A review by biblioholic29
The Painted Queen by Elizabeth Peters, Joan Hess

1.0

I've loved this series for years, so when I found out that the final book was finally being published, I was ecstatic. I knew it had been finished posthumously, but didn't know how much had been completed prior to Peters' death. The answer seems to be not much. The author does seem to make a valiant effort to emulate the style, but falls far short. None of the characters I've loved for 15 years acted like themselves. Furthermore, some egregious errors were made in describing several secondary characters (Daoud does NOT have many wives and children that's Selim. Kat has NOT known Ramses since he was born - that's Evelyn). I don't necessarily blame Joan Hess (who finished the book) for these problems, they are things that should have been caught by a good editor. In fact they were so bad I wondered if they had a different editor in addition to a different author. The plot and resolution were standard Amelia Peabody - it's all the little things that make reading and rereading these books feel like visiting family that were wrong. Unless you're an extreme completest, I'd recommend any fan of Amelia pretend this one hasn't happened and reread your favorite instead.