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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Received from NetGalley, thanks!
Yeah, I think I’ve outgrown Anne Rice. I enjoyed the last Ramses book, but this was a slog to get through and at 30% in nothing was happening. Okay, that’s not exactly true, things were happening, but it was nothing that I cared about. Also, there are WAY too many POVs happening in this book. As of the time I stopped, I think we were up to 6 POV characters. Sorry, that’s way too many to keep track of.
I tried really hard to get through this, because it’s from NetGalley and I feel like I should power through and always finish them, but I just can’t. It isn’t holding my interest at all and life is too short to struggle with subpar books.
Yeah, I think I’ve outgrown Anne Rice. I enjoyed the last Ramses book, but this was a slog to get through and at 30% in nothing was happening. Okay, that’s not exactly true, things were happening, but it was nothing that I cared about. Also, there are WAY too many POVs happening in this book. As of the time I stopped, I think we were up to 6 POV characters. Sorry, that’s way too many to keep track of.
I tried really hard to get through this, because it’s from NetGalley and I feel like I should power through and always finish them, but I just can’t. It isn’t holding my interest at all and life is too short to struggle with subpar books.
adventurous
mysterious
Strong character development:
Yes
It's sad to think about my excitement upon receiving this ARC. Anne Rice has always been one of my favorite authors ever since Interview. In Ramses the Damned: The Reign of Osiris, Rice and Rice return to the story of immortal Ramses and his found family.
My complaint about the previous book in this series is that Julie was underused, seeming more of a side character rather than a main. I think they manged to rectify that here. Julie becomes more present in this novel and she has much more page time and stronger decisions. I found this book to be less steamy than the previous one and also way less dramatic, but I think the latter is certainly a good thing, seeing that I was annoyed with the SENSE OF URGENCY in almost every scene in Cleopatra. The storytelling is also tighter here. One thing I did want to say is that I love Anya, Give me a tortured crazy girl who clings to innocence, and you've sold me on that character, That was Anya for sure. I would have liked to have seen more of her.
With Anne's passing, it makes sense that the younger Rice not continue this story. I hope that's his decision. The ending didn't really need to be followed by another.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC. This review was definitely bittersweet for me to write.
My complaint about the previous book in this series is that Julie was underused, seeming more of a side character rather than a main. I think they manged to rectify that here. Julie becomes more present in this novel and she has much more page time and stronger decisions. I found this book to be less steamy than the previous one and also way less dramatic, but I think the latter is certainly a good thing, seeing that I was annoyed with the SENSE OF URGENCY in almost every scene in Cleopatra. The storytelling is also tighter here. One thing I did want to say is that I love Anya, Give me a tortured crazy girl who clings to innocence, and you've sold me on that character, That was Anya for sure. I would have liked to have seen more of her.
With Anne's passing, it makes sense that the younger Rice not continue this story. I hope that's his decision. The ending didn't really need to be followed by another.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC. This review was definitely bittersweet for me to write.
I was given a free e-copy of this novel by NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
A pharaoh made immortal by a mysterious and powerful elixir, Ramses the Great became counselor and lover to some of Egypt's greatest and most powerful rulers before he was awakened from centuries of slumber to the mystifying and dazzling world of Edwardian England. Having vanquished foes both human and supernatural, he's found love with the beautiful heiress Julie Stratford, daughter of Lawrence Stratford, the slain archeologist who discovered his tomb. Now, with the outbreak of a world war looming, Ramses and those immortals brought forth from the mists of history by his resurrection will face their greatest test yet.
Russian assassins bearing weapons of immense power have assembled under one command: all those who loved Lawrence Stratford must die. From the glowing jewels at their necks comes an incredible supernatural force: the power to bring statues to life. As Ramses and his allies, including the immortal queens Cleopatra and Bektaten, gather together to battle these threats, Ramses reveals that the great weapon may have roots in an ancient Egyptian ritual designed to render pharaohs humble before Osiris, the god of the underworld. The resulting journey will take them across storm-tossed seas and into the forests of northern Russia, where they will confront a terrifying collision of tortured political ambitions and religious fervor held in thrall to a Godlike power. But the true answers they seek will lie beyond the border between life and death, within realms that defy the imagination of even an immortal such as Ramses the Great.
In Ramses the Damned: The Reign of Osiris, Anne Rice, revered and beloved storyteller ("queen of gothic lit, the maestro of the monstrous and the diva of the devious" --The Philadelphia Inquirer), in collaboration with her son, acclaimed bestselling novelist Christopher Rice ("a magician; a master" --Peter Straub), bring us another thrilling, seductive tale of high adventure, romance, history, and suspense. (Goodreads synopsis)
Honestly this was a surprise, because I thought the second book was a nice ending to Ramses’s story. However, this novel proved that I was wrong. There is still so much that Egypt’s history, Ramses’s history, can bring to life.
