Category Archives: Children’s Historical Action & Adventure

The Eye of RA – Review

Litercurious Book Review

TITLEThe Eye of Ra ( Book 1 “Eye of Ra” series)
AUTHORBen Gartner
PUBLISHERCrescent Vista Press (February 1, 2020)
FORMATKindle, Hardcover, Paperback
FILE / PAGES3864 KB / 279
GENREChildren’s Historical Fiction / Children’s Egyptian Fiction / Children’s Archaeology Books. / Science Fiction
LANGUAGEEnglish
ASIN / ISBN 10/13B082WS8H4C / 1734155248978-1734155242

AUTHOR

Find out about Ben Gartner and The Eye of Ra series here.

SYNOPSIS

The Eye of Ra is the first book in the saga of Sarah and John. They are a preteen sister and brother who travel through time and experience all sorts of adventures and life challenging situations. Sarah is 12 and believes she is worldly. Whilst John is 10 and is more reserved and the “Little Chef” of the house. Together they make a great team of adventurers.

In this first installment, we are introduced to the siblings and their upcoming move from Colorado to Maryland. They experience all kinds of reservation about the move; the loss of friends and the unknown that lies before them in a new state. Sarah, the more adventurous of the two, is looking forward to the move. While John doesn’t want to leave his best friend and the only home he has ever known.

Prior to the move, the family goes for a hike up the mountain behind their house. Sarah and John go off on their own and find a cave. Of course Sarah wants to explore the cave while John thinks that is a bad idea. In the cave, they are astonished to find ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on the wall. While tracing the Eye of Ra with her hand, Sarah accidentally transports the two to ancient Egypt.

Lost in the time of the Pharaohs, Sarah and John have to find a way back home. They meet a local boy, Zach, who takes them in while they are trying to figure out what happened and how to reverse it. While in Egypt they meet all kinds of people, learn about ancient Egyptian culture, and even help build the first pyramid! They even become temporary sleuths and uncover a local criminal. Along the way they have to deal with cobras, scorpions, and Nile crocodiles.

Will Sarah and John ever make it home? Will the criminal come after them? Will they ever see their parents again? Are they stuck in the land of sand forever?

CONCLUSION

The Eye of Ra is the introduction into the series. It is an entertaining and exciting historical science fiction story. In this first installment Ben Gartner sets the stage for the future adventures of Sarah and John. While it doesn’t have as much adventure as the later two books, it is a great beginning. Sarah and John experience life and death situations, criminals, venomous snakes and scorpions, and crocodiles. Along the journey we learn about ancient Egyptian culture, beliefs and their religion. Sarah and John learn valuable life lessons and more about their own strengths and weaknesses.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. While it isn’t as fast paced or as crammed packed with adventure as the next 2 books in the series; I found it gripping and hard to put down. I read it in less than 2 days.

The Eye of Ra is recommended for children 8-12 years of age, but I believe people of all ages will be entranced by this series. If you like science fiction, time travel, ancient history, travel and adventure; then you will enjoy this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES

PEOPLE OF THE SUN – REVIEW

Audio & Book Reviews Site. Why watch when you can read?

People of the Sun by Ben Gartner
People of The Sun – Third in The Eye of Ra Series
TITLEPeople of the Sun (book 3 “Eye of RA” series)
AUTHORBen Gartner
PUBLISHERCrescent Vista Press (February 1, 2022)
FORMATKindle, Hardcover, Paperback
PAGES262
LANGUAGEEnglish
GENREChildren’s Historical Fiction, Science Fiction
ASIN / ISBN
10/13
B09B9FGWSW / 1734155272 / 978-1734155273

AUTHOR

Find out about Ben Gartner and The Eye of Ra Series here.

SYNOPSIS

People of the Sun is the third book in The Eye of Ra Series. Sarah and John continue their adventures in time!

