Traveling Cloak's Reviews > Solstice Shadows

Solstice Shadows is the 2nd in the VanOps series, thrillers about a top-secret task force charged with hunting down artifacts and keeping them out of the hands of the bad guys. Author Avanti Centrae has a real knack for writing books that combine suspense with ancient history, as this series shows.

The ancient history aspect of this book is probably the most interesting to me. While the synopsis from the publisher compares it to Dan Brown and Tomb Raider, I have never read those books (or seen the movies, either). I do get National Treasure vibes, though, and I think this is a more apt comparison, anyway. This journey is taken by a whole crew of people, each with different skills: the leader with personal history, the computer expert, the muscle, the found expert, etc. The puzzle leads them to different locations, each with a clue to the next. There is a big focus on Ancient Egyptian culture, which is really cool. Egyptian artifacts and structures – not just pyramids, but other buildings, as well, many of which synch up with the seasons – are the highlight of the story.

Centrae does a great job of building the tension in this story. Not only is the main storyline tension-filled, but there are many side narratives that contribute to the overall atmosphere. There are relationships at stake (romantic and otherwise), history with the bad guys, and characters making life-changing choices. These all feed into the main storyline, and I really enjoyed the fact that there was more to this book than just an artifact hunt.

I also want to say that, although this is a Book 2, I found I did not have to read Book 1 to keep up. Some things did happen in Book 1 that are referenced in Book 2, but I did not read Book 1 and was able to keep with the story in this book just fine.

If you are a fan of historical-type thrillers, I recommend this book, for sure. Solstice Shadows releases August 11 (which is tomorrow). Pre-order or pick it up on release day!