What has the power to terrify an immortal? Only a god…. An ancient Egyptian king comes face to face with his one great fear in this latest installment of the Ramses the Damned series. Back in 2017, I reviewed The Passion of Cleopatra, Anne Rice’s first co-writing project with her son Christopher and an unexpected sequel to her 1989 novel The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned. Anne and Christopher Rice teamed up again for a third book in the series, The Reign of Osiris, which came out last week. Notably, The Reign of Osiris is also the first posthumous book to be published after Anne Rice passed away in December.
At the end of The Passion of Cleopatra, the immortal queen and creator of the elixir, Bektaten, asserted her benevolent authority over all those to whom the elixir had given eternal life. The Reign of Osiris opens with Bektaten writing a letter to her newfound immortal subjects. In this letter, Bektaten warns of the impending Great War and forbids any of the immortals from meddling. Though he chafes at answering to a higher authority, Ramses can’t help admitting that it’s not a terrible idea to leave the turmoil of Europe behind and go adventuring in America with his lover Julie. Just as they finish making preparations, however, Ramses and Julie are attacked by a Russian assassin with the mysterious ability to bring stone statues to life. This ability seems to to be granted by an ancient relic that Ramses recognizes from his mortal life, one which was once part of a powerful ritual meant to humble the pharaoh before the gods. To truly get answers, Ramses and his allies will need to venture deep into the frozen forests of northern Russia and confront a political and religious fanatic whose plans for the war go far beyond “medding.” But will Ramses be ready to face these answers when he finds them?
The Reign of Osiris explores deep questions about the nature of death and immortality and the existence of God(s). Ironically, death, in particular, is an unavoidable topic for the immortals. While Ramses, Julie, Bektaten, and most of the other immortals were given the elixir while alive, Cleopatra was brought back from the dead after nearly two thousand years. Her resurrection was marked by madness, confusion, memory loss, and a strange bond with a mortal woman who was initially thought to be Cleopatra reincarnated. As Ramses and Julie contemplate whether to resurrect Julie’s father in the hopes that he can shed some light on why assassins are targeting his loved ones, they must weigh the questions that were first raised by Cleopatra’s awakening: Where does the soul go after death? Is it reincarnated, or will a resurrected body bring its soul back with it? What role does memory play in the identity of the soul? Is it morally good, or bad, to snatch a soul from death’s realm and bring it back to the world of the living?
And of course questions about what happens after death inevitably lead to questions about God. Specifically, about the god that presides over death. The characters in The Reign of Osiris blend together Christian and ancient Egyptian beliefs, concerning themselves only with the Egyptian god Osiris and considering him to be just another way of understanding the aspect of the Christian God that judges deceased souls. In this way, the deeply religious Dmitri Vasilev is able to justify invoking the powers of an Egyptian deity as part of his plan to turn Russia back toward God. Similarly, Julie uses Christian language to describe the climactic encounter between Ramses and a powerful being that inhabits a statue of Osiris. But is this understanding of God and death correct? And in that case, would that mean the existence of an immortal is an affront to a god whose primary purpose is to preside over dead souls? The Reign of Osiris encourages us to question everything we think we know about death, the afterlife, and the divine.
If you want to join in Ramses’ next adventure, you can find The Reign of Osiris on shelves now at your favorite local retailer, or buy the book online and support The Gothic Library in the process using this Bookshop.org affiliate link. Once you’ve read it, be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments!