Review: The Ape Who Guards the Balance (Amelia Peabody #10) by Elizabeth Peters
The Ape Who Guards the Balance
by Elizabeth Peters
Book Ten in the Amelia Peabody series. Click here to read reviews of earlier books in the series. This review may contain spoilers for previous books in the series.
At a suffragette’s rally in London, Amelia Peabody Emerson catches sight of her family’s arch-nemesis, the Master Criminal Sethos, and is nearly kidnapped. However, Amelia eludes capture and soon she and her family are en route to Egypt to resume their research. As Emerson and Amelia excavate a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, the Peabody children try to uncover the source of a stunning stolen papyrus they’ve acquired on the black market. Unfortunately, Ramses, David and Nefret aren’t the only ones interested in the ancient scroll, and the entire family is in mortal danger. Again.
There are now two generations of Egyptologists in the family, and Amelia is learning to recognize that her children are now all adults. It is a challenge for her, to put it mildly, since she has grown used to being in charge and obeyed. Actually, it’s rather charming how much the children humor her need to play the boss (or is Ramses genuinely frightened of his mother?) but the growth both they and Amelia experience in the novel is quite rewarding to those who have followed their adventures through the previous nine books.
One of the more touching moments comes when Amelia is forced to confront an ugly prejudice she didn’t even suspect she carried until family drama pushes it to the foreground. She realizes that the negative feeling is based in nothing rational, and feels awful that she has this prejudice - but it still takes her time to process her way through it. Luckily, the affected parties are patient with her, trusting in her good character, and in the end she comes around and recognizes that the most important thing is the children’s happiness. She’s a good mother, but the episode reminds readers that she’s still human and far from perfect. (Not that we needed a reminder, bless her and all her many flaws.)
With the adult children also come two new narrators: Ramses in the form of “Manuscript H” and Nefret in a series of letters. Adding their point of view really helps round out the narrative and ramps up the adventure and derring-do as David and Ramses constantly throw themselves into danger. Of course, young passions and young hormones also lead to a few romantic triangles and entanglements; these scenes did occasionally lead to eye-rolling since it’s pretty obvious how it will all be sorted in the next volume or two. (I hope Peters didn’t drag it out past that point or the drama really will be unbearable.)
Many of the characters in the book return from previous stories, including Sethos and some of his talented henchmen. Although it’s fun to see these characters again, they seem to fall into a secondary role, and the mystery itself feels very familiar and repetitious of previous adventures. The pleasure in this story comes not from piecing together clues, which are few and far between, but from the characters’ growth and their interactions with each other. So if you’ve grown to love Amelia, Ramses, Emerson and all the rest, it’s a delightful read. If you’re in this for the murder mystery, it’s a disappointment, despite the high body count.
3.5 out of 5 stars
To read more about The Ape Who Guards the Balance, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co. #1) by Jonathan Stroud
2013: The Iron King (The Accursed Kings #1) by Maurice Druon
2012: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
2011: Waiter Rant by The Waiter
2010: The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn
2009: Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans by Dan Baum
by Elizabeth Peters
Book Ten in the Amelia Peabody series. Click here to read reviews of earlier books in the series. This review may contain spoilers for previous books in the series.
At a suffragette’s rally in London, Amelia Peabody Emerson catches sight of her family’s arch-nemesis, the Master Criminal Sethos, and is nearly kidnapped. However, Amelia eludes capture and soon she and her family are en route to Egypt to resume their research. As Emerson and Amelia excavate a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, the Peabody children try to uncover the source of a stunning stolen papyrus they’ve acquired on the black market. Unfortunately, Ramses, David and Nefret aren’t the only ones interested in the ancient scroll, and the entire family is in mortal danger. Again.
There are now two generations of Egyptologists in the family, and Amelia is learning to recognize that her children are now all adults. It is a challenge for her, to put it mildly, since she has grown used to being in charge and obeyed. Actually, it’s rather charming how much the children humor her need to play the boss (or is Ramses genuinely frightened of his mother?) but the growth both they and Amelia experience in the novel is quite rewarding to those who have followed their adventures through the previous nine books.
One of the more touching moments comes when Amelia is forced to confront an ugly prejudice she didn’t even suspect she carried until family drama pushes it to the foreground. She realizes that the negative feeling is based in nothing rational, and feels awful that she has this prejudice - but it still takes her time to process her way through it. Luckily, the affected parties are patient with her, trusting in her good character, and in the end she comes around and recognizes that the most important thing is the children’s happiness. She’s a good mother, but the episode reminds readers that she’s still human and far from perfect. (Not that we needed a reminder, bless her and all her many flaws.)
With the adult children also come two new narrators: Ramses in the form of “Manuscript H” and Nefret in a series of letters. Adding their point of view really helps round out the narrative and ramps up the adventure and derring-do as David and Ramses constantly throw themselves into danger. Of course, young passions and young hormones also lead to a few romantic triangles and entanglements; these scenes did occasionally lead to eye-rolling since it’s pretty obvious how it will all be sorted in the next volume or two. (I hope Peters didn’t drag it out past that point or the drama really will be unbearable.)
Many of the characters in the book return from previous stories, including Sethos and some of his talented henchmen. Although it’s fun to see these characters again, they seem to fall into a secondary role, and the mystery itself feels very familiar and repetitious of previous adventures. The pleasure in this story comes not from piecing together clues, which are few and far between, but from the characters’ growth and their interactions with each other. So if you’ve grown to love Amelia, Ramses, Emerson and all the rest, it’s a delightful read. If you’re in this for the murder mystery, it’s a disappointment, despite the high body count.
3.5 out of 5 stars
To read more about The Ape Who Guards the Balance, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co. #1) by Jonathan Stroud
2013: The Iron King (The Accursed Kings #1) by Maurice Druon
2012: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
2011: Waiter Rant by The Waiter
2010: The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn
2009: Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans by Dan Baum