The Bottom Line
"Slayer of Gods," by Lynda S. Robinson, is a polished mystery about the poisoning of the beautiful Queen Nefertiti. Sixth in the series, it is set in the time of the boy-king Tutankhamen.
Pros
- Details in characters and scenery
- Well-crafted plotline
- Provides historical/geographical background
Cons
- Too many characters
- Old characters' backgrounds a bit vague
Description
- Tutankhamen is still in the shadow of the treacherous, heretical Amarna period of Egyptian History.
- The Egyptian world is cosmopolitan with constant trade between Egypt and the East.
- Pharaoh Tutankhamen trusts Lord Meren implicitly and lets him investigate with minimal interference.
- Nefertiti was originally thought to have died of plague.
- Now Meren must investigate Nefertiti's death as murder by poisoning.
- Women -- from the murdered queen to Meren's daughter -- figure prominently as people of real power.
- The Egyptian Pharaoh was both king and god; hence, the title -- slayer of "gods".
- Warning: Count no one dead unless there's proof.
Guide Review - Review of Lynda S. Robinson's Slayer of Gods
In "Slayer of Gods," by Lynda S. Robinson, the teenage pharaoh Tutankhamen's "eyes and ears" -- Meren, assisted by his daughter Bener, his adopted son, Kysen, and his seductive old friend, Anth, sets out to find the murderer of the woman whom Pharaoh remembers as his foster mother. She was Queen Nefertiti, wife of Akhenaten, the late heretic king. Akhenaten is here depicted as an egomaniac who changed the religion of all Egypt to enhance his own position as son and sole interpreter of the will of the creator god Aten. More murders, ransom demands, plot twists, and an enormous cast of characters -- some from earlier volumes -- keep the true murderer from being revealed until the end.
