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Secrets of the Sand and Sea: A World of Lost Magic Book 1

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The promise of magic means the promise of glory.

Etta Von Claremont is the daughter of a world-renowned archaeologist. Clever and ever-curious, she is desperate to make a name for herself. When fate delivers a mysterious package meant for her father, Etta is suddenly in possession of the Dial of Syvis, a potentially magical artifact that is rumored to reveal the location of the fallen demigoddess’s tomb.



She absconds with the dial and ventures south to the desert in search of both the tomb and the glory of discovery it could bring. A chance encounter brings Edmond Kay into her path. A handsome stranger, thief, and treasure hunter hellbent on finding the tomb before Etta.



The two begrudgingly agree to work together and solve the mystery before more dangerous parties get the chance. For the tomb does not only hold the long-forgotten bones of the demigoddess of the sea but the last shreds of her divine power. A power that should not, under any circumstances, fall into the wrong hands…



If you like Emily Wilde’s Enycopleadia of Faeries, The Mummy, Indiana Jones, and Dungeons and Dragons, then this series is the next stop on your grand adventure.

272 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 18, 2024

55 people are currently reading
408 people want to read

About the author

Clara Sutton

7 books23 followers

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5 stars
14 (19%)
4 stars
29 (40%)
3 stars
20 (27%)
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9 (12%)
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
Profile Image for Zoë.
827 reviews1,784 followers
October 12, 2025
why did I put so much mental energy into the fascinating relationship between two people only for it to apparently not actually matter, none of the lore for one character to even be explained, and for there to be actually no ending or closure at the end of even a final MENTION of him as if he didn’t exist and wasn’t part of the story at all. do I need to read the other books to find out ? or is he just GONE and THAT IS IT THE END as if he wasn’t in 70% of the book. he’s not the main character and I don’t care about the romance of it - I care about the CLOSURE and who TF HE WAS and now I want to know how did he end up in that situation ? what were all his little nefarious contacts that seemed to care about him ? who were those little friends we met and how did he know so much about the history and mythology ? what was this family he talked about potentially helping out ? like WHAT was that and why wasn’t he talked about AT ALL after
Profile Image for Andi.
1,690 reviews
November 25, 2024
This was one of those books advertised on Instagram. I decided to take a read - cheap, had Mummy meets fantasy vibes. In the end, it's a solid release for a new series.

The reason why I ranked this down two stars is that there isn't moments of character building between the leads or with the leads by themselves, or any character really. They just kind of exist in this story. Same could be said about the background history. I feel like we just gotta accept elves exist alongside a world where it's akin to turn of the century London. There are bits and pieces sprinkled here and there regarding mythology but I just can't feel like anybody actually exists in this world besides the author saying so.

I'm willing to check out book two in hopes the author expands upon the issues I rated it down. It'd be a really fun YA series.
Profile Image for Louisa Allison.
48 reviews2 followers
October 24, 2025
This suffered from a lack of proper editing (often my reason for DNFing), but I liked it enough to read on. The concept was great and the plot was fun, if not a bit predictable.

This is more of a Lara Croft or The Mummy type adventure, with the main character wanting more than anything to have this big important discovery as her own so she can show everyone she's a "real archaeologist" (despite not actually doing any archaeology as far as I can tell...). I did find the constant reminders that she just wants to be an archaeologist a little insufferable.

2.5 stars because this had something that could've been incredibly fun - still unsure if I'll read the rest of the series.
Profile Image for angela.
100 reviews35 followers
Want to read
October 15, 2024
saw this great fanart on instagram and it looked great so i’m thrilled!
Profile Image for Moni2506.
395 reviews
July 19, 2025
„Secrets of the Sand & Sea“ von Clara Sutton ist der Auftakt der „A World of Lost Magic“-Dilogie und dreht sich um die Suche nach dem Grab einer Halbgöttin. Erschienen ist der Fantasy-Roman im Oktober 2024 bei Lonely Fox Press.

