Challenge Tuesday – 34

I’m pretty tired tonight so although I have two books to tell you about, for today I’m only doing one. The other will follow tomorrow!

Book 34 – Pyramid, by David Gibbins. Jack Howard is an underwater Archaeologist, desperate to find the truth behind the mysterious Pharaoh Akhenaten: was he the Pharaoh who saw the Exodus described in the Bible? And did he play a part in saving those fleeing slaves by destroying his own army? As Jihadi extremists take over in Egypt, the trail Jack follows for the truth takes him into the very centre of a violent uprising…

I have read another book about Jack Howard, although checking back I think it pre-dates the 52 book challenge – The Mask of Troy. I really liked the mixture of history, intrigue, archaeology and scenery in that story.

Unfortunately, the mix in this one wasn’t quite right for me, in a specific ways.  For example, the history was very detailed and fed in large chucks so I found it hard to keep it all in mind. Also, the politics felt heavy-handed and although the concept is understandable, this required suspension of disbelief that didn’t work so well when the rest of the story focussed on real details in a pretty consistent way.

It isn’t that I didn’t like the story but I thought the book as a whole was less enjoyable than the previous one of the series I read.  I felt the historical detail hindered the flow of the story and was almost like an academic lecture in some points.

Nevertheless, if you can get past the fairly dense sections describing various historical events, and the highly intricate descriptions of diving gear and protocols, there is a fun action-adventure which takes place on land and under water, with some excellent locations and the archaeological favourite of secret chambers.

Plus, if you are particularly interested in Egyptian history it ties in a few strands of possibility very cleverly.

I will be back to finish off the week’s reading tomorrow, when I’ve had a bit of sleep!

Happy reading,

EJ

🙂