A review by redhairedashreads
The Hippopotamus Pool by Elizabeth Peters

3.0

 

3 stars - I liked it

Amelia and Emerson return to Egypt with Ramses and Nefret in tow for another year of excavating. This time to find an undisturbed royal tomb that is irresistible to tomb robbers and thieves. 

This was another enjoyable adventure in Egypt with Amelia and her family. Like always, I really like Amelia and Emerson. These two are true partners and really love each other. I love seeing Emerson show his love for Amelia and try to protect her, but also allowing her to do her own thing. He truly is a great partner for her and a great father as well. 

While I still find Ramses and Nefret a bit annoying, I did find them much better in this one. They are smart children and scrappy when necessary, which we see in this one, but are finally growing up some and starting to develop more of a personality. My favorite part of this book though was the return of Walter and Evelyn. These two have not been to Egypt since the first book when they meet, and it was great seeing them respark their careers in the field and repair their marriage. 

The mystery in this one was enjoyable. I liked seeing Amelia and Emerson follow the clues to their assailants and enjoyed the archeology along the way. The tomb in this one was very interesting and was probably modeled off the tomb of Tutankhamun with the amount of grave goods that was in it. I did enjoy seeing Emerson being firm in his process in preserving and documenting his finds and how grumpy he gets when people try to rush him. I love seeing a dedication to preservation. 

Overall, this was enjoyable. I look forward to seeing what shenanigans Amelia and her family get into next time. 

Trigger Warnings: unexpected death of a child; grief; colonization; child abuse; kidnapping of a child;