The Secret of the Sphinx
by Samuel Bavli
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Pub Date Sep 19 2016 | Archive Date Mar 31 2017
Samuel Bavli | Tambora Books
Description
When Jon, a precocious and adventurous 14-year-old boy, encounters a sphinx on a class trip to the museum, little does he know that his life is about to change forever. Four and half thousand years ago, in ancient Egypt, an evil sorcerer captured Neb, the king’s magician, and imprisoned his soul in this sphinx. The sphinx now tells Jon his story and enlists Jon’s help to release Neb’s soul from its stony prison. The sphinx whisks Jon away in the dead of night to ancient Egypt, and Jon is thrown into a world of mystery, sorcery, and adventure.
Jon must overcome his fears, outwit Neb’s enemies, and battle evil forces to discover the identity of the sorcerer who imprisoned Neb’s soul in the stone sphinx, there to remain forever. But when Jon’s plan to uncover the villain unravels and everything seems hopeless, Jon has to find the strength and resolve to vanquish his crafty enemy. Does Jon have what it takes to find the evil sorcerer and uncover the secret that keeps Neb’s soul imprisoned in the sphinx?
Enter the magical world of ancient Egypt in The Secret of the Sphinx.
A Note From the Publisher
The paperback edition (publication date Sept 6, 2016) is priced at $7.99 and is available at the following URL: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Sphinx-Time-Travel-Adventure-Ancient/dp/1537342851/
Marketing Plan
Announcements on social media. Blog tour.Giveaways. Developing a website and writing a blog on that site.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Ebook |
| ISBN | 9781537342856 |
| PRICE | $2.99 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
Clare T, Librarian
An enjoyable read that transported me back to the wonders of ancient Egypt.
Maizie M, Reviewer
The Secret of the Sphinx
Author: Samuel Bavli
Year: 2016
Publisher: Createspace (Amazon)
Genre: Adventure
Age: JUV 10+
This was a book I received as a digital ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
For a book that is less than 200 pages this story sure does move fast & encompass a lot of information.
The story begins in Ancient Egypt, the year is 2558 B.C.E. The king’s vizer Neb is taken from his chambers in the middle of the night to a temple in the desert. His captor is a man dressed in an Anubis mask. Neb is poisoned & killed, then his ka or soul is transferred to live out eternity in the body of the great sphinx. The only way to release his soul is when a descendant of the then King of Egypt rules on the throne again.
Fast forward to the present day & there’s a boy named Jon visiting the museum where the sphinx is located. But it’s not just an ordinary sphinx, it’s talking to him. The sphinx with Neb trapped inside needs his help to escape. The pair travel back in time to Ancient Egypt to discover the truth. It turns out that Jon is a descendent of the royal family & he looks just like Prince Baka. The two boys decide to switch places so Jon can find out more information without putting the Prince in danger. While they are there they find out about all the corruption inside the palace & discover who is really behind Neb’s death & several other’s. Once Jon & the sphinx return to the present day there’s a surprise waiting for them.
But will Neb’s ka be released so he can reach his final resting place after thousands of years, or will he be trapped as a sphinx for all eternity?
Likes: This was a fast paced, short book with an easy to follow energetic story line.
You learn a little information about Egyptian culture.
Dislikes: -
Rating: ****
Anthony G, Reviewer
The following will be posted on my blog, The Crown of Books, on April 22nd, 2017 around Noon EST.
This is a great middle grade book for students who have a great interest in Egyptian mythology.
I, for one, also have a great interest in Egyptian mythology. If there is a book and you just tell me it has Egyptian Mythology, it would quickly grab my attention. Some time ago, I felt the need to read something with Egyptian touches and mythology. I was looking through books and I have come across this. It was going to be a quick read and it looked good. I gave it a chance and it had everything I looked for in books involving with Egyptian Mythology.
In Secret of the Sphinx, a sorcerer, Neb, is imprisoned in a stone statue of a Sphinx and can only be free when a specific event happens in the future. In the future, a student, Jon visits the museum and notices that there is something different looking at Neb's sphinx statue. He later gets a message and returns to it during the night. He climbs onto the sphinx's back and travels back in time to solve the mystery and free Neb's soul once for all.
Even though the story was a short 134 pages, it had everything I wanted. Usually, I look for mentioning of the Gods and Goddesses, some of Egypt's history, and adventure. How can you have an adventure when something is set in Ancient Egypt? Some of the details the author included in the story had every fact that I wanted. There were the Gods, there were parts about the temples and pyramids, and even little details like scarabs and jewelry. I loved every little mentioning about Ancient Egypt.
The only small part I do have to say that there was areas that I got a little confused on what was going on, but that rarely happened. I did understand the overall story and everything involving the main set of characters. On the scenes that were mainly minor characters, it did get a little confusing, but the next couple of chapters usually clarified things.
One thing I did appreciate was the ending. You would think that everything would be settled in Ancient Egypt in most stories like these. However, this isn't the case with this book. I will not say what it was, but it was nice to see a change for once. It was a good ending for the story.
Overall, I think anyone in the middle-grade will enjoy this story if they want to reading something with Ancient Egypt. I may not be in the middle-grade, but it did serve my wants for reading something with Egyptian Mythology in it. It was also the perfect quick read for it as well.
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