Book Banter -- The Buried Pyramid

Title: The Buried Pyramid

Author: Jane Lindskold

Length: 498 pages

Genre: fiction/adventure

Plot Basics: Neville Hawthorne is determined to finish an exploration in Egypt that he began years ago. As a young army officer, he accompanies a German archaeologist in search of the lost tomb of a pharaoh who may be Moses the Lawgiver. Unsuccessful the first time, Hawthorne's now trying again, and had the help of his American niece Jenny and the Egyptologist/linguist Stephen. They set out on their mission and find that there may be truth to some of the old legends and stories about the Egyptian gods.

Banter Points: Word Nerd would be well-prepared for a pop quiz on Egyptian deities after reading this book. She might be fairly handy at reading hieroglyphs or cracking ciphers too since the characters spent pages and pages talking about all three of those things.

Bummer Points: Slow, slow, slow. The last 150 pages of the story are pretty good, but until then, the book wanders through their entire trip from England to Marseilles across the Mediterranean to Cairo, Luxor and points beyond. The details are overwhelming and many of them don't push the plot forward.

Word Nerd Recommendation: Word Nerd was expecting an Indiana Jones-adventure type story and this book is not that story.

Bonus: Raspberry Latte read this book (Word Nerd picked it up on her recommendation). For a totally different take on this book, click here.