This was a fabulous cross between Indiana Jones and Romancing the Stone. The story was an entertaining romp around Egypt's famous sites compete with a charismatic strong male, an underestimated intelligent female and traditional male - female viewpoints of the time period - what could go wrong.
It was the first time reading this author and I will be adding her to my to be read to list.

Jacquelyn Benson has done it again with Tomb of the Sun King! This second installment in the Raiders of the Arcana series continues to deliver on the adventure, historical intrigue, and romance that made the first book so captivating. If you’re a fan of Indiana Jones or The Mummy, this book is the perfect blend of ancient mysteries, magical artifacts, and exhilarating tomb raiding.

The relationship between Ellie and Adam is truly one of the highlights. Unlike many similar adventure romances, Ellie and Adam feel like equal partners, with unique strengths and complementary talents. Their chemistry is palpable, and their dialogue feels refreshingly real. The way they navigate both perilous situations and their evolving relationship is incredibly engaging—neither character is overshadowed, making their dynamic even more compelling.

Neil’s character development was another standout. Watching his growth throughout the book added depth to the story, and I’m excited to see where his journey leads. Constance, with her fearless personality and sharp wit, was an absolute delight, bringing even more excitement and feminist energy to the novel.

The story kept me hooked, and I’m eager to see what happens next for this adventuring team.

Overall, Tomb of the Sun King delivers exactly what I hoped for: a thrilling adventure with a side of romance and a dash of magic.

Let’s get something out of the way immediately: I LOVE THIS BOOK. THIS is the vibes I was looking for 100%. Everything about it was fabulous!! Perfect for fans of Indiana Jones/The Mummy; a great blend of adventure, historical fiction, and romance.

My friend, who also read this, and I agreed that one of the best thing about it was the relationship between Ellie and Adam. I adore them because unlike a lot of other books of a simile nature, these two feel REAL AND EQUAL. The dialogue is so refreshing and engaging. Both Adam and Ellie have different talents and strengths, and they complement each other! Neither is thought lesser or treated inferior, but rather both have something to contribute and I love it. They go through relationship trials and make their own path and do it out of love for each other.

The other newer characters are great too. Neil goes through a lot in this book, but I’m glad he did. His character growth was fantastic and something I greatly look forward to seeing more of in the next installment. Constance was so much fun to read, and the feminist takes throughout these novels is wonderful.

This book feels lived in and loved. I didn’t want it to end. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the early copy! Can’t wait for the next one!

It’s 1898 and Ellie Mallory, a scholar, has arrived in Egypt along with her handsome companion, Adam Bates. They have just completed a dramatic exploration for a magical artifact in British Honduras, and they are now on the trail of the staff of Moses. It is critical that they find it before Professor Dawson and Mr. Jacobs, who seek the staff for nefarious purposes.

Ellie plans to seek help from her childhood friend, Constance, who is now living in Cairo, and her brother Neil, who is on a dig at Saqqara, but time is not on their side.

My Thoughts

I enjoyed this book very much! I hadn’t read the first in the series, and while that would have given me some helpful background, it wasn’t critical for my appreciation of the story.

This book had a little of everything. There was romance, adventure, humor, mystery, dangerous secret societies, and magical objects. The pacing was perfect, the characters were diverse and interesting, and the plot was well-crafted.

The author’s writing was very engaging. She painted beautiful pictures of Egypt, the homes, the archaeological sites, and even the train stations.

While the book was a lot of fun, it did still address issues of sexism, racism, and colonialism. I loved that women were allowed to be heroes, not just intellectually, but in physical combat. I also appreciated that Saddiq and other Egyptian characters were given roles beyond silent, subservient sidekicks.

My favorite character was Constance, and I love that Neil referred to her as the Danger Gnome, the childhood nickname he’d given her which still seems to apply to the adult Constance.

Three very minor points
The camels stood up backwards. Camels stand up with their back legs first. These camels stood up front legs first.

Ellie’s distress at Connie’s desire to take a lover before marriage seems inconsistent with Ellie’s position on women’s rights, and I didn’t understand it.

When one is fleeing gunmen, it is never the best time to discuss relationship issues.

My thanks to NetGalley for the complimentary eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ellie and Adam have finally arrived in Egypt with a very loose plan on how they are going to inform Ellie's brother and Adam's best friend that a group of murderers will be arriving at his dig site to acquire a legendary weapon of mass destruction, which seems a far less risky prospect than explaining their relationship to him. As soon as they arrive at Constance's home, though, Ellie discovers that maneuvering around her best friend is going to be even more difficult than convincing her brother that magic is real. Especially after Connie explains that gentleman caller who is at her home when the trio arrives is the man her mother has decided that Connie should marry. Julian Forster-Mowbray, who as soon as he opens his mouth, proves that he is everything that is wrong with the British ruling class. Ellie reluctantly agrees to have Connie accompany her and Adam because she is well aware of the horrible position her best friend has placed it.

