Emperoro Teowodros II rose to power in 1866 in Abyssinia under the belief that he was the descendant of the Christian King of Kings. He creates an army and begins to claim Ethiopia bit by bit. At his side is his second in command, Captain Ravinger Howland, a U.S. Army captain in the corps of engineers who finds a better payout by serving the mentally-unstable emperor. He is doing well until American Dr. Delphine Chambliss arrives, looking for her beloved French poet. Ravi and Delphine are drawn to each other though they are at opposite ends when it comes to ideas of right and wrong. When Teowodros meets Delphine he believes her to be the reincarnation of the great Queen Makeda (The biblical Queen of Sheba) and plots to make her his. This leaves Ravi with a difficult choice to make, his emperor or his lady?

I have to be honest here and say that this is one of the few books I've ever encountered that I could not finish. Indeed I was only able to make it through maybe 10 chapters. I love adventure stories. Hell, Indiana Jones is the man who made me want to be an archaeologist but I don't like romances and I hate bad sex scenes. My brief experience with this book brought me more phrases for male genitalia then I ever needed to know. I found the descriptions trite and unoriginal and the characters did nothing for me. I could feel no sympathy for either of the main characters, only a deep irritation. I wanted to like this book. I really did. The author is a sweet lady and sent me this book in good faith but I just did not enjoy it. Perhaps it's because I do love adventure stories so much and I was expecting more of it, and less sex. This may be a book for someone else but it was definitely not for me.
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Paperback: 508 pages
Publisher: Medallion Press (September 2006)
Language: English
ISBN: 1932815449
Product Dimensions: 8.0 x 5.0 x 1.5 inches
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