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mudlistens2books's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
The twists and turns were amazing!! A well researched historical fiction, I had a great time crushing this in a weekend. Highly recommend!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Gun violence, and Colonisation
antoniac's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.5
A nice easy-read romp but the plot felt convoluted at times. That faster paced ending worked well. Unusual for the male lead to be more interesting than the MC but I think it's true in this case! I was on the fence as to whether to read the next one, but I'm a sucker for a cliffhanger so I guess it has to be done !
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Alcohol
Minor: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Blood, Colonisation, Sexual content, and Grief
kshertz's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Wow this was such a great book!! It really is like the Mummy movie. The romance is very PG but you root for them. There’s a lot of surprise twists and they made me gasp out loud. Especially at the end when I realized it’s a series and the next book is not out for a while 😒. I would like to read the next book in the series so that’s how you know it’s worth the read!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Abandonment, Gore, Murder, Confinement, Death, and Gaslighting
simplykatherina's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
I loved reading this book! It was the perfect blend of fantasy and historical fiction without being overwhelming. The characters felt real and fleshed out, and the author did such a great job of showing the complexity of grief and learning to trust again. This book felt like an adventure and I was captivated the whole time, but I can’t believe I have to wait until November to find out how it ends!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Gun violence, Violence, and Kidnapping
zarhara's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Alcoholism, Grief, Colonisation, Death of parent, Classism, Alcohol, and Abandonment
Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny
smilagros's review
I might come back and read if physically but the audiobook was a no for me. It made the main character seem more naive and young than she actually is. It was giving major Mummy vibes so that’s why I want to try to read it physically.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
bree_h_reads's review against another edition
DNF 27%
I think this book has a lot of potential, but it just didn’t click with me.
I really liked the characters and their dynamics. I loved Inez’s internal monologue and how she thought of things. She was clearly intelligent and clever and strong-willed, but also had blind spots and her stubbornness could get her into trouble. The writing style was wonderful and I loved all the descriptions. I loved the vibes, especially how much it felt like The Mummy.
It just didn’t feel like anything was happening. It took until 27% into the book for actual plot to kick off and I don’t think that’s pacing that appeals to me at the moment. I might try the book again later, but waiting that long for the plot to pickup is a bit of a turn away for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Grief
Minor: Racism
sustainably_lucia's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I have nothing bad to say about this book except that I need the sequel immediately! I don’t want to wait till November to find out what happens. (I have issues with the dubious morality of some of the characters but that’s a me thing, the characters are excellently written.) The setting and writing are beautiful. The characters are diverse and complex. The plot is twisty and surprising. The beginning is a bit slow but it picks up. The ending is intense.
I liked the soft magic and thought it added a nice layer to the world and the story. I loved the historical aspects as well. I’m not familiar with Egyptian history but I appreciated the respect that Ibanez shows to their people and culture.
If you like Egypt, magical objects, intrigue, adventure, dangerous secrets, and witty banter, you’ll enjoy this book. The audiobook is excellent and the physical copy includes some beautiful illustrations. I haven’t stopped thinking about this book since I finished it a few days ago. I’m still recovering from that ending and going back over every detail trying to piece it together. I have some theories and I’m praying for a happy ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Gun violence
Minor: Murder, Infidelity, Alcoholism, and Kidnapping
bluz19's review
adventurous
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
What I didn’t realize is that this was the start of a series. The second book comes out in November of this year. However apart from that, I think this book was great. This book is considered magical, and involving both a quest and a puzzle. The story as a whole follows Inez as she tries to find out just what happened to her parents in Egypt. Here she find out that everything that she has been told is potentially a lie and the people she has put her trust in might really be who she should worried about. I really enjoyed this story! I loved the aspect of Egyptian storytelling/ history and the inclusion of magic to carry an otherwise treasure-hunters tale. I think it’s amazing to see Inez’s stubbornness, even at times she makes rash decisions and if she would sit and think there would be more viable options, the story seems plausible. At times in the book it’s hard to find who to trust, everyone Inez meets is living with secrets. This book is filled with lies, family tension, friendships, and put twists and turns in every page.