The very next day the group sets off to Neil's dig site only to encounter the worst possible situation almost immediately; not only does Dawnson arrive within minutes of their group, but they determine that the Arcana they are searching for none other than the Staff of Moses one of the most dangerous weapons if in the hands of men like Dawnson and Jacobs. To make matters even worse, it appears that Julian is the one funding Dawson and Jacobs! Our heroes are immediately thrown into a race against a powerful organization that will stop at nothing to put the world's Arcana in the hands of the British Empire, which could only spell disaster for the world.

Very much like Book 1, Tomb of the Sun King was an absolutely amazing fantasy adventure with lovable characters and an edge of your seat story that hooks you within the first few sentences!

There are several "new" characters introduced that I absolutely fell in love with Constance being my favorite. Whatever I thought about Ellie being a tenacious and determined woman who was going to live life by her own means Constance just embodies that with a wonderfully reckless attitude that made her simply a joy to get to know.

While Constance was just a blast, Neil is probably the most important character in the book as he becomes a small microcosm of everything that is wrong with the world. Much of this book and really the series period centers around the systematic theft of important historical objects from the numerous countries that Britain colonized as a way to control these populations. Neil, being a man who has benefited from this and who is painfully oblivious to how much he has benefited from it is essentially slapped in the face time and again with the fact this his lack of action to try to change these wrongs he is in essence supporting a system he knows is wrong. From the clear and inherent racism that involved the system that allowed thousands of artifacts to be removed from Egypt, to the fact that Egyptians themselves were simply not allowed to lead these expeditions into the recovery of the own history, Neil admits that he is aware that this is wrong and simply chooses to do nothing. He takes this same attitude when it comes to Ellie's struggles to be seen as a legitimate historian due to her sex. He consistently hurts the people who care for by simply allowing them to be treated like second class citizens and it quite honestly I don't believe he fully comphrends just how much damage he's done by the end of the book even.

The romance is still well done here as well it doesn't overpower the story ever. It did, however, take me a bit to come around to having Neil and Constance moving towards a relationship. It genuinely felt like low hanging fruit in terms of a simple way to get Ellie and Adam off the hook with Neil. However, it never went that route, which I'm eternally grateful for. Instead of Constance and Neil being a simple plot device, Ellie and Adam have several open and honest conversations about the direction their relationship is taking, and it simply becomes a "Deal with it, bro" thing.

Honestly, though, this whole Staff of Moses thing and the route that took was definitely the best portion of the whole book. I love how this is wrapped up in feminism and the theory that Benson proposes is absolutely plausible. I genuinely don't even *like* books about the Egyptology craze of the the last 19th/early 20th century, I've rarely came across any books that I could say are wholly unique or brings anything new to this niche genre in adventure novels. This was definitely unique, I was actually *interested* in these bits of Egyptian history I had rarely heard of to the point where I found myself stopping and Googling many of the Pharoah's mentioned in the book. Btw don't do that. It will, to an extent, spoil some portions of the book. Benson not only makes this history fascinating, she brings it to life in brilliant detail, breathing existence into lesser known humans in history.

Overall, I most definitely recommend this series. It is genuinely just a lot of fun with a side dose of very serious conversations regarding social issues that still affect us today. While simultaneously making history not just fun but accessible, by taking these figures who for some many are just some fact they had to memorize and making them human.

As always, thanks to NetGalley and Crimson Fox Publishing for the eArc!

You can check out all of my reviews at my blog! <a href = "https://kellysbooknook.wordpress.com/"> Kelly's Book Nook</a>

It’s not often that a sequel is as good as the first book in a series, but this one was. I loved the adventure and the romance between Ellie and Adam. I also really enjoyed the addition of Constance and Neil. I hope we get more of them in the next book.

The mixture of history and fantasy is perfect.

Thanks for the eARC NetGalley.

I really enjoyed this book!! The plot was so interesting and full of adventure that I was never bored. The author did a great job with character development because I was full invested in there stories. I will be recommending this book to all of my friends and family.

This book was so good! If you are looking for a new cover read then this book is for you! This book was so good and the romance made it so much more enjoyable and I could not put it down!

