Amelia Peabody Series is Wrapped

“Banned forever from the eastern end of the Valley of the Kings, eminent Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson’s desperate attempt to regain digging rights backfires—and his dream of unearthing the tomb of the little-known king Tutankhamon is dashed. Now Emerson, his archaeologist wife, Amelia Peabody, and their family must watch from the sidelines as Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter “discover” the greatest Egyptian treasure of all time.

But the Emersons’ own less impressive excavations are interrupted when father and son Ramses are lured into a trap by a strange group of villains ominously demanding answers to a question neither man comprehends. And it will fall to the ever-intrepid Amelia to protect her endangered family—and perhaps her nemesis as well—from a devastating truth hidden uncomfortably close to home . . . and from a nefarious plot that threatens the peace of the entire region.”

The day is over. The Amelia Peabody series is over. Or, at least, my journey reading them. I closed out and finished the final entry–per the proper timeline–Tomb of the Golden Bird. I can not say it was the best entry in the series, but it had all the fixings to be one with the opening of King Tut’s tomb. And for once, Amelia Peabody actually went into a tomb and explored. I stress this because it always frustrated me how Amelia was not also slipping into a tombs. Instead she often stayed outside and sifted through debris. Stuff like that, anyway. Though, of course, Amelia Peabody is so much more than all those things combined. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have stuck with reading the series for nine years.

Yet, outside of all the tomb exploration, the story wasn’t all that great. Peters does a great job of building suspense, but it’s not always sustainable throughout the middle of the book. It’s in the middle part where Peters rely on the vague and ambiguous use of plot points to push her story. By “vague and ambiguous” I mean she first tosses up many threads and characters. Then we have the death of outside characters that somehow tie to the mystery or sub-mystery or sub-sub-mystery dangling all over the place! Stalking shadow figures with no face nor name assault the cast over and over and over and over and over again as suspense tools. The repeated offense of disguising suspects in both looks and motives on top of motives tying to which running mystery thread out of a box of many is ever present in Golden Bird. Which mystery or sub-mystery does he or she fit in in this jungle gym of an Egyptian-themed mystery? 

Once again Peters reaches for something knotty that only lands… Well, Jenga, anyway?

So it’s all the same in Tomb of the Golden Bird. However, unfortunately, this led to a rather anticlimactic ending because she didn’t focus and reinforce the dangers and stakes involved. Shoot, I don’t even believe she was serious about anything in this entry. The remaining detangling sub-mystery threads ran out of steam and were revealed for the sole purpose of filler and diluting the core problem (murders surrounding Tut’s tomb) with ineffectual possibilities and just plain ole drama. Tomb of the Golden Bird was an example of an author funhousing readers.

Nevertheless, Sethos is Sethos (who I only like after he was ousted in the series). Ramses is Ramses. Nefret is Nefret (though not the old Nefret for good reason). Emerson is Emerson. Peabody is Peabody.

And… well that’s cool in itself. The core cast is what readers rely on. Them and their humous exchanges.

Regardless, I’m happy I’ve completed reading the series. It has been fun. I wish, wish Peters kept the focus of the story on King Tut’s tomb. But, no. Lots of compiling of various sub-plots made a water-weighted experience. However, I am grateful that Peters closed the book on a note that this was, in fact, the last adventure before the family headed back to England in January of 1923. 

So it felt complete by those means.

It’s over. But I’ll always have Amelia and company as friends.

Now the question is… when do I start making friends with THIS adventuress?

Almost at the End of the Amelia Peabody Experience

So I’m writing this post while listening to Eric Carmen’s “Hungry Eyes.” The song is befitting my mood–seeing as I’m trying to decide if I want to read the final Amelia Peabody mystery, Tomb of the Golden Bird. Because once this book is read, this will be the end of my journey reading Elizabeth Peters’ famous Victoria-era Egyptologist series. It’s been nine years since I cracked open the first book, The Crocodile on the Sandbank; 20 books later, my adventures with Peabody and crew are ending.

It’s more complicated than not, but Peters took many liberties in adjusting the timeframe in the series. The final two publication releases, A River in the Sky and The Paint Queen, officially close the series out at twenty books. However, per the precise timeline, the final book is Tomb of the Golden Bird. I corrected the order from books sixteen forward. Now I’ve landed at the series’ end and in proper sequence.

The problem is that, while I’ve decided to finally finish this series THIS year (I want to move on to reading Peters’ Vicky Bliss series next), I’m feeling some type of way about taking on the final book as it lies here in my hands.

So before we get into that, let me be the first to say that while I thought the series peaked in the ninth book (Seeing a Large Cat), the series hardly suffered moving forward. Mainly my difficulty came where, in the proceeding books, Peters leaned heavily on several formulaic methods to tell her stories. It was just that some books read like recycled stories. Especially surrounding Amelia Peabody’s son, Ramses, and his antics. Often times I would close a book and, despite enjoying the ride, not really gather the purpose of the book. Or I would ask myself what happened and why. Book after book tended to bleed together.

However, there are three books after book nine that I found stellar and memorable. One was the infamous “Nefret” book, The Falcon at the Portal. The second was the “children” book Children of the Storm (the action came back alive in this one and the villain was great!). Lastly, I can say a few days later, The Serpent on the Crown was an entertaining and pleasant addition to this list.

Call it where I am in life or not, but I found myself spending a day in bed reading 150 pages of Serpent because I couldn’t quite let it go. Not even Ramese’s portion of the storytelling got on my nerves. However, it was just as convoluted and contrived as many of the books after book nine. Yes, it touched on many recycled plot points and elements featured continuously in the series. Yes, the villain, as in most cases, was hardly a force of nature. Regardless of all that, Serpent was soooooo much fun, though! And it reminded me how the books are suppose to be fun, even as aggravating I sometimes find the storytelling bits. Oh, let me not forget to mention how I will say one glowing point was that Sethos (Amelia’s brother-in-law and Master of Disguise) was an absolutely JOY when he is not playing against the cast AS the Master of Disguise. His role in the series always (and I emphasis “always”) got on my nerves, until he finally came out and became a part of the main cast.

Nevertheless, I only have one more adventure yet. Should I read it while I’m hot? Let it cool and come back to my final Amelia Peabody adventure later this year?

Ah, I’m going to miss the series regardless.