Michael Northrop’s Tombquest Series Continues with Amulet Keepers

The first book in the series, Book of the Dead, introduces us to Alex Sennefer, a very sick boy on death’s door, whose mother, a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will do anything to help him. Enter the Lost Spells from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Miraculously, they work, but in using them, she also unknowingly unleashes five Death Walkers to wreak havoc on the world. Alex and his best friend, Ren, are tasked with stopping these ancient enemies, starting first with the one in New York, Stung Man. Complicating matters more, the two must also deal with a dangerous group of goons who have formed a death cult known as The Order. Meanwhile, Alex’s mom and the Lost Spells have disappeared.
Book two, Amulet Keepers, finds Alex and Ren, along with Alex’s cousin Luke, on their way across the ocean from New York to London. Athletic Luke is ostensibly on his way to a track-and-field camp, while Alex and Ren, guised under an internship at the British Museum, are really on a mission to defeat the next Death Walker and to rescue Alex’s mother. Their Egyptologist expert friend from the Met, Dr. Todtman, has set them up with Dr. Aditi at the British Museum to assist them in their search.

Creepy red-blood rain begins to fall while they are still on the plane, not a good omen for what’s to come. Once on the ground, the friends are greeted with the mystery of a missing child and two teens, are chased by The Order, and learn of a robbery of the crown jewels from the Tower of London, among other strange occurrences. Dr. Aditi houses them at The Campbell Collection of Egyptian Antiquities, a satellite of sorts to the British Museum, where they make the acquaintance of a mummy cat named Pai. From here, Alex and Ren set out to discover the identity of the London-area Death Walker and in doing so, hope to figure out the correct spell that will send him back from where he came. In the meantime, Luke helps them fight off members of The Order, bringing him square into the mummified action. Soon, all three are on their way to Highgate Cemetery, where graves have been robbed and people have vanished.
Underground tombs, mummification techniques, and intense life-or-death situations abound in Northrop’s latest entry in the Tombquest series. Do Alex, Ren, and now Luke have what it takes to go up against an ancient Egyptian evil as well as The Order? Where is Alex’s mom? And is the mummy cat a friend or foe? (And where can I get one?) All of these questions keep readers interested in this fast-paced, high-action sequel, Amulet Keepers. Bonus: After reading the book, kids can build their own Egyptian tombs in the accompanying online game.
Are you a fan of the Tombquest books?