The Emerald Tablet ( Legends of Amun Ra # 1) by Joshua Silverman

Leoros doesn't have many friends. The son of a scientist and archeologist, he is constantly on the move. But when his parents make a startling discovery in Egypt, Leoros' world is turned upside down.

Description

Do you wish you could have the power of a god? Would you use it for good…or for evil?

When an archeologist discovers the mythic Emerald Tablet buried beneath Egypt’s desert, her son decodes the ancient text leading him to a distant world.

On that world, a slave girl begins a journey towards a destiny she cannot imagine. But when an ancient foe rises from the ashes, they will be brought together
by forces neither understands.

Leoros, who dreams of being like the heroes in the comic books, must fight to unlock the secrets of the universe to save a people he never knew existed.

Atlantia, whose bloody visions wake her in the night, senses the darkness coming.

Together they will face an enemy with the power of dark energy, lose a mentor to the assassin’s blade, and be betrayed by someone they trust. Their fight for the future is just beginning, and before it is over, a final sacrifice must be made. When the darkness comes, will they stand and fight or will they join it?

There is darkness in everyone.GOODREADS

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I expected this was going to be another story about a kid ending up in another world and having an adventure. Like that movie Warriors of Virtue or Alice in Wonderland. Although I suppose with all the Star Wars references it should be more like Luke saving a planet story. However my Star Wars savvy is limited to some popular phrases and yoda-talk. So I won't go there, everything I expected from this book was blown out of the window starting from chapter one.

The first chapter starts of with a disturbing and unpleasant scene. A girl being strangled by her father. The scene is very detailed, describing what the girl is feeling and how she blacks out. The father while he strangles her keeps asking her if she has ever felt hate. Eventually the girl escapes by unlocking an innate ability, she uses energy and throws her father away. That' was the whole point of the "exercise". The father,King Ankar, is the villain of the story. A man who wants to use his children and get vengeance.

The narration isn't that great. At times it sounds like an old wise science teacher or philosopher or like an enthusiastic kid playing with toy soldiers, the latter comes out especially in the scene where captain Axios is introduced. Also the narrator switches from one character to several together and describes what they're thinking and a bit of each characters background. 

This is a book with very good characterization. Every character has an interesting background but they have unpleasant personalities. But this can just be me and it's only at the start of the book. So bad first impressions. The characters are dynamic as well so they become more bearable in the second half of the book. Leoros was too accepting, he's 13, very young, goes through a portal meets an Amun Priest that says he's a kid from some prophecy and Leoros's reaction to this is basically "cool, teach me your ways". The other apprentices have unpleasant and shallow personalities. Again this changes later, while  some change for the better others not so much. The one character that changed and I liked more was Dio, I think her character grew a lot and I suppose Leoros as well. Then there's Kam's character  one of the apprentices that goes and joins Ankars army. The one character that just kept going down hill while developing a twisted obsession to a magical rod, I expected him to start calling it "my precious " at some point. 

The odd and unfortunate thing is I liked Leoros's parents, Alex and Camilla. Those were the characters I liked the most. They had clashing personalities, Alex believes in what he sees while Cam is more open-minded. The narration also switches from what's happening in Potara and with Leoros's parents trying to activate the pillar to get him back. This was an unfortunate choice in favorite characters because they died.

This is science-fiction, kind of. Leoros ends up in a futuristic kind of Egyptian planet, potara. There's a disconnection at times between the narration and  the story. Sometimes you're focused on one scene or event then suddenly they're on advanced aircraft's. 

It's still a good story, it has that old school feeling of diving into a new and interesting  world and not just some glossy young adult novel. Also a good integration of Egyptian and Greek mythology.

I'm not happy with the ending. The ending was unexpected. It felt like the scene in John Carter when Carter gets tricked and sent back to earth...only the movie didn't end there. Objectively it's a good ending, subjectively.........

I'd definitely recommend this book, if you're a sci-fi fan, or Star Wars fan, or a comic book fan then there's definitely something for you in this book. If you're looking for something new, this book has that too. 

I liked what Leoros learned about Duality , how it's about perspective and finding a balance between two things. Is this really a good book or a bad one, I guess you'll just have to read it yourself.

My review of The Soul of World (Legends of Amun Ra 2)
Grade:

**T0 review this book I was asked