Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing addition to a great series
Review: I buy the new Peters books in hardback and gobble them up immediately. This one, however, couldn't hold my interest. It felt separate from the rest of the books because there is no hint in the rest of the series that they ever went back to the oasis. The characters were acting--well, out of character. I felt like I had to have missed something, because suddenly Ramses was in love with a woman that he had barely spoken to. While I like the idea of going back and adding the "missing" journals, especially since the characters are aging and the wonder of the hunt will quickly be ruined by technology--and someone else finding Tut's tomb--this book was not a satisfying addition to the series and ongoing storyline. Maybe Peters could write a new Vicky Bliss next time instead?
Rating: 
Summary: Loved it!
Review: I don't know why the others didn't like it -- sordid romance? Please. It made Ramses human instead of so perfect, and made me like him even more. I've been disgusted with Nefret since Falcon at the Portal for not trusting him; but after this book, I understand her actions. Thanks for that, Ms. Peters. A fun, interesting setup for future action, dare I hope!?If you want a extra treat, buy the recorded book as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Guardian of the Horizon
Review: I don't understand what went wrong! I realize that there must be conflict and struggling with others or self to make a book gripping... but Ramses falling in love with another woman? How could he talk of fidelity to his mother in "He Shall Thunder in the Sky" and then have this happen in "Guardian of the Horizon"? Doesn't Peters remember what she wrote? Sex and lust for another person I understand, but falling in love...come on! I hope her next books in this series (if any) don't fully degrade into inane reading, especially if Peters, intends to have a child come out of Ramses' and Daria's...um abberations.
Rating:
Summary: An Amelia Fan
Review: I looked forward to this book because I have thought for awhile that it would be a great idea to discover some of those lost journals and fill in some time gaps. However, this book was not satisfying at all. I loved Ramses as a child. However, the grownup Ramses I find a dull bore. Please Ms. Peters, for future books with lost journals find some further back in time when the focus can be on Amelia and Emerson whose relationship is the heart and soul of these stories. The later books focus too much on Ramses and Nefret.
Rating:
Summary: Far from her best effort.
Review: I was looking forward to this book, as I do with all of EP's works. I was so disappointed with this book, I had to read it again just to make sure I hadn't imagined it. It felt as if she had written most of this book some time ago, got stuck, and decided later to slap an ending onto it and release it for publication. As another reader noted, there was no reference to the events in this book in any of the other books that followed this one chronologically. I thought that odd, since surely Amelia would have told Emerson at some point later that Sethos was the 'friend'. The idea to return to the Lost Oasis was a good one, but the execution left something to be desired. Unlike other readers, I was not shocked nor disppointed with Ramses' involvement with Daria (he is human, after all) but I thought her character was not developed enough for me to care about her one way or the other. A little more information on her history would have helped there. I also thought Nefret acted out of character; she is more strong-willed than this book would indicate. Go ahead and buy this book if you have the rest of the Amelia Peabody series. If you pick and choose only the best of Elizabeth Peters, you can safely skip this one, as it adds nothing to the overall series.
Rating:
Summary: We Know Where You're Heading
Review: I've been a fan of the Peter's series for a long time and have read them in chronological order. And for a while, I felt that she was moving her characters along too quickly timewise. When one first met Amelia Peabody and her archeologist husband Emerson, they were in their twenties, and were, thus, in their prime to battle the arch-thief Sethos. Then the books appeared to have been set in the 1880's. Books in the middle of the series carried them along in time and gave them a loquacious son Ramses who turned into a taciturn man a few books later. But by her last book, "Children of the Storm," the family had passed through WWI, the teenagers were grown, married, had children of their own, and Peabody and Emerson must have been pushing sixty. Therefore, it seems that Peters felt that she needed to return to a period when everyone was younger for this book and its adventures. It was kind of a let down to read because, since I had been following the series, I knew that the lovestruck Ramses would finally win the love of his seemingly indifferent stepsister Nefret. When you know that everyone is going to come out all right, what's the suspense?
Rating:
Summary: Ramses Did What?!
