Review: Tomb of the Sun King

Tomb of the Sun King by Jacquelyn Benson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I described the first book in this series as pulp, but that isn't quite right, even though the influence of pulp adventures such as those of Indiana Jones is clear to see. The characters are deeper than the usual stereotypical pulp archetypes, there's a consideration of wider issues like sexism and colonialism (to, perhaps, a slightly anachronistic degree), the author has done a lot more research than most people who write period fiction ever bother with, and yet none of this interferes with the book also being a thrilling archeological adventure through late-19th-century Egypt, with touches of hot romance.

In fact, the romance distinctly benefits - for me, at least - from the fact that the young female characters, while daring and even headstrong, are not the usual helpless idiots (with a decal stuck on them that says they're intelligent and independent) that you often get in period fiction. There's also a middle-aged couple whose relationship gets featured, and relationships in general - friendships as well as romances - are well handled and significant to the plot, and undergo challenge and change in the course of the book. It's a move towards an ensemble cast, and the sequel is going to retain at least some of the ensemble; the different members bring different strengths to the mix, too, and are very distinct in their personalities, which is not always a given. I was never in any danger of confusing any one of the cast members with any other, even the minor ones. The characters we were cheering weren't flawless, nor did they overcome their flaws too easily, yet they were all the more heroic for it; the characters we were booing weren't evil merely for the sake of it, either, but had reasons that made sense to them for doing what they were doing.

I had a pre-release version via Netgalley, and while I did note a few homonym errors, the odd punctuation glitch, one or two slight anachronisms and an occasional Americanism from the English characters, it's already cleaner than the first book in some other areas I noted in my review of the first book: hyphens, vocabulary (apart from the homonyms), even coordinate commas. "Arcanum" is now being used as the (correct) singular of "arcana". There are fewer fortunate coincidences, too. It's good to see an author improving their mechanics, something that happens all too seldom in my experience.

I'd say this second book is easily as good as the first, and probably better, and I look forward eagerly to the next instalment.

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