Oh gosh, where do I start? This was magic. Pun intended. I thought I loved the first book in this series, and couldn't love another more but Jacquelyn Benson proved me wrong. The book has strong "The Mummy" vibes and the new characters involved in this one provide a lot more entertainment. I thought Constance would drive me nuts, but her pluckiness was perfectly done. Neil...the scholar grew on me, eventually...the fool. As for Adam and Ellie, I can't wait to see what the third book brings as soon as I can get my hands on it! So glad I got one of the ARCs from NetGalley, this was an amazing adventure!

Tomb of the Sun King by Jacqueline Benson is the second book in a new genre defying series that is part historical mystery and part adventure romance with some fantasy elements thrown in. Fresh off a meet cute in 1890s Belize that saw them keep a magical artifact out of the hands of ruthless men with nefarious intentions, Ellie Mallory and Adam Bates have made their way to Egypt to warn Ellie’s stepbrother, Neil Fairfax (who also just so happens to be Adam’s best friend from Cambridge), that the same shadowy group may be after another such relic at his archaeological dig. Pretty soon Ellie, Adam, and Neil—along with Ellie’s best friend the firebrand Constance Tyrell and Neil’s local and very competent foreman Sayyid—are on the run, trying to locate the relic (thought to be the staff of Moses—yes, that Moses) before the baddies do.

If you like Indiana Jones or The Mummy, I think you’ll enjoy this series a lot. It’s got that historical mystery adventure with a helping of mythical magic that matches those movie vibes perfectly. I enjoyed this one a lot—especially seeing Ellie and Adam’s relationship progress and the introduction of a possible romantic subplot between the very stuffy Neil and the spitfire Connie. But the multi POVS (Ellie, Adam, Neil, and Connie) made the story a little choppy for me—I generally prefer single or dual POV. I am looking forward to what’s next!

Thanks to Netgalley and Crimson Fox Publishing for the e-ARC; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

The adventure continues as Ellie and Adam rush to Egypt to stop Jacobs and his cohort from finding the biblical Staff of Moses!

This sequel is action-packed from the start as we get to see Ellie in her natural habitat—geeking out over the history and culture of Ancient Egypt. Along the way we get some wonderful new side characters: Ellie’s stepbrother Neil (who also happens to be Adam’s best friend from college), her best friend Connie (who just craves an adventure and romance of her own), Sayyid (Neil’s friend and foreman on his dig), and Sayyid’s wife Zeinab (midwife and secret revolutionary). Together they must solve the riddle of the staff’s hiding place and the identity of the little known pharaoh Nefernefruaten.

The Mummy vibes are even deeper in book two since it takes place in Egypt. There are secret tombs with booby traps, fights with Jacobs and his new employer, beduins, a gang of female revolutionaires, and magical items galore! The action starts right away and continues nonstop! The history that was included blended the cult of Aten and the origins of Moses (which we usually see associated with the pharaoh Ramesses instead). We even got to see two new arcana: the staff of Moses and a famous British sword that bursts into blue flames!

I absolutely adored the side characters. Connie and Neil’s growing relationship actually had me more interested than Ellie and Adam’s (both of them are kind of unsure of the other’s feelings now that they are no longer alone in the jungle). Connie is just so headstrong and determined to find an adventure of her own that she drives a lot of the action by herself. But she is also clever enough to get done what needs to be done, and unafraid to threaten and push Neil out od his comfort zone to get there. Sayyid is so much like Ellie, with a love for the history of Egypt but denied the ability to do what he loved because of his social and enthic standing. Zeinab was the clever and passionate foil for his scholarly inclinations (her passion drives her to lead a group of revolutionaries in secret even from her husband).

There was a hint about the tomb of the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang which made me think that China might be the setting for the next book in the series (although we later find out they will be going to India first at the behest of Connie’s grandmother and uncle). We also got a deeper look into the mysterious Order of Albion, the rich and influential sponsers behind Jacobs and their quest for the arcana.

I am excited to see the series continue and hope that I can wait that long for book 3!

When I saw book two on NetGalley, I screamed. Thank you so much for the opportunity to review.

This book is just as amazing as book 1! With twist and turns at every point I kept reading to late into the morning because I didn’t want to stop.

I was so trilled to be able to get an ARC of this book. Book two picks up right where book one ends, but ow we see that Ellie and Adamhave made it to Egypt. Ellie and Adam get caught up in another adventure, not will more people to their team and some faces we’ve heard so much about: Constance “Connie” and Ellie’s Stepbrother Neil... who is also Adam’s best friend from Cambridge, just wait until he finds out where Ellie has really been and with WHO! If the first book felt more like Indiana Jones then The Tomb f the Sun King is like The Mummy. Ellie, Adam and their reunited companions are now spending their days to keep some of Egypt's most important artifacts out of the wrong hands. you get to experience well written villains, history, witty banter, romance, lost artifacts and maybe some close calls. I really enjoyed seeing some developing between sibling relationships, romantic relationship with Ellie and Adam and maybe between some other friend's wink wink. it looks like we will be getting a book three with the way this one has finished off and I can’t wait for that announcement to come!!

