Customer Reviews

The Emperor's Tomb

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I'm not going to lie to you, if you're hoping that this book will see the return of a story devoted to tracking down valuable & historically important treasures, you'll be disappointed. They're in here, but they are very much a backdrop to what is ultimately a political thriller. I do however, hope that you still give this book a chance. There's still enough here to like.

It was going to be a normal day for Cotton until he got a message containing a web address. He didn't know what to expect from it, but he certainly wasn't expecting to see his old friend Cassiopeia Vitt being tortured. Cotton is given an ultimatum- give them what Cassiopeia left him or she dies. Only problem? He hasn't seen her in quite a while, let alone received anything from her. Unable to leave his friend (and possibly more) to die, Cotton meets up with one of the people involved in her capture, only to end up involved in something bigger than he ever expected. Not only is his & Cassiopeia's lives at stake, but also the future of China itself.

While there is a wonderful amount of history & ancient mystery to this book, that wasn't the main plot point of the book. At its heart this book was ultimately a fast paced political thriller, which I did enjoy for the most part. I do miss the old days of Cotton Indiana Jonesing his way through the story, but Berry seems to be exploring a new & untapped facet of this series that is pretty intriguing.

Unfortunately the book isn't completely perfect. There were times where the action laden scenes did seem to get a little bogged down under their own weight & I found myself really wishing the story would just move past that, especially when Cotton kept going on about how he didn't trust Viktor. It's during those times that I just felt that the book was a little overly drawn out & could've been about 30-50 pages shorter.

Overall though, this was a decent read & I would suggest it to fans of Berry or Clive Cussler. I'd really only suggest it to people who have been keeping up with the series, though. Some of the book is able to stand by itself but there are many times when the book keeps referring to past encounters & escapades that'll probably leave new readers wondering exactly what is going on. I just don't know if I'd recommend people going out & buying this immediately. I enjoyed this greatly, but it did seem to be more of a "get it from the library" type of read.

This is one of series of books featuring Cotton Malone and Cassiopeia Vitt. Generally I have found that most series authors find ways to introduce recurring characters so that you know something about them. In this case there was only a bit of personal history given which at times made you feel at a disadvantage although the book can be read as a stand alone book in the series.

I have never read this author before and the copy I was reading was the uncorrected proof which I hope will go on to get some major flaws repaired before actual publication. I found the story interesting and there was a lot of history about China that I enjoyed learning about, but I found many scenes in the book to be totally implausible.

The biggest scene that I had trouble believing in was a shoot out in a museum in Antwerp. Several different factions were chasing each other, shooting each other, and fighting each other in a closed museum at night. Oh, and by the way, the building was on fire. I have always heard and believed that when a building is burning it is hard to see as everything is dark and smoky, it is hard to breath unless you are down near the floor, the atmosphere is hot and nasty and a normal person's instinct is to get out of a burning building as quickly as possible. Not these guys. They were all so committed to their cause that they all kept fighting, shooting, etc. while the building and room all around them was going up in flames. Apparently the normal problems associated with a fire did not bother these folks except of course for the one guy that burned up in front of them. Come on, get your characters fighting in a way that is believable!

Even the premise of the book at the beginning was hard to believe. Cassiopeia receives a plea from some one she owes a favor to that his son has been kidnapped in China and would she please go rescue him. With no background on this lady, one would wonder what special talents does she have to rescue 4 year old boys from kidnappers in China? She doesn't speak the language, she has no permission to get into China, she has no idea where the boy might be, etc. So after she is captured and is given some water torture she brings her friend Cotton into the picture as he is an ex-spy and can maybe help. At times the conversations between Cotton and Cassiopeia and the others in the book reminds me of the dialog in a grade B movie especially the Russian spy and his poor English skills and manner of talking.

For content this book does reveal some truly unique forms of torture. There are also many characters in this book, most of which you can't tell whose side they are on. You may gain some insight into the internal workings of the Chinese political machine, assuming the author got those parts correct. It was an interesting book but not one that will inspire me to keep trying to find this authors others books to read which is the sure sign from me that I like a book and an author.

This one is nothing like his previous books! Berry in fact was or is in my top 5 authors....not so sure after this one. It drags through politcal and historical rivalries with these eunuchs who you never can learn to trust. Cassiopia Vitt is normally dangerous and self sufficient became whimpering and dependant. Did Berry really write this? His publisher probably hounding him, "wheres that new book", Berry..."got brain drain on this one"...Publisher..."scrape together whatever you've got and get it here!" He should not have killed off Thorvaldsen!

