⇒ Libro Gratis Napoleon Pyramids Ethan Gage Adventures William Dietrich Books

Napoleon Pyramids Ethan Gage Adventures William Dietrich Books

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Napoleon Pyramids Ethan Gage Adventures William Dietrich Books

A good adventure tale set in the context of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt! All the usual elements including the beautiful woman, the treasure, the adventure getting there and getting away. The historical context seems well researched, the characters are enjoyable, the adventure seems real. Good story!


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Napoleon Pyramids Ethan Gage Adventures William Dietrich Books Reviews

I picked this book up for free and didn't expect much of it, but I was pleasantly surprised. While I wish the dialog had stayed a little truer to the time, I quickly found myself wrapped up in the story. Parts were a little dry and I think some of the history lessons could have been shortened (I understand the necessity for some of it, but I wasn't looking to become an expert in any of the topics at hand - although the sacred geometry was absolutely fascinating, so perhaps I shouldn't gripe), but it was a great adventure. My main complaint is the end - I don't mind series and sequels, but I appreciate them more when the previous installment actually has some sort of an ending. There was little satisfaction to be had at the end of this book, but considering I enjoyed 98% of it, I'm trying not to let that get in the way of my overall opinion. )
William Dietrich's first venture into the adventures of Ethan Gage is strongly reminiscent of George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman series where the principal character, Harry Flashman, VC, was injected into every major event of the latter half of the 19th to just over the turn of the 19th & 20th century. The only exception to the Dietrich escapades, which can be educational, is the humor Fraser was able install into his stories. And so, Ethan Gage is a more serious character and not a poltroon like Harry Flashman. Whereas, he does get randy like Flashman, Gage isn't as obsessed with it. Nonetheless, the adventures are enjoyable to read, fast paced, and help the reader understand history even if it is not the purpose for the read. I probably would actually give the rating 4.5 stars rather than 5 just because of Dietrich's absence of humor. I certainly intend to continue reading his subsequent works because I've been looking for a Harry Flashman style novel for 20 years.
Napoleon's Pyramids (Ethan Cage #1) by William Dietrich

April 13, 1798, Ethan Cage--Benjamin Franklin's apprentice--is in Paris gambling and he has a string of good luck. Among his winnings is a rare amulet that is supposed to be very ancient and was worn by Cleopatra herself. After winning, he rents a woman, Minette. Unfortunately, Minette is killed and Ethan becomes the main suspect of the murder. He seeks refuge with a fellow Freemason, Antoine Talma, who is on his way to Egypt. Ethan is given a choice enlist with Antoine on Napoleon's expedition to conquer Egypt as a "savant," helping Napoleon uncover the secrets of the amulet, or face his murder charges.

Thus, starts the adventure. Napoleon evades Lord Nelson's fleet and conquers Alexandria, then Cairo. Ethan must fight Count Alessandro Silano--master of the occult, and Achmed bin Sadr--an Egyptian, both followed Ethan to Egypt and want the powers of the amulet for themselves. He joins forces with Astiza--a priestess from the book of Thoth, Enoch the wise, and his brother, Ashraf (Ash) el-Din to figure the 6000 y/o mystery surrounding the amulet.

The story is narrated from the first person point of view and, thus, my main complaint. The plot is sometimes redundant, repetitive, and boring. The characters are one dimensional because we never get inside their minds--the first person point of view minimizes them.

I finished the book but found myself skipping the prose. Sad, because I thought the premise and the research were great. I know this is the first in a series, but I will skip reading the rest of the series.
I picked up the sequel to this book, "The Rosetta Key", first but found out in the first few pages that it picked up directly where "Napoleon's Pyramids" ends, so ended up purchasing it on .

The concept certainly sounded like fun, with a Revolutionary War era Indiana Jones uncovering ancient mysteries in the midst of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt - how could you go wrong?

Unfortunately, Ethan Gage is a cardboard hero. He's given a lot of attractive attributes; assistant to Benjamin Franklin in his electrical experiments, frontier marksman, gambler, etc., but they hardly ever come into play.

As other reviewers have mentioned, he comes across as a bit of an idiot. Maybe his work with Franklin was limited to bringing him coffee, but he certainly didn't pick up any knowledge. This sole purpose of this link to Franklin seems to be to add some historical cover and get him included in Napoleon's expedition as a "savant". Everything has to be pointed out to him and he's very slow on the uptake (minor spoiler at one point one of the savants debunks Gage's medallion because of a supposed anachronism and Gage accepts it even though he had just returned from an previously undiscovered ancient temple that proved the medallion's antiquity).

Outside of the Franklin connection, Gage's Revolutionary era bona fides are limited to his love for his long rifle and tomahawk (as some other reviewers have pointed out) and a sprinkling of topical exclamations "by Ticonderoga's timbers!", "by Washington's sword!"). Despite his constant worrying over them (several times during the novel he has to hide them for later recovery) they're not really a big part of the story. He demonstrates his marksmanship a few times, but it never comes into play at any crucial junction and misses the one target he tries to hit with his tomahawk.

In a similar vein, his reputation as a gambler is limited to an opening scene where he wins the novel's macguffin at cards.

The pace of the novel is much slower than it should be for a thriller (it was a page turner in the sense that I was hoping to get to the end and be able to read something else). The main device to move the plot forward seemed to be the fortuitous arrival of someone to either help or chase Gage to the next scene. The action scenes were disjointed and didn't really flow and were filled with unlikely actions and speeches and the characterization of the antagonists equally poor (at one point, during a fight to the death, Gage seizes on villain's trademark weapon and he exclaims "Give it back!").

The book does leave off on a partial cliffhanger and I already have the sequel, so i'll probably read it at some point, but it's not something I'll be rushing to read. As mentioned, I think it's a really good concept, with a potentially interesting hero in an interesting setting, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that the writing improves.
A good adventure tale set in the context of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt! All the usual elements including the beautiful woman, the treasure, the adventure getting there and getting away. The historical context seems well researched, the characters are enjoyable, the adventure seems real. Good story!