Sarah is John’s older sister and together they make up a team of time traveling detectives. Their goal is to make sure that the time line remains intact. It seems that Dr. Tidewell (Sarah) and Mr. Tidewell (John) created a time machine in the year 2049. During a demonstration things go awry, and the entire audience is transported to various places throughout time; and the trouble begins!

The adult brother and sister duo travel back in time to enlist their earlier versions of themselves to help fix the timeline. If they can’t fix the timeline then life ceases to exist on Johns birthday in 2049 (the date of the presentation).

In this installment, they travel to Mexico in the year 1519 to prevent the death of Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, a Spanish Conquistador. Toci, an expert scholar in Aztec culture and fluent in English, Spanish and the Nahuatl language, is determined to prevent Cortés from conquering the Aztecs. What follows is an adventure that sees Sarah and John almost becoming human sacrifices, battling for their very lives and having to make some hard decisions about whether or not to change history.

CONCLUSION

People of the Sun is an excellent book. It has time travel, history, action, and adventure! It is filled with moral conundrums, universal impacting decisions, and morality.

Ben has done another superb job with this book. He has managed to mold history with adventure again. Just reading this book and the Author’s Note at the end, I learned quit-a-bit about the Aztecs, Cortés and the fall of an entire empire.

This book is a great read for the young and old alike. I highly recommend this series and don’t forget to read the Author’s Notes. Ben provides links to the historical references if the reader would like to learn more about the period.

I can’t wait to read about Sarah and John’s next adventure!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank Ben Gartner and Crescent Vista Press for affording me the opportunity to review People of the Sun.

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES

The Eye of Ra is now available for a short time for 0.99 cents.

Prince of Ponies – Review

Litercurious Book Review

TitlePrince of Ponies
AuthorStacy Gregg
PublisherHarperCollins Children’s Books (October 3, 2019)
FormatKindle, Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook, CD
#Pages/KB304 / 2239KB
GenreChildren’s European Historical Fiction, Children’s Horse Books, Children’s Historical Action & Adventure
LanguageEnglish
ASIN#B07PKJRQLF

AUTHOR

Stacy Gregg lives in New Zealand. Learn more about this accomplished author here. You can visit her Facebook page here. You can see a list of books she authored here.

SYNOPSIS

A WWII refugee meets a Syrian refugee and a love of horses binds them together.

Zofia was a young girl in Poland when the Germans invaded. After losing everything and everyone she loved, she was taken in by a kind German officer. Luckily for Zofia, this Officer was in charge of one of the most prestigious horse stables in Poland. He taught Zofia everything he knew about horses.

Mira is a young girl that fled war torn Syria with her mother and made her way to Berlin, Germany. One day while she was walking a dachshund named Rolf, he got loose and ran into the woods. Mira followed Rolf and soon found him in a battle with a beautiful Arabian horse. Mira got Rolf under control and the horse ran off. She followed the horse to a small stable deep in the woods. This is where Mira met Zofia.

Zofia, now aged, takes Mira and Rolf into her home and strikes a bargain with the young girl; write my story down, and I will teach you about horses. Mira goes back everyday and writes down Zofia’s incredible history, in return she is trained to be a horsewoman!

CONCLUSION

Prince of Ponies is an incredible book. Loosely based on true events that happened during WWII about the German horse breeding program. Stacy Gregg has written a remarkable book that binds history with current trends. The combination of a WWII refugee and a Syrian refugee was inspirational.

Stacy’s knowledge of horses and Dressage is evident. Her descriptions of complicated horse gates, leads, exercises, anatomy are all spot on. She draws a picture in the readers mind that is exact in detail and context.

Prince of Ponies plot is believable and inspiring. It is the classic struggle to be more than you are and working hard to achieve your goals. The story is about friendship, trust, love, and never giving up. It is about taking your destiny into your own hands and not letting others hold you back.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who loves horses, or just a warm touching story.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

SELECTION OF WORKS FROM THIS AUTHOR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank, Stacy Gregg, NetGalley, and HarperCollins Children’s Books for affording me the opportunity to review Prince of Ponies.