The Pharaoh’s Charioteer

Visited by the restless ghosts of warriors past, Arthur and Finn must travel back in time and rewrite history to set the ghosts free. Will the boys be able to gain the trust of a prince and princess caught up in dangerous rivalries? Even if they do, will they be able to prevent a war? 

Join Arthur and Finn as they travel back to ancient Egypt and find out if the boys have what it takes to survive a kidnapping and make it home alive. 

In The Pharaoh’s Charioteer, Arthur and Finn arrive in Ancient Egypt in separate parts of the city. Arthur finds himself in the Nile River, where the pharaoh’s son, Thami, fishes him out of the water. The two arrive on the edges of a city just in time to see Finn and Thami’s sister, Nefi, running from a group of men. Thami and Nefi take the two brothers to their home, allowing the reader to understand the life of a pharaoh’s child who was born from one of his secondary wives. While the pharaoh’s children’s lives are luxurious, they are also dangerous.  

Filled with adventure and suspense, the story has many exciting scenes—a lion hunt, a kidnapping, and a cunning high priest—that propel the plot forward. Suspense is created because Thami’s and Nefi’s lives are always in danger. Their mother explains some of the dangers facing a pharaoh’s child, “The palace is full of plotting between the queens, all of whom secretly hope that a son of theirs will be pharaoh one day. All I want is for Thami and Nefi to make it out of the palace, grown up and alive.” In this adventure, Arthur and Finn get an intimate view of the dangers of palace life, which makes the surprising conclusion satisfying. 

Even though The Pharaoh’s Charioteer is part of a series, the books do not have to be read in order because each focuses on Arthur and Finn going back to a different time period and wraps up the storyline. Each book in the series follows a familiar pattern, but there are enough differences to make each story unique and exciting.  

The Pharaoh’s Charioteer is a wonderfully engaging adventure that uses a unique angle to showcase the lives of the children of the pharaoh’s secondary wives. Neither Thami nor Nefi dreams of one day being the pharaoh, which allows them to have a caring sibling relationship. Even though Thami and Arthur are kidnapped, The Pharaoh’s Charioteer feels like a daring adventure with interesting characters, power-hungry villains, and unexpected developments that will keep readers reading late into the night. Readers can learn more about Ancient Egypt by reading these fast-paced adventures: Kid Detective Zet Series by Scott Peters, and TombQuest Series by Michael Northrop.   

Sexual Content  

• None

Violence  

• Finn goes into a tavern where a girl cheats at a game. When the men discover the con, Finn grabs the girl, and they flee. The girl disappears into a courtyard with multiple exits. “But before he could begin to think about which route to take, he felt cold metal at his throat.” The men find the two kids and begin shouting at them. 
• Finn’s brother, Arthur, and the girl’s brother, Thami, hear the commotion and come to their aid. Thami throws a fishnet over some of the men. “Two of the men went down, cursing in the tangle. . . Arthur swung the boathook through the air and knocked [one of the men] out with a blow to the head.” 
• Arthur and Thami are kidnapped. “When he and Thami cried out for help, they were swiftly knocked unconscious.” The two kids are bound, blindfolded, and taken to the enemy’s country.  
• Finn and Nefi help Arthur and Thami escape prison and return to Thebes. Finn and Thami are hiding when soldiers find them and give chase. “The first guards grabbed each boy by the shoulders, and the next thing Finn knew was the nasty sensation of a hood being pulled over his eyes, followed by a sharp blow to the head, and complete darkness.” 
• The high priest finds two men he claims are spies. The high priest says, “And when we had tortured them, only yesterday, before we made them swim with Sobek, the great crocodile god, did they not reveal that the queen, also, is a spy?” 
• Thami’s father, the pharaoh, realizes the high priest is plotting against him. The pharaoh decides they will let the crocodile god decide if the high priest is innocent or guilty. The high priest is taken to the pool. “Two guards brought forward a long, thin beam. . . they placed on either side of the pool so that it spanned the middle of the water. . .” The high priest is ordered to walk across the board. 
• When the high priest refuses to walk across the plank, “the pharaoh brought his wipe down again, causing the priest to lurch forwards. . . The crocodiles’ head emerged from the water. . . With a sudden surge, the crocodile powered up and thrust the upper part of its body out of the water, huge jaws gaping. . . The priest screamed. The crocodile’s jaws snapped closed and there was a loud splash.” The crocodile kills the high priest.

Drugs and Alcohol  

• The Nile River allowed the Egyptians to grow “a lot of barley, which they used/ to make beer.” 

Language  

• None 

Supernatural 

• Arthur and Finn’s grandfather created a museum about warriors throughout history. The museum is haunted, and when the grandfather died, “he started haunting the place too. He felt guilty about the trapped ghost warriors and vowed he would not rest in peace until all the other ghosts were laid to rest first.” 
• When one of the ghost warriors touches the boys, “we get transported to the time and place where the ghost lived and died. And we can’t get back until we’ve fixed whatever keeps the ghost from resting in peace.” 
• When the boys travel through time, “the room began to spin, and the firelight turned into a belt of light acceleration around them, until it vanished completely.” 

Spiritual Content  

• In Egypt, the pharaoh “was believed to be a living god, in touch with the other gods who controlled the universe and who decided when the Nile would flood. . .” 
• After being kidnapped, Arthur and Thami are imprisoned. They hear footsteps, and “Arthur prayed that it would be the prince returning with a plan. . .” 
• Before going to war, the high priest “would conduct sacred rites in the palace temple in Thebes before blessing the pharaoh and his army.” 
• Before giving the pharaoh his blessing, the high priest gives a speech saying, “The gods have spoken to me of VICTORY! VICTORY! VICTORY!. . .And the gods have decreed that your pharaoh will lead the army himself!” 
• The high priest was plotting against the pharaoh. During the high priest’s blessing ceremony, the pharaoh and Thami discuss who is the messenger of the gods. Thami says, “No, Father, YOU are their messenger, just as YOU and not the high priest will one day become a god yourself.” 
• When the high priest begs for mercy, the pharaoh says, “Pray to Sobek for mercy!” 
• Two and a half pages explain who some of the Egyptian Gods were. For example, Amen-Ra “was really a combination of two gods—Ra, the great sun god, and Amen, the local god of Themes.”