Book Blurb:
The first book in a new multi-book series from New York Times bestselling author, COLLEEN HOUCK, about a teenage girl entangled in an epic Egyptian quest full of romance, adventure, and mythology!
When seventeen-year-old Lilliana Young enters the Metropolitan Museum of Art one morning during spring break, the last thing she expects to find is a live Egyptian prince with godlike powers, who has been reawakened after a thousand years of mummification.
And she really can’t imagine being chosen to aid him in an epic quest that will lead them across the globe.
But fate has taken hold of Lily, and she, along with her sun prince, Amon, must travel to the Valley of the Kings, raise his brothers, and stop an evil, shape-shifting god named Seth from taking over the world.
From New York Times bestselling author Colleen Houck comes an epic adventure about two star-crossed teens who must battle mythical forces and ancient curses on a journey with more twists and turns than the Nile itself.
My Review:
4 Out Of 5 Stars
Genre: Another-World, Royal-Court, Supernatural, Zombies--
While hiding out at the MET museum in New York, trying to figure out what she really wants from life, Lily finds a strange man. The man speaks in riddles of ancient Egypt, wears strange clothes, and tries to command Lily. Lily wants no part of this crazy guys issues, so she escapes. Little does she know that she is now tied to him in ways she could never have imagined and is involved in the grandest adventure of her life.
I love anything having to do with ancient Egypt, so I was super excited to get my hands on this book. Just as a disclaimer, I have previously attempted to read the author's Tiger Curse series and could not make it through the first book for reasons I can't remember because it was so long ago. I was interested in the theme but I had doubts about how I would like this book after my previous encounter. Well, good news is that I finished this one. I was not in love with it or blown away, but I found it to be an interesting concept set in a magical world that I did enjoy. The characters I was not a super fan of, but the world and the base plot of saving the world every 1000 years from evil I could get behind.
As a side note, I read some reviews that the author got important details about Egypt incorrect and I found them to be a little ridiculous and nit-picky. Does it matter that Amon has hazel eyes and not the traditional brown? No, no it doesn't. Maybe he had brown and they turned hazel when he was bestowed with the sun-gods powers. Anyone know what color the sun-gods eyes were? Well? I feel like that is a little silly to get hung up over. The author never stated that this was a history book, and as it is FICTION a little make-believe or artistic freedom never hurt anyone. It seems a lot of people got their panties in a bunch over Houck's interpretation of what Egypt was like, but come on, this is a teen fiction romance so minute details don't really need to be accurate and I am pretty sure a lot of ancient Egyptian life is based on ideas and speculation. I just think that the book is a work of fiction and should be treated as such and if you are a stickler for facts and evidence, maybe stay away from reading it.
Intellectually I know that Lily is 17, with hopes and dreams and the potential to have sexual attraction to a man. But for some reason the way she is written makes her seem so much younger, like a curious sheltered child, so when she has random lustful thoughts about Amon, it catches me off guard and makes me feel a little icky. Also, the girl has no self worth or is use to getting everything she wants because she does not take no for an answer and desperately throws herself at Amon repeatedly even when he keeps rejecting her. It made me feel bad for her, that she could not see how bad she came off (at least to me) and kept at it. She started the book as an independent, strong-willed, capable girl, but then she lets herself be swept away by this man-god she just met that she assumes is actually a crazy person. And who is to say the feelings she is so desperate to act on are real and not a side effect of the bond and the fact she feels his emotions? Lily is very concerned about what she eats for fear of gaining weight from those "awful carbs", and even in the story when they are in life and death situations and Amon is draining her dry, she had an apple the entire day while encouraging Amon to feast to regain his strength. I could never go an entire day on just an apple to supply myself with energy, let alone a wanna-be sun-god with energy. I probably would have ripped someones face off if all I got was one apple. (Moral of the story: I need to be fed to avoid violence). Anyway, there were some strange character traits that Lily had that I just did not like and I felt the urge to shake her a few times. I wanted her to go back to the independent girl, not the angsty teen she turned into.
I found the book to be interesting enough to finish and I think that I want to read the sequel to get some much needed closure from the last minute twist in the way it ended. The first half dragged a little bit, but the second half picked up the pace and engaged me more. This was not my favorite book but I am glad I took the time to read it because it was a fun adventure full of mythological creatures and evildoers. I will admit that I had a strong urge to shower while reading because the characters spend a lot of time out in the desert sand or in dark and dirty spaces. The author does do a fantastic job of creating details so vivid that I could see what was going on, and I liked that. I loved Amon's brothers and would like to know more about them, maybe in their own books (hint, hint).
I received this title from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
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