The Spitting Cobra by Gill Harvey

August 2009 Bloomsbury
176 pages
Review copy

Children's, historical

Cushions: 2/5
Smiles: 3/5
Yunaleska's recommended rating ♥♥♥♥♥+

The ancient world + mystery + characters I can relate to = wonderful book!

This first installment in the Egyptian Chronicles takes the reader back to ancient Egypt, to the lives of Isis and her brother Hopi. Their parents were killed by crocodiles, leaving them to live with a family who don't care for them as much as they appear to. Isis is a dancer, sharing a routine with the unpleasant Mut who wants to make trouble for her.

Hopi is worried for Isis, after he eavesdrops in on a conversation between Mut's parents. It is Isis' dancing skills which provide food for the orphans - Hopi may have escaped death at the crocodile's jaws, but he is forever scarred, and weakened from the encounter. This weakness doesn't affect his brain - upon discovering a mystery in the village which they are employed to dance, along with Isis Hopi sets to work on discovering the true thief (and grave robber) of a Pharaoh's tomb.

Hopi's weakness is something a lot of people can relate to. I like how this book, just like a few others, shows that everyone has strengths to balance out any weakness - be it physical or mental - and these strengths can save the day. Hopi and Isis have a strong brother-sister relationship, one I always like to see in books. Together, they can survive. Alone - well they don't do badly. I can't say I love Hopi's affinity to animals, especially sn*kes, but in comes in handy. Their hearts are full of love for other people, which is shown in their actions.

I managed to guess a few areas of the plot, but I wasn't disappointed by this because there were other surprises in the story. The ending is a happy one, I promise.

The only negative I could come up with is the picture. As a person who is afraid of sn*kes and anything that wiggles, I have to keep this book face down. I may stick something across the front cover so I don't get shivers looking at it. I'm really looking forward to the next book, due out October - although that too has a sn*ke cover. Roll on books 3 and 4 which are sn*ke free.

I couldn't find a website solely for Gill Harvey, but information on the Bloomsbury website is here.

Liked this? Try Eye of the Moon and Eye of the Sun by Dianne Hofmeyr