Most helpful customer reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely not a sleeper., Jun 10 2004
Tom Holland takes us on a fascinating ride through ancient Egypt and weaves together a magical, and often horrific, tale of those who ruled the golden land and the great treasures that existed within the walls of palaces and within the walls of tombs. It is his own theoretical account based on what is known about the Egyptian Pharaohs today and what is speculated.The story starts off with Dr. Howard Carter about to discover the tomb of the legendary Tut-Ankh-Amen and he knows this because of what was found buried just beneath the sands. A writhing corpse with its throat slashed. He writes to his financier, Lord Carnarvon, to let him know what he is about to uncover and why he believes it to be the burial place of "King Tut." As Carter relates this to him, the story unravels. It is a tale within a tale within a tale. It might sound confusing but Holland flows from one time in history to the next flawlessly. This is the first novel of Mr. Holland's I have read and it won't be my last. I highly recommend 'Sleeper in the Sands.'
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5.0 out of 5 stars
The Secret of the Heretic Pharaoh, Mar 1 2003
This is one of my all-time favorite horror novels. The reason is simple: Holland uses a tumultous period in ancient Egypt's history, weaves it together with the Bible's Genesis and Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, and comes up with a totally plausible explanation for the mystery of the Heretic Pharaoh. For those not familiar with ancient Egyptian history, Akhenaten (1353 BCE to 1335 BCE), a pharaoh of the New Kingdom, abandoned the worship of Egypt's old gods in favor of just one - the Aten, the sun-god as represented by the sun-disk with its rays bestowing life on the earth. Akhenaten ("Aten is content") forbade the worship of any other god besides the Aten, making him history's first official monotheist. What led him to make such a radical and revolutionary change to ancient Egyptian life has never been fully explained by historians, although theories abound about the need to rein in the powerful old priesthood of Egypt's chief god, Amun ("the hidden one"), by instituting a new religion with Akhenaten himself as head priest. Akhenaten's name, together with that of his queen, Nefertiti ("a beautiful woman has arrived"), and his heir and successor, Tutankhamun, were erased from all buildings, monuments and records after their deaths as ancient Egypt reverted back to the worship of their old gods. Akhenaten was referred to simply as the Heretic Pharaoh, to be better forgotten by the ancient Egyptian masses. It was as if they had never existed, until archeologists such as the famous Howard Carter re-discovered them. Fans of ancient Egyptian culture will have a rollicking good ride with this book of stories within stories. Of all Holland's books, this one is his absolute best.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Only about 3/4 awake so far, Jul 9 2002
For me ,Tom Holland is one of those authors I read because he comes up with interesting ideas and situations, which are usually enough to see me through any problems a book might have, and the quality of his writing is generally high. In the case of this book, I was doing fine until I got into the section set in ancient Egypt, and then it gradually became a slog. The sections set in the mediaeval middle east are excellent, very reminiscent of nineteenth century Gothic and the Arabian Nights, and the main narrator is an interesting character. The ancient Egypt section bogs down because: it's too long,the characters aren't as interesting and have confusingly similar names, and an air of something significant about to happen hangs over it but nothing really seems to.
The understated denouement should provoke a feeling of unease but by this time the reader is too tired, and it just comes across as flat. I suspect that there will be a sequel, expanding on the horror implied in the last paragraph. If so, I'll still give it a try.
If you're a fan of Holland,well, there's enough here to make it worth your while but be prepared to be a bit disappointed. If you haven't read any of his stuff yet,start with something else,preferably The Vampire (which has another title in the States which at present I don't remember!).
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