Like Cussler, Berry is charging more money for books not worth the time to read. Both Berry and Cussler seem to be churning out books left and right with fantastic plots that are just too simple and "twists" that you can foresee from chapter 2. It chaps my hide to have been such a tremendous fan of both authors early works only to see them both have good success and then let it all go to their heads. Both authors seem to think that we will continue to buy their books even though they are poorly written with sub par plots and convenient endings... and have the audacity to charge us more for them. There are simply too many good authors out there with better, more thought out original stories at a more affordable price.
If you want to mass produce convenient yarns just to fill your coffers, charge 50% less, not 50% more. I'll buy it just for the characters I know and love with expectations commensurate with the writers efforts. But 50% more for a sub par effort... how long can you do this and still expect your fans to remain loyal.

Steve Berry is one of my favorite popular authors, so I was delighted to be chosen to review The Emperor's Tomb (Cotton Malone). Steve writes for the pick-the-book-up-on-the-way-to-the-plane, mass market audience and he turns out a book a year. Nonetheless, he does historical fiction with real flare and a pretty high degree of accuracy. Steve seems to particularly enjoy archeological/artistic mysteries (The Amber Room: A Novel, The Romanov Prophecy: A Novel ) and The Emperor's Tomb is no exception. The tomb, of course, is the famous and as yet unexplored tomb of Qin Shi Huang, first emperor of China, the site of the discovery of legions of terra cotta warriors. While some might see the thrust of Emperor's Tomb as political, they miss the real scientific argument he poses for our consideration. Oil. You'll be surprised. Pick this one up - definitely worth a read!

Book 6 of Steve Berry's "Cotton Malone" series takes our favorite ex-Magellan Billet agent to China where he must rescue his friend and sometime-lover, Cassiopeia Vitt. Vitt's gotten herself wrapped up in a web of conspiracy involving the Chinese premier and his top two ministers, some angry Russians, a handful of eunuchs, and Stephanie Nelle, Cotton's former boss. Everyone's on the hunt for a long-lost sample of oil which the Chinese need to prove that oil is not actually finite, but rather a replenishing source deep within the earth. Sound a but chaotic? That's because it is.

Sadly this book failed for me, and this is the first time I've said that about any of Berry's books. I usually love the fast-pace and intrigue, but The Emperor's Tomb was mired in Chinese history from the very first page. I felt bogged down by the different history lessons, so much so that by the time it got to the real action, I was ready to be done reading. The set-up might have been necessary to give us the appropriate background for the drama between the two Chinese ministers, but I truly lost the message in all the information. "Less is more" is not a method Berry utilized here.

I've received an advance copy of The Jefferson Key, Book 7 of the "Cotton Malone" series, and I really hope the next book can redeem Berry in my eyes. The last Berry book I read (The Paris Vendetta) received 3 stars from me, but the one before that (The Charlemagne Pursuit) received 5. I'm giving The Emperor's Tomb 2 stars. Not a good trend Steve, not a good trend.

This is the latest in Steve Berry's Cotton Malone series - and I've loved the others. Great historical fiction that piques my interest and usually sends me to the Internet to learn more about the historical references Berry makes. He's always well-researched and speaks reliably about the historical periods he explores.

I'm not sure whether it was events in my life which distracted me or a slightly weaker plotline that kept me from getting through this book as quickly as the others; but the action didn't seem to really grab me and keep me involved in the story. The struggle between Viktor and Cotton seemed to be too elaborate and took away from the pace of the story. The plot and story were really interesting and the end of the book snagged me and kept me reading; but I seemed to lose interest in the middle as the action slowed and more historical details were explored.
Overall, I found it to be an interesting book but not one of my favorites by Berry. Hopefully another Cotton Malone story is on the way...

The Emperor's Tomb

A Tedious Thriller

When Steve Berry exploded on the publishing scene, he did so with The Amber Room, The Romanov Prophecy, and The Templar Legacy, three well-plotted and well-written thrillers, using a unique bled of history and excitement. Slowly, the novels have become tedious and just plain dull. Cotton Malone, the treasure hunter--a la Indiana Jones--has become the hero of increasingly bloated tomes which are dragged down by excessive details, poor structure, and mediocre writing, and in The Emperor's Tomb, a political lecture.

We also see unnecessary creeping into recent novels of details from Malone's private life. There is the son fathered by someone other than Malone's ex-wife, a mentor who was inexplicably killed off, Malone agonizing over a lost-father, and a tedious and growing love affair between Malone and the now supporting heroine, Cassiopeia Vitt.

Vitt, who has appeared in earlier Berry novels as someone with an extraordinary background, is one of Berry's unique creations. Her exotic history, highly refined martial arts skills, and wealth from her deceased father are the usual elements almost required for an independent super heroine. Her interest in building a 14th Century French castle using the technology of that time period, as well as her desire to help those in desperate straits make her stand above the usual cardboard cutouts. Unfortunately, The Emperor's Tomb does little to show her complex nature. Instead, she is a run-of-the-mill heroine who survives many threats: water boarding; a fall of more than ninety feet into a frigid, boulder-lined torrential river; beatings; and the death of a lover.

We also get a great deal of Chinese history, with a lecture on the role of eunuchs in that history and a centuries-long battle between Confucianists and Legalists. At those points, the reader is lost, bored by tedious lectures which belong in a Chinese History or Chinese Political Science classroom, not in a thriller.

There is also the repetition in almost every chapter of why the heroes are doing what they are doing, and why the Confucianists and Legalists have been in conflict for so long. Once or twice is enough; don't insult the reader's intelligence by such needless repetition.

Most frustrating is Berry's lack of identifying who is speaking in many dialogue sections. He begins a paragraph with narration involving one character, then has another character speaking in the same paragraph, without identifying that character. He also uses the same technique that many current writers use of writing in sentence fragments, as though that will somehow increase the pace of the novel. What such writers forget is that young readers who might wish to become writers are using the wrong models.

There is the outrageous plot where Malone, Vitt, Ni, Tang and Pau manage to escape one threat after another, underlined by a search for a hostage three-year-old boy whose scientist/father has discovered the answer as to whether oil is biotic or abiotic. Framing the search for unlimited oil are enlightening--but extensive--digressions into Chinese history. Unfortunately, early in the novel, Berry telegraphs the winner of the Legalist-Confucianist conflict, the basis for the search for abiotic oil which will lead to the control of China. Once we see the antagonists, Ni and Tang, and their manipulation by Pau, it is only a matter of plodding through the rest to reach the predictable conclusion. According to Berry, this conclusion is based on the inscrutable Chinese character, something that Berry believes the West will never understand; yet, he writes as though he understands that quality.

I think the most tedious parts of the novel occur when Berry constantly gets inside his characters' heads and explains everything they are thinking at any moment, even when facing imminent death; let the reader make up his/her own mind...or even allow for some suspense. No writer can know everything about his characters; why slow down a so-called thriller with such numbing exposition.

A thriller should move quickly by minimizing exposition. Cutting one-fourth of The Emperor's Tomb could have made it into a real grabber. Perhaps, though, the padding was necessary to justify the cost of the novel. I hope not. I also hope that Mr. Berry finds a better editor who will guide him back to the fast-paced form his initial novels showed us. I am afraid, though, that will require an effort that Mr. Berry may not want to make; perhaps his successes are leading him to believe that he knows what is best in a thriller. This is the problem that faced many writers, including Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, and Jack Higgins. The inflated ego that can come from literary success may blind the writer to the reality of what he is writing. Hopefully, Mr. Berry will not let his ego get in the way and will return to the lean style of his early work that carried the reader on a fast-paced, exciting ride.

In the past, I have loved reading Steve Berry's books but this one is a HUGE dud.

It's very poorly written (I mean really bad, derivative and lazy writing) a basically weak plot with loads of unnecessary convolutions and cartoonishly trite characters. I considered my life's too short to finish it. I shared with many others the need to toss this one - and quickly.

Yikes, I hope Mr. Berry improves in future books. His earlier efforts were thought- provoking , well plotted and far better written.. Has he changed editors? Has fame gone to his head? Where's the author we knew and loved? A pile of historical research does NOT make up for a haphazard and shallow book.

This is the first Steve Berry Cotton Malone book, however it's definitely not my last! This book is one of those fast paced books with short "sub-chapters" where a lot of different things happen. And if you're a reader of the Cotton Malone character themed books, you are at a bit of an advantage as some of the people from previous books are here, however brief descriptions of these people are given. And understand you do not have to of read previous Steve Berry books to understand this book. It's not like a part ## of a series.

This book does a real good job at looking into Chinas history and all the advances it had over the world. But then they all disappeared. Where did they go? Then add in a mysterious web address delivered to Malone, and when he logged in, it linked to a live link of a very important person from his past being tortured. Then a conversation with the captor starts. Both of these things are linked somehow, along with more going on. But for the integrity of the book, I'm not going to spoil anything.

As I wrote previously, these small (what I call sub-chapters) or smaller chapters inside a large chapter, take you from Europe, to various places in China. Slowly everything comes together linking up.

This is one of those books that will have you loose track of time while reading it. A real good book. I can easily see this being made into a movie. And as we all know, books are almost always better than the movie!