Review of Scepter of Flint

[Abimbola Oladokun]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Scepter of Flint" by N.L. Holmes.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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The chief of the King's royal stables and a foreign relations diplomat, Lord Hani, was not expecting to be called back to the capital just as soon as he had left to be with his family. But the situation is dire and Hani soon realizes that the mission he's needed for is of utmost importance. Series of tomb robberies have been happening in the city of Akhet-aten and they have reason to believe that diplomatic foreigners have something to do with this act of abomination. Hani's problems are compounded when he is informed that his enemy, Mahu, the leader of the medjay, will be assisting him on this quest. He recruits the help of his son-in-law who is also his scribe/secretary and sets out on his mission. What he did not expect was that he would find himself in the middle of investigating a brewing war, a deadly plague, and the political chaos affecting his country. Lord Hani's problems just got a whole lot bigger.

Scepter of Flint is the third book in its series and is written by N. L. Holmes. The story is based on an Egyptian setting and the author went as far as including a map to show the locations of the cities, as well as a dictionary to remind the reader of the complex names of the characters and explain who they are. The dictionary also showed the meanings of some words and I think that was a great help because at some point the names did confuse me.

I must say that Lord Hani's mission was a tricky one because he had to investigate foreign diplomats with the knowledge that if they suspect anything and it turns out that they are innocent, his country's diplomatic ties would become strained. So he had to be as delicate and careful as possible. But with the scheming partner he was given, who knows what will happen? I liked the characters because those who were good, were good, and those who were bad, were bad. There wasn't any of that in-between nonsense. My favorite character from the book has to be Hani himself. His strong resilience and zeal to find the truth and put a stop to whatever could harm his country were very admirable. His ability to lead and think outside the box did help him a lot of times too.

I would rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. I feel like it deserves nothing less because of the excellent editing work and the strong plot. N. L. Holmes cleverly crafted an interesting adventure that kept twisting and turning into something new and something more every single time. I also appreciate the amount of research that must have gone into writing this book and basing some parts of it on true events. I don't have anything negative to point out. It does have to be said that the novel contains an amount of sexual content and strong language, but I don't think it's of any consequence to the rating.

I would recommend this book to historical fiction lovers and urge people looking for adventurous storylines to read this book. I trust that they will not be disappointed.

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Scepter of Flint
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