I wish the book would’ve further flushed out the magic system, especially knowing that a book two is coming. I think the full understanding of the magic dynamic is lost in the storyline. I loved the transport back to Egyptian mythology because that is definitely my thing. The archeological digs and finds were a great inclusion especially with the deep history of Egypt. Though the entirety of the book wasn’t action packed, Inez and her stubbornness and unpredictable behavior had us constantly guessing when the next bad thing was coming. The pacing was pretty solid and immensely picked up in the last few chapters to where I was yelling at the book. And of course it left me on a cliffhanger, which to say the least had me yelling even more.
Overall this was such a great and immersive story, I didn’t want to put it down. The characters felt well flushed out and I could see why all of them behaved the way they did. I wish that a bit more of the story was flushed out though. I personally enjoyed the historical Egypt lesson, which I think will come into play more in the second book. The story of her parents, her other family, and the people she meets along the way, carries this book for me. I think if you enjoy Egyptian mythology, strong female leads, magic, mystery, an adventure, or any combination of “what happened” then this book will be good for you! I was pleasantly surprised at how the book pooled together and cannot wait for book 2!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Death and Death of parent
hilsaa's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Another solid young adult novel from Isabel Ibañez!
Overall, it was an interesting magical realism/historical story and I would recommend it. I have read all Ibañez’s previous novels and it’s clear to me she writes quality stories that are appropriate for teenage and young adult readers.
Her books deal tactfully with real issues and interesting themes while being generally well-written. While this is not my favourite of her novels (That is Woven in Moonlight), it’s still a breath of fresh air in the hellscape of the current YA publishing industry.
I would have loved this book as a teenager and, while I’m not its target audience any more, I still enjoyed it for the most part, appreciated it for what it was, and see a lot of good in it for younger readers.
The book did have the feeling that it was originally one larger novel, maybe too large for the current market, so they capitalized on the author’s deserved success and created a duology with a bit too much fluff. (The next book starting “literally 5 seconds” after this one ends basically confirms this in my opinion.) I would have liked more description of the scenery, it didn’t often feel particularly vivid to me. The parts that did were short. It felt like the end of the book was just the middle of the story. Ending in the middle of a conversation the way it did… I think it could have been a great longer standalone.
The magic was so minimal, not really explained, and not talked about much despite being important to the plot. I’ve said this about nearly all the author’s novels - I want more magic!
I did feel there was a lack of active female characters. I hope there is some kind of twist or redemption arc because the anti-mother sentiment of all these men was not it.Even Inez’s father hating Inez’s mother... like what was her side of the story? And how do we know all these letters are from who we assume them to be from?
All the main characters in Egypt, all the people in control of things there, are men. I’m suspicious of her uncle. His characterization was also kind of all over the place. Inez being kept out of the loop and them giving her no explanation and being shady as hell obviously influenced her actions withher mother. (Her “mother?”) From the very beginning, basically her whole life, people have been hiding things from her. Obviously nobody can be trusted. I don’t believe half of what her uncle and others in his sphere, including Whit, have told her.
Inez is a good depiction of a teenage girl/young woman, even though her characterization didn’t alway feel consistent. She doesn’t make the best decisions, but her choices are understandable and I’m sympathetic to her situation. She is desperate to be included and to be heard. She wants to trust someone and to be loved. She will have to learn not to trust so easily, I think.
The audiobook did NOT work for me. I would not recommend the audio version. Ana Osorio narrated Together We Burn and she did a great job on that one. But in this story there were a lot of accents needed (French, British, American, Arabic) and the narrator did a poor job with all of them. Her narration came across very young at times, and her own accent varied in degrees of understandability. (“Pulling” sounds like “pooling”, “toward” sounds like “TAH-wrd/TAWr’d”) and a couple times I had to relisten to a word to understand. Not a problem in the other book I’ve listened to that she narrated. I couldn’t tell if there was a grammatical error at one point, or if the narrators voice made an “ed” at the end of a word sound like an “s”.
In Inez’s POV, the majority of the book, the narrator gave Whit’s dialogue an inconsistent British accent that sounded like a bad Australian or Kiwi accent. There was a male narrator for Whit’s POV chapters who was thoroughly British and the difference between his dialogue in Inez’s chapters vs his own narration was jarring. I don’t enjoy multiple narrators for audiobooks or multiple POVs in general.
