Member Review

First of all, thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for offering me an eARC in exchange for a honest review.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.


A year after her father's death, Memphis is approached by a guy named Ashwin - a guy who tells Memphis her father is still alive and is held captive by a cult worshipping an ancient Egyptian god, since Dr. Engel is the only one who can decipher an ancient map leading to the pieces of a Set animal's artifact.
The only way to save him is to decipher the map before them all and find the artifact first in exchange for her father's life.
Both Memphis and Ash have to work together, but they don't trust one another. Both of them have their own agenda, especially Ash - who is himself member of a cult, this one devoted to Horus and determined to stop anyone from resurrecting Set.
So it begins a journey through different cultures and continents in a race against time - a journey where, like it or not, Memphis and Ash have only each to rely on.


This book had so much potential, but I felt like it lacked something in its performance.

Both character are mixed-race and interesting, with very different backgrounds - Memphis is also a female Indiana Jones with her knowledge of history, mithology and languages.
I'm all for Egypt and archaelogy, adventure and mystery with a little bit of magic involved but it felt like something was amiss. It lacked depth, maybe.
It starts really well, the first chapters went by really fast but when it came to the actual adventurous part... it slowed down and it became monotonous - if it wasn't for the different names, every place Memphis and Ash went seemed the same. No descryption, no charming details, nothing.
It wasn't only that, maybe if the villains made their presence known every now and then it would have been more thrilling.

I liked though the contraposition between mythology and religion, Memphis and Ash's different point of views on the same subject and their different beliefs - that aspect plays a fundamental role in the story.
I also liked how the Good Guys aren't always so good and inclined to do the right thing - I could understand Memphis's frustration so well.

It seems like a negative review, but I enjoyed the book nonetheless - the writing style is functional to the story and never once I got the impression it was written by two different authors, so well done here. And even if it stalls a little, it's still a quick read.
I just wish there was more: more action, more description of all those beautiful places Memphis and Ash visited.