Rating: 
Summary: A little disappointing
Review: Don't get me wrong, this book was as riotously funny and exciting as readers have come to expect from this series. But it felt to me like Peters was still trying to find her characters between the periods of their lives that she's chronicled before. The result was shaky, I often found myself hunting in the (chronologically) later and earlier books to get a feel for whether a character would have said that or acted that way, at this point in his or her development. Partly because the events of this book were never mentioned in chronologically later books, as Amelia so frequently does, it came across as sort of marooned in time and place. Yes, the book hadn't been written yet, but it didn't feel to me like part of the subtext of the series. I would hate to think the series were running out of steam, but I have to wonder, with so many tidy happy endings made and enemies killed off or reformed, what's left? If Peters plans to continue these forays into the past, I'll look forward to the next books-- but with some reservations.
Rating:
Summary: The Last Camel Died at Noon Is Reprised
Review: Guardian of the Horizon is a jolt back into the past for fans of Amelia Peabody and her family. The action takes place in 1907-1908 and precedes the timing of the more recent books in the series. Ramses is 20 and Nefret is 23 in this book.
If you have not yet read the outstanding book, The Last Camel Died at Noon, I strongly urge you to read that book before this one. Otherwise, that wonderful book will be spoiled for you.
A mysterious visitor brings a message from Tarek, ruler of the Lost Oasis, saying that Tarek and his son are dying of a disease that cannot be treated. The Emersons are urged to come immediately to see what they can do. But soon, something seems fishy when the messenger acts like he's out to have a good time more than to get back to the Lost Oasis. Despite their misgivings, the Emersons race back to the Middle East and do their best to throw off those who want to follow them.
I was eager to read this book (having read all of the others in the series to date). I was even more eager when I realized that the book involved revisiting the Lost Oasis that was featured in The Last Camel Died at Noon.
Perhaps my high expectations are the problem . . . but I found this book to be far from the usual Peters standard for this series. The archeology angle, for example, is essentially missing. The fiendish opponents aren't so much fiendish as they are incompetently venal. The "mystery" aspect of the book is very transparent. With a few exceptions, the action scenes are of limited interest.
But the biggest disappointment to me was that the lead characters were portrayed in about as uninteresting ways as could be possible. They just didn't seem to be themselves. I also thought that the relationship between Daria and Ramses wasn't really in character for Ramses.
The situation in which the Emersons find themselves seems to be contrived rather than truly threatening. I felt like I was reading a costume drama much of the time rather than a typical Amelia Peabody book.
The book, however, will be greeted with enthusiasm by those (like me) who are tired of the vast numbers of characters in the books that immediately preceded this one. At least the number of characters was kept in some sort of bounds.
I suspect that many readers will like this book better if they read this book after The Ape Who Guards the Balance rather than in the order in which it was written. The events described here fit chronologically into the continuing story line at that point.
If you are a fan of the series, you should read the book. Keep your expectations low as you begin, and you will probably like the book better than I did.
Rating:
Summary: No sex please we're Victorians
Review: I agree with many posters that Ramses relationship with Daria makes no sense. Actually, for a normal healthy 20 year old male to be able to resist a beautiful woman throwing herself at him in a deserted space overnight, that would be hard to believe. so I can buy that he caves into temptation. but I don't buy that he would leave Nefret and not rescue her along with Daria and end up in that situation in the first place!! Where's his mother's famous laudenum, smuggled to Daria to put the handmaidens to sleep the following night when Ramses returns to rescue both girls? Why does Nefret go from a headstrong, fiercely independent woman to a cowering pathetic creature incapable of any planning or action? Is she really being drugged? One of the things I love about the Peabody series is the feminist spirit-Nefret's being so similar to Amelia and therefore difficult to control as she wants the same freedom and latitude that the boys enjoy. For her to act so out of character was a major turnoff.
For Ramses to sleep with someone else when he supposedly is so in love with Nefret is unthinkable. I liked that we never knew much about Ramses experience with women prior to Nefret-that's part of the Victorian charming reticence of these novels-just as we never knew exactly what Emerson had been up to in his pre-Amelia days. I HATED that we had to know so much about Nefret's inexperience-we're expected to believe that she marries someone becuase she's so upset at Ramses but never sleeps with the husband? that in that day and age a husband would agree to that (even if he is occupied with dastardly schemes)? and we have to be told this-why? so we'll know for sure it was Ramses baby she lost and justify their being seperated even longer or so that Ramses will know no other man has been with her and she is still worthy of him? which makes me go ewwwww, especially given that we now know for sure he has a sexual history. Why should she wait for him if he didn't wait for her? Granted it would be too much for a Victorian era characters to come out and openly say that they don't embrace the doublestandard still hanging on today-that men can have sex with anyone they want, as much as they want and still marry virgins. but since the Peabody's like shaking up other conventions like inter-racial marriage and adopting the daughter of a prostitute, etc. EP could have shaken that standard up a bit. at the very least she could have left Nefret and Ramses' sex lives alone.
and what was up with the trance stuff and Nefret's supposed inability to love or give up her "maidenhood"? perhaps she's never loved because most men of that era are chauvinists who treat her like she's an idiot. and unconsiously she's in love with Ramses which is so clear in her actions in the books prior to "Guardian" chronologically. this makes more sense than some absurd promise a young girl would have made to her father when she wouldn't even have understood what he was talking about.
I was disappointed that this story was going back to the time when Ramses and Nefret weren't together yet as that part of the series dragged for me. watching Ramses wallow in indecision is not appealing.
That was the main part of the book that irritated me. I agree with the poster that it would be fun to return to the earlier years when Ramses was much smaller and less annoying-give us more mysteries set in England, maybe in Kent during the summer and let us see Amelia and Emerson and various household members in action. a bit more of Evelyn and Walter, David and Lia would be fun.
Sethos behavior seemed in character-having learned of the lost city as Cyrus, it is perfectly logical that he would go there and secure treasures for himself-explains where he's been for the last book. However, Amelia's behavior towards him is not appropriate for where they are in their relationhip. Having just lost Abdullah to Bertha's attempt to kill Amelia, I think she would have a few things to say to him about that.
all that said, I'm still delighted that EP has written a new book in the series and if she wants to return to a different time that's her prerogerative. especially given how large the family is now and I imagine it's dueced difficult to keep them all occupied in one adventure. Perhaps these apparant out of character bits will be explained in future novels, but please let's go back to a bit more subtlety when it comes to the sex. I prefer to not always know for sure what Amelia's referring to than to have it spelled out for me. If I want graphic reality and double standards I'll read a trashy novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Is this really an Amelia Peabody?
Review: I am a devoted Peters' Peabody fan and was sorely disappointed by Guardian of the Horizon. It doesn't taste like a Peabody book. The dialogue, the action, even the personalities of the characters seem dimmed and faded. I realize Peters was attempting to convey the psychological hardship the family endured, but what happened to the Emerson family spunk? "Newly-discovered journal" books spliced into a series after-the-fact hardly ever satisfy a reader, and this is an example of such.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Excellent Expedition with the Emersons
Review: I am an unabashed Elizabeth Peters fan, so like most rabid fans I just like this book. GUARDIAN OF THE HORIZON is another excellent expedition with Emerson, Peabody and the whole gang. If you read the editorial reviews you know they go to the Lost Oasis of the Holy Mountain, which is where they first met and rescued Nefret 10 years earlier (in the novels' chronology). They encounter the usual unusual suspects, have hilarious encounters with their friends and enemies, and attempt a counter-coup to get their friend Tarek back on the throne. It's all really fun!
But you know I have some caveats about the book. Well first, it is like going over ground that's already has been covered. We know these characters. We know what happened to them. I personally want to see the characters advance both in time and life. If that is not possible then stop writing these books. That's like horrible to say, like sacrilegious, but you know sometimes characters and stories have a shelf life of their own. Maybe Peters could make the Sethos - John Smythe connection in a Vicki Bliss mystery? Just let me dream, okay?
