Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Crocodile on the Sandbank

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

14 reviews

filipa_maia's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I love Egypt, I love mummies and definitely love strong female characters. So this book was everything I could have asked for.

This was such a nice story. I love Amelia she is a strong and independent character, with a powerfull view about female role in the society she lives. Evelyn and the Emerson brothers are also very lovable characters (each one of them with a very interesting background and side story). Even the villains are very interesting and well written (and that is very important in any story).

I really enjoyed this book and I want to know more about the future of these characters. I will have to read the next few books (there are, only, 19 more).

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borkyreadsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

The story itself was fun and enjoyable. I really appreciated the archaeological accuracy as a fellow archaeologist however it’s quite hard to get past the racism that oozes out of every page, especially towards Egyptians. I get the sense that Michaels was trying to satirize the views of Victorian Egyptologists but from a 2024 perspective it just read as prejudism.

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queen_of_the_rats's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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singalana's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

If you like The Mummy (1999), starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, I think you will like this book.

NOTE: This story is told from the point of view of a British upper-class person and has unchallenged colonialistic views. If that is something that bothers you as a reader, then I would not recommend this. I read this book keeping in mind that these are the opinions of the character, so I will not be commenting on this aspect of the story.

Crocodile on the Sandbank is the first novel in the Amelia Peabody murder mystery -series. The story takes place in 1880s Egypt when archaeology (and I use this term loosely) was a popular pastime with the British aristocracy. The main character Amelia has inherited a significant amount of money and decides to travel. In Rome, she rescues another Englishwoman, Evelyn, and takes her as a travelling partner. Her interest in archaeology gets her involved with the Emerson brothers. But what would a story set in Egypt be without a mummy making an appearance?

This is a lighthearted mystery book with a dash of the supernatural. The characters are archetypical to what you might imagine finding in this kind of book. It feels almost campy, but as I read on, the characters grew on me, and their relationships seemed to develop organically. I found the writing to be lively and the style fitting to the story. The banter between the characters was delightful, and despite their flaws, I was rooting for the characters.

If the reader has experience with mystery books, the ending might be somewhat predictable, but because of the campy and lighthearted nature of the book, I wouldn’t necessarily count it as a flaw. All in all, I like the characters and the milieu enough to be interested in continuing the story.

However, regarding this edition of the book: There were some typos, and the printing quality was not the best. And I would skip Amelia’s biography at the beginning of the book to avoid all spoilers. At the end of the book, there’s an extract from the 18th book in the series, which is an odd choice considering this is the first book…

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erebus53's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A simple story in 1800s style with an Anglophile bent, having been with in the 1970s it allows a story told from the point of view of the women, despite the antics being primarily of Egyptology.

You're not going to like this story if you are disinterested in stories of rich Brits flitting about the countryside buying the time and energies of the locals, while pillaging the countryside of its relics and treasures. It's all quite ridiculous but at least, if you can hold your nose, it's not as rife with racism and misogyny as Wilbur Smith.

The sarcastic humour and dry turn of phrase is amusing. I did laugh out loud at some of the quips, and the casual banter between main characters is stuffy and kind of toxic, but is a foil for solid relationship building and mutual respect.

Not my usual flavour, but a fun little mystery, that's a bit ScoobyDoo in the execution.

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amynbell's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

This book was, quite frankly, horrible. I saw two people gushing over it and remembered the series from my high school library, so I thought I would be fun to read for nostalgia's sake. Boy, was I wrong. Between the culture-bashing, male-bashing, and being written in the most boring way possible, I'm surprised I even finished it. The story is narrated by a self-sufficient Victorian heiress who has gone to Egypt for adventure. I always enjoyed novels narrated by self-sufficient ladies fighting their way through a man's world when I was younger, but Amelia Peabody is just annoyingly superior. She seems to magically know everything about medicine and even learns fairly fluent Arabic and hieroglyphics by studying them on the boat ride to Egypt. Once she gets to Egypt, she can's set sail down the Nile until the curtains on her boat don't clash with her wardrobe.

Of course, she finally meets a man who puts her in her place:

"I know you, madam! I have met your kind too often —the rampageous British female at her clumsiest and most arrogant. Ye gods! The breed covers the earth like mosquitoes, and is as maddening. The depths of the pyramids, the heights of the Himalayas—no spot on earth is safe from you!”

And she retaliates in kind:

“And you, sir, are the lordly British male at his loudest and most bad-mannered. If the English gentlewoman is covering the earth, it is in the hope of counteracting some of the mischief her lord and master has perpetrated. Swaggering, loud, certain of his own superiority…”

*eyeroll*

Several people have compared this particular Amelia Peabody book to Scooby Doo since the main storyline involves someone dressing as a mummy and terrorizing the locals, while Amelia Peabody and her friends try to figure out who it is. And I suppose that could have been interesting if the majority of the book after the mummy appears hadn't simply become vague moments of action requiring multiple readings to try to figure out, with 90% of the rest of the text comprised of characters discussing what happened and what they are going to do ad nauseam. Oh, and let's not forget the part where Amelia looks down upon all the Egyptians living in dirty squalor and preventing their children from batting away the flies that are covering their eyes and making them go blind. Really?

This book has absolutely no redeeming qualities, and the only crocodile on a sandbank is from an ancient poem. Will I read any more Amelia Peabody books? Absolutely not.

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kitausu's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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kalira's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-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? Yes

5.0

The Amelia Peabody series has been a favourite since I was little and listening to the audiobooks with my mother; Barbara Rosenblat does a beautiful job bringing them to life.

While Amelia is very much the definition of an unreliable narrator, and her perspective is very much flavoured by her nationality and the era, these things are well written to make it obvious to the reader that they are true, and Amelia herself is a delight (in all her occasionally disastrous glory). The character dynamics and relationships are wonderfully engaging, and the mystery fascinating and alarming.

The conclusion sets up the next book in the series in excellent fashion without leaving any feeling of things being left hanging.

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monapearl's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.5

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jessgj's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Okay, so WARNING: This book was written in the 1950s as satire of the popular adventure stories of that time. I didn't know that going in so when I was recommended this book and was hit in the face with some Mighty Whitey narration, I was thrown off and did some research. Also this book is DENSE so if you're looking for a quick read, maybe this isn't for you.

With that in mind, it was easier to enjoy the fainting damsels, the brass Alpha Man and the Nobel, Intrepid British woman *Rule Britannia intensifies*. But in all serious, I listened to the audiobook and fell in love with the core cast and am excited to see what mischief they'll get into next.

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