Etta von Claremont ist die Tochter eines weltweit berühmten Archäologen und brennt darauf sich einen Namen für sich selbst zu erarbeiten. Als ein Paket für ihren Vater abgegeben wird, kann sie nicht widerstehen und kommt so in den Besitz eines potenziell magischen Artefaktes, dass zum Grab der Halbgöttin Syvis führen soll. Von ihrer Neugierde angetrieben, begibt sie sich auf die Reise und trifft dabei auf den gutaussehenden Schatzjäger und Dieb Edmond Kay. Die Umstände zwingen die beiden dazu zusammenzuarbeiten, denn Etta ist nicht die einzige, die sich auf die Suche nach dem Grab begeben hat und die Macht von Syvis darf nicht in die falschen Hände geraten.

Dieses Buch habe ich durch Zufall beim Störbern entdeckt und die „Mumien“-Vibes des Klappentextes haben mich sehr angesprochen. Ich bin gut in die Geschichte rein gekommen und fand die Welt direkt interessant. Für mich muss sich Fantasy irgendwie natürlich und selbstverständlich anfühlen. Die Anlehnungen an unsere Welt sind gut erkennbar. Es gibt Trolle, Fae und Elfen und doch findet man sich direkt zurecht.
Die Spannung steigert sich kontinuierlich. Es beginnt mit einer kurzen Einführung, doch dann kommt die Geschichte schnell in Fahrt. Es ist aus Ettas Sicht in der Ich-Perspektive geschrieben. Dadurch entgeht einem einiges an Informationen. Der Klappentext gibt einem genau das, was versprochen wurde. Es ist Abenteuer, es ist Rätsel, es ist Verfolgungsjagd und doch hätte ich manchmal gerne gewusst, wie spüren die Verfolger Etta immer wieder auf.
Etta bin ich sehr gerne gefolgt und habe mit ihr mitgefiebert. So manches Mal kam sie mir ein wenig zu naiv rüber, dennoch ist sie auch sehr intelligent und wurde ihr Leben lang dazu erzogen, sich selber Wissen zu erarbeiten. In diesem Abenteuer muss sie nun erstmals Erfahrungen außerhalb des behüteten Elternhauses sammeln und das geht nicht ohne Enttäuschungen vonstatten.
Darüber hinaus begegnen wir im Verlauf der Geschichte weiteren Figuren, die das Buch zu einem kurzweiligen Zeitvertrieb gemacht haben. Mit Kay gibt es einen Grabräuber und Dieb, der gutes Aussehen und einigen Charme mitbringt. Natürlich braucht Etta auch noch weitere Helfer und entsprechende Gegenspieler. So manches Mal war die Geschichte durchaus vorhersehbar. Insgesamt betrachtet konnte mich diese allerdings gut unterhalten.
Ich hätte es denke ich besser gefunden, wären die Erklärungen zur Welt mehr in den Text eingebaut worden. Die Autorin hat sich allerdings für Einschübe entschieden. So gibt es mal Zeitungsausschnitte oder Einträge aus einem Lexikon, über die ich die Informationen erhalten habe. Als Zusatzmaterial gibt es eine Karte der Welt. Was ausreichend ist, weil der Personenkreis recht überschaubar ist.

Fazit: Ein schönes erstes Abenteuer für Etta von Claremount. Die Geschichte rund um Artefakt der Halbgöttin Syvis ist abgeschlossen, das Ende aber so gestaltet, dass noch weitere Abenteuer folgen können. Wer „Die Mumie“ oder „Indiane Jones“ mag, sollte hier beim Lesen auf seine Kosten kommen.
Profile Image for Mindy.
538 reviews13 followers
March 16, 2025
I absolutely love adventures with archaeology. Mix this in with it being a fantasy world and you've got one fun ride!

This book has an interesting feature to it that one doesn't see in many books. There are footnotes! They add context to the fantasy elements of this world, particularly when it's harder to write into the general narrative. I appreciated how they added a bit more depth. Several times, I found myself relating it to a country or historical tidbit that has been factual in our world. The footnotes made this world more accessible, so I really did appreciate their existence.

