Napoleon's Pyramids by William Dietrich is the first book in the Ethan Gage series. Ethan is a gambler by nature, a scientist by profession, and a protege of Benjamin Franklin's by reputation. Gage has been living in post-Revolution France making his way on that reputation when he joins a card game and ends up winning a medallion that several people are willing to kill for. He is quickly on the run for his life when given the opportunity to travel with Napoleon's troops to Egypt to investigate the pyramids. Gage leaps at the opportunity to join the battalion of savants and finds himself in a war zone as Napoleon attacks first Alexandria and then Cairo. Gage is a remarkably likeable narrator considering his disregard for honest living. He has an eye for the ladies and a talent for escaping from death's jaws again and again. The book is like a summer blockbuster with rip-roaring adventure, romance, explosions, and exotic locales. Gage reminds me a bit of Indiana Jones with his devil-may-care attitude and way with the ladies. Along with a terrific adventure novel, Dietrich also gives the reader an interesting view of Egypt before European occupation with Mamelukes and a rare view of the pyramids.

Great read - History mixed with action adventure. If you like Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt you will like the hero in this book - Ethan Gage

Seventy pages in, I did something I rarely do with a novel -- I gave up. The archaic writing style, apparently done to give the novel a "period" feel, is wordy and meanders, distancing the reader from the action instead of drawing him in. And it's very difficult to get over the feeling you've seen or read this all before, either in a Indiana Jones or National Treasure movie, or in the better written and faster-moving historical science-fiction/fantasy of Tim Powers. While Dietrich gets points for doing his historical research, the characters are uninvolving and the writing style affected. It might get better after the first 70 pages, but it's hard to say if it's worth trying.

The book was very well written and very educational from a factual and fictional perspective. The action and content made this book very hard to put down. I think the publishers got in the act at the end and made William finish the book (last 60 pages) before it was ready to be done and give it a commercial spin. Its painfully obvious and makes you shake your head because the rest is a very remarkable effort.

I love a great airplane read, some nice adventure fiction to reads quickly and makes the long plane ride bearable. I picked this up at the airport based on the description on the back and it seemed fun. Sadly, it wasn't so much. It was a little boring and the lead character was someone things happened to, instead of him instigating the action. He was also on the dumb side, which got tedious as the book wore on. Seriously the only thing he seemed to care about was bedding women, and even them he didn't know much about. Alas, the book ended on a cliff hanger, meaning there is a follow-up, that I will not be reading.

Historically speaking, this novel is good and accurate (apart from what even the author explains is not), it blends historical fact and the author's fiction nicely, and the result is a very high paced story with very detailed places, battles, archeology and mysticism. The only thing I didn't like was the Hollywood style for the main character to get into trouble and to come out of it as if all were mere luck with incredible coincidences all the time. Putting this aside, this is a very good book, interesting and entertaining to the very end. Highly recommendable read.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit but it is a bit on the light side as far as a believable plot goes. But then again,one suspends belief when reading fiction so it is not too intrusive a defect.

One of the things that this book really reminded me of was of how much and how little we know about the ancient Egyptians. Somebody once wrote that the pyramids were an "exercise in stone high tech". There is certainly a lot of evidence that they were immobile and yet static "machines" designed to deliver souls to specific, heavenly destinations. The culture that came up with this machinery is still vastly alien to our present mentality and it is anyone's guess as to what the Egyptians true metaphysics consisted of exactly. One senses though that in the Egyptians lay some sort of repository of much older knowledge and it is this that makes the notion of the book of Thoth so interesting.

This seemed to be one of those books that stay with you after you've read it. Not only was I fascinated by it's history, which includes Masonic lore, biblical scholarship, Bonaparte's Egytian battles, and more, but to put an 'Indiana Jones' type character as the focal point, made this one great entertainment to read
This was one exciting thriller that I did not want to end. Now that I know there is a sequel coming out, I'll be sure to read it too.

Highly recommended.

This is the first book I have read by this author and I was not disappointed. The plot begins with an American Patriot in France who wins a medallion in a card game. Soon, however, it is clear that there are sinister forces who will kill for that medallion. Ethan Gage, the American, flees the danger and winds up in the French Army as they head towards Egypt. Napoleon Bonaparte, French mathematicians, and a host of characters make this book a great read. Ethan Gage is sort of an 18th century "Indiana Jones" type character and there is plenty of action and adventure throughout the book. I laughed out loud a few times in the book and enjoyed the background and characters in the book including Ethan Gage's conversations with Napoleon as the great French leader tries to conquer Egypt. Gage, of course, has a medallion that may yield a clue to great powers in Egypt, and with help from some unlikely sources, he attempts to figure out why everyone wants to know the secret of that medallion. The book will have a sequel out this year and I will certainly have to read it to find out whether Gage solves the riddle of the medallion. I enjoyed this book and I certainly am glad that I took a risk and read this book.

Wonderful, wonderful reading. The author well captures the spirit of Egypt as well as all his characters. If one has done any traveling in Egypt, walked in the same footsteps as the characters this book literally comes alive. Perhaps it is because I love Egypt so and, I am always up for great adventure, this book is at the top of my all time favorites for fiction.