Jane Lindskold, The Buried Pyramid

The Buried Pyramid

Jane Lindskold

Tor, May 2004, $26.95, 400 pp.

ISBN: 0765302608

As a captain in the English army Neville Hawthorne was stationed in Egypt where he developed a passion for archeology. A cousin of Prince Albert told him about the legend of the Valley of the Dust, the burial place of the pharaoh Neferankhotep, beloved of the gods who protect the chamber from grave robbers. Neville almost found the pharaoh's burial place but the Protectors of the Pharaoh stopped him. However, he managed to get directions to the pharaoh's resting place.

Years later he mounts an expedition to find the Valley of the Dust accompanied by his niece. His guide, Eddie an Englishmen who served with him in the army and stayed to marry an Islamic woman, gets them to the location after dealing with rival archeologists and a dangerous Bedouin tribe. When they enter the valley, they are sealed in by the Protectors of the Pharaoh. They befriend an Egyptian deity and are judged by the Pharaoh as well as other deities in the Egyptian Parthenon. If they pass they can stay in paradise or return to their own world but if they fail, they suffer the Pharaoh's punishment.

The pantheon of the gods of ancient Egypt are alive and thriving in the tomb of Neferankhotep but they are deities who understand the foibles of humanity and are merciful even to those who don't deserve it. The characters, even the villains, are changed by their ordeal and become better people. THE BURIED PYRAMID starts off as a Lara Croft movie and then transforms into a fantasy novel. Jane Lindskold has written an exciting and enjoyable stand alone work with characters that are heroically flawed.

Harriet Klausner