(Reading time: 3 minutes)
Book in the Secrets of the Nile series: #1
It's 1536 and the Queen has been beheaded.
Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that's been largely left behind or forgotten. Inez has everything a girl might want, except for the one thing she yearns the most: her globetrotting parents—who frequently leave her behind.
When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and an ancient golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there's more to her parent's disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe.
With her guardian's infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent's disappearance—or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.
CW: Death, murder, death of parent, alcoholism, gun violence, violence, kidnapping, war
Rating None
Review
I don't want to give this book a rating. It feels more like a one or two-star read, but that's only because my hype and interest in the story dwindled as I read. The thing with this book was that every time I liked something, I finished by not enjoying it as the story unravelled, which made me nearly DNF the book, but I was too far in it that I finished it.
I liked the bickering between Inez and Whit. It feels so much like a sibling relationship. Still, as you read the book and read about the relationship between them, it turns into a romance. First, it doesn't feel like a romance as it comes a little from nowhere and feels like a mandatory element in the book. Second, the rivals-to-lovers trope wasn't really there or at least not believable. It's a much more complex trope than just bickering between two characters. The romance wasn't necessary as always; friendship is also a good thing.
The plot was interesting in itself. First, I wasn't prepared for the magical element in the story, and second, the fact that Inez went alone to another country that she only knows theoretically to discover what happened to her parents; for her century, it is an absolute badass thing to do. However, past the surprise and novelty, those two elements started to become dull. At some point, the magical element isn't talked about anymore, as if it helps the story to start. Still, when you reach a certain point where there isn't a utility to it, it's put on the side and put back in conversations only when it can help the plot. It's the same with the plot in itself; once you reach a plot twist, everything is predictable and a chore to read. Even if you understand why things are happening like that, sometimes I just wanted to scream for her stupidity, like listen to what people who are used to those situations tell you.
I was happy to have the Egyptian discoveries and the historical elements to help me continue, as that part was well done. You can only imagine how the characters felt while discovering something new. I felt their excitement when they found something, which helped me dive into the book, even if it was short.
As I already had too many series to finish, I decided not to continue this, which seems to be a duology. I wasn't obsessed or at least intrigued by the story, even with the cliffhanger in the epilogue.
No comments:
Post a Comment