Most immortality stories speak of the power of immortality. But Anne and Christoper’s novels speak more of the humanity in the immortals. They do not, can not, forget the years they have experienced. Ramses uses that time to advise the pharaohs of his homeland. It was his memories that caused Cleopatra’s rise. The saying that it is “harder to life than to die” really takes place throughout this series.
It also highlights an important factor that every History channel, archaeologist, and researcher knows. Misinterpretations of lost languages can, and do, happen. Those misinterpretations can lead to greatness, but also to failure. It would be unwise to take these lost languages literally because no one can truly know what was meant. We can infer what the texts say, but we as a society should accept that we may be wrong. It is interesting how this one novel can say so much about what is wrong with a society as a whole without enforcing any specific beliefs as the most accurate.
I was very happy that this novel dealt more in philosophy and emotional relationships, and less in the physical aspects of them. The emotions that roll through Julie, Bektaten, and Ramses were beautifully written that as the reader I felt that I was experiencing those emotions with each character.
I do wish that we, the readers, could experience more of Ramses experienced with the colossus. But that would be entering a realm that no one can really begin to understand. Even with very active imaginations.
Overall I rate this novel 5 out of 5 stars.
A pharaoh made immortal by a mysterious and powerful elixir, Ramses the Great became counselor and lover to some of Egypt's greatest and most powerful rulers before he was awakened from centuries of slumber to the mystifying and dazzling world of Edwardian England. Having vanquished foes both human and supernatural, he's found love with the beautiful heiress Julie Stratford, daughter of Lawrence Stratford, the slain archeologist who discovered his tomb. Now, with the outbreak of a world war looming, Ramses and those immortals brought forth from the mists of history by his resurrection will face their greatest test yet.
Russian assassins bearing weapons of immense power have assembled under one command: all those who loved Lawrence Stratford must die. From the glowing jewels at their necks comes an incredible supernatural force: the power to bring statues to life. As Ramses and his allies, including the immortal queens Cleopatra and Bektaten, gather together to battle these threats, Ramses reveals that the great weapon may have roots in an ancient Egyptian ritual designed to render pharaohs humble before Osiris, the god of the underworld. The resulting journey will take them across storm-tossed seas and into the forests of northern Russia, where they will confront a terrifying collision of tortured political ambitions and religious fervor held in thrall to a Godlike power. But the true answers they seek will lie beyond the border between life and death, within realms that defy the imagination of even an immortal such as Ramses the Great.
In Ramses the Damned: The Reign of Osiris, Anne Rice, revered and beloved storyteller ("queen of gothic lit, the maestro of the monstrous and the diva of the devious" --The Philadelphia Inquirer), in collaboration with her son, acclaimed bestselling novelist Christopher Rice ("a magician; a master" --Peter Straub), bring us another thrilling, seductive tale of high adventure, romance, history, and suspense. (Goodreads synopsis)
Honestly this was a surprise, because I thought the second book was a nice ending to Ramses’s story. However, this novel proved that I was wrong. There is still so much that Egypt’s history, Ramses’s history, can bring to life.
Most immortality stories speak of the power of immortality. But Anne and Christoper’s novels speak more of the humanity in the immortals. They do not, can not, forget the years they have experienced. Ramses uses that time to advise the pharaohs of his homeland. It was his memories that caused Cleopatra’s rise. The saying that it is “harder to life than to die” really takes place throughout this series.
It also highlights an important factor that every History channel, archaeologist, and researcher knows. Misinterpretations of lost languages can, and do, happen. Those misinterpretations can lead to greatness, but also to failure. It would be unwise to take these lost languages literally because no one can truly know what was meant. We can infer what the texts say, but we as a society should accept that we may be wrong. It is interesting how this one novel can say so much about what is wrong with a society as a whole without enforcing any specific beliefs as the most accurate.
I was very happy that this novel dealt more in philosophy and emotional relationships, and less in the physical aspects of them. The emotions that roll through Julie, Bektaten, and Ramses were beautifully written that as the reader I felt that I was experiencing those emotions with each character.
I do wish that we, the readers, could experience more of Ramses experienced with the colossus. But that would be entering a realm that no one can really begin to understand. Even with very active imaginations.
Overall I rate this novel 5 out of 5 stars.