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This is the debut book of fellow Wattpad author, bibliolumbricus. It is the first book in The Artifact Guardians series.
It's every archaeologist's dream to explore the hidden tombs of Egypt. Unfortunately for me, my dream turns into a nightmare when Xander Harrison, a childhood friend who betrayed me, joins my team.
I came to Egypt to study the ancient past, not to be confronted with my own.
Besides Xander's questionable motives for joining the excavation, I'm also convinced he's the one responsible for my father's death. But I can't prove it. And if I don't want to miss out on the excavation of a lifetime, I'll have to put my personal feelings aside and work with the annoyingly handsome Englishman.
But as we find clues to the whereabouts of an ancient tomb, secrets start to surface, revealing pieces of a deadly plot against us. Soon, I start to realize I might have been wrong about Xander. The only way to discover the truth is if I give up the very secret my father died to protect.
If I don't...I might share my father's fate.
Okay, I'm just going to get it out of the way and say my biggest gripe before entering the book... I really don't get why the summary is in first person when the book is in third xD The way I've always learned it, summaries are best in third present. Because of that, I fully expected the book to be first person. Then it wasn't. And yeah... Know it's not going to change, but honestly, that really bugged me and I would love to know the reason it was done that way to satisfy my gripes.
Since I started on negatives, I'm just going to stick there for a moment. Most of it being Leila could feel somewhat weak at times and I would want to whack her during the Xander interactions. I give her a bit of leeway because Xander was being a vague butt, but I felt like it went the will-they-won't-they route a tad too long. Other than that, just sometimes felt like the archaeology specific scenes with a lot of special terminology could be a turn off for people. Like, I appreciated the crap out of it and all the knowledge, so this is more just a general negative of maybe some people being turned off and bored by those scenes.
Otherwise... I really enjoyed it. I read parts of the prequel and it had me eager and watching for familiar names (the Daniel to Landon switch really did throw me off for a bit, not gonna lie <.<).
Leila had a true love for archaeology, which really showed through with her choices throughout the book and some of her wording (scarabs instead of butterflies amused me xD). Even if sometimes I wanted to whack her, it made me root for her because what she was doing came from a true passion in her heart.
Xander acted as a fun love interest for her, with his teasing way paired with his growing bluntness. Though, again, sometimes wanted to whack the vagueness out of him, even if I kinda understood xD And he was pretty cool there are the end. You know where I mean.
Plot wise, I enjoyed the mystery, and I legit couldn't tell sometimes what side Xander fell on. I like how that mystery and the action mixed with the mundane, making it so we were on edge as much as Leila. It would have been so easy to fall into a sense of ease if not for knowing it was a book and already having my own interactions with a certain person in the prequel.
Speaking of, the son of said person was very fun to read about in a bad way xD What can I say? A sucker for villains that treat people like mice.
I was a bit bummed because I can't tell if I saw the twist coming or not because a review I read may have already pointed me in that direction... But I had a feeling of what the twist was coming, so hah! Take that.
Overall a fun read. Hoping to see Leila grow, and the summary of the next book has me very intrigued.
