White Lotus Part 1 of the White Lotus trilogy

Libbie Hawker — 2016

In the fifth century BCE, Egypt is the greatest civilization known to mankind. But with a foolish king on its throne, the Nile Valley is ripe for conquering. Amid this climate of danger and strife, in the alleys and brothels of Memphis, an extraordinary young woman comes of age. To spare her siblings from starvation, Doricha is sold into prostitution. But she has gifts beyond mere beauty. Through wit and determination, she works her way into the realm of the hetaerae—courtesans of exceptional refinement. As a hetaera, Doricha has access to the schemes and negotiations that shape the world. But the rich and powerful also have access to her, and Doricha soon finds herself in the Pharaoh’s harem, caught up in his reckless plans. When the Pharaoh sends her off to his fiercest enemy, thinly cloaked by a dangerous ruse, Doricha must become a double agent if she hopes to survive. Caught between the Pharaoh and the Persian king Cambyses, it is Doricha—once a slave, now a woman of great but secret power—who will determine Egypt’s fate. Blending ancient fable with true history, White Lotus brings Egypt’s downfall to life.

Reviews

Amanda@groovyginger

Sep 1, 2022

I give this book a solid 3.5 stars! Having read Libbie Hawker’s Daughter of Sand and Stone and absolutely loving it, I had to give this book a try. I love books about ancient Egypt.

This is the story of Doricha, a Thracian girl sold into slavery and now in training to be a hetaera. Basically a refined and sought after courtesan for male company. The story and all its twists and turns were compelling. It was fast paced, and I read through it very fast. It’s the first in a trilogy, and while this one had a solid ending on its own, I’d like to continue the story in the next two novels.

I will say, Doricha’s accent and dialect is odd. As a poor country girl, I guess I understand the need for her vocabulary or grammar to reflect this, but all the “reckons” and “p’raps” seemed very jarring and out of place to me.

There were also quite a lot of typos, maybe the most I’ve noticed in a single book before, which doesn’t help that it’s a relatively short novel. But for a self published (I’m assuming) book, it was well written and captivating.

I was surprised at the similarities to The Wolf Den; though of course this book was written first. I think anyone who enjoyed The Wolf Den will love this book too. Doricha is a character very similar to Amara of The Wolf Den; both have no agency and are trying to rise to the top to buy their freedom. They both deal with difficult men.

Almost surprisingly, I learned a lot of history from this book, which I appreciated. I always love when I can learn from a book while at the same time simply being entertained, it’s why I read historical fiction, after all. This is an exciting time period, when Greek and Egyptian culture are blending. And it’s before Alexander The Great even existed! I had no idea. It also mentions the Romans, who I thought didn’t come around until much later. The tensions between Greek and Egyptian citizens was a nice undercurrent flowing through this book as well.

One last comment I have is that the description on the back of this book hardly applies to its content and plot. It’s actually slightly spoiling the subsequent books in the serious. I was looking at the descriptions for the other two books and noticed they’re all the same as this. The events described on the back cover of White Lotus are hardly touched on.

Overall, I liked this book and plan to read the other two in the series.