A review by whenimreading
Empire of Shadows by Jacquelyn Benson

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

3.5

I was very excited to listen to this audiobook after hearing about the book and having it compared to The Mummy. While obvious similarities between the two stories are present, it stands on its own and I think this could be a fun adventure series to dive into. 

Ellie was very fun to follow along, I could sympathize with her struggle as a female scholar, battle with misogyny, being just ahead of her time with stereotypical gender roles. I loved the sense of adventure and archaeologist discovery. The anti-colonialism commentary and themes made me root for the characters and a happy ending. 

I thought the banter between Ellie and Adam was good while they were on the page together, they were very alike in their views on marriage and being underestimated for their knowledge. It was entertaining to read!

While the pacing was on the slower side, I really enjoyed the book and will be looking forward to the next one. Alex Picard did a wonderful job narrating. I really liked how she jumped between the POVs with her accents for Ellie and Adam, as well as the slew of bad guy characters and the like!

3.5⭐️

Thank you Vaughan Woods Publishing for the listening copy to review.