What's Elizabeth Reading? ...T.S. Lowe

I had the privilege a year ago to be the principal editor of T.S. Lowe's now-published book Out of Duat, a historical fantasy for a middle school-aged audience. The book involves a young Egyptian pharaoh, a dangerous cult, the cult's slightly insane priestess and an accidental time traveler from South Dakota, with some zombies and Egyptian gods thrown in for good measure.

It is a book of parallels, and that, I think, is one of its greatest strengths. Another is how clear it is just what each character wants (the conflict). Here's the lowdown:

Hath - As a young girl, she watches her father killed by the Egyptians, then learns how to be a priestess to the god of death from her mother. She and her people want revenge, but there's just one problem: She's fallen in love with the Pharaoh, the son of the man who killed her dad.

Xius - A young pharaoh with an awful temper who wants to prove himself. He wants to marry for love but is being pressured by the court to marry sooner than he is ready. He hasn't even found someone to love yet. On top of that, he doesn't know what to do about the absolutely annoying, supposed time traveler.

Annette - A teenager from a broken family and South Dakota who can only talk to Xius, because he has a magic amulet that allows him to understand her language. She was enslaved upon her arrival and is not doing the better for it, even though everyone keeps telling her how grateful she ought to be that Xius didn't have her killed outright.

Set - Xius's chief adviser, Set is a recent widower. His wife was killed by the cultists and he misses her terribly--so much so, in fact, that he is willing to make any deal just for the chance to bring her back.

There are other characters too, of course, but these are our plot-drivers. The parallels are created by them, too. Hath and Annette play off each other, as do Xius and Set. We also have an Egyptian wife who was killed by cultists, and a cultist father who was killed by Egyptians. There are others, but I invite you to look for them as you read.

Lowe knows how to craft a story, and for her it is all about conflict, which is rooted in character. Did you notice how every single character I mentioned desired something? Hath wants revenge and love. Xius wants to prove himself. Annette wants to survive. Set wants his wife back.

These desires change as the characters progress, which is both character development and how the plot moves along. Situations change people, and people can change situations.

Even after reading it so many times over that I'm sick of it, I still recommend this book. It is fun, intelligent and easy to read.