Review: Fury From The Tomb

Fury From The Tomb
Rating: 2/5
Buy or Borrow: Borrow
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Saqqara, Egypt, 1888, and in the booby-trapped tomb of an ancient sorcerer, Rom, a young Egyptologist, makes the discovery of a lifetime: five coffins and an eerie, oversized sarcophagus. But the expedition seems cursed, for after unearthing the mummies, all but Rom die horribly. He faithfully returns to America with his disturbing cargo, continuing by train to Los Angeles, home of his reclusive sponsor. When the train is hijacked by murderous banditos in the Arizona desert, who steal the mummies and flee over the border, Rom - with his benefactor's rebellious daughter, an orphaned Chinese busboy, and a cold-blooded gunslinger - must ride into Mexico to bring the malevolent mummies back. If only mummies were their biggest problem... 

I really, really, really, wanted to like this book. I love The Mummy, I love Indiana Jones, and I was so excited to dive in to this. The opening chapter piqued my interest and sent a chill down my spine. It's a mashup of historical, supernatural, adventure and horror. It's nicely creepy at points and we get to journey through Egypt and Mexico. It should have been a wild ride, and an unputdownable read. 

It wasn't for one reason. The narrator and our main character. I don't usually have a problem with first person, but honestly? Rom doesn't half harp on, for pages and pages and pages, before ever getting to a point. It got old incredibly fast, because I personally felt like it bogged the pace right down. It reached a point in the book, not even halfway, that I was tired of his narrative, I wasn't connecting with him as a character at all, and didn't particularly even like him. I only finished this book because I sped read it and largely skimmed all of his waffling. I'd be lying if I said my attention didn't wander, and I kind of had to force myself to keep reading. 

Honestly, I thought this book had so much potential and I was so excited for it, I was anticipating it being a series full of history and adventure...but I ended up severely disappointed and with an aversion to first person narration. I think if a lot of Rom's nattering had been cut out, this book would have been half the size, and a lot better paced.