The Horus Road, Vol. 3: Lords of the Two Lands

Susan Merskey is freelance writer in London, Ontario.

At the end of the Twelfth Dynasty, the Egyptians found themselves in the
hands of a foreign power known as the Setiu, the “Rulers of the
Uplands.” By the middle of the Seventeenth Dynasty, they had been
entrenched there for just over 200 years.

The Horus Road is the last volume of Pauline Gedge’s trilogy Lords of
the Two Lands, which chronicles the struggle of the Tao princes,
Seqenera and his sons Kamose and Ahmose, to free their country from the
yoke of the Setiu king Apepa. Here, Ahmose continues the struggle which
has already claimed the lives of his father and brother. He knows he
must besiege and then capture the Setiu capital of Het-Uart, but he also
knows that, in addition to military strength, he will need a miracle
from Amun if he is to succeed. Apepa’s devious attempt to rob the Tao
family of its chance at complete victory provides a further, unexpected
twist to the saga.

Gedge’s ninth book is extremely well researched. Her writing is fast
paced and she creates vivid word pictures of the events and emotions she
is chronicling. In addition to learning about the military struggle, we
also learn much about the joys and sorrows of life in the Tao court. If
you enjoy books set in ancient lands, you will enjoy both The Horus Road
and the first two volumes in the trilogy, The Hippopotamus Marsh and The
Oasis.