Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not great.
Review: This is the first of the novels by Elizabeth Peters that I have read and although I thought it was a great book, I feel that it will be the only one I read in a long time. Peters, in this particular novel does a good job in portraying the characters. I immediately had an idea of how each character acts and thinks. Although the assorted interactions were entertaining to read and help me "get to know" them, they seemed to take up a lot of time. Consequently, the plot seemed long and tedious. The plot started out slow. Once it got going, it was entertaining and reading the remainder half went by quickly. However, this long development process was too long for me and made me somewhat tired of reading the first half. The most entertaining aspect of the book was the characters. I loved how Ramses, although only 16 years old, has already gone through so much in his life. Additionally, Nefret was hands down my favorite because of her sensuous ways with men. Overall, I found this book entertaining. Although the plot did not appeal to me as much as I thought it would, the character development more than made up for it. I would recommend this book to all. Although there are many better mystery novels out there, this one will guarantee to entertain.
Rating: 
Summary: Amelia Peabody - Mystery solver???
Review: This was my first and probably last Amelia Peabody mystery I shall read. Peabody is a nosy, verbose, upper class English Egyptologist famous for solving mysteries. I found the writing to be somewhat tedious and long winded. You'll have to suffer until page 125 for any sort of action to begin. I think only the true history lover can appreciate this novel, for most of the characters are either named after Egyptian gods or pharaohs. If this is the best novel Peters has to offer I dread to think of what her others may be like. This is a fairly quick read, really only a skim if there is absolutely nothing else at home on offer. I would reccomend other authors such as Christian Jacq, PC Doherty and Michael Asher who execute beautifully the wonders of Egypt.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book with some Flaws
Review: With a combination of an interesting cast of characters and a variety of plot twists, Elizabeth Peters' makes "Seeing A Large Cat" one entertaining mystery book recommendable to anyone with free time. This being my first experience with the Amelia Peabody series, I found the book easy to follow without having to worry about what occurred in the previous books of the series. This is in part due to the author's excellent job in developing the main characters. Throughout the book, we are constantly reminded of the personality of each character through their actions. Take the son, Ramses, for example. The mother, Amelia Peabody, is constantly reminiscing about Ramses' troublesome childhood while at the same time, admiring the person that Ramses has now matured into. This gives the reader a general history of the character of Ramses as well as a brief understanding of why Ramses is the type of man that he is. This leads us to share in the mother's admiration for the son's maturation. The character Ramses is also defined through his actions that are often deeds of heroism and integrity. Another aspect that makes this book so enjoyable was its constant twists in the plot. There were so many that I was constantly left wondering what would happen next as well as what was fact and what was fiction. The author's ability to develop so many subplots and at the same time attempt to tie it into the main plot was outstanding. This added to the awesome suspense of this book. The setting was also a factor in the success of this book. The cities that were mentioned in this book, such as Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, are often associated with the tombs and the dead pharaohs of ancient Egypt. I believe that the author purposefully picked these sites as the setting to generate emotions of mystery and adventure in this book. From my point of view, Elizabeth Peters was successful in her endeavors. However, there were some low points in this book as well. At specific parts of the book, we encounter three different subplots where it could be easy to confuse the progression of one plot with the other. For instance, every now and then I found myself having to stop reading and skimming back to reassure myself of what Amelia Peabody was looking for or whether she was looking for anything at all. Also, there were points in the book in which the plot was very slow in developing. As a result, this may have taken a little luster away from this book. Despite these facts, I thought the character development and the suspense created by the plot twists as well as its mysterious Egyptian setting, was a successful formula in making "Seeing a Large Cat" a great mystery novel.
Rating:
Summary: good book
Review: Yes, I was required to read this book as a World History Project. I found it semi-hard to read becuse the characters. The characters were very hard to tell how they were related to the main character, Amelia Peabody. I also picked a book sounds like it was in a series of books, so I picked a hard book to start out on. It was a little hard to start out in the beginning but after getting through the first chapter it got much better. I thought overall from reading other summaries and the readers opinions I liked the book.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Read into Ramses
Review: You know, originally I found this book to be a bit tedious. Generally I love the chemistry and one-upmanship between Emerson and Amelia. However, when the book began to take a different tack - to focus on Ramses, I was entranced. No longer the loquacious youth, he is now incredibly interesting, and Peters has opened the door for many more novels. This was a fun read and a good mystery, but I suspect other loyal fans of this series will agree with me when I say the books best trait was its look into Ramses and Nefret and David.
|
