Praise 221 BC: Scroll 1 of Narmer War by Kendall Price and Laura Vosika
"As the debut novel opens, King Ptolemy IV, Macedonian ruler of Egypt, is distraught over the apparent murder of his friend and mentor, Qibo (“Multiple gashes covered his body. His eyes stared at the ceiling, as if he could still see whatever had killed him”). The ancient Taoist master had worked at the Museum of Alexandria for years. This act seems to be the dark culmination to a number of days in which Ptolemy has been plagued with nightmares laced with what appear to be strange signs. He dreams he is the Pharaoh Amenhotep, worrying over his kingdom and suffering from dental pain, the latter of which seems to affect Ptolemy’s waking hours as well. After exhuming the dead pharaoh’s body, experts discover that he did indeed have advanced abscesses in his teeth, which leads head librarian Eratosthenes to posit that someone might be working magic against the king, perhaps to re-create history. The theory is that Qibo was murdered to prevent him from translating ancient tablets that might help Ptolemy unlock the magical powers of a set of 12 amulets that have been in the possession of the pharaohs for untold years, each associated with a different element. Using the artifacts, someone might be able to wrest control of the kingdom. As the story proceeds, Price paints a vivid, intricate portrait of war, juggling a wide array of famous characters, including the notorious Hannibal, and using meticulous research to flesh out this universe, rooted in historical facts and details. The prose is rich and involving, and the twists are carefully designed and executed. An inventive blend of Egyptian history and magic, this dynastic tale opens what promises to be a stellar series.”- Kirkus “What grabbed my attention was the fact that it was based in Egypt during the time before Christ, about the Pharaoh Ptolemy III and his family struggle to maintain their control of the united Egypt. I love how the story is created with historical facts into mystery of hidden artifacts that hold magical powers and having characters with unusual powers too. It makes for a very entertaining novel and keeps the reader wondering what will happen next.”- Valerie I. Rosica, Amazon Review “Clearly a great deal of research was done to write this book. It's also exceptionally creative and engrossing! Hope there's more to come....”-Kathryn Price, Amazon Review “Very interesting take on the Egyptian family the Ptolemy’s and their possible aliens within the ancient world and the invasion of Rome by Hannbal. Historical fiction worth reading!”-Char, Amazon ReviewAbout Kendall Price
Dr. Kendall Price was born and raised in Columbia, Maryland, the third of four children. He attended high school at the Phillips Academy Boarding School in Andover, MA, a place that left him with many fond memories, and that he calls the most formative time of his life. The friendships in 221 BC are loosely based on his time at Andover. Following in the footsteps of his father and two grandfathers, all doctors, Kendall attended Amherst College in Amherst, MA and the University of Illinois College of Medicine and studied pathology at Stanford University. While there, he did four fellowships, including medical staff/ autopsy, hematopathology, surgical pathology, and immunohistochemistry. Doctor Price lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with his wife Michelle and their three children. It was Michelle’s influence, with her study of Chinese medicine, and a masters degree in Chinese acupuncture, that led Dr. Price to become certified in acupuncture himself. The magic in 221 BC is based on Chinese medicine. In addition to writing and Chinese medicine, Dr. Price enjoys exercise, reading, and travel. He has been to all 48 continental US states, Canada, Mexico, Alaska, and Copenhagen. Other writing credits include a small booklet, available on Amazon, on healing dental caries by nutritional means.About Laura Vosika
Laura Vosika is a writer, poet, and musician. Her time travel series, The Blue Bells Chronicles, set in modern and medieval Scotland, has garnered praise and comparisons to writers as diverse as Diana Gabaldon and Dostoevsky. Her poetry has been published in The Moccasin and The Martin Lake Journal 2017. She has been featured in newspapers, on radio, and TV, has spoken for regional book events, and hosted the radio program Books and Brews. She currently teaches writing at Minneapolis Community and Technical College. As a musician, Laura has performed as on trombone, flute, and harp, in orchestras, and big bands. She lives in Brooklyn Park with 5 of her 9 children, 3 cats, and an Irish Wolfhound. Website: www.bluebellschronicles.com Blog: http://bluebellstrilogy.blogspot.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laura.vosika.author Twitter: https://twitter.com/lauravosikaBuy 221 BC: Scroll 1 of Narmer War by Kendall Price and Laura Vosika
Amazon Kindle Barnesandnoble Indiebound BookDepositoryMy Take: First I would like to apologize for this review being posted late. I put it down for the wrong date in my review calendar. This book was okay. I found it a bit hard to follow because of all the different names that were from ancient Egypt and there were alot of them. I usually like to read about ancient Egypt but I had a hard time because of the names. I did start to enjoy the story after I got use to it. This is the first book in the series so hopefully the next books will be easier to read because I will have gotten use to it. There is magic in this book for if you are opposed to that you have been warned. The story starts out with a murder so it is not boring because of lack of action. They think that the murder was because of magic. This story takes place when at a different time than when you normally think of Egypt during the time of Hannibal. I would recommend this book if you like action and have a bit of patience to get use to the names.
I received a review copy from Virtual Author Book Tours, opinions are my own.