Land of the Dead (Year of the Scarab Trilogy, Book Three) [Paperback]

Andrew Bates (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: White Wolf Publishing (October 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588468046
• ISBN-13: 978-1588468048
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,234,303 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Egypt, the Hard Way, January 4, 2002

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Land of the Dead (Year of the Scarab Trilogy, Book Three) (Paperback)

At the close of the previous volume, 'Lay Down with Lions,' Thea Ghandour had just thrown the Heart of Osiris out of a window on the 73rd story of the Sears Tower, enabling her and Jake, the other surviving member of her team, to escape. When the Heart (and the vampire that jumped out after it) lands on top of a parking garage, it interrupts a struggle between Carpenter (the gangster zombie), and Nicholas Sforza-Ankhotep (the gangster mummy) were trying to kill each other. Two crashes later, Carpenter manages to grab the Heart and run off. The curtain descends on a furious Nicholas.

This volume, 'The Land of the Dead' opens with Nicholas' return to Egypt. For those of us who are not well acquainted with the mummies of the World of Darkness this turns out to be an education. After a quick aside while Nicholas carries out the gratuitous slaughter of the entire lair of an Egyptian vampire. This reestablishes for us that Sforza-Ankhotep as a creature to be reckoned with, since his performance against Carpenter was utterly lackluster. Then we are off to the Mummy hideaway beneath the Cities of the Dead in Cairo. Here we are given far more information than is usual for White Wolf about immortal mummies. Compared to a lot of the vampires, this is genuinely interesting.

Now the story the shifts back to Thea and her friend Jake. They are trying to figure out what they can do about Thea's roommate, Margie, who is temporarily a basket case. This is difficult since every vampire in Chicago is avidly hunting for them. They, in turn, are hunting for Carpenter, who betrayed the hunter team. Computer whiz Jake manages to discover that Carpenter has apparently left for Egypt. Thea convinces the vampires the Margie is dead and returns her to her folks for safe keeping. Then Jake and Thea head for Egypt, broke, but determined to kick zombie.

Carpenter is indeed heading for Egypt. He is convinced that he can use the Heart to gain immortality, a considerable improvement over being an undying zombie that is having trouble staying together in one piece. Equipped with his magic hammer and knife, and the Heart of Osiris, Carpenter manages to keep together and begins to mount his attack on the mysteries of ancient Egypt. With everyone having some sort of psychic connection with everyone else this is a recipe for a series of titanic collisions. Not the least of which is a major disaster at Port Said. If the reader is looking for a lot of violent action, he (or she) has come to the right place,

It is something of a shame that this series came out in what is otherwise White Wolf's worst year as a fiction publisher. Andrew Bates is an interesting, if purely plot oriented writer who deserves better than what has recently been done in for the World of Darkness. Hopefully he is the sign of a revival of the energies what once inhabited the produces of this game publisher, and just their last, undying gasp.