Whit’s POV chapters were not needed. There were so few of them, and everything we learn about him in them could have been conveyed to the reader in a different way, like through Inez’s interactions with those around them both. I did appreciate how the substance abuse issues were gently touched on. He’s struggling with that, and it’s acknowledged, and it’s also acknowledged that recovery is difficult and relapses happen. I’m not thrilled about the romance aspectand possibility of them getting married. I don’t love that he was obviously impaired when he proposed. But maybe with the trauma/guilt Inez now feels because of what happened to her cousin, they might fit together in a damaged kind of way? But then he’s obviously up to something shady with her uncle? Idk. Not sold on that yet.
I’ve already requested the next book at my library. I will definitely be reading it!
Overall, it was an interesting magical realism/historical story and I would recommend it. I have read all Ibañez’s previous novels and it’s clear to me she writes quality stories that are appropriate for teenage and young adult readers.
Her books deal tactfully with real issues and interesting themes while being generally well-written. While this is not my favourite of her novels (That is Woven in Moonlight), it’s still a breath of fresh air in the hellscape of the current YA publishing industry.
I would have loved this book as a teenager and, while I’m not its target audience any more, I still enjoyed it for the most part, appreciated it for what it was, and see a lot of good in it for younger readers.
The book did have the feeling that it was originally one larger novel, maybe too large for the current market, so they capitalized on the author’s deserved success and created a duology with a bit too much fluff. (The next book starting “literally 5 seconds” after this one ends basically confirms this in my opinion.) I would have liked more description of the scenery, it didn’t often feel particularly vivid to me. The parts that did were short. It felt like the end of the book was just the middle of the story. Ending in the middle of a conversation the way it did… I think it could have been a great longer standalone.
The magic was so minimal, not really explained, and not talked about much despite being important to the plot. I’ve said this about nearly all the author’s novels - I want more magic!
I did feel there was a lack of active female characters. I hope there is some kind of twist or redemption arc because the anti-mother sentiment of all these men was not it.
All the main characters in Egypt, all the people in control of things there, are men. I’m suspicious of her uncle. His characterization was also kind of all over the place. Inez being kept out of the loop and them giving her no explanation and being shady as hell obviously influenced her actions with
Inez is a good depiction of a teenage girl/young woman, even though her characterization didn’t alway feel consistent. She doesn’t make the best decisions, but her choices are understandable and I’m sympathetic to her situation. She is desperate to be included and to be heard. She wants to trust someone and to be loved. She will have to learn not to trust so easily, I think.
The audiobook did NOT work for me. I would not recommend the audio version. Ana Osorio narrated Together We Burn and she did a great job on that one. But in this story there were a lot of accents needed (French, British, American, Arabic) and the narrator did a poor job with all of them. Her narration came across very young at times, and her own accent varied in degrees of understandability. (“Pulling” sounds like “pooling”, “toward” sounds like “TAH-wrd/TAWr’d”) and a couple times I had to relisten to a word to understand. Not a problem in the other book I’ve listened to that she narrated. I couldn’t tell if there was a grammatical error at one point, or if the narrators voice made an “ed” at the end of a word sound like an “s”.
In Inez’s POV, the majority of the book, the narrator gave Whit’s dialogue an inconsistent British accent that sounded like a bad Australian or Kiwi accent. There was a male narrator for Whit’s POV chapters who was thoroughly British and the difference between his dialogue in Inez’s chapters vs his own narration was jarring. I don’t enjoy multiple narrators for audiobooks or multiple POVs in general.
Whit’s POV chapters were not needed. There were so few of them, and everything we learn about him in them could have been conveyed to the reader in a different way, like through Inez’s interactions with those around them both. I did appreciate how the substance abuse issues were gently touched on. He’s struggling with that, and it’s acknowledged, and it’s also acknowledged that recovery is difficult and relapses happen. I’m not thrilled about the romance aspect
I’ve already requested the next book at my library. I will definitely be reading it!
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent