Empire of Shadows by Jacquelyn Benson – Review

Published: April 2, 2024

Publisher: Crimson Fox Publishing

Series: Raiders of the Arcana #1

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 585 (Kindle)

My Rating: 4.25 Stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
Nice Victorian ladies don’t run off to find legendary lost cities.

One trifling little arrest shouldn’t have cost Ellie Mallory her job, but it’s only the latest in a line of injustices facing any educated woman with archaeological ambitions.

When Ellie stumbles across the map to a mysterious ancient city, she knows she’s holding her chance to revolutionize Pre-Colombian history. There’s just one teensy complication. A ruthless villain wants it, and Ellie is all that stands in his way.

To race him to the ruins—and avoid being violently disposed of—she needs the help of maverick surveyor Adam Bates, a snake-wrangling rogue who can’t seem to keep his dratted shirt on.

But there’s more than Ellie’s scholarly reputation (and life) on the line. Her enemies aren’t just looters. They’re after an arcane secret rumored to lie in the heart of the ruins, a mythical artifact with a power that could shake the world.

Between stealing trousers, plummeting over waterfalls, and trying not to fall in love with her machete-wielding partner, will Ellie be able to stop the oracle of a lost empire from falling into the wrong hands?

Empire of Shadows is the first book in Jacquelyn Benson’s smart, swashbuckling Raiders of the Arcana series. Read it now and dive into a rip-roaring historical fantasy adventure perfect for fans of Romancing the Stone and The Mummy.

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Empire of Shadows was a total cover request. It’s just so appealing, with the pyramid front and center, the muted vintage colors, and the character portraits, that I knew it would be interesting. The synopsis really sealed the deal because there’s nothing I wanted more than a romance that reminds me of the characters in The Mummy, with all the cool archeological, exploration vibes to go along with it.

This follows Ellie Mallory, an English woman who’s always been interested in exploring ancient civilizations but has been stymied by the simple fact that she’s a woman. When Ellie is about to get fired from her job, she finds (and promptly pockets) a book with a map and an amulet inset in a cutout in the pages. Now there’s a strange man after her and within an afternoon she’s jumping onboard a boat to Belize to escape and find her own guide to find what appears to be a lost city. Ellie is typically a planner, so this reckless and impulsive decision rankles her more than it does the reader. 

When she arrives in Belize, she sets off to a nice hotel and pretends to be a widow so she won’t be hassled. At this point we’re first introduced to Adam Bates, the handsome American surveyor who immediately goes to the bottom of Ellie’s list of potential guides when he barges into the bathroom to save her from a snake. The two inevitably end up setting off on quite the adventure to find the location of a legendary city before Ellie’s competition beats them to it. Think mud, bugs, wild javelinas, and dangerous rivers – it’s like a glorious return to the good Indiana Jones movies. I loved every moment of it.

Ellie and Adam make a great duo, even if they get off to a rough start. This is good ol’ fashioned adventure with some supernatural archeology and a group of bad guys searching for magical artifacts for an unknown purpose. I would love to see this adapted as a movie because it would appeal to a variety of people for a variety of reasons – action, adventure, romance, scenery – you get the picture. While so much is left unanswered in regard to the group of bad guys, it seems like more info will be forthcoming in the sequel that was so clearly set up at the end of Empire of Shadows. I can’t wait to check out more in this world and follow Ellie and Adam as they hunt for more magical artifacts!