Review: If you're like me, and I know I am, you were waiting with bated breath for this book to be released. I am a loyal and true Amelia Peabody Emerson fan. I tend to run right out and buy these books in hardcover and then clear my calendar for the rest of the day. Having said that, I did not like this book. Oh, sure, the main characters were all there and bigger than life, as usual. But as for the plot... it was like being served leftovers with a few nasty surprises hidden inside. In particular I despise and revile the sordid little affair Ramses has halfway through the book. For someone supposedly head over heels in unrequited love with Nefret, he sure didn't seem to mind getting friendly with the locals. It seemed cheap, perhaps even out of character, and certainly unnecessary. I have always thought that the long, slow romance between Ramses and Nefret was charming, and now I have to weave this little bit of tawdry unfaithfulness into their story.
All in all, I wish I had not read this installment of Peabody family history.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent characters - again!
Review: In some of the latest Amelia Peabody's, the characters are a bit wooden. But here we get depth, unpredictibility, uncertainity and compromise. As well as the humor, excitement and smarts that are in all the books. If you haven't read all the previously published books in the series, make sure you save this one till at least after "He Shall Thunder in the Sky".
Rating:
Summary: Not the best, but still good
Review: More so than usual, this was quite a book to keep up with. The plots upon plots and intricate character web were a bit difficult to follow, and even though I've finished I still feel as if there are several storylines that weren't resolved. Even though Ramse's romance with Daria bothered some people (including me, to an extent), it's really not that big of a deal, especially considering that it's never mentioned in the rest of the series. A lot of people complained about this book, but I though all and all this was a cute, well-written read. Like many other fans, I was just happy to find out that Ms. Peters had written another one!
Rating:
Summary: "Conquer by confusion, I always say"
Review: There comes a time in every series that covers a large number of years when it isn't possible to go further without the main characters discovering the secret of eternal life. Elizabeth Peters' Emersons - Egyptologists, amateur sleuths, and eccentrics par excellence - have reached a point where the era they chronicle is gradually coming to a close. Trust Peter's to find a solution, though, a new cache of papers that document the 'missing years' of the family's madcap career across the tombs and monuments of Egypt. Set just previous to the blossoming of Ramses' relationship with Nefret, 'Guardian of the Horizon' documents the return to the 'Lost Oasis,' a last hidden survival of ancient Egypt - the Meroitic civilization that the Emerson's first discovered in the Sudan ('The Last Camel Died at Noon'). Readers will recall that the Holy City was where the Emerson's found Nefret, whom they late adopted. Now, ten years later, Merasen, a young noble, appears in England with a message from Tarek, king of the Lost Oasis, and a close friend of the family. There is illness in the Sudan and it threatens the survival of this hidden civilization. Amelia, Emerson, Ramses, and Nefret quickly set out. For Amelia and Emerson, setting out on a secret journey means that only half of Egypt knows that something is up. As soon as word gets out that they intend to return to the Sudan to 'excavate,' a whole host of shady characters a drawn by the legends of hidden treasure that are rumored to be at the Lost Oasis. Of course, that means trouble, and the journey to the Sudan is marred by violence, intrusion, and countless twists and turns as the Emerson's carry out one elusive maneuver after another. When they finally arrive at their destination they discover that nothing is as they expected. Instead of a sick king, they find themselves embroiled in a series of adventures that mix politics, religion, and, of course, just a bit of treasure. While a bit slow in developing, the book builds to a classic Peters' finish, with the Emerson's concocting on scheme after another as they try to extricate themselves unharmed and save the kingdom at the same time. Elizabeth Peters does a fine job of returning the reader to the Emerson's past without recreating what was originally one of the family's most irritating periods. Instead, the writer allows Amelia and company just enough additional maturity to keep the story interesting without the extreme vaudeville that marked her work at that time. While any reader knows that a certain amount of the experience of reading one of the Emerson stories is rolling one's eyes at some of the more hysterical displays, that has been kept to a low roar. I enjoyed the book, and think that any other fan will do so as well.
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