Review for Spear of Seth by Rene Daniel

Spear of Seth
By  Rene Daniel
Published by Createspace
Review Copy (from author - thanks!!)
256 pages

"What will Alex Khyan do when he faces a world he thought existed only in dreams of an ancient civilization? Alex needs a summer job, and gets one. It is not what he is used to, since he will work as a translator at an archeological dig at the island of Elephantine in the Upper Egypt.  Little does he know what he is getting himself into. Enter Heather and her father, John Van Senmut, the archeologist in charge of the excavations. The dig is not just some dig; it is the ruins of the Temple of Osiris, which stands at the mythical place where Nile emerges from the Egyptian Underworld. When John Van Senmut, falls ill and physicians give up on him, his daughter decides to search the Temple for the cause of the disease and possibly a cure. Her quest leads her, and her unwilling helper Alex, into the Netherworld, which survived the Egyptian civilization by two thousand years. They negotiate its dangers, as well as dangers which come from their contemporaries. They have only one guide – the Book of Gates."

 Spear of Seth definitely has that Indiana-Jones vibe going on. This is such an adventure book that is easy to read and get sucked into. As the reader, you'll be amazed at the detailed descriptions of the Egyptian Underworld and the pages are dripping with lengends and myths. A very intense read!

Spear of Seth is told from Alex Khyan's point of view and Heather Van Senmut's view. What was really neat is I never had to guess who was speaking because at the beginning of each chapter it said either "Alex speaking..." or "Heather speaking..." I really appreciated that. Alex and Heather are both college students and are thrown into this adventure together. There wasn't too much background on either and I didn't quite figure out their personalities. There were a lot of secondary characters too and sometimes I really had trouble keeping them straight in my mind. I did heavily sympathize with the good people in this book - I gasped everytime when someone they trusted turned on them, it was just not a good situation for them.

The history, legends, and myths were spectacular. I don't know if its all true or not (I mean in regards to if the legends/names/events were actual lengends/names/events). If it was - wow, this author really took the time to delve into Egyptian history, it must have taken a long time to compile all that information. At times it was a bit too much, the stories tended to get carried away but overall, I really enjoyed reading about it. One other noteworthy thing was the descriptions of the places. I could vividly see everything: the words truly painted a picture for me. I'm not sure what it was but, I just seemed to be able to read this book .... I didn't want to put it down.

I would recommend Spear of Seth to those who enjoy fantasy, legends, adventure, and Egyptian themes. I wasn't quite sure what to expect since I haven't seen one review about it but it wasn't bad at all!

Excerpt:

The darkness had become absolute. Menkaure carefully got up and crept toward the exit. After a few steps, he ran, not into the familiar corridor, but into a wall of fallen rocks. He moved to the right, expecting to find a door of the House of Life. Yet another rock wall met him. At last, he started to stumble, first slowly, then faster and faster, around the northern and eastern walls, touching the walls, looking for an exit. He found none. Finally, it hit him.
He had been buried alive in the temple.

***Check out the Prologue and first two chapters!***

Book Trailer: