The Scorpions of Zahir (review)

Though only eleven years old, Zagora Pym is determined to live the adventurous life of her archaeologist father. When Dr. Pym gets a message to meet his old colleague Pitblade Yegen, who had been presumed dead, Zagora, her father, and her astronomy-obsessed brother, Duncan, are off to Morocco, where things are getting pretty strange indeed. The planet Nar Azrak is on a collision course with Earth— with Morocco, to be specific—an event foretold by the long-lost Azimuth people after the Oryx Stone from their pyramid was stolen and a plague of scorpions was unleashed in their city, driving out both the Azimuth and the oryx that once thrived in the region. If Yegen's dastardly cousin can be held at bay, and Zagora can trust a young woman from the surviving Azimuth, and the camels would cooperate, and Dad can be saved from his kidnappers, and Zagora's uncanny gift of "desert sight" proves reliable, and Duncan can quit whining, then the stone might be restored and the Earth saved. It's a tall order, but Brodien-Jones determinedly, if clumsily, orchestrates the action for a happy ending. Despite the number of plot points that lead from peril to triumph, not too much exciting really happens; mostly there's lots of discussion about current peril and coming triumph. There's always a shred of legend or a glyph on hand to explain requisite background, and even the climactic battle scenes suffer from stiff, contrived narration ("'Hey, everybody, we can do this. . . . We're smart and we're tough, and we're not scared of anything.' The others stared back with resolute expressions"). Fantasy newbies who want an easy read with a feisty girl protagonist might give this a look, but this won't hold a candle to the mythological mayhem of Riordan's Kane Chronicles.