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Fonda Lee's Reviews > Three Great Lies
Three Great Lies
by
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I've always had a soft spot for portal fantasy stories (Narnia! Oz! Wonderland! Stargate!). Three Great Lies delivers that same sense of "stranger in a magical land" adventure, but in ANCIENT EGYPT. With animated mummies and cat-headed girls. If you like historical fantasy, and if ancient Egypt in particular interests you at all, then you'll want to check out Vanessa MacLellan's strong debut novel.
The story centers on Jeannette Walker, a jaded young woman touring Egypt who falls for a tour guide's ruse and ends up tumbling down a tomb shaft and into a magical ancient land. There, she ends up with two unusual traveling companions: Abayomi, a reanimated mummy in search of his ba, and Sanura, a cat-headed girl freed from slavery. MacLellan has obviously done her research and makes the details of ancient Egypt come alive, but infuses them with magical elements as well as the often wry and witty observations of our modern heroine. Jeannette is a cynical but fundamentally good person with endearing character quirks (she's a neat freak with a diminishing supply of sanitary towelettes on hand in a pre-modern medicine environment) and both Abayomi and Sanura are fully developed and complex characters in their own right. Their entwined journeys lead the book to a satisfyingly exciting and romantic ending.
Note: I read an advance copy of the book provided by the author (so the final copy is probably even better!) I'll be eagerly looking forward to what MacLellan comes up with next!
The story centers on Jeannette Walker, a jaded young woman touring Egypt who falls for a tour guide's ruse and ends up tumbling down a tomb shaft and into a magical ancient land. There, she ends up with two unusual traveling companions: Abayomi, a reanimated mummy in search of his ba, and Sanura, a cat-headed girl freed from slavery. MacLellan has obviously done her research and makes the details of ancient Egypt come alive, but infuses them with magical elements as well as the often wry and witty observations of our modern heroine. Jeannette is a cynical but fundamentally good person with endearing character quirks (she's a neat freak with a diminishing supply of sanitary towelettes on hand in a pre-modern medicine environment) and both Abayomi and Sanura are fully developed and complex characters in their own right. Their entwined journeys lead the book to a satisfyingly exciting and romantic ending.
Note: I read an advance copy of the book provided by the author (so the final copy is probably even better!) I'll be eagerly looking forward to what MacLellan comes up with next!
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
August 10, 2015
– Shelved
