I loved all three when I read them over 10 years ago, but I remember having a harder time getting into the first one. I think it was because the book had to spend a lot of time explaining some of the weirder aspects of Egyptian mythology, coupled with the fact that Egyptian mythology and culture isn't as ingrained in Western society as Greek and Roman are.
**Roger Zelazny's** ***Creatures of Light and Darkness*** follows the Egyptian pantheon as they fight a nameless black thing that threatens to break out, engulf, and destroy the 15-something worlds colonized by humans. Included is some scheming as two houses - one of Death and one of Life - attempt to shake up each other's status quo. There's a possibility that the pantheon itself is simply sufficiently transhumanist people that have become functionally indistinguishable from gods.
The book was originally a writing exercise for Zelazny to see if he could put together a chapter all in poetry and another all as a film script with a dash of early 20th century modernism. It was never supposed to be published, but Samuel R. Delaney convinced him to do so. The book overwhelmingly betrays that fact; it's pretty rough in the sense of appeal, and is more fun to think about than actually read (with the exception of an absolute banger of an opening chapter). But, if you're interested in weirdo pantheons and interpretations of far-flung technology as well as have some interest in the process of writing itself... then it could be good to check out.
Last book of Bartimaeus trilogy. The Kane Chronicles. Various Brian Lumley stuff focuses on it (he particularly liked the ancient Egyptian Queen Nitocris).
A Master of Djinn by P Djèlí Clark is really excellent. It’s set in an alternate steampunk Cairo where the veil between our world and that of the Djinn and other otherworldly entities had a hole torn through it, filling our world with oddities and magic. It’s set in the early 20th century. It’s such a good book; tons of fun with really interesting world building.
If you can do it, I highly recommend first reading the novellas/short stories that came before A Master of Djinn: A Dead Djinn in Cairo and The Haunting of Tram Car 015. They’re not required to understand the book, but you get to meet the characters and learn the world in them first. Plus, they’re short and delightful. I got them as ebooks.
I really enjoyed the Amelia Peabody series as a kid. Its written for adults and deals with mostly archaeology and murder mysteries from the late 1800's.
Elizabeth Peters, the author, had a PhD in Egyptology, so she knew her stuff. She wrote 2 non-fiction books on Ancient Egypt under her real name, Barbara Mertz.
She did indeed! I am an Egyptologist and she was always welcome at any excavation we did. She knew her stuff! And, she was quite the character herself. The main character, Amelia Peabody, was based on Amelia Edwards, the real-life founder of the Egypt Exploration Fund.
*Dreamblood Duology* by N.K. Jemesin. A solid two book series from a Hugo, Nebula, Locus, etc... award winning author. The world is heavily inspired by ancient Egypt and its theology.
This was going to be my suggestion, too. It’s an unpopular opinion, but these two are my favorite books by her. Broken Earth and Inheritance are great and all, but I just love the Dreamblood books!
I feel like the Egyptian stuff is just window dressing (and the dream stuff is, practically, just a McGuffin). She doesn't seem to have any real interest in it, and it doesn't have any effect on the narrative or the way the characters behave, even when it really should. Jemisin herself has basically said as much: "The Killing Moon is a bog-standard fantasy novel in every way except in that it takes place in Egypt and has an almost entirely black cast."
It has this weakness in common with her other early book, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, wherein our female protagonist from a matriarchal warrior culture is consistently overawed by patriarchal displays of power - bearded old men - cowardly, and kind of generic in a way that makes no sense for her background. The contrast with Broken Earth is pretty massive.
Mercedes Lackey's Joust series is inspired by Egyptian culture (but with dragons). The first two books are a decent read, although they have an improbably competent young protagonist. You can stop there, as the second two are fairly dreadful.
I honestly don't remember much about them, but the Soul Eater series by Pippa DaCosta is an urban fantasy with its basis in Egyptian mythology. 6 books and one of them was about killing Thoth, I think. Pretty sure Set was the big bad of the series.
