Indiana Jones & The Dance of the Giants [Hardcover]

Rob MacGregor (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Bantam (1991)
• ASIN: B000L9IKT8
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For Indy Lovers Only!, June 30, 2006

By 

Wayne Beckham (Fontana, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Indiana Jones and the Dance of the Giants (Mass Market Paperback)

There's an entire series of Indiana Jones titles that sprang up to fill the void between "Last Crusade" and 2007's as-yet-untitled Indy 4.

Rob McGregor is the principle author of most of these stories (other titles were written by noted Sci-Fi author Martin Caidin and Max McCoy.) Rob's entrée to the series was when he wrote the novelization for "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."

Rob's writing strives mightily to capture the feel and, not as successfully, the scientific thinking of the era. While Rob's characterizations of Indiana Jones faithfully follows the movie persona, his reliance on overly complicated scripts sometimes distracts the reader. Another irritant is his reliance on the miraculous (and, so far, consistent) sudden appearance of a new character, Jack Shannon, to rescue Indy from whatever predicament he's landed himself in.

However, the formula is by it's very nature limiting and McGregor works as well in it as can be expected. For the True Believers in the Indy mythos, this series performs yeoman-like work in a field bereft of competitors.

At least until Indy 4 - of course!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An otherwise good book let down by a flat ending., May 6, 2007

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Inspector Gadget "Go Go Gadget Reviews" (On the trail of Doctor Claw) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indiana Jones and the Dance of the Giants (Mass Market Paperback)

The rich Indiana Jones universe certainly does lend itself well to a potentially infinite number of pulp novels, especially when written by a capable writer who is after more than just a quick buck. Rob MacGregor seems to a genuine Indiana Jones fan but fails to give this book any defining moment or iconic scenes.

The story has Indy working as a Professor at an English University (his first teaching assignment) where an admiring young student takes a shine to him and likes showing-off how much more about British history she knows than he. But things turn sinister when an ex-boyfriend apparently sends him poisonous spiders and warns him away from her. Deciding to get away from this hassle Indy helps her mother on a dig in a Scottish cave that may well have once been the domain of Merlin himself.

An intriguing set-up but nothing special really ever becomes of it and there's not much atmosphere to make up for the lack of action or suspense and the ending is a huge non-event. And what the hell is with the crass reference to Lord of the Rings? Puh-lease!

Nonetheless, it's still a fun book and worth a read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Entertaining, June 1, 1998

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[e-mail] (Chicago area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indiana Jones and the Dance of the Giants (Mass Market Paperback)

I found the historical background in this book to be very informative and interesting, even if it was general. I think any more would detract too much from the story. I have read five of these novels now, and I have loved every one. The action is good, we know Indy is going to get through but we're not sure how, and I found myself reccommending these books to friends.