“Stargate Meets the Mummy”: A Review of Ancient Civilizations (Book 1 of Lamentations and Magic), by Russell Cowdrey

 “Stargate Meets the Mummy”: A Review of Ancient Civilizations (Book 1 of Lamentations and Magic), by Russell Cowdrey (Coppell, TX, USA: RPC Novels, LLC, 2023). ISBN: 978-1-960300-00-3.

While standing solidly on its merits as historical fiction, Ancient Civilizations’ supernatural aspects are what set this book apart. From the opening battle, set in Egypt in 321 BC, the author cues the reader that there is something greater than reality as we know it going on.

By the end of the opening, Cowdrey has given us an intriguing JJ Abrams-esque Mystery Box.

The narrative quickly shifts to the Louvre. It’s 1883. Educated antiquities expert Louisa Sophia is robbing the exhibit of Ramses III. Louisa is Evelyn Carnahan from The Mummy with very sketchy morals. We again change locations to Mosul Province in the Ottoman Empire to meet the hero—physician turned archaeologist and treasure hunter Ben McGehee. Like Quincy Morris from Dracula, he’s from Texas.

From Louisa and Ben’s first meeting, it is clear that they are on a collision course—the red sparks of seeming animosity and the blue sparks of eventual love illuminating the narrative, with all the cinematic tropes that readers and audiences love.

The author delivers global historical context, backstory, and world-building through impressive detail, papyri, translations in tombs, letters, song lyrics, references to books on subjects like the use of antiseptics and Samuel Birch’s book on hieroglyphics, and authentic ethnic foods and dialogue from half a dozen languages. Cowdrey has an impressive knowledge of weaponry and battle tactics, both ancient and Victorian. He also employs the best adventure tropes—bad guys pretending to be good guys, exotic archaeological complexes, interesting secondary characters of numerous ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and dangerous marketplaces where Louisa tries to sell her stolen goods and information is gleaned.

Through the author’s artful blending of genuine archaeology and anthropology and carefully crafted lore, the narrative at roughly the midpoint becomes seamlessly science fiction, incorporating magical objects and anthropomorphic beings that clearly draw from Egyptian mythology and iconography.

I only have one suggestion: remove the extensive footnotes, which disrupt the narrative and take us out of this otherwise immersive story. Foreign language phrases and Victorian slang are easily contextualized (eliminating these footnotes entirely), and the rest can be placed in the already impressive Compendium.

According to the back matter, Ancient Civilizations will have a late-summer sequel. Judging from the final chapter cliffhanger, it should be an equally excellent read. (This review first appeared on Reedsy Discovery)

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