Bloodstone by M.K. Deoradhán (The Mythic Artifacts, #1) * * *
The novel follows Mel Hawkins, a 22-year-old American archaeologist, in 1936. It opens in Egypt and then moves through places, mainly in Italy. The premise is strong, and the beginning reflects that. There is no slow introduction. Things start happening immediately. You are dropped into movement, danger, and decisions from the first pages, and that sense of constant forward motion continues throughout the book. This is an adventure that keeps going.
Mel is a first person present tense narrator, so we are fully inside her head at all times. That becomes one of the book’s biggest weaknesses. She constantly revisits earlier events, repeating what has already happened. It feels like the story does not trust the reader to remember. During action scenes, this becomes especially frustrating. A fight starts, tension builds, and then everything pauses because Mel is thinking through something again. It breaks the rhythm and drains the urgency.
This repetition also affects emotional moments. Early in the book, Mel kills someone. At first, it has weight. It feels significant. But she keeps returning to that moment again and again. After a while, it stops feeling emotional and starts feeling repetitive. The impact fades instead of deepening.
Mel herself leans heavily into the “not like other girls” trope. She resists dresses, skirts, and traditional expectations with a kind of exaggerated frustration. In one scene, wearing a skirt feels like the worst possible outcome. It makes sense in context, but the intensity is pushed so far that it starts to feel overdone. It feels repeated rather than developed.
Bes, the love interest is very familiar. Tall, physically strong, brooding, immediately drawn to her. The relationship is framed as a slow burn in terms of plot, but emotionally it is instant. The feelings are there almost from the beginning, which removes tension. He is also consistently kind and accommodating, which makes him feel predictable and, at times, a bit boring.
Cec is easily the most interesting character in the book. He is sarcastic, sharp, and clearly more layered than the others. He also has a complicated family. He feels like someone who exists beyond the immediate plot. He is also bisexual, which adds to his character without feeling forced. It is simply part of who he is. Compared to him, both Mel and the love interest feel flatter. Cec has an edge. He feels like someone who could surprise you. Honestly, I would have happily read a version of this story centred on him.
One of the biggest issues for me was historical authenticity in the small details. The larger setting works. The movement between countries works. But the finer details often feel too modern. In Italy, meals are reduced to pizza, pasta, and gnocchi, without the structure of courses that would actually be typical. The type of pizza mentioned does not quite fit the time period. These are small details, but they add up.
There are also moments where a modern mindset slips into a 1936 setting. Complaints about things like air conditioning feel out of place for someone who has spent time on archaeological digs. There is also a reference to yoga in a crowded, noisy space, which does not make sense in that context. These are brief moments, but they stand out because they do not match the world around them.
Language is another point that pulled me out. Given Mel’s background, it feels strange that she does not speak Italian fluently, especially with an Italian grandmother and extensive travel history. The Italian that does appear sometimes reads like a direct translation from English. Grammatically correct, but slightly off in phrasing. It does not quite sound natural.
That said, the core story works. The adventure is engaging. The plot keeps moving, and there is always something happening. That momentum carries the book, even when other elements struggle.
The ending is satisfying in terms of resolution, though it still suffers from the same pacing issue. Action scenes are slowed down by too much internal thought when they should feel fast and immediate.
The book is compared to The Mummy, and I can see why. Both are globe-trotting adventures with danger and historical elements. But what made The Mummy memorable was the characters. Their humour, their chemistry, the way they played off each other. That sense of fun is missing here. The structure is similar, but the character dynamics are not as strong.
Overall, this is a good story with clear potential. The adventure works. The pacing of events works. But the execution, especially in narration and detail, needs tightening. With less repetition and more attention to historical texture, this could be a much stronger book. Maybe this is addressed in the final, published version.
I do plan to continue the series, because there is enough here to keep me interested. I just hope the next instalment trusts the reader more and lets the action carry the story.
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