Review -Tomb of the Sun King (Raiders of the Arcana, Book 2) by Jacquelyn Benson (5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Length: 616 pages
Publisher: Crimson Fox Publishing
Release Date: October 22, 2024
ASIN: B0CYHN25MW
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Raiders of the Arcana series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley
Rating: 5/5 stars
“Archivist and suffragette Ellie Mallory always dreamed of putting her scholarly skills to work in the ancient sands of Egypt. She never imagined she would be doing so in order to save an object of legendary power from a batch of ruthless villains.
Racing baddies to an arcanum of Biblical proportions is only one of Ellie’s problems. Her hopelessly academic and perpetually mortified step-brother, Dr. Neil Fairfax, is about to learn that she’s been gallivanting around the globe with his danger-magnet best friend, Adam Bates—the roguish surveyor for whom Ellie harbors increasingly complicated feelings. Add the petite and terrifyingly fearless Constance Tyrrell to the mix, and Ellie either has a crack team of artifact-saving experts to hand… or a recipe for disaster.
Together, they’ll need to follow a trail of three-thousand-year-old clues from the necropolis of Saqqara to the temples of Luxor and beyond, where the ruined capital of a heretic pharaoh hides a secret with the potential to upend history.
To keep an earth-shattering magic from falling into the wrong hands, Ellie will need to pull out all the stops—even if that means resorting to fisticuffs, ignoring proper archaeological processes… and solving one of Egypt’s greatest mysteries.”
Series Info/Source: This is the 2nd book in the Raiders of the Arcana series. I got this as an eGalley from NetGalley.
Thoughts: I loved this book even more than the first book in this series. The archaeological adventures continue with amazing historical settings, thrilling traps, high energy gun fights and explosions, wonderful characters, and a bit of romance. I am thoroughly enjoying this series and so happy to find out there will be another book in it.
Ellie and Adam are in Egypt in hopes of stopping the mysterious Jacob and crew from stealing the Staff of Moses from Ellie’s brother’s Egyptian dig site. We finally get to spend time with Ellie’s best friend Constance, who is a force of nature and huge amount of fun (they call her the danger gnome). We also spend a lot of time with Ellie’s brother, Neil Fairfax. Both of these characters were amazing additions to the story. We also get the addition of some wonderful native Egyptians who are just as bent on saving Egypt’s history as Ellie is. There is some magical realism and flatout magic in here but it is fairly subtle.
This story is pure fun with fast-paced action and adventure. However, it has a lot of heart too. Neil is coming to terms with the fact he could have been more supportive of Ellie and her want to become and archaeologist. Adam and Ellie are trying to navigate their relationship. It would be easier for Adam’s sense of honor if he and Ellie married, but he doesn’t want to change who she is and he knows her views of marriage. Constance is under pressure to find a husband soon, and strangely Ellie’s brother, who she used to terrorize as a little girl, is looking like an intriguing prospect. The crew is also realizing how horrible the English actions in Egypt really are as they befriend Egyptian archaeologists who are forced to work are foreman and watch their country’s history be desecrated and shipped to England.
Meanwhile the whole group is trying to save the staff of Moses from nefarious criminals and in the process unveils both the secrets of the Tomb of Nefertiti and even more secrets around the history of religion as we know it.
It is all very exciting, very engaging, and very entertaining. The writing here is flawless and incredibly easy to read. Some of the descriptions of history and stories from the time might get a bit long for some readers, however, I love this type of stuff and ate it all up. I learned so much about Egyptian history and mythology while reading this very entertaining book.
My Summary (5/5): Overall I loved this book even more than the first book and can’t wait for the series to continue. This is a truly well done series that is entertaining, thought-provoking, fast-paced, and heartwarming. I really enjoyed it a lot. If you are at all interested in a fast-paced archaeological adventure that doesn’t shy away from societal issues (and has some romance) I would recommend. I am set on finding out what other series Benson has written because I would like to read those too!
