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theirresponsiblereader's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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Placing the Book
It’s been too many years (and too many books) since I read the early books in The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series, so I’m a little fuzzy on the Ministry Seven. But from things said throughout this book—and my dusty memory—I’d put this book slightly earlier than that series (or maybe right after book one…but I’m pretty sure it’s earlier). We’re in your classic Victorian Steampunk area dealing with an agent for the Ministry dealing with fringe science and other weirdness and the street urchins that he uses for things he can’t do.
Think the Baker Street Irregulars. But with goggles.
What’s The Curse of the Silver Pharaoh About?
Verity Fitzroy’s primary focus in life is finding out what happened to her parents and why. She’s tracked down one person who she’s convinced could help her—and when she attempts to contact him, she disturbs a Ministry operation involving their Ministry contact, Agent Harrison Thorne. Because things go so wrong during this operation an Egyptologist is kidnapped and Verity’s contact is gone.
Thorne recruits the Seven to help him track down the kidnap victim. All tracks lead to the Delancy Academy—a school outside of London for students gifted in the sciences (most of whom come from money, obviously). The oldest two are enrolled (and, shine, it should be said) in the Academy to try to discover the tie between the Academy and the kidnappers.
The rest take up residence on a nearby farm to wait for their chance to help out. These children aren’t ready for life in the countryside—the work is different from what they’re used to doing (scrambling for scraps on the streets of London) and the environment as a whole takes some adjusting.
So, what did I think about The Curse of the Silver Pharaoh?
I don’t have a lot to say about this, and it kind of bugs me. Because it seems like I should. I had a real blast with this—it had a different flavor as a whole than the Ministry books—there’s more of a supernatural bent to things, and the whole sexual-tension thing between Books and Braun is absent (obviously).
There’s more of a YA-feel to it, too. Largely because the oldest two in the Seven are young adults. But it doesn’t ever scream YA—it’s just a fun fish-out-of-water adventure for a bunch of Steampunk kids.
I liked the devices that the Academy’s students cooked up and would’ve been very content to spend a few months watching things at the school before the main action of the novel kicked in. Verity’s new friend Julia McTighe is part Luna Lovegood, part whatever Amari Peter’s best friend was called (I can’t believe I can’t come up with it)—and all sorts of fun. I hope they find a way to bring her back for the second book.
It’s a short, fast, steampunkily fun adventure. That’s good enough for me.
lorialdenholuta's review against another edition
4.0
An intriguing adventure romp! There's a slight Hogwarts feel to the tale, due to being mostly told from within an extraordinary school out in the countryside, but the adventure is all it's own. Verity and her friends and foes are interesting, well rounded characters. You'll care about their outcomes. A fun rainy day read.
dtaylorbooks's review
4.0
I’ve said this before a thousand times, but anything ancient Egypt is going to get my attention and THE CURSE OF THE SILVER PHARAOH was no exception. Such a fun and exciting premise, I’m glad it lived up to my expectations! Set around the beginning of the 20th century (based on how the cover model’s dressed, maybe late teens). Definitely post Great War, but I don’t think quite roaring 20s yet. But definitely creeping toward the height of Egyptomania that would sweep the world with the finding of King Tutankhamun’s tomb.
I loved the whole concept of a government agency employing street children to do jobs that they [the government] can’t otherwise get into. Granted, the adverse of that, and this is my own brain going here, is that they’re disposable and no one will miss them if they die, and they can be paid scraps and still think it amazing because otherwise they have nothing. But ignoring that rabbit hole my headspace crept close to, they get to go on this little adventure that gets them all into rather better conditions than what they’re used to, if nothing else. Granted, those staying at the farm house just couldn’t stay put, but really, that was to be expected.
Verity was an intriguing character that leapt off the page from the very beginning and she was a delight to follow along during this story. I had somewhat high hopes for Vidmar but alas, it was not meant to be. Although, and this is a spoiler so go ahead and skip to the next paragraph from here, having an Italian passing as an Indian kind of had my eye twitching a little. Although, considering the time it was set, I find it fairly accurate that anyone with even a mild dark complexion could say they were from somewhere in northern Africa or the Middle East or western Asia and people would accept it without question, never mind Italians and Indians look nothing alike. Not like similar things don’t happen now, so.
My only real complaint about the book was that it could have done with a round of copyediting. There were definitely a fair share of missing commas and linking verbs, but everything else was really well put together and the issues I did see didn’t detract from the story in any meaningful way.
It always brings me so much joy when authors dabble in ancient Egypt in a fictionalized way like this. Ballantine and Morris created such a fun story and I loved the light steampunk aspect of it too. It just added an additional layer of intrigue and depth to the world they created. It helped to focus less on the dirty street urchin part of the story and focus more on the service these children were doing for society and the good they were doing, and the fun toys they got to use doing it. Like, there was very little woe is me here. These children knew the hand they were dealt, for whatever variety of reasons that was, and they lived with it and they each brought something to the table that proved they were far more valuable to the world than what society would otherwise see in them. Equal parts uplifting and entertaining.
I look forward to the next book! And I also just found out there’s not only a sequel but more adjacent books. Awesome!
4
I loved the whole concept of a government agency employing street children to do jobs that they [the government] can’t otherwise get into. Granted, the adverse of that, and this is my own brain going here, is that they’re disposable and no one will miss them if they die, and they can be paid scraps and still think it amazing because otherwise they have nothing. But ignoring that rabbit hole my headspace crept close to, they get to go on this little adventure that gets them all into rather better conditions than what they’re used to, if nothing else. Granted, those staying at the farm house just couldn’t stay put, but really, that was to be expected.
Verity was an intriguing character that leapt off the page from the very beginning and she was a delight to follow along during this story. I had somewhat high hopes for Vidmar but alas, it was not meant to be. Although, and this is a spoiler so go ahead and skip to the next paragraph from here, having an Italian passing as an Indian kind of had my eye twitching a little. Although, considering the time it was set, I find it fairly accurate that anyone with even a mild dark complexion could say they were from somewhere in northern Africa or the Middle East or western Asia and people would accept it without question, never mind Italians and Indians look nothing alike. Not like similar things don’t happen now, so.
My only real complaint about the book was that it could have done with a round of copyediting. There were definitely a fair share of missing commas and linking verbs, but everything else was really well put together and the issues I did see didn’t detract from the story in any meaningful way.
It always brings me so much joy when authors dabble in ancient Egypt in a fictionalized way like this. Ballantine and Morris created such a fun story and I loved the light steampunk aspect of it too. It just added an additional layer of intrigue and depth to the world they created. It helped to focus less on the dirty street urchin part of the story and focus more on the service these children were doing for society and the good they were doing, and the fun toys they got to use doing it. Like, there was very little woe is me here. These children knew the hand they were dealt, for whatever variety of reasons that was, and they lived with it and they each brought something to the table that proved they were far more valuable to the world than what society would otherwise see in them. Equal parts uplifting and entertaining.
I look forward to the next book! And I also just found out there’s not only a sequel but more adjacent books. Awesome!
4
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