The Story

Two very different girls, Melanie and April, find they have more in common than they had at first expected – they both have a great love of books, they both love using their imagination, and they both love anything to do with Egypt. When they find an abandoned shed behind the neighbourhood second-hand store, they soon put it to good use by creating the Egypt Game. Soon, a number of other children in the neighbourhood are joining them.

When another child in the neighbourhood disappears, though, the Egypt Game may never be the same.

The Response

I loved this book when I read it growing up, but haven’t read it in years. In fact, I had gotten rid of my copy, and only recently gotten another copy. Which leads me to wonder, why on earth did I get rid of so many books that I used to love?

And it was still a very exciting book, even though there were times when I realized how politically incorrect some instances were. And it was slightly dated, when you consider some of the language that was used. I mean, sometimes with older books, you cannot tell that the book was written decades before, but at other times, those tell-tale signs creep through.

Other than those two items, though, it was wonderful to revisit The Egypt Game. There’s something magical about the imagination that kids have, and how a bunch of kids who are so different only needed one thing in common to become such good friends.

I think that’s what I liked best about this book – that a bunch of different kids (different ages, different personalities, different interests) can all come together through one game of imagination.

The Bottom Line

Not quite as awesome as this book was when I read it when I was younger, but still a very good read.

Other Reviews

Words by Annie, Lost in Books. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.

Continuing on my cross-country Listed tour, this week I am focusing on books that take place in the province of Quebec. Sadly to say, I haven’t read nearly as many books taking place in Quebec as I had thought… so I’ve really only read a couple of these, but the rest I’ve either heard of or (after doing a bit of research looking for the books for this post) now really want to read.

1. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler. Originally Published 1959. LT
2. Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs. Originally Published 1997. LT
3. The Blooding of Jack Absolute by C.C. Humphreys. Originally Published 2004. LT
4. Two Solitudes by Hugh MacLennan. Originally Published 1945. LT
5. Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather. Originally Published 1931. LT
6. The Tin Flute by Gabrielle Roy. Originally Published 1945. LT
7. Surfacing by Margaret Atwood. Originally Published 1972. LT
8. La Guerre, Yes Sir! by Roch Carrier. Originally Published 1968. LT
9. Kamouraska by Anne Hebert. Originally Published 1970. LT
10. Alone in an Untamed Land by Maxine Trottier. Originally Published 2003. LT

What are your favourite books that take place in Quebec?

Do you like this feature? You should also check out Librarian’s Book Reviews’ Listless Monday and A Bookshelf Monstrosity’s Books By A Theme.

The Story

In the second installment of Arthur Slade’s Hunchback Assignments series, we get a steampunk story that has been greatly inspired by both Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man.

Modo and Octavia are investigating why ships are disappearing in the middle of the ocean just south of Iceland, and when the boat that they’ve hired gets hit mysteriously, Modo is thrown overboard. Taken aboard the Ictineo, a huge submarine that is used to defend a secret underwater society, Modo soon meets the lovely Colette (a French spy), who was also investigating the disappearing ships before her own capture by the captain of the Ictineo. The two spies soon form an allegiance, vowing to work together to get off the submarine.

Things get more complicated when an invisible spy from evil The Clockwork Guild announces his own presence on the submarine as well, and Modo must decide who to believe and trust in order to get back to the surface alive and report all of his findings to the spy network he works for.

The Response

This WAS supposed to be a co-review with Rachel, but she’s flying to Austria right now, and will be there for two whole weeks! And I can’t wait that long to gush.

I found that The Dark Deeps was so much more enjoyable than the first book in the series – not entirely sure why, though. Maybe I knew a little more what to expect, maybe because I was already loving Modo and Octavia (though there wasn’t nearly enough of her in this installment!), maybe because it was more what I would expect from Slade than the first one was. Maybe a bit of all of that.

What I can say for certain is that I got through it way too fast, and I want more. Now.

When we went to see Slade, this was the book he was promoting on tour. And it gave me a huge appreciation for all of the research he did for this book – especially when it came to submarines. He read completely obscure books about submarines, and since most of this book takes place while Modo is on the submarine, you can definitely see where he was inspired by it. You could practically feel yourself living on that submarine, the way he described it.

And then there was the Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Invisible Man stuff. I’ve never read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, but I HAVE read The Invisible Man, and the similarities between the main character in that and the invisible man in The Dark Deeps – even down to the fact that the character has the same name (Griffin) and same sense of rage in both books. And there was so much depth to Griffin in The Dark Deeps – yes, there was so much rage, but he was totally just looking for approval from the one who made him invisible.

And in that way, he really echoed Modo – both are orphans; both were molded by the person who took them in, so they could work best for the secret society they work for; both work oh-so-hard just to get approval from the person who took them in. Only difference is that Modo, deep down, has a good heart, but Griffin doesn’t seem to. But if Griffin was raised by someone like Mr. Socrates, instead of the red-haired chick (cannot remember her name!) from the Clockwork Guild, would he still have had all that rage in him?

The only thing that I really didn’t like about this novel was the lack of Octavia. Yes, Colette was pretty darn awesome, but Octavia! Love Octavia so much, she’s so spunky and so much fun, and she LOVES Modo so much, even if she doesn’t even know it yet!

The Bottom Line

Those who liked the first book in the series, will definitely like this one; likewise, those who didn’t like the first book in the series wouldn’t like this installment. Those who haven’t read them yet, should definitely read the first one before picking up The Dark Deeps. Me? I can’t wait until the next one. Can’t wait to see what classics he tackles in that one.

Other Reviews

Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.