A review by dtaylorbooks
The Curse of the Silver Pharaoh by Pip Ballantine, Tee Morris

4.0

I’ve said this before a thousand times, but anything ancient Egypt is going to get my attention and THE CURSE OF THE SILVER PHARAOH was no exception. Such a fun and exciting premise, I’m glad it lived up to my expectations! Set around the beginning of the 20th century (based on how the cover model’s dressed, maybe late teens). Definitely post Great War, but I don’t think quite roaring 20s yet. But definitely creeping toward the height of Egyptomania that would sweep the world with the finding of King Tutankhamun’s tomb.

I loved the whole concept of a government agency employing street children to do jobs that they [the government] can’t otherwise get into. Granted, the adverse of that, and this is my own brain going here, is that they’re disposable and no one will miss them if they die, and they can be paid scraps and still think it amazing because otherwise they have nothing. But ignoring that rabbit hole my headspace crept close to, they get to go on this little adventure that gets them all into rather better conditions than what they’re used to, if nothing else. Granted, those staying at the farm house just couldn’t stay put, but really, that was to be expected.

Verity was an intriguing character that leapt off the page from the very beginning and she was a delight to follow along during this story. I had somewhat high hopes for Vidmar but alas, it was not meant to be. Although, and this is a spoiler so go ahead and skip to the next paragraph from here, having an Italian passing as an Indian kind of had my eye twitching a little. Although, considering the time it was set, I find it fairly accurate that anyone with even a mild dark complexion could say they were from somewhere in northern Africa or the Middle East or western Asia and people would accept it without question, never mind Italians and Indians look nothing alike. Not like similar things don’t happen now, so.

My only real complaint about the book was that it could have done with a round of copyediting. There were definitely a fair share of missing commas and linking verbs, but everything else was really well put together and the issues I did see didn’t detract from the story in any meaningful way.

It always brings me so much joy when authors dabble in ancient Egypt in a fictionalized way like this. Ballantine and Morris created such a fun story and I loved the light steampunk aspect of it too. It just added an additional layer of intrigue and depth to the world they created. It helped to focus less on the dirty street urchin part of the story and focus more on the service these children were doing for society and the good they were doing, and the fun toys they got to use doing it. Like, there was very little woe is me here. These children knew the hand they were dealt, for whatever variety of reasons that was, and they lived with it and they each brought something to the table that proved they were far more valuable to the world than what society would otherwise see in them. Equal parts uplifting and entertaining.

I look forward to the next book! And I also just found out there’s not only a sequel but more adjacent books. Awesome!

4