Spear of Seth

Spear of Seth
by Rene Daniel

256 pages
Published June 16, 2011

This book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Alex Khyan, the protagonist of “Spear of Seth”, is very level-headed person, with both feet firmly planted on the ground. Or is he? What will he do when he faces a world he thought existed only in dreams of an ancient civilization? Alex is quite comfortable in his skin. He is a premed student of the Van Senmut College, so he has to be a serious young man, has he not? He now needs a summer job, and gets one. It is not what he is used to, since he will work as a translator at an archeological dig at the island of Elephantine in the Upper Egypt. Alex does not exactly care about history, but, since his mother is from Lebanon, he speaks Arabic, which gives him an edge. Little does he know what he is getting himself into. Enter Heather Van Senmut and her father, John Van Senmut, a grandson of the founder of the college and the archeologist in charge of the excavations. The dig is not just some dig; it is the ruins of the Temple of Osiris, which stands at the mythical place where Nile emerges from the Egyptian Underworld. The Temple attracts a lot of attention, some of which come from people, who would be more at home in Salem, Massachusetts, shall we say, about three hundred years ago. When John Van Senmut, falls ill and physicians give up on him, his daughter decides to search the Temple for the cause of the disease and possibly a cure. Her quest leads her, and her unwilling helper Alex, into the Netherworld, which survived the Egyptian civilization by two thousand years. They negotiate its dangers, as well as dangers, which come from their contemporaries. They do have only one guide – the Book of Gates, which decorates the sarcophagus of the pharaoh Seti. Are the demons, which are pictured there, only a product of the painter’s imagination? Will the Alex’s attitude be helpful, or will he have to change in order to survive? Will Heather realize that there is a difference between being determined and being ruthless? What did alchemists of medieval Europe know about the Underworld? Why Heather needs to find out?

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I was really excited to be asked to review this book. It played right into my interest of all things Egyptian. I had a very hard time not grouching when I had to put the book down to take care of normal life.

Myths and legends? Check. Danger? Yep. Life and death situations? Sure. Adventure? You betcha. If you like stories with a twist of Indiana Jones-style excitement, this book is for you.

I really don't want to ruin this for anyone. Really. But it's killing me not to gush about this one! Okay, just one little hint: Good guys & Bad guys are not exactly back-and-white. There's some serious twisting going on here!

Really, just go read it.

5/5 stars