Book Review: Book of the Dead by Michael Northrop (TombQuest #1)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong action

Cons: Set up is a little slow

The Bottom Line:

Ancient doors open

Danger, excitement come out

Slow start leads to thrills

The Mummy for Kids

At the LA Times Festival of Books last month, I only bought a few mysteries.  However, I bought a lot of Middle Grade Books thanks to two panels I attended.  One of those new to me authors was Michael Northrop, and Book of the Dead gets his new TombQuest series off to a great start.

Alex Sennefer has been sick all of his life, but it is getting worse.  In fact, after a particularly rough couple of days, he is rushed to the hospital, where the prognosis is not good.

And then Alex makes a miraculous recovery.  But he wakes up to strange stories happening all over the world.  Might it have to do with the recently found artifacts in the Egyptian exhibit his mother was setting up?  Can Alex and his best friend, Ren, help stop the evil that has been unleashed?

Based on the cover and plot description, I was expecting something along the lines of The Mummy (the new one from 2001), and I wasn’t disappointed at all.  The set up was a bit slow since it was obviously fairly early on just what would happen, but once we got past that set up, it turned into an exciting ride.  A couple of the scenes got my heart pumping and gave me sweaty palms.  The easily frightened might not want to read it, but kids looking for an adrenaline rush will absolutely love it.

The characters weren’t yet fully developed, but I wasn’t that surprised since this is a 200 paged action heavy story.  I cared enough for them to care about the outcome, and I am sure we’ll see more development as the series progresses.

Most of the book are told from Alex’s third person point of view, but we get a few parts from the point of view of Ren and even Alex’s mom.  They helped flesh out the story and rounded out those characters as well.

The ending of this book sets up the next one, and I’m expecting it to be another exciting thrill ride.  If you want a page turning read based on Egyptian mythology, Book of the Dead is definitely for you.

This review is part of this week's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday.