Lord of the Silent (Amelia Peabody, Book 13)

I should have known this book would be bad when the Amazon.com reviewer remarked that "Innovation can be overrated." The author has completely run out of ideas. There is not much plot to speak of. Much of the book consists of characters ruminating about things that happened in prior books. More than half the book concerns Ramses and Nefret - absolutely perfect, gorgeous, intelligent, plucky, devoted, and totally boring. They belong in a romance novel. The only suspense here was wondering if I would bother finishing the book. The only mystery was why I bought it. The first couple of books in this series were good - stick to them and skip this one.

This outing of the usually fun adventures of the Emerson clan turned out to be not that much fun, after all. First, the mystery. It just wasn't as exciting as previous novels. That's happened before, but usually the family dynamic and archaeological aspects make up for it. Which leads into the second reason why this was not so much fun: the lack of familial fun. The family, Amelia and Emerson, Ramses and Nefret, are split into two different plots for much of the book. This works against the story because their time apart is boring for the most part. Third, is bringing Ramses and Nefret into adulthood, the author has bled some of the fun and attitude from the characters. I'm perfectly willing the accept to former unrequited loves are blissfully happen now they are together, but this just to much. Fourth, the lack of the usual supporting characters, chief among them David. Those that were involved were just boring and forgettable, especially the formely-fun Gargery who acts more like a spoiled child than Sennia. Several of the last few books have been hit and miss for me. The older and adult verions of these characters aren't nearly as fun as they used to be.

I have generally enjoyed this series. The plots are not always the best, but the characters and the sense of place make for a fun read. This book was more of a chore to finish, due to a rather insipid plot and the author's unsuccessful use of two points of view. The plot seemed like a redo of earlier novels in the series. The suspense and tension in the relationship between Nefret and Ramses is missing and they are just another married couple, and most of the other characters don't do anything differently than in previous novels. There is a lot of pointless activity as characters leave and arrive in Luxor and Cairo, and even some of the criminal activities in the book do not further the plot or even get resolved.

The Peabody-Emerson clan is preparing to return to Egypt for the winter season of digging. WWI is making travel difficult and causing the local Egyptian political situation to be even more unstable than usual. Further adding to their difficulties is their complicated and ever expanding household. This season the entourage will include Radcliffe, Amelia, their son Ramses, and his wife Nefret, Sennia (who they adopted in FALCON WHO GUARDS THE PORTAL), her cat, Horus and even the family butler, Gargery. The only thing they will not have to worry about is the Master Criminal who figured so largely in their earlier adventures. Shortly after his true identity was revealed he died in a most heroic manner - or did he?

After they safely arrive in Egypt though, it becomes all too apparent that Emerson will once again be denied his quiet season of peaceful digging. As their former reis Abdullah used to remark "another year another body" and this year proved to be no exception. Bodies, mysterious intrigues and even the dreaded (to Emerson at least) starred crossed lovers appear.

If you have no idea who any of these people are begin at the beginning of this delightful series, with CROCODILE ON THE SANDBANK and continue through in order. The overall story arc of this series (AMELIA PEABODY) is much more of a factor than in most mystery series. The mystery/suspense aspect of this series is much less than in many mysteries. The real attraction here is the continuing story of the family itself as it is told from Amelia's own eccentric point of view. Fans of the series will delight to read about Ramses' and Nefret's married life, the continuing banter between Amelia and her beloved Emerson as they are once again being outwitted by a precocious child and will particularly love running into other characters from previous adventures.

This was the first of Ms. Peters' books that I read. Maybe if I had had the background of the other books, I would have found it more interesting. As it was, I kept thinking "Get on with it already". There were too many exceprts about Nefret and her hubby and then it would switch back to Peabody and Emerson, and it rarely went back to the murder. When it did, there were so many characters and so many nicknames for characters that I was totally confused and often had to go back in the book to see who was who. The setting in this book and Peabody's wit kept me reading, though.

Much as I love Elizabeth Peters, by the time I was more than twenty pages into the book I was wishing she'd spend a little more time on character development and plot and a lot less on telling the reader over and over how wonderful Emerson, Ramses, et al are. It didn't quite reach the level of being able to predict that, okay, it's been 20 pages, time for another description of Emerson's manly phsyique, but it came close. The book is still much, much better than most of the dreck being marketed by other 'authors' these days, but not up to the level of earlier books in the series.

