TOMB OF GODS: BRIAN MORELAND

Tomb of Gods: Brian

Within the inner layers of a cave the hidden treasures that are coveted by many searching for theses artifacts and relics to increase their wealth, to restore them for a museum to display or to profit from them. Hiding within these caves are the answers to the past, the secrets that someone wanted to uncover but when confronted with the carvings, the mummies and the statues something happened to one man and when he alighted from the cave his mind was gone, his senses impaired and the drawings and carvings he witnessed were now a part of him as if someone took these right off of the cave’s walls and placed the carvings all over this man in order to create a map of the past but what does it mean in the present and how would these carvings tell the story to find the truth behind the Tomb of the Gods?
Imogen Riley is the granddaughter of Harlan Riley the man who went mad from his experiences in the cave and wound up in a mental asylum. But Imogen promised to complete his work and find the tomb that housed the treasure. Dr. Nathaniel Trummel Med the expedition with a team of scientists and soldiers. This is not an ordinary expedition and every step of the way bodies are falling, lives are taken because someone or something is killing off the members of this expedition. Trummel and Imogen were an item a long time ago and he wanted to resume that, but he’s married. She observed him with a younger member of the team and after several members are killed and things get tense and dangerous the team is reduced sending some home including this girl. Imogen manages to stick to her ground and remain and befriends Caleb Beckett an American photographer. With the team they enter and explore a hidden cave Labyrinth that ancient Egyptians described in myths: but as they enter the cave what the author describes through their eyes is shocking, demonic, horrifying and takes them inside a works filled with mummies, artifacts, murals, hieroglyphs and something that is following close by and tearing bodies of the team apart but what is it ? As the team moves down each level and lives are taken, we realize that Trummel is so possessed with the mission and his goals that the loss of lives is glossed over and he continues as if nothing happened. Cold hearted and unfeeling and every question asked by Caleb comments made by Imogen adds to the tension and dissenting viewpoints are spoken.

Each member has his/ her own agenda but when exploring the dark caves and coming to many rooms things take on a sinister turn and truths about the dark world come out and speculation about the history, the tombs, the bodies that looked so realism and the bones, fur, teeth and clothing that adorned each room and yet the stench , the water and the path would not lead them to safety or an exit out. The noise was deafening and the rumble of the earth sends them falling into different hikes and crevices and then they realize that something or someone is following until Bakari who is a guide in the underworld and can lead them to one more gate but not to safety or an exit. Lives are lost and Trummel is only concerned with finding the treasures and the most guarded secrets of the pharaohs.

Each member has his/ her own agenda but when exploring the dark caves and coming to many rooms things take on a sinister turn and truths about the dark world come out and speculation about the history, the tombs, the bodies that looked so realism and the bones, fur, teeth and clothing that adorned each room and yet the stench , the water and the path would not lead them to safety or an exit out. The noise was deafening and the rumble of the earth sends them falling into different hikes and crevices and then they realize that something or someone is following until Bakari who is a guide in the underworld and can lead them to one more gate but not to safety or an exit. Lives are lost and Trummel is only concerned with finding the treasures and the most guarded secrets of the pharaohs.
Caleb shares something personal with Imogen and then another person disappears and what is left if the team had to search for him. The research is filled with information about how these mummies were preserved and yet some were disfigured and withered .
Things get more dangerous as they monsters will not be deterred, their lights and lamps can only hold them off and the guide of the underworld is able to create a loud noise so loud that it might stop them or frighten them but in order to escape they have to say the name of the demon, speak to it and find the correct name in the Codex that Imogen has in her grandfather’s journal. Trummel is only concerned with the result and could care less about the safety of the others as he says in his own mind that he should be saved and the rest he could care less about. Self-absorbed and even turning on the blind guide who helped him thus far and for so long, he is loyal to only himself and the result he wants what her grandfather found. What about the museum?
Bodies appear, visions are the dead rises and the team must find a way to escape them. But coming to the cemetery where Imogen’s family is buried, Sykes and Gosswick face off with dead children, demons, voices, reminders of the past and then writing on the wall that takes Trummel into the past and sees his sister that passed and relives times that in the end cause him to shutter and want to escape the cemetery. But what is haunting Caleb and what does Imogen see that scares her too. But Kikuyu warrior aims for both Gosswick and Sykes but where is Sykes at the end? Shaken up they move on. The graphic descriptions will make you shudder as you experience each event from the past with each member of the team. It’s as if someone or something does not want them to find the tomb of the gods and what her grandfather discovered.
Crossing over the realm that lies between the living and the dead adds to the mystery and the horrors that followed as the author takes us deeper into caves, attacks come out of no ways Ely becomes covered in deadly worms, Sykes disappears and it’s like the Agatha Christie novel and then there were none as there are only four left: Imogen, Caleb, Trummel land Dylan. Imogen uses the Codex to hopefully help them to freedom, but every step of the way leads to more obstacles and dangers she thinks she’s decoded the messages her grandfather wrote in the journal, but fear hangs over her. Trummel does not let any casualties phase him as his goal is to find the treasure but at what and at whose cost?
As the four-take time to rest and reflect you learn the innermost thoughts of Trummel related to Caleb. Will he be next and will Gosswick do him in for a veiled promise made to him by Trummel? Each one reflects on the event that haunts them is it to atone got their sins, reflect or something else? Fear plays a heavy part in this novel and jealousy does too plus power and greed.
Visions are stronger in some of the chambers as both Caleb and Imogen revisit their pasts age events come alive, portals are chosen and another guide that leads people con the middle realm takes both on a journey but only one might survive. Trummel and Gosswick formed an alliance and from the point of where they wind up things will get more dangerous, relics and treasures must remain below, but Imogen hears her mother, her grandfather and a life choice will determine the outcome.
Imagine being judged by the weight of your heart on a scale that determines where you wind up. Imogen, Caleb, Trummel and Gosswick face the God Thoth as he passes judgement and determines their fate. The pain inflicted on all of them is both physical and emotional leaving all four fearing the worst. Caleb faces his sins, Imogen relives the Fire that too her home and her family, Trummel has a choice to make but his fate might match that if Harlan but when given a choice what realm will he wind up in. What about Imogen the shock of where she decides will take her somewhere that will take her to explore the unknown or will her choice be freedom and returning home to the museum. This is about choices, past misdeeds, lies, betrayals, greed, fear and the hidden truth about why they were able to get to see the actual tomb of the gods but what they see and experience will horrified them, shook them to the core and the god in charge hoped to teach each one a lesson. Who lives, who descends who winds up below and will live with the creatures devouring him for eternity? Who will find a way to follow in someone’s footsteps but in a more powerful and demonic way? An ending so mystifying, so powerful and so graphically depicted you can see the injuries inflicted on those desertion them and their final fates will let the reader know there is more to come as author Brian Moreland takes us deep inside the world of Egyptian history, learning the power of the codex and exploring within each other the meaning of good vs evil vs the power of the spirit world.