Tosca Lee
has proven to be one of those authors that can write a great book. I’ve read Demon and Iscariot – both great
books. I still need to read Havah, but
it’s still unavailable on the Kindle, but I’m still on the lookout for it to
become available again. A short story is available as a prelude to this story. Ismeni is a good read but not necessary to understand this book.
In the
Bible, the story of the queen of Sheba occurs in I Kings 10:1-13. She comes to Solomon to gain knowledge and
ask him some tough questions. Here, in
this book, we get a glimpse into what her life may have been like before coming
to Solomon, what happens once she gets there, and what happens when she leaves.
The queen is
a tragic figure in some ways. Her
childhood is shadowed by a stepmother who would rather get her out of the way
and a man who comes to her against her will.
She eventually escapes, but later is persuaded to return and take her
place as leader of her nation. Along the
way she loses her lover and her identity.
Later on,
she starts to question life. Why was her
love taken from her? What do the gods
require of her? Hearing tales of king
Solomon, she becomes intrigued about him.
They begin to correspond, each an enigma to the other. They need to form an alliance, but they each
want something more from the other.
This was a
really good book. Tosca Lee always does
a ton of research and it really shows.
She doesn’t weigh you down with meaningless details, but weaves it into
the story so you end up caring about every character and what happens to
them. I always finish her books and jump
right into the facts at the end. I’m
always curious to find out where her ideas came from and what influenced her to
make some of the choices she made.
As I said
with Iscariot, I think it takes courage to write in-depth stories about little
known characters. I think she’s done a
great job and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. There is reference to rape and sex in there,
so I wouldn’t let my kids read it until they got a little older, but it has
some great truths in there. Good Book!
*I received
a copy of this book from Howard Books through NetGalley in exchange for an
honest review.
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