A review by will_cherico
Fane Of The Black Pharaoh by Robert Bloch

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

There's some neat stuff here that explores the lore of Nyarlathotep, but ultimately this is a really disappointing story. Bloch doesn't make effective use of the setting of Egypt or Nephren-Ka's tomb at all (as a matter of fact, he barely brings it up) and the story is wholly uninteresting. There's a classic revelation at the end, but it's one that isn't built up well and isn't serviceable as a twist because it's pretty much laid out almost as soon as Carteret enters the tomb.

You could cargue Carteret's death at the hands of Nephren-Ka's cult suggests some sort of theme about a cycle of white hobby archaeologists being fools and getting killed for it, but it all comes off as more of an appeal to the Egyptomania of the time than anything

, especially with how Bloch seems to have no interest in the setting. The message is more of a hand wavey "wow, Egypt is SCARY" and an admittedly creepy question of fate and free will that I wish was explored way deeper than it was (that is, not at all. There's just the concept of a wall of hyper-accurate illustrations, and the veil covering them is lifted so that the cult can always see a day in advance).