Fair warning here: I know Vanessa through social media, though we haven’t caught up in about a year. Regardless, I didn’t receive anything else in exchange for this review. I purchased the eBook version of Three Great Lies a while ago, but spending time actually reading for fun though… that seems to happen less and less frequently these days, so I splurged on the audiobook version a few weeks back so I could ‘read it’ while driving to and from work.
Three Great Lies is the story of a modern woman (Jeannette Walker) who finds herself transported to a mythical version of ancient Egypt, a place where Gods are real and the children of Gods (ie, alligator- and bird-headed people, etc) live among the human population.
Jaded with life prior to her unexpected journey, Jeannette doesn’t start out as the most loveable person in the world – it took me a while to warm up to her (but who am I to talk – I create similar characters).
Unhappy with her life and consequently self-absorbed (or perhaps the other way around), Jeannette makes a lot of poor choices early on in the story, but gradually begins to get her head around her new situation and come to accept that the rules are different where she’s ended up. The transformation from lost loner to hero-we-care-about creates a solid character arc for Jeanette who, while trying to stay alive, learns quite a bit about herself and what really matters in life.
The story begins with Jeannette holidaying in modern-day Egypt, but while exploring a tomb well off the tourist-beaten track she literally drops into a mythical version of Egypt. Having hurt herself and thinking she’s delusional or her body’s in a coma while she experiences the impossible, she soon encounters a living mummy and then gets herself into serious trouble when she rescues (steals) a cat-headed girl from the local slave master’s auction.
Jeanette’s poor decisions heap up and quickly leave her alone and struggling. Returning home remains her only true desire, and yet, the more time she spends in this ancient mythological Egypt (despite its daily hardships), the more she starts to care about the people there and begins to question her reasons for wanting to go home.
It’s not long after that when Jeanette gets drawn into a mystery/conspiracy involving raided tombs and prophecies, a problem she must contend with if she wishes to help her new friends and go home.
Overall, I honestly enjoyed this book, and I loved Vanessa’s quirky modern-day references where Jeannette reminisces over longed-for conveniences like flushing toilets and deodorant and bread that doesn’t come with a daily portion of baked-in sand.
If you’re looking for a fantasy that’s a little bit different from your standard fare, with solid, well-developed characters and a nicely-rounded story arc, this might be the novel for you.
You can find out more about Vanessa on her blog, or read her guest post about Three Great Lies on my writers blog. It was a few years back now.
You can buy Three Great Lies on Amazon.