I think this book was wonderfully written so much detail and history intertwined with fantasy, the romance and banter just keep you wanting more, I loved that we had some more characters added to the "team" this time around. Neil and Connie are a good addition and add some diversity to the personalities of the main characters. my reviews will be up on Goodreads and Instagram very soon!

Once again an amazing story full of adventure and romance!!


Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC of this work.

thank you to netgalley for the arc! all my opinions are my own.

this book was such a wonderful follow up to the first! it was great to come back to the world of ellie and adam.

i am SO GLAD! we were able to see constance again, and see a lot of her! what a delight. i was also happy to meet neil, although some of his actions could be annoying.

i literally cannot wait for the third installment.

Ellie & Adam must race to Egypt to beat Jacobs & Dawson to finding the tomb that hides the staff of Moses. Teaming up with Ellie’s friend Connie, her brother Neil, and his friend Sayyid, they hope to protect a lost tomb that will redefine Egypt’s history.

No sequel slump here! The relationship of Ellie and Adam stayed solid as they communicated and stuck together, the Egypt archaeology had me totally hooked and had me researching things as the story progressed (always a positive sign, for me).

In addition, we get some absolutely delightful new characters. We get more of Connie, whose brief appearance in the first book was a delight. And getting more depth on her character, while she also sweeps in to save the day was fantastic. Ellie’s brother Neil, as the slightly bumbling expert, was fun, but where he truly shined was the development he undergoes as he really starts to process the discrimination both Ellie and Sayyid are subjected to. And Sayyid! What can I say about home, but then I want a whole spin off novel of him and his wife, Zeinab, as they work together fighting for Egypt’s independence.

While I still was a huge fan of the romance between Ellie and Adam, I’m less invested in Neil and Connie, who seem remarkably ill suited for each other, which saw its foundation in this book. Hopefully, book three will give them more time to grow. But I find myself also hoping not. We don’t need every main good character paired off in a romantic relationship.

And I am so invested to finding out more of Jacobs’s history. Taking the more overtly villainous character and opening up so many questions about him has really sealed me in for book three.

This series also seems to be falling into a pattern of the White Savior trope with Ellie and Adam and Neil being the driving forces behind saving the world, which makes me very interested in book three as we will be getting Connie and the gang going to India, where her family is from. I’d love to see her take more center stage.

My thanks to both NetGalley and Crimson Fox Publishing for this arc!

Delightful! I was deeply eager for this second book in the series and it did not disappoint. The foundation of mutual respect and kindness between Adam and Ellie is a treasure of its own as are their deep enthusiasms for camels and explosives respectively. While I was originally reticent about the additional POVs I fell in love with Dr Neil Fairfax immediately. Exquisitely researched as per the previous. A fun, sweet, and adventurous romp.

Tomb of the Sun King is the follow up to Empire of Shadows (Raiders of the Arcana series). This is a great series. I've enjoyed reading them. The series is likened to Indiana Jones and The Mummy.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy.

4.5/5 stars

In this second in series, we have a change of scenery as Ellie and Adam have traveled to Egypt in an effort to find a holy relic before a ruthless gang of antiquity art thieves, the same nefarious group from their prior adventure. We are introduced to Ellie's archaeologist brother Neil (Adam's best friend) on the fateful dig, and Constance (Ellie's best friend) who's along for the ride and trying to avoid her matchmaking mother.

I really enjoyed this one! Lots of action, lots of historical detail, and lots of romance. However, I was a bit confused/surprised by the intensity of the romance from the very beginning of the story. I was not expecting that judging from the ending of the previous adventure. I'm not complaining (I love Adam and Ellie's chemistry/banter, and it was definitely on showcase here), it just took a little change of mindset on my part for them to be that far along in that department already. My only other call out was Neil's character. I felt he was a bit overdone in his "bumbling" academic role, and he actually tended to get on my nerves with his nonsensical portrayal. However, Constance more than saved the day with her spunky, all-in, brave and hilarious self...she needs her own series.

So all-in-all, a very good next in series, and I'll look forward to hopefully many more adventures with Ellie, Adam and crew.

My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and Crimson Fox Publishing for providing the free early arc of Tomb of the Sun King for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

Pure magic! The epic story continues and it feels like home being back with Ellie and Adam on another adventure! All the same elements from the first book are there with witty banter, found family, and a storyline packed with action and swoon-worthy romance.