Review: Seti’s Heart by Kiernan Kelly

Title: Seti’s Heart

Author: Kiernan Kelly

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Length: 172 Pages

Category: Urban Fantasy

At a Glance: Entertaining, with a lot more humor than I was expecting. Seti’s Heart wasn’t quite what I had thought it would be, but, on the whole, was enjoyable.

Reviewed By: Lindsey

Blurb: A vengeful god’s curse took everything from the Egyptian pharaoh Seti: his name, his position, and even his lover. After many long centuries relegated to a musty sarcophagus, he’s awakened when a graduate student working in the museum where he is stored stumbles upon him.

Logan, working as a curator to fund his education, figures he’s screwed when he accidentally awakens the ancient ruler. It’ll be career suicide to claim the mummy came back to life, but it’s either that or be labeled a thief. Little does he know, those are the least of his problems. A society of archaeologists is hot on their trail, determined to uncover the secret of Seti’s immortality, and then there’s the little matter of an angry god who doesn’t appreciate Logan meddling in his work. But the biggest problem might be Seti himself, who’ll stop at nothing to get into Logan’s pants—and his heart.

First Edition published by Torquere Press, 2008.

Review: Though fun, and a lot more humorous than I was expecting, Seti’s Heart wasn’t quite what I had thought it would be—not necessarily a negative, it just threw me for a loop. It took me a little while to change gears in my head, and join the adventure I was on rather than waiting for the one I mistakenly thought I would get.

See, I went into this story thinking there would be a ton of historical information. I was looking forward to the whole “ancient Egyptian King acclimating to present day” sort of concept, with much more of a serious and slower paced plot and steeped with historical references. I don’t know why I thought that; it’s just what my head expected. So, several times I caught myself questioning the believability of the story in the beginning, and I definitely had to suspend disbelief in a lot of areas. But then I realized this story is meant to be entertaining, and if I am jumping into a story about a cursed Egyptian King resurrected from a sarcophagus, and being hunted by an angry Egyptian god, I should really check myself and just allow myself to be amused. Once I gave myself a good scolding, and got it through my skull that this particular story wasn’t going in the direction I had originally thought, I did just that and found the story, on the whole, very pleasurable.

The plot was pretty cool, as long as you go in knowing it is a wee bit far-fetched, and maybe a little rushed. A lot happens in this story, in a condensed number of pages, so the plot flows very quickly from one thing to the next, and several POVs are explored. Multiple POVs generally aren’t my favorite, because I like to be as surprised as my MCs, but in this case, I really appreciated getting into the baddies heads and picturing the bigger plot going on.

There were some unexpected turns that the story took, and I applaud the author for throwing in those zingers (one, in particular, that I seriously did not see coming), as it did bring some more serious aspects to the story and gave the plot a bit more depth.

Though the characters were quirky and fun, and I really appreciated Logan and his friends’ dialogue and humor, I still can’t help but wish I’d got a little more on page time with Seti, getting his perspective as he adjusted to present day and all the changes in the five-thousand years he was mummified. Seti’s quick acclimation to present day is clarified, but I still would have liked to join his perspective more as he got inside his first car, experienced the shower, used a microwave, and all kinds of little things I take for granted. Personally, it’s one of my favorite viewpoints in books with the time-travel element. It would have slowed down the pacing just a tad, but for me, it was something I was really looking forward to but was skimmed over in order to focus on the other players and the bigger plot going on. Since it is a personal preference, it may not be as big of a deal for someone else.

I would totally recommend this story to someone looking for a cute, quick read with an interesting plot.

You can buy Seti’s Heart here:
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