This book really made me happy- it was suspenseful, witty, funny, and clever all at the same time. It reminded me of The Daughter of Time in a way with the whole solving a mystery from hundreds of years in the past thing. I've had Elizabeth Peters on my list of authors to check out for a long time and I'm glad I finally did.I loved Vicky Bliss. She is hilarious and reminds me of Emily Deschanel's character on Bones- very aware of how beautiful & intelligent she but still in need of reassurance. Vicky is by no means as socially awkward and needy as Bones but she comes close.
This book also had an awesome first paragraph:
"When I was ten years old, I knew I was never going to get married. Not only was I six inches taller than any boy in the fifth grade- except Matthew Finch who was five ten and weighed ninety-eight pounds- but my IQ was as formidable as my height. It was sixty points higher than that of any of the boys- except the aforesaid Matthew Finch. I topped him by only thirty points... If there is anything worse than being a tall girl, it is being a tall smart girl." (p.1)
Vicky is a great narrator and the book is full of funny lines:
"She had fought time with some success, but the signs of battle were visible; the keen blue eyes were set in folds of waxy, crumpled flesh, and her neck had the petrified scrawniness older women get when they diet too strenuously... she looked the way a dowager countess ought to look." (p. 67)
"A girl my size needs her nourishment..." (p.126)
"Stay put tonight. That's an order."
I nodded. A reflexive movement is not binding legally." (p.192)
"Allow me then to assume my trousers."
Tony and I went out into the hall while the trousers were assumed."(p.204)
Its always comforting to find a new author who writes so satisfyingly. Its strangely calming to me knowing that there are is a whole stack of more Elizabeth Peters books out there waiting for me. To my mind the only thing that could improve Vicky's adventures is for a dash more romance in the next installments.
