First Book Review

(Following the format of a friend's book reviews.......you know who you are.)

The Cat of Bubastes-G.A. Henty

Imagine living in a nation where killing a sacred cat is a capital offense. Thutmose III's Egypt, in Moses' day, was such a region.
The priest Ameres and his family live in this land. Life is turned upside down when the son, Chebron, accidentally killes the sacred cat of Bubastes. This incident leads to secrecy, grief, and flight as one harrowing adventure follows another. Their best hope of a safe haven for youthful Chebron and his sister is the land of the Rebu, itself a conquered nation under Egyptian rule. To reach that distant land, they must flee through closely guarded Egyptian exits. Then they must embark on a challenging journey through unfamiliar lands populated by unfamiliar people and conquer numerous geographical hindrances.
First impressions:
I was extremely excited to begin this book because of all I've heard about Henty. The summary of the book looked exciting, and I was so enthused to begin it. Then........I opened it and began reading. I was wondering why we were being made to read it (this book was a required book for my history class at my co-op).

Positive:
The book quickly began to get interesting.
The names aren't that hard to pronounce.
There are girl characters present, even though they're not main characters.
Clean language.
Love story present.

Negative:
The beginning of the book started out slow and remained that way for the first three chapters or so.
The chapters are extremely long.
The book was written in the 1880s, and therefore the language is outdated in some places, and is therefore sometimes confusing to understand. (Fagots. I kept asking one of my friends, "What is a fagot?" It's actually rather simple. Look it up in a dictionary.)
The love story wasn't big enough. :P

Overall opinion:
GREAT for study of Ancient Egypt, or even just for an adventure novel.

Rating:
PG
For difficulty in understand the language in which it was written. Some younger kids might be able to handle it, others may not.

Recommend it?
I definitely do!


~Padmé Amidala Skywalker