In a true masterpiece of historical fiction, Woodville takes us on a breathtaking journey through Ancient Egypt, sweeping us into a realm of tyrants and patriots, of treachery and intrigues and seething passions. What emerges is at first a grand romantic tale of coming-of-age in the Ancient Egypt then a stunningly vivid warfare saga with a vibrant portrait of a man who would set the highest standards of generalship for generations to come, a man who would become one the most feared and powerful ruler of the antiquity, the founder of the Golden Empire called the New Kingdom--the great pharaoh Ahmose. The book starts with turbulent childhood of an ingenious Egyptian prince Ahmose in the temple of Amon's boarding school. A minor son of a king, he is to be become a High Priest. There he meets friends with whom he forms a bond of brotherhood, even though some of them are either from competitive great houses or low rank. These boys become his closest allies through life. In the Temple city the prince also meets an extraordinary maiden whose name will be forever imprinted into his heart and whose destiny will be entwisted with his own. Ahmose also quickly discovers that his people live oppressed on their own land by a ruthless foreign invaders and that his royal father, a puppet ruler of a small territory, is about to push his land into high odds liberation war. As his father's short lived military campaign leaves him half-orphaned and his elder brother ascends the blood splattered throne, Ahmose is forgotten by the rest of his family. Although forced to continue studying to become a priest, he undertakes many thrilling and dangerous tasks, which will bring him closer to his destiny, to become the greatest leader and a military commander of his time. When his brother is suddenly assassinated, Ahmose firmly steps into the complex political arena and thrusts into the grip of violent conflict--a conflict that will dead-set Egyptians against the superior military might of their hated invaders, the Semites.Prepare to be astonished. This thrilling and dramatic historical adventure is a decidedly different version of history from what has been taught.