Review: MISPLACED by S.L. Hulen

Misplaced takes a glimmer of historical fact and weaves a story of conviction, unlikely friendships and mysterious forces at work in the Land of Enchantment. What are misgivings of a young woman compared to the needs of the greatest nation of the ancient world? Khara’s life has been spent preparing for the day when she will become Egypt’s first ruling woman. A dutiful daughter, she embraces a future already written in stone. Until the day of her coronation, when her father is brutally murdered, plunging the House of Pharaoh into what history will come to know as “70 rulers in 70 days.” To save her life, she is unwittingly thrust into the future where she lands in the Mal Pais of the American Southwest. Confused and alone, she crosses the Mexican border illegally where she is rescued by Victoria Barron, a well-meaning if not emotionally misplaced immigration attorney. Together they must outmaneuver the artifact smuggler bent on keeping Khara, the find of a lifetime in the present for his own gain. Can they find a way to return Khara to the past to claim her destiny? What happens to history as we know it if they fail?  

Reviewed by: Celia

Rating: 2.5 stars

 

Review: This story begins with Khara, an Egyptian princess destined to take the throne. Before her coronation, her father is brutally murdered. That along with tension and jealousy of a rival sibling gives the story a rather Shakespearean undertone that is both melancholy and theatric.

Suddenly, Khara is on a fierce run for her life and is inexplicably leapfrogged into another body hundreds of years into the future. I still don’t get how she was able to do that. At least we knew it was the Delorean that sent Marty McFly to the future.

We fast-forward somewhere to present-day Texas, to a lost, confused, little girl, who is supposed to be Khara, but this isn’t very clear to the reader at first.

A typical time-travel story blended with historical fiction, Misplaced follows the adventures of a young princess fighting for both her life and the fate of her future. Story seems to be cloaked in a suspenseful mystery that I failed to recognize on account of a slow and uninspiring start followed by an exquisitely convoluted plot. Having read and enjoyed other time-travel stories in the past, I anticipated to enjoy this novel, but, sadly, that wasn’t the case for me. I do, however, see a potential readership for this type of work.