Rating: 
Summary: Dribble
Review: I've read several other books written by Elizabeth Peters and have enjoyed them. But this book was not up to her usual standards. Combine an over use of superfluous adjectives with a weak story line and an unexplained passage of time by the end of the book you earned five stars just for sticking with it.
Rating: 
Summary: Four stars isn't enough, five stars is a tiny bit too much
Review: Like most of the other reviewers, I was entranced by the story in this book, happy for David and Lia, frustrated for Ramses and Nefret...but it held together very well. Ms. Peters has developed these characters a great deal since my first reading years and years ago, and has incorporated the political realities in a very real way.As I said in my review of "The Ape..." I would love to give 4.75 stars but Amazon doesn't have the facilities for that. Read it, enjoy it, and by all means, have fun with it!
Rating: 
Summary: The Falcon at the Portal
Review: I loved this book. This book has everything. It keeps you interested from the beginning to the end. It all starts with the Emerson's usual trip to Egypt. David and Lia have just gotten married and Ramses is in love with Nefret but she does not know this. Someone is framing David. Quite a few forgeries have showed up tracing back to David. The Emersons are certain that it is not David who did these. Mean while a young American girl seems to have fallen head over heels for Ramses. She is doing her best to win his heart over. Time goes by fast and soon it is Christmas. Ramses recieves a gift from the American girl. The next day at the site the emersons are working at her body is found. Ramses in blame of her death. To find out what happens buy this book. I assure you, you will love it.
Rating:
Summary: Don't let other reviews put you off...
Review: This is actually an amazing book. It continues the adventures of the Peabody-Emerson clan, which has just become exponentially larger with the addition of David Todros' family after David's marriage to Lia Emerson. Ah, but things are never that simple in this world, and someone soon accuses the honeymooning David of forgeries. Needless to say, Amelia, Emerson, Ramses, and Nefret are hot on the case. However, things never go easily for this clan, with Nefret and Ramses' budding relationship and the evil Percy Peabody getting in the way of the investigation and the excavation (much to Emerson's dismay). I know many people had problems with everyone's favorite girl from the oasis. However shocking this was, it was not all that surprising to me. Nefret is a girl bound to act on instinct and then regret later. So she doesn't make some of the best choices, but then we know everything she doesn't, eh? Overall, this book was fantastic and just builds up the tensions that will all come to a head in the the emotionally charged "He Shall Thunder In the Sky," my favorite Peabody novel to date. Another great addition to a magnificent series of books...
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable
Review: Unbelievable people, unbelievable situation, and unbelievable dialogue.
Rating:
Summary: Cliffhanger
Review: I liked this book because it finally exposes Ramses REAL feelings. It gives the family a chance to really support one another in a way they never have before. Having said that I don't think anyone should read this book without its companion,
He Shall Thunder In The Sky. Trust me on this.
Rating:
Summary: This is really only part 1
Review: For devoted Peters fans, this book is hard to read: well-loved characters are put through Hell, and it has an ambiguous ending. New readers of this book need to realize that it's not really a stand-alone novel. It's volume one of a two-volume book, with HE SHALL THUNDER IN THE SKY the second part.
Rating: 
Summary: Frustrated!
Review: I was very disappointed and frustrated with The Falcon At The Portal. I have loved this entire series up until now. The tension and possibility of a love relationship between Ramses and Nefret has been drawn out way too long. In this book I hoped that we would finally see a happy conclusion to this part of the story, but instead we are thrown, unexpectedly, into a huge tragedy. I was so angry about the series of events that drew Ramses and Nefret apart that I couldn't even finish the book. I flipped back through the book to see who the "villian" was, and promptly threw the book on the shelf. I feel that we have been drawn along in the story of Ramses and Nefret far too long to have something like this thrown at us! I read these books for enjoyment and relaxation at the end of a stressful day. This book certainly didn't do anything for my stress! My advice to anyone who is reading the series.....skip this one!
Rating:
Summary: Emotions run wild...
Review: I know a lot of people had problems with this book...er, actually with Nefret's actions in this book. I however, loved it! The intense pain and hurt that came from those actions were so real...I felt Amelia's shock and pain. I think it changed the characters in a world that was rapidly changing around them. No one could stay behind as this Great War began to sweep a world along with it. On another note, I absolutely adored the story of Sinuhe. The parallels to Nefret were astounding...I think that she still is making her journey as Sinuhe at the end of this book. One can almost see the pain that she feels, still searching for her way "home." Elizabeth Peters is the grand master of the extended metaphor, but this time she truly outdid herself.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe She Had Her Reasons
Review: While I didn't find that this story slipped down as easily as some of the lighter Amelia Peabody Mysteries I must point out that Nefret's horrified reaction to the "Ramses' Love Child" rumor Is easy to understand if you ask yourself two, count 'em 2, questions. How far along was Nefret when She lost her baby? How long had she and young Geoffrey been married? According to Dr. Willoughby Nefret went from wife to widow in the space of weeks. Nefret was, according to Amelia's reckoning, barely a month along, if that. Carefully reread the letters from collection B and you will see that an argument can certainly be made for the child's not being Geoffrey's. If this was indeed the case and the father was Ramses it is hardly surprising that Nefret's reaction seemed so over the top. For a woman of Nefret's scruples the idea of carrying the child of the sort of male creature who creates and then leaves a baby to a life of misery and degradation might easily lead to a reckless, and mistaken course of action. Aside from that plotline I am happy to see that with the advent of little Sennia all of the talk about equality is now being lived up to. It is all very well to have dark, handsome men as heroes of novels, but why do the women have to be so everlasting blonde and blue eyed to be considered beautiful? As a dark haired and dark eyed woman I feel that it is a legitimate question. Now I hope that Sennia will be allowed to grow up to be as much of a beauty as Nefret is purported to be. It would be rather dampening to make her the gutsy, ugly duckling as it would only perpetuate the received prejudices about feminine grace and beauty being reserved for the whitest races. Equality is as equality does.
| 
