Read All About It: The Eye of Ra

Dakota Chase starts her series, Repeating History, with The Eye of Ra, a sweet young adult tale of kids who make bad decisions, but manage to work through them with a few questionable adventures. Recently re-published by Dreamspinner Press (May 2017), The Eye of Ra is an easy read with sweet moments, a full roster of historical figures, and a mysterious history teacher.

Aston is a relatively normal child, excepting the tendency to graffiti buildings and the juvenile record. His third offence lands him a year-long placement at a boys school, where he meets Grant, another teen sentenced to the same fate. The two get into some trouble with their history teacher, who turns out to be Merlin, you know, the one who ran with King Arthur back in the day.

When Aston and Grant end up destroying Merlin's office, and a few dozen priceless historical artifacts, they're tasked with helping Merlin recover a few items--and their first task sends them to Ancient Egypt, to King Tut's palace, where they must retrieve the Eye of Ra. Unfamiliar with their surroundings, tasked with stealing an artifact from a Pharaoh, and surrounded by enemies, the two must come together in order to retrieve the amulet, and make it home before their next class.

This is a cute book! It had a few faults, but they were outnumbered by the good parts. Chase writes from Aston's point of view as a first person narrator, which is not a style I typically go for, but it works for this. He is a troubled teen with an unsatisfactory home life, which automatically made me root for him. Add in the bonus of him being gay, and you've got an easy-to-follow recipe to my heart.

Add in a rendition of King Tut that actually accounts for some of his real physical issues, like the club foot that he had, and this book really grabbed my attention. It's clear that Chase did some research for this, including a historically accurate prayer that King Tut gives at the shrine of an ancestor. These little details gave Chase more credibility and gave the book itself more depth.

There are a few questionable transitions. It was surprisingly easy for Aston and Grant to enter the Pharaoh's palace, it was surprisingly easy for them to get close to him, and it was surprisingly easy for them to survive a few of the things they went through. They're just teens, after all. But the suspension of belief required by their actions is worth it.

At only 180 pages, the book is just long enough to get invested in Aston and Grant, as well as their fledgling romance, and it's easy to enjoy their trials in the past as they worry about their future.

There are also enough grammatical errors that I feel this could have done with another pass from a copy editor, but this is a minor qualm, and doesn't really detract from the narrative any more than a stray thought or two.

Overall, The Eye of Ra is a pleasant read, and I look forward to reading the sequel, The Hammer of the Witch. You'll find my review of that book later this month on The Skiffy and Fanty Show! I'll link to it here once it's out.

Edit: Follow this link to read my review of The Hammer of the Witch!

Until then, keep an eye out for history teachers who are older than they look. They might just want to send you on strange quests.