm was already brewing, intent on eradicating their family in Egypt’s history.
While there was a small moment in the first couple of chapters when the story’s point-of-view confusingly went back and forth between An and Nefertiti, The Forgotten, without any doubt, tells the story of Ankhesenamun, a woman who has seen and experienced so much in the first two and a half decades of her life. The focus of the story never left her and the reader is effortlessly drawn into the mind of the beautifully developed protagonist.
The extent of the author’s research was impressive and it certainly paid as it added a sense of reality to the story. What made the story so real, however, was the depth each character, main or supporting, had. The importance of family is constantly in every page of the book, as seen by the way An regards her own. It added to the realness of every character, bringing them to life.
Overall, this book was a wonderful read. But while the story had a rich narrative, there were many moments when the pacing was too slow and there were too many unnecessary fluffs that didn’t have to be included. It made the story drag on for too long. One other thing was the way the story was laid out. It was told in a nonlinear narrative which, in some cases would have worked well, but in here it only brought confusion with how every chapter flashed forward and backward into events.

The Recommendation

The Rating

3.5 Stars (out of 5): Pretty good. For the right audience, this could be great. Sure, there were some issues, but it was still worth the read.

The Pros & Cons

Pros: Believable, Characterization, Emotional
Cons: Starts slow, Wordy

The Reviewer

The Forgotten: Aten’s Last Queen

“I am King Tut’s wife, but my name is barely a whisper in history’s memory. I was the last of my family to survive the Aten revolution. I had a child at age 12 and was forced to marry three times. But that didn’t mean my story ended badly. My name is Ankhesenamun, my loved ones called me An, and I will stop at nothing to save my family.”

Despite the vast treasure found in Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb, there is little left over regarding his bride. From the turbulence of her father’s reign, Akhenaten, who forced monotheism on the country to the mending of these wounds by the now-famous Tutankhamun, her life saw more change than most ancient Egyptians dared even dream about. Evidence left to us about her is this: She was forced to marry her father, her brother, and her grandfather. She gave birth to one healthy baby girl and two stillborn girls. She was widowed at age 12 and 23. She saw four pharaohs crowned within 23 years. After her grandfather took the throne, she disappeared from history.

Ankhesenamun grew up a princess and became a queen at age 13. Her husband, Tutankhamun, was 9. With outside forces try to influence every choice they make, Ankhesenamun finds herself torn between her heart and her duty.

With a twist of biblical history interlaced, Ankhesenamun’s voice has a new song to sing which has otherwise been forgotten. Her story weaves through the sands of time as in each chapter, she narrates her past and the path her life has been directed to take. Between chapters, Ankhesenamun is dealing with the repercussions of her husband’s death as power-hungry men are grappling for pharaoh’s crown.

Can a lone woman stand against the tides of time which have already consumed her parents, her sisters, and her husband? Will she find a way to overcome the most terrible of all fates — having her name erased from the walls of history? May the gods have mercy that she does not become one of the forgotten…
Visit The Forgotten: Aten’s Last Queen‘s website.

Author’s Summary

Ankhesenamun grew up a princess and became a queen at age 13. Her husband, Tutankhamun, was 9. With outside forces try to influence every choice they make, Ankhesenamun finds herself torn between her heart and her duty.

With a twist of biblical history interlaced, Ankhesenamun’s voice has a new song to sing which has otherwise been forgotten. Her story weaves through the sands of time as in each chapter, she narrates her past and the path her life has been directed to take. Between chapters, Ankhesenamun is dealing with the repercussions of her husband’s death as power-hungry men are grappling for pharaoh’s crown.

Can a lone woman stand against the tides of time which have already consumed her parents, her sisters, and her husband? Will she find a way to overcome the most terrible of all fates — having her name erased from the walls of history? May the gods have mercy that she does not become one of the forgotten…

Short Description

During a time when there was more change and unrest than any other period in Egyptian history, 12-year-old Ankhesenamun became Queen over the most powerful nation of the ancient world. She was more than just a pharaoh’s wife. When sacrifices had to be made, she gave with everything she had.