Some people seem to be up in arms about Ramses's liason with Daria, because most of us who read these books are hopeless romantics. Did it bother me? A little. But then I thought. Hello, this is a healthy 20-year-old guy with an unusual upbringing, and he is frustrated, because he believes the woman he loves is out of his reach. He transferred his love to the next available woman. Let me make this clear, Ramses was not really in love with Daria, but his romantic and sexual frustrastions misled him into believing he was in love with her. Psychologically more realistic. Possibly this was too much realism for hopeless romantics. Daria, literally a street-smart woman, knew he was not in love with her, and thus makes very wise choices.
All in all though as adventure and fun, this is an excellent novel.
Rating:
Summary: Guardian of the Horizon
Review: I don't understand what went wrong! I realize that there must be conflict and struggling with others or self to make a book gripping... but Ramses falling in love with another woman? How could he talk of fidelity to his mother in "He Shall Thunder in the Sky" and then have this happen in "Guardian of the Horizon"? Doesn't Peters remember what she wrote? Sex and lust for another person I understand, but falling in love...come on! I hope her next books in this series (if any) don't fully degrade into inane reading, especially if Peters, intends to have a child come out of Ramses' and Daria's...um abberations.
Rating:
Summary: Not one of her better efforts
Review: I get the impression that EP wrote this book(and set it in the past) because the Amelia Peabody series may be losing some of its appeal. After all, Amelia and Emerson are now getting old (hard to believe that Emerson can still be an ageless 'hunk' in those later books). So is EP trying to recall the 'glory days' of this series?I found the story and characters to be 'small' compared to her other books. This book was simply not up to the usual EP standard. On a more personal note. After ready all of the books in this series I am starting to grow weary of the pretentiousness, superiority and pomposity of the entire Emerson family.
Rating:
Summary: An Amelia Fan
Review: I looked forward to this book because I have thought for awhile that it would be a great idea to discover some of those lost journals and fill in some time gaps. However, this book was not satisfying at all. I loved Ramses as a child. However, the grownup Ramses I find a dull bore. Please Ms. Peters, for future books with lost journals find some further back in time when the focus can be on Amelia and Emerson whose relationship is the heart and soul of these stories. The later books focus too much on Ramses and Nefret.
Rating:
Summary: Renewing Old Acquaintances
Review: I must put The Guardian of the Horizon among my favorite of the Amelia Peabody series. I was delighted to find out what had happened to the denizens of the Holy Mountain introduced in The Last Camel Died at Noon. I was strongly attracted to them when reading Camel and have wondered over the years how they faired. For me the characters of Nephret and Ramses became more understandable in this book. I must admit that I had been puzzled by the length of time it took Nephret to recognize the romantic and sexual nature of her feelings for Ramses. And, I was puzzled by Ramses extreme reticence to push her in this area. This book gives some explanation for this phenomenom. I know some readers were disturbed by Ramses relationship with Daria. But, to me it seemed perfectly in character for a romatic and frustrated young man such as Ramses. The only slightly false note in the book for me was that Amelia seemed a little too at ease with Sethos for this point in their history. But, all and all, a grand read.
Rating: 
Summary: A good Amelia Peabody
Review: I thougt this was a good book in general in the Amelia Peabody series. I've read all except for the middle three in the series. This book while it left some unanswered questions, and brought up others also left me with the feeling that I want another story from Peters. The author does a great job with character developement and though I felt that Nefret and Ramses where a little on the whinning side of things where still interesting to read. I would have like more of a romance thing with Amelia and Emerson- after all really she is the main or should be the main character in these books. That seems to be the only thing I would like to see more off in this book and the series in general is more Amelia and less of Nefret and Ramses - give them there own series if you must but please leave Amelia.
I did like this book because it seemed to visualize more of the Egypt that I like - mysterious and interesting. But this book had passages and places that I wonder if I would have found more interesting if I had read the one where they got Nefret (that is one of the three I've yet to read).
Anyway- if you like Peters works then you should enjoy this book, but don't be to critical on certain things as the author did leave a lot of holes and questions. Just sit back and enjoy the read.
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