This book is another page-turner. I so enjoy the Emersons when they are right in the thick of things. This book is a little different though because there appears to be two parallel stories at first, and the older Emersons are in Cairo following one thread, and the two younger Emersons are in Luxor following another thread. But of course they end up investigating together, and that iw when the fun begins. It's nice to see Ramses and Nefret in their newly-wed bliss. Let me tell you, Indiana Jones has nothing on our Ramses. But Emerson and his Amelia are no slouches either. We also see a new and more emotional Amelia and that is a good thing. She does her utmost to keep her son away from harm in this book and neither of them have gotten over his harrowing escape from death in the last book. But there's still lots of danger, tomb-robbing and deaths in this one and it's such a great deal of fun getting to the bottom of it with these four amazing people.

"Lord of the Silent" is a cozy, gold-washed epilogue to the suspenseful quartet of the "Ramses" books that began with "Seeing a Large Cat" and crashed to conclusion with "He Shall Thunder in the Sky."

In brief: Ramses and Nefret are essentially on honeymoon. All the tension that relationship ever generated is pretty much resolved. Emerson and Amelia have their splendid son, beauteous daughter-in-law, precocious great-niece, and extended "family" of loyal, true, virtuous servants around them. An old antagonist of sorts shows up in the figure of Margaret Minton, the blueblooded yellow journalist of "The Deeds of the Disturber" (Looks like she never married the Irish guy. More's the pity.), and there's an old flame of Nefret's (not one ever shown 'onscreen' before, though) lurking around, but things are pretty tame. By the time it's hinted that someone has returned from the dead (AGAIN), there's an inevitable feeling to it all...

Hey, I did like the book. It had good bits. The final scene was touching in a grand way. I don't think the "Novel of Suspense" subtitle is merited unless Peters was joking, though. The 'resurrection' part of the book held very little suspense, and the final villain was... not very involving. It's a character book, which is fine, because I love these characters.

I didn't like the new brat much, though. My real problem with "Lord of the Silent" is this-- lack of suspense and weak villain aside, the entire Emerson-Peabody-Abdullah clan is now too large and too perfect to be believable. Except for one lazy youth (Jamal), the children are all prodigies, and the servants are all heroes. Everyone is handsome or beautiful, intelligent or insightful, brave, etc.

A book with a vast array of perfect people set against a loser villain is not going to be very suspenseful. It's an extended valentine to the characters, almost like a deliberate way of allowing them to unwind after the last three or four books. That's fine. In some ways, it was quite nice. And this one is still better than The Hippotamus Pool.

Still, this is the last book I plan to read in the Peabody series. I would like to read the "inserted" books, like "Guardian of the Horizon" and any more that Peters writes like it (books plopped in between existing ones to fill in the gaps), but chronologically I am happy to leave them where they are at the end of this work-- all sorted out and bathed in the light of the sun.

I give it three stars because two is just too low. Two and a half, perhaps.

I love this book. The suspense, the action, everything is amazing. I've read some reviews that complain that the focus of the series has moved from Amelia and Emerson to Ramses and Nefret, and I couldn't be happier about it. I love Amelia and Emerson, but sometimes it's nice to shift focus. We still get plenty of great things from those two, but now we're getting even more from the younger people. Think of the switch of focus as getting more, not less. This book is a must read for anyone who likes the series.

As I have stated in my reviews of other entries in this series, this is one of my top 3 series to read. I have truly enjoyed the adventures of Amelia Peabody and family. This book, at least for me, was a change of pace in that there is quite a bit less action in it than previous books; I think Amelia uses her umbrella as a weapon only once throughout the entire book. And, there is less, in fact hardly any, attention paid to the excavation work being done. Having said that, there is still plenty to interest the reader as always. Approximately half of the book is devoted solely to Ramses and Nefret which was nice for a change and the mystery is intriguing as always. Just a couple more books in this series to read and then I will have wait for the annual publication of the next one and the next and the next....