melarain78's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
drewanabri's review
3.0
Overall, I do think Rice did a solid job of creating a fun, silly, adventure romance novel. However, I've been terribly spoiled by Elizabeth Peters' impeccable Amelia Peabody series, so this just felt a little disappointing to me.
First of all, the pacing and structure is a mess. The book jumps between viewpoints with zero warning and lurches from person to person. It can stay with a character for hours or just briefly follow a character for a couple minutes. Right when things are getting interesting, the narrative often skips away to someone else, and then only goes back to the interesting viewpoint after all the action has passed.
In addition to the structural issues, I also had some thematic problems. The book's fairly sexist and racist in a way that Rice seems to think is charmingly historical but is realistically just awkward. Like always, she's going out of her way to fetishize gay men. And also, it's very, very, very clear that Rice had no more than a passing knowledge of ancient Egypt, the Edwardian era, and archaeology as a whole. There's silly little errors, like describing characters as wearing Gibson girl puffed sleeves that would've been wholly out of style by 1914, which would only bother someone as petty as me. However, there's also some pretty bad errors that show Rice didn't even bother to read a few encyclopedia articles on the subject before jumping into writing this book.
For example, Ramses at one point has a whole, deep discussion about how no culture believes a soul is permanently tied to a dead body. But the whole reason the ancient Egyptians created mummies is because they thought the soul was bound to the dead body and would perish if the dead body was destroyed. So ultimately, it was hard to be amused and entertained by this book when that sort of thing was just distracting me the whole time.
First of all, the pacing and structure is a mess. The book jumps between viewpoints with zero warning and lurches from person to person. It can stay with a character for hours or just briefly follow a character for a couple minutes. Right when things are getting interesting, the narrative often skips away to someone else, and then only goes back to the interesting viewpoint after all the action has passed.
In addition to the structural issues, I also had some thematic problems. The book's fairly sexist and racist in a way that Rice seems to think is charmingly historical but is realistically just awkward. Like always, she's going out of her way to fetishize gay men. And also, it's very, very, very clear that Rice had no more than a passing knowledge of ancient Egypt, the Edwardian era, and archaeology as a whole. There's silly little errors, like describing characters as wearing Gibson girl puffed sleeves that would've been wholly out of style by 1914, which would only bother someone as petty as me. However, there's also some pretty bad errors that show Rice didn't even bother to read a few encyclopedia articles on the subject before jumping into writing this book.
For example, Ramses at one point has a whole, deep discussion about how no culture believes a soul is permanently tied to a dead body. But the whole reason the ancient Egyptians created mummies is because they thought the soul was bound to the dead body and would perish if the dead body was destroyed. So ultimately, it was hard to be amused and entertained by this book when that sort of thing was just distracting me the whole time.
tabatha_shipley's review against another edition
4.0
It begins as a story you think you've heard. An archaeologist finds a mummy in a tomb with a warning. The mummy comes to life.
From there, this story went somewhere completely above my expectations. This is NOT the story you think you know. It's better.
Ramses is a tortured character, full of life and struggles. I thoroughly enjoyed the way he learned and the way he soaked up information about our present day. The decision he makes that changes the trajectory of this book is one I didn't see coming and it completely hooked me.
This book is remarkably well written and worth the read. Highly, highly recommended.
From there, this story went somewhere completely above my expectations. This is NOT the story you think you know. It's better.
Ramses is a tortured character, full of life and struggles. I thoroughly enjoyed the way he learned and the way he soaked up information about our present day. The decision he makes that changes the trajectory of this book is one I didn't see coming and it completely hooked me.
This book is remarkably well written and worth the read. Highly, highly recommended.
jen_e_fer's review
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
mmalone's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0