This book was a pleasant and rewarding surprise. It's being promoted as similar to books by Jonathan Stroud, ("Bartimeus" and "Lockwood and Co."), and Jonathan Auxier, ("Peter Nimble" series and "The Night Gardener"), which I suppose is fair enough. But I think the really spot on comparison is to the old school mystical adventure books by John Bellairs.
Those books, published in the 60's through the 80's and still reasonably popular, featured heroes like Lewis Barnavelt and Johnny Dixon, and were generally described as "Gothic mysteries" or supernatural adventures. You often had a wise adult counselor who knew about the mysteries and secrets at issue, and you had a good mix of action/adventure on one hand and lore and myth on the other. Skimming through titles you get the idea -- they include witch, blue figurine, curse, dark secret, mummy, crypt, skull, tomb, and ghost mirror.
That's exactly the sort of thing you get in this book, but, with a number of needed improvements. Our hero Simon has a resourceful, plucky equal in the dependable partner Abbie. (Bellairs was light on the matter of girls and girrrl power.) Their easy friendship and the fashion in which they support and complement each other adds a welcome new dimension to such stories.
Further, the Bellairs books can be talky and slow, which reflects that 60's style. (I like Nancy Drew and her kin, but those books are seriously bulked up with unnecessary narrative.) In this book we get everything we need, (and we have great atmosphere, scene building, dramatic tension, character development, and action bits), but it all seems leaner and faster paced. It's more readable and engaging for a modern kid.
The bottom line is that if you want to lurk and skulk around in search of a cursed Egyptian Thingy, and confront mystic evil, and if you'd like to do that in the company of an engaging pair of young adventurers, this is just the book.
(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
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