ELOISE JARVIS McGRAW
Age Range: 13 and up
Mara has been a slave for as long as she can remember, and she is done, done having people tell her what to do—done cleaning and standing all day every day—done being a slave. But then Mara is sold to a dangerous man who wants her to be a spy, and if Mara does what he tells her to do, then she will be freed and no longer be a slave. Mara jumps at the chance to be free finally and doesn't care at all if maybe she is the spy for the wrong side, but then she meets Lord Sheftu, and he forces her to spy for him too. Mara finds herself spying for both her new master and Sheftu, enemies, but how much information can Mara give to both sides. Just as Mara realizes that she wants to help Lord Sheftu and has feelings for him, everything goes up in flames. Her double-crossing is discovered, and both sides want her dead. Can Mara leave behind everything she knows, or will she stay and fight for Egypt and her Pharaoh?
Mara, Daughter of the Nile, is an excellent read for any age! It is filled with historical information about Egypt and its everyday life to make it enjoyable. I thought that the setting and the storyline were original and exciting, and the details in the book made me feel like I was actually there. I would say that I loved this book, but I wouldn't say I liked the main characters that much. I thought Mara was annoying, rude, selfish, and not an enjoyable character for the first half of the book, but by the second half, she turned around. Mara started to care more about the people around her and became more selfless, so I liked her again by the end of the book.
I liked the other main character, Lord Sheftu, initially, but by the end, I was like, WHAT ARE YOU DOING! By the last pages, I thought he was great, but I just did not like him for the rest of the book and especially near the end. I also think Sheftu needs to learn how to have a good relationship with anybody; half the time, people either feared for their life when they were around him or were staring in admiration. Besides my issue with the characters, I thought Mara, Daughter of the Nile, was excellent. There was a lot of talk about the people working together to make Egypt one good and strong country and how everything you do, you do for the people of Egypt. I hope you all like this great classic!
Things To Mention: People are tortured, and there are some details about that, and a few people are killed. One person is forced to kill themself, but we don't see it happen, and it is just implied. There are a few kisses with little to no details.
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