Rafe Lancaster is reluctantly settling into his role as the First Heir of House Stravaigor. Trapped by his father’s illness and his new responsibilities, Rafe can’t go with lover Ned Winter to Aegypt for the 1902/03 archaeological digging season. Rafe’s unease at being left behind intensifies when Ned’s fascination with the strange Antikythera mechanism and its intriguing link to the Aegyptian god Thoth has Ned heading south to the remote, unexplored highlands of Abyssinia and the course of the Blue Nile.
Searching for Thoth’s deadly secrets, Ned is out of contact and far from help. When he doesn’t return at Christmas as he promised, everything points to trouble. Rafe is left with a stark choice – abandon his dying father or risk never seeing Ned again.
Karen's Rating:
‘The God’s Eye’ is the third, and rumor has it, final story in ‘Lancaster’s Luck’ the Victorian Era Steampunk trilogy by Anna Butler.
In ‘The Gilded Scarab’ we were introduced to Rafe Lancaster and followed his return back to civilian life after leaving the Britannic Imperium’s Aero Corps. As Rafe tries to find his bearings upon returning to civilian life the reader goes on a journey with him while he learns about running a coffee house, deals with a jealous ex-lover, fends off murder and kidnapping attempts and begins a new relationship with Ned Winter, first heir to Gallowglass House…it was only meant to be a brief dalliance but as fate keeps drawing them together, it turns into something stronger, something more…possibly the key to Rafe’s future happiness.
Then in ‘The Jackal’s House’ the reader travels to Aegypt with Rafe and Ned on an archaeological excavation in the temple ruins of Abydos where strange things began to happen…things that became dangerous…life threateningly dangerous. At every turn they find themselves facing more and increasingly dangerous things. It soon becomes clear that if they’re going to survive, they need to get to the bottom of what’s happening and quickly.
And now in ‘The God’s Eye’, Rafe and Ned’s once again find themselves in jeopardy. Rafe is to become First Heir of House Stravaigor and as his father hovers on the brink of death leaving Rafe tied to a future he never wanted but knows he must accept he finds himself unable to accompany Ned to Aegypt for the archaeological digging season. Rafe’s deepest worries are realized when Ned fails to return from a trip to the remote, unexplored highlands of Abyssinia.
