A review by tatyana_
Across Ancient Sands: Uncovering a Bronze Age journey around the Mediterranean Sea by Eric Horn

adventurous informative mysterious slow-paced

3.0

Thank you to the author, Eric Scott Horn, for sending me a copy of this book for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

This book follows a group of researchers and grad students excavating Bronze Age artifacts in the Mediterranean that detail the travels of Sfas. With their discovery comes many challenges from individuals and institutions who want to take credit and manipulate the team. Additionally, the team must navigate how this discovery will impact them professionally and personally, with culture and religion also playing a role in their dynamics. 

You can truly tell how much research the author put into this book. There were many interesting details about the ancient culture and history and the procedures and skills the discovery team used. Translations and drawings are even included in the book, so it’s like you are gathering the story of Sfas with the crew. It was very cool to see how different historical and cultural influences came together to form the epic detailed on the artifacts. And as someone who enjoys ancient history, it was fun to see familiar historical and cultural figures in the translations. 

While I did enjoy the archaeology background provided at times, at other times it felt like an info dump. There were times when I felt lost while trying to follow the many characters and their relationships. At other times it felt like I was being told things more than being shown, or that dialogue was telling the plot. Instead, I wish we got to see more of their interactions with each other and got into their heads more. This probably would have helped make the dangerous moments and the plot twist more explosive. 

Overall, this was a pretty interesting, slow-to-medium-paced read, and it made me want to brush up on ancient history!