The Mummy Chronicles 2:Heart of the Pharaoh by Dave Wolverton

The second of the Mummy Chronicle books did not disappoint.  The year is 1937 and the O'Connell family are back in England.  The family gets a visit from Winston Churchill who wants Evy to investigate rumours that Italian Fascitsts have discovered Cleopatra's tomb and all her wealth. 

Churchill has brought a mummy with him.  Alex reveals that she wsa a young girl named Irani and her shadow accompanies them.

The family are off to Egypt and Alex reunites with his friend Rachel from the first book and she has been working as a spy against the Italians.  Rick and Evy head to the suspected tombsite leaving Alex, Rachel and Matt, the son of the British Ambassador.  Rachel discovers that the Italians have brought in more troops  after the parents have left.

Alex and his friends "borrow' Izzy's airship (last seen in The Mummy Returns) and race to warn their parents.

The archeologist Ungricht from the first book returns and the parties play hide seek through the tomb.

It was nice to see a Mummy adventure where the O'Connells don't have to battle a mummy, in this one the Mummies help them and Alex is able to help Cleopatra and her mummified retinue head to the afterlfe.

Really looking forward to the next couple of books.

Exiles of Kho by Christopher Paul Carey (Meteor House 2012)

Originally published Tuesday, September 11, 2012 9:29:18 AM

Philip Jose Farmer, Wold Newton, Christopher Paul Carey

UPDATE: if you missed this when it came out.  It is now available at Amazon as an ebook.

So I had seen the cover on-line with the notices that the book was coming and I thought “that’s a nice looking cover”. The package arrived; I opened it and the cover in breathtakingly beautiful. The pictures do not do it justice.
In a lot of ways I was reminded of the Daw SF books from the 1970’s like Hadon of Ancient Opar, and Flight to Opar by Philip Jose Farmer. Of course this is intentional as Christopher Carey completed the third book in the series The Song of Kwasin (All three books were published as Gods of Opar: Tales of Lost Khokarsa by Subterranean Press 2012) Exiles of Kho is a prequel to Hadon of Ancient Opar.

If I were to judge the book by the cover alone it’d be a winner but I’m not judging by the cover alone. It’s the story and I am very pleased that the story lives up to the cover and I was pleasantly surprised that there is interior art that is just as gorgeous as the cover (I’d scan them here but I’d have to damage the spine). The artist for both the cover and interiors is Mike Hoffman. Hopefully Meteor House will use him for future volumes.

Carey tells the story of the priestess Lupoeth and her band of outcasts exiled by the new Queen of Khokarsa to build a new temple. The motley group of exiles is joined by Sahhindar, the gray-eyed God of archery and time. (gee I wonder who he might be – perhaps a certain time traveler from one of Farmer’s other works that I recently reviewed) .
The band travels to the site of the new temple facing danger from the beasts and other tribes and the different factions within the band. Carey manages to balance the political intrigue with action that makes this an enjoyable read.

I read the entire book in an afternoon and enjoyed every bit of it. The characters are well drawn and the action flows well. Carey manages to sneak in references to several other of Farmer’s other works and themes.
I hear that Meteor House has plans to issue further volumes like this and I am looking forward to future books.