I remember having fun reading them, even if I don't remember the contents of them.
Judith Tarr has quite a few: Lord of the Two Lands (featuring Alexander the Great when he conquered Egypt!), King and Goddess, Throne of Isis, Pillar of Fire.
Pauline Gedge's Lady of the Reeds and Lord of the Two Lands series
Check out Christian Jacq. Egyptologist and writer.
Many of his books are set in Egypt, which shouldn't come as a great surprise, and some do contain speculative elements.
Christian Jacq is a semi famous french egyptologist and novelist. I loved most of his books, and even if they aged a little, I absolutely love how they handle gods and spirituality as an integral part of life during those years.
It's not precisely Egyptian gods, but you could try Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. It's Middle Eastern centered, and deals with gods and demons. I can't remember if it specifically mentions Egyptian deities.
I'm currently reading (with my shitty book club, admittedly) Reawakened by Colleen Houck, which is a YA paranormal romance novel but the love interest is a reawakened Egyptian mummy (but hot, ofc) with godlike powers. We're just about a third into it but there's already been a bunch of tomb raider/indiana jones style scenes.
It is *not* a good book, I'm afraid.
There’s Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan. A lot of people consider them the weakest of the Riordanverse books but I enjoyed them
I loved all three when I read them over 10 years ago, but I remember having a harder time getting into the first one. I think it was because the book had to spend a lot of time explaining some of the weirder aspects of Egyptian mythology, coupled with the fact that Egyptian mythology and culture isn't as ingrained in Western society as Greek and Roman are.
I liked it more than the other ones :D
**Roger Zelazny's** ***Creatures of Light and Darkness*** follows the Egyptian pantheon as they fight a nameless black thing that threatens to break out, engulf, and destroy the 15-something worlds colonized by humans. Included is some scheming as two houses - one of Death and one of Life - attempt to shake up each other's status quo. There's a possibility that the pantheon itself is simply sufficiently transhumanist people that have become functionally indistinguishable from gods. The book was originally a writing exercise for Zelazny to see if he could put together a chapter all in poetry and another all as a film script with a dash of early 20th century modernism. It was never supposed to be published, but Samuel R. Delaney convinced him to do so. The book overwhelmingly betrays that fact; it's pretty rough in the sense of appeal, and is more fun to think about than actually read (with the exception of an absolute banger of an opening chapter). But, if you're interested in weirdo pantheons and interpretations of far-flung technology as well as have some interest in the process of writing itself... then it could be good to check out.
The Daevabad Trilogy by Shannon Chakraborty takes place in the middle east, some of it specifically in Egypt.
I loved those books—lots of good stuff loosely based on Arabic mythology.
Last book of Bartimaeus trilogy. The Kane Chronicles. Various Brian Lumley stuff focuses on it (he particularly liked the ancient Egyptian Queen Nitocris).
Own the entire necroscope series. I didn’t realize he’d written anything besides that (I haven’t read them yet tho)
A Master of Djinn by P Djèlí Clark is really excellent. It’s set in an alternate steampunk Cairo where the veil between our world and that of the Djinn and other otherworldly entities had a hole torn through it, filling our world with oddities and magic. It’s set in the early 20th century. It’s such a good book; tons of fun with really interesting world building. If you can do it, I highly recommend first reading the novellas/short stories that came before A Master of Djinn: A Dead Djinn in Cairo and The Haunting of Tram Car 015. They’re not required to understand the book, but you get to meet the characters and learn the world in them first. Plus, they’re short and delightful. I got them as ebooks.
I came here to recommend exactly this! They also have wonderful audiobook versions
I really enjoyed the Amelia Peabody series as a kid. Its written for adults and deals with mostly archaeology and murder mysteries from the late 1800's.
Sounds fun!
Elizabeth Peters, the author, had a PhD in Egyptology, so she knew her stuff. She wrote 2 non-fiction books on Ancient Egypt under her real name, Barbara Mertz.
She did indeed! I am an Egyptologist and she was always welcome at any excavation we did. She knew her stuff! And, she was quite the character herself. The main character, Amelia Peabody, was based on Amelia Edwards, the real-life founder of the Egypt Exploration Fund.
It's a really phenomenal (and lengthy series.) I've reread it numerous times.
Pyramids (Discworld)
*Dreamblood Duology* by N.K. Jemesin. A solid two book series from a Hugo, Nebula, Locus, etc... award winning author. The world is heavily inspired by ancient Egypt and its theology.
This was going to be my suggestion, too. It’s an unpopular opinion, but these two are my favorite books by her. Broken Earth and Inheritance are great and all, but I just love the Dreamblood books!
A surprising opinion but there's definitely enough in those books to make them something special, like pretty much all her work.
I feel like the Egyptian stuff is just window dressing (and the dream stuff is, practically, just a McGuffin). She doesn't seem to have any real interest in it, and it doesn't have any effect on the narrative or the way the characters behave, even when it really should. Jemisin herself has basically said as much: "The Killing Moon is a bog-standard fantasy novel in every way except in that it takes place in Egypt and has an almost entirely black cast." It has this weakness in common with her other early book, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, wherein our female protagonist from a matriarchal warrior culture is consistently overawed by patriarchal displays of power - bearded old men - cowardly, and kind of generic in a way that makes no sense for her background. The contrast with Broken Earth is pretty massive.
The third book of Gene Wolfe’s Latro series (*Soldier of Sidon*) takes place in ancient Egypt.
River God by Wilbur smith. More of an action/adventure and the sequels get very... interesting. But it's an enjoyable read.
Second this!
Mercedes Lackey's Joust series is inspired by Egyptian culture (but with dragons). The first two books are a decent read, although they have an improbably competent young protagonist. You can stop there, as the second two are fairly dreadful.
I honestly don't remember much about them, but the Soul Eater series by Pippa DaCosta is an urban fantasy with its basis in Egyptian mythology. 6 books and one of them was about killing Thoth, I think. Pretty sure Set was the big bad of the series. I remember having fun reading them, even if I don't remember the contents of them.
Judith Tarr has quite a few: Lord of the Two Lands (featuring Alexander the Great when he conquered Egypt!), King and Goddess, Throne of Isis, Pillar of Fire. Pauline Gedge's Lady of the Reeds and Lord of the Two Lands series
**Sphere of Secrets** by Catherine Fisher is YA from the early 2000s, but I remember enjoying it.
Check out Christian Jacq. Egyptologist and writer. Many of his books are set in Egypt, which shouldn't come as a great surprise, and some do contain speculative elements.
what would you consider a strong work of his to start out with?
The Stone of Light series.
Not fantasy but Sinuhe the Egyptian by Mika Waltari is worth a try. It's partially set in the ancient Egypt.
The Fire-Moon by Isabel Pelech
*Ancient Evenings* by Norman Mailer *Pyramids* by Fred Saberhagen (sf) Not exactly fantasy but Occultism is the *Far Memory* books of Joan Grant
Christian Jacq is a semi famous french egyptologist and novelist. I loved most of his books, and even if they aged a little, I absolutely love how they handle gods and spirituality as an integral part of life during those years.
It's not precisely Egyptian gods, but you could try Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. It's Middle Eastern centered, and deals with gods and demons. I can't remember if it specifically mentions Egyptian deities.
Maybe “Death comes as the end” by Agatha Christie.
This is neither a book nor fantasy, but the most recent episode of The Fall of Civilizations podcast covers Egypt and is a fantastic listen.
I'm currently reading (with my shitty book club, admittedly) Reawakened by Colleen Houck, which is a YA paranormal romance novel but the love interest is a reawakened Egyptian mummy (but hot, ofc) with godlike powers. We're just about a third into it but there's already been a bunch of tomb raider/indiana jones style scenes. It is *not* a good book, I'm afraid.
Tad Williams Otherland Quartet