The main characters were interesting. I'm used to their being an intellectual and eager young woman, and there being a morally gray handsome man. I'm not used to their being a THIRD character - who is yet another handsome man, and is not related to the woman! And don't you worry, this book isn't full of men wooing the woman. Only the morally gray one is currently putting on the moves.

As far as the adventure itself, I really did enjoy the mythology and how the clues could be read in multiple ways (for the good and bad). It was nice to see how one could take a word and its several meanings, then apply each of those meanings to adjust how the direction could be read. We don't normally see archaeology books go into that. Usually we see the main characters being fully correct or entirely wrong about their translation. That didn't appear to be the case with this one.

Overall, I'm a sucker for these kinds of books - so I am more likely to rank them higher than others might. If you enjoyed Jacquelyn Benson's Raiders of the Arcana series (Empire of Shadows is book one), then I think you'll enjoy Secrets of the Sand and Sea. It's not as Indiana Jones/Lara Croft as Benson's series, but the mythology is rich and the characters are wonderful. I look forward to the chemistry growing between characters in the next book!
Profile Image for SpaceMonkey.
8 reviews
April 18, 2025
Secrets of Sand and Sea by Clara is a perfect adventure fantasy full of desert secrets and magic. It's perfect if you're looking for a book with good plot and a sprinkle of romance✨🏜️🌌

The story follows Etta as she embarks on a journey to uncover the secrets of the Dial of Syvis and long lost magic in the deserts of Jakash. While on her adventure she meets Edmond Kay, a mysterious thief/finder-of-new homes-for-historic-artifacts, together they overcome most of the challenges the desert has in store for them. The story flows quickly and smoothly.

The characters all are nicely developed, each original with their personal motives, opinion and personality traits that both make the reader empathize with them and sometimes be a little annoyed, which makes them all the more real then just words on paper. Etta is reckless and impulsive, but clever and ambitious. Very admirable trait of heirs is that she learns from her mistakes. She is definitely a great and likeable lead.

The plot and world building is nicely enriched by newspaper clippings, maps, pages from story books, letters and notes (similar to notes from the author in Terry Pratchett books).

Read if you enjoy books like What the River Knows (Isabella Ibañez), Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries (Heather Fawcett), or any other adventure fiction !📚
34 reviews18 followers
December 17, 2024
Great story, what a fun read! Somehow the author managed to definitely give off those mummy vibes (MFC Etta Von Claremont really channels Evelyn) and simultaneously created a completely new story. With insights into the study of history and archaeology and a much deeper fantasy world, this story was full of twists and turns. The dedication of the book goes out to Henry Jones, Flynn Carson, and Evelyn Carnahan and I could see inspiration from all of those characters in this book. Hats off to the author who can make me fall for both her white knight and her dark prince in less than 300 pages. The book itself was also really fun to read I definitely recommend getting a hard copy the author includes all kinds of extras at each chapter break like maps, drawings, and newspaper clippings, not to mention I have never read a novel with footnotes! I loved it, what a fun nod to history books and a creative way for the author to include and explain background information without weighing the story down with world-building. needless to say, I am eagerly waiting for book 2, can't wait to see what grand adventure Etta runs head first into next, and fingers crossed she ends up teaming up with a certain someone from the Penhurst-Lesh Society.
Profile Image for Stacy.
166 reviews
January 15, 2026
This is a GENEROUS 2.5/5⭐️ because I actually did like the premise of this book, but there was a lot to be desired from this read. There was a lot of editing mistakes that were pretty obvious, a proof reader could have helped in a couple areas (one sentence she's lying on the bed looking down at him, the next sentence she's sitting up to look at him, etc), and the world and character building just felt incredibly surface level.
I think fleshing out the world a LOT more, building the characters up a bit more - some with better lore - and also fleshing out the relationships between characters more would be good. Also, I get what the author was trying to do with the footnotes but it took away from the actual story itself for me. That's just personal preference but idk.. just didn't work for me.

Also?? The magic just .. disappeared??? Never to be seen again with no real explanation as to why other than what Mazet did? And no other mention of Kay? Like I know this is part of a series but give us a LITTLE bit of closure. The ending just felt too rushed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Stephanie Elyse.
147 reviews
November 12, 2024
This was a well done start to a YA adventure series, with some inspiration from films like The Mummy and Indiana Jones. I bought this on a whim after seeing a the author post some art of her characters, and it’s been a very fun time.
The story follows Etta as she follows clues from a mysterious artefact, joining forces with a thief on the run from treasure hunters, to try and discover the origins of magic that has left their world.
I thought the set up and driving forces of the story were done well, the newspaper articles spread throughout the story and footnotes helped to expand the world building, and I found it very immersive.
I would have loved to see more of Etta’s thoughts and feelings at the end given what happens but that could be expanded on in the sequel, and I thought the story was well resolved but still had plenty to look forward to.
I look forward to checking out more from the author as she continues to write!
Profile Image for Chloe.
69 reviews7 followers
February 8, 2025
3.75 / 5 (rounded up)
I absolutely adore the premise of this book, The Mummy meets Indian Jones meets National Treasure - all the things I really love come together in a wonderful story. The connections and adventure feel clever and whimsical, and I love the use of footnotes to provide extra context to the history of this fantasy world.

My reason for not rating higher is that I wish there would have been more time building out each of the sections that lead onto the next portion of the plot. I think it could’ve been so luscious and rich if it was just fleshed out a little more. The same with the characters , whilst I adore Etta as a main character, I would’ve loved to understand her more and even more so with the additional characters that were key to the plot.

It was an easy read, I had fun and it definitely gives fantasy adventure with hunts for magic and I will be reading the second book that’s out later this year!
Profile Image for Emma H.
276 reviews18 followers
April 25, 2025
This was an over all fun read, despite the slow start. I love archaeology adventures. Etta was an interesting character to read about.

However, the plot felt rushed. We didn’t really to see any great insight in to Etta’s motivations beyond wanting to make her own archaeological discovery. There was also a lack of clarity, I felt, about some of the characters. Like Arthur Griffin, for example. I was under the impression that he was much older than he actually was, given the way he was talked about. But we then find out that he was only 23.

I also disliked the footnotes. Felt like I was reading a history book, which may have been the author’s intention. Who knows? I feel like a glossary would have been better than relying on footnotes if the world building wasn’t going to written in to the actual story itself.
98 reviews
May 30, 2025
Indian Jones meets Laura Croft

I loved this story of Etta trying to find the tomb and lost magic of the Demi goddess Syvis. It definitely gave Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider vibes with a sprinkle of Rivendell. Etta gets on your nerves as any headstrong teenager would, but her intelligence and tenacity is what leads her to survive this adventure.

I was also pleasantly surprised by Arthur Griffin and not at all surprised by Kay :-/

I’m even more pleased to learn there’s a book 2!
Profile Image for Mackenzie.
1 review
May 2, 2025
This is the first book I’ve downloaded from a stuff your kindle day. I really enjoyed the style of writing and the footnotes explaining Etta’s world. The main character, Etta, is becoming an archaeologist like her father. The footnotes made me feel like I was studying history with her. Fun read!!
Profile Image for Meghan Gurganus.
30 reviews
July 1, 2025
Absolutely loved this! It was fast-paced, creative, had great characters, & kept me hooked the whole time! I’m excited to read the next one & I definitely recommend it!
Profile Image for Lara Baldwin.
8 reviews
July 17, 2025
4.5/5 it was so much fun

Magic and adventure a wee bit of romance and just such a fun book! I’m excited to pick up the next one!
Profile Image for Pamela.
17 reviews4 followers
September 25, 2025
I quite enjoyed this adventuring heroine, and the world created by the author. Perfect for fans of The Mummy.
Profile Image for Abby Viscomi.
56 reviews4 followers
October 22, 2025
I’m always searching for a book that mixes archeology, academia, adventure and a little bit of magic. Secrets of the Sand and Sea absolutely scratched that itch for me. I cannot wait to see how this series develops!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews

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