ISBN: 0-7887-2473-8 Order from:
An excellent production of an entertaining novel with interesting characters, meandering plot, a bit too much melodrama, and an annoyingly arch protagonist.
Reviewed by David on May 29, 1999
Genre: Mystery (Historical, Romance)
Synopsis: This is the inabridged recording of The Ape Who Guards the Balance.
Amelia Peabody, her husband, the professor of Egyptology, and the rest of her extended and charmingly idiosyncratic family, experience another season of archeology and skulldaggery in 1907.
From the old criminal enemies, to the incompetent but fortunate scientific rivals, to the emotional entanglements of love, trust and bigotry, the Peabody and Company do their best in their search for justice, happiness, but rarely serenity.
Full Review: This is the first book on tape to which I have listened, and therefore, my basis for comparison is only the paper verions. I have chosen the novel for my commute, and I must say it was a perfect choice. The narration is lengthy (12 90-minute tapes, one of which is an interview with the author). The book is sufficiently interesting to hold my interest during long drives, without being fascinating enough to cause disappointment when it's time to get out of the car. It is also a type of book I enjoy mildly, but not enough to swallow it quickly by reading it on paper.
The narrator, Barbara Rosenblat, is excellent. While some of the secondary characters blur slightly, the primary six, are so well distinguished, that after a few minutes of narration one forgets that it's a single woman's voice, and starts to see the brilliantly profane and profoundly male Professor, the arch and melodramatic Amelia, the stubborn and intense Nefret, and so on.
The book itself is number ten in the series and is typical of other Amelia Peabody mysteries. The plot, unfortunately, is rather uninteresting, and centered more on the Peabody clan than on any realistically evil ploys. A number of plot holes remain unfilled, and the process of detection is haphazard and passive. Another irritant is the melodramatic, arch and circumlocutiuous (is this a real word?) tone of the main character. Charming for a short while, the tone (and character interaction) becomes repetetive and overly lengthy.
However, for the fans of this popular series, the real value is not the plot but rather the meticulously rendered atmosphere of turn-of-the-century Egyptology, and the intentionally exaggerated eccentricity of Amelia and her family, friends and enemies.
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Overall: 5.5; Plot: 4; Characters: 5.5; Style: 5.5; World-building: 5; Originality: 6;
Copyright date 1998, Recorded Books, 1998, Audio Cassette
ISBN: 0-7887-2473-8 Order from: