The king of Egypt has been mystified by a dream his priests can't interpret for him. Yoseph, a foreign man once enslaved and imprisoned, becomes the accurate interpreter of the dream, earning him the king's abundant favor. But several among the king's Egyptian courtiers are determined to see Yoseph's swift rise in government become a swift downfall in Seal of the Sand Dweller by author R. Rushing.

While many are familiar with the biblical story of Joseph, son of Jacob/Israel, this is the first biblical fiction novel I've encountered that goes so far into this political stage of Joseph/Yoseph's life.

The rich descriptions throughout the book kept me immersed in the setting, and the author's deft style strikes a balance between simmering undercurrents and compelling bursts of drama. It's a gritty story that involves unsavory vices, cruel violence, and tragedy, with a spiritual thread that shines through at interesting moments.

Now, while I appreciate political intrigue, I'll admit that in this case, I sometimes got a little lost in all the scheming and all the many characters with their various motives. (Only afterward did I see there's a character list in the back of the book.) It wasn't until somewhere in the last third of the story that I began to connect with a few characters, but not really with Yoseph. His background remains rather vague in this novel, and I didn't get the clearest sense of him through his perspective. Who is Yoseph as a person? Is there something he truly wants, or is he only riding the tide of his circumstances for now?

The moderate number of punctuation issues were a bit distracting for me, including the awkwardly placed or missing commas. As a common grammar example goes, "Let's eat Grandpa" has quite a different meaning from "Let's eat, Grandpa." Also, the dialogue becomes unclear at times about which character is speaking.

Even so, this epic novel's strong points have got this historical/biblical fiction fan anticipating Book Two in the Servant Ruler series. ( )