As you probably have guessed todays book is Tomb of Gods by Brian Moreland.
Thank you, Flame Tree Press, and NetGalley for my Kindle copy of the book.
In 1936, one year after his team disappeared on a dig in Egypt, Dr. Harlan Riley is found wandering the desert, covered in strange symbols and driven mad by what have befallen his team. He is sent back home to Britain, where he ends up in a madhouse.
His granddaughter Imogen Riley, whom is also a curator. She teams up with her grandfather’s protegee, Dr. Nathan Trummel to discover what her grandfather had discovered in the desert and what really happened to the team. They find what Dr. Harlan Riley’s discovery was, it was a tomb said to belong to the gods themselves. So, with a group of archaeologists, porters, mercenaries, a journalist, a psychic, Imogen Riley and Dr. Trummel, they set out to explore the tomb and its underlying caves.
An important thing to know about me is that I am an archaeologist, so when I come across a book featuring archaeologists, I read it! Another plus point is that this book features ancient Egyptian mythology and is set in the 1930s, the heydays of Egyptian adventure and exploration. I think it is safe to say that Egyptian history and artefacts is the reason why many of my people (archaeologists) have studied what they did.
I would be amiss to say that at first glance this seems like an adventure book. Yes, it does have an aura of adventure about it, but it is so much more than that, it’s in essence a horror novel, within a historical setting, seasoned with adventure and with some mindboggling ideas at the end.
Now, the story sets the tone quite well in the opening chapter, back in the ancient Egyptian era, with a group of soldiers, slaves and servants are burying the high priest of Ramses II, when in the tomb they find themselves not alone, there is something waiting for them and it is out for blood. For me, this opening just dragged me into the story and it kept going. It is quite tense and the scenes in the tomb and caves are quite claustrophobic.
The cast of characters are quite good, though there is quite a few of them to begin with, so you know that most of them will die, most likely horrible deaths. There are some quite well-rounded characters here, Imogen, Caleb, Dyfan and Trummel. Though all of them have secrets and regrets from the past, the caves bring these secrets and regrets to life and forces the group of ever diminishing cast to face their fears.
The creatures and entities they encounter are haunting to say the least, they range from disturbing monsters, entities from the Book of the Dead to literal ghosts from the past.
I would recommend this book for any person that enjoys things like: Indiana Jones, The Mummy (the Brendan Fraser one, not the atrocious remake with the Cruise-man). Or have an interest in Egyptian history and mythology. Likes well-written horror. Likes claustrophobic reads. Basically, this book is for a wide range of people.
Comments