The new Pharaoh, Ramses, "Son of Light," dreams of being one of Egypt's great kings. But keeping the throne takes intelligence and cunning. Even his powerful bodyguard Serramanna cannot protect against a sorcerer wielding black magic, a merciless Hittite invader, and Shaanar, his scheming brother. And with a new religion rising like the mighty Nile, can Ramses still trust his friends Moses, the Hebrew, and Setau, the snake charmer? Now the young Pharaoh, with his passionate wife Nefertari at his side, hopes to vanquish his adversaries, with an audacious plan -- building a temple that can outlast them all...

"Officially, Christian Jacq was born in Paris in 1947. In fact, his real birth took place in the time of the pharaohs, along the banks of the Nile, where the river carries eternal messages.... Who could ever tell that Christian Jacq, Ramses's official scribe, was not writing from memory?"
   MAGAZINE LITTÉRAIRE

"With hundreds of thousands of readers, and millions of copies in print, Christian Jacq's success has become unheard of in the world of books. This man is the pharaoh of publishing!"
   FIGARO MAGAZINE

"In 1235 B.C., Ramses II might have said: 'My life is as amazing as fiction!'...