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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Dropped the ball, July 27, 2001
After having read all the previous books in the IJ series, this one was a huge disappointment. Caidin's Indiana Jones is nothing like the Indy we all know and love from the movies and the book series. Furthermore, the author continually strays from the storyline established in the first several novels. One wonders if he even read all of them before attempting his story. He also seems more interested in developing a story about early 20th c. aviation and poorly-written spy capers than in writing about everybody's favorite archaeologist. I have read better fan-fic than this one. ... In short, this book was a huge dissapointment.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Poison in the candy, August 30, 2000
Martin Caidin has written much better elsewhere, and knows about aircraft, the subject which attracted me to this particular book in the Indiana Jones novelization series. Incidentally, there's no resemblance to real archaeologists here--even in their dreams--but, then, this time around Indy is not very central either. I am disappointed of my expectation of a pleasant summer confection. The souless characters seem dropped in when convenient, rather than developed (maybe because this IS part of a series, but that leaves a newcomer in the lurch). Dialogue is stilted, even abusive, with numerous disconcerting gaps in conversational flow, and word choices off the mark, like "toothy(?) profanity" or "errant(sic) nonsense." The tone is flat, so you can't tell peoples' feelings unless the author spells it out. Atmosphere is lacking because scenes are skimpily described and undeveloped, passing too rapidly in favor of nastily expressed action, despite some intriguingly precocious technology. I felt mechanically manipulated, uninvolved in the characters or their artificial situations. This book feels like just some product cranked out; the editing is shoddy, lacking in respect for the reader's time. The Indy movies are soaring escapes; this is pedestrian.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Where's the action, adventure and wonder?, May 13, 2004
I'd previously read one other Indiana Jones novel; 'Indiana Jones and The Unicorn's Legacy' which was an OK read if a little heavy on the archeology and light so on the adventure. I'm a pretty firm believer that Indy belongs on a movie screen - he lives be means of a sublime combination of Harrison Ford's performance, Steven Speilberg's creative genius, John Williams' music and many other assorted factors that make his world and his adventures exciting and entertaining. I didn't really care for the "Young Indy chronicles" TV show. However, this genre interests me. I was a fan of the "Six Million Dollar Man" TV show - based on the novel "Cyborg" by the same author. So, it was with keen interest that I picked this book up. This preamble is to put my thoughts on this book in context. On the plus side, the story opens well with some action, mystery and fantastic ideas, and there is an exciting climax. The secondary characters - many are introduced throughout - are interesting and suitably colorful. However, that's really all I can think to say in a positive vein. The Gale Parker character is under developed. Romance with Indy is alluded to and not fulfilled, it's mentioned that she is descended from a witch, but this doesn't go anywhere, she hunts with a crossbow but this is not really exploited either.
Generally there are none of the key ingredients for an Indiana Jones adventure. In fact this adventure should not even involve Indiana Jones. He is not a spy or crime-fighter. There is an idea related to an ancient metal cube that seems to be the impetus for having Indy involved, but this is weak and is revealed very early on as a mcguffin, dispelling any sense of wonder or any reason to involve an archeologist. What follows is a meandring and complicated tale, which rather than being a fun mystery or adventure is simply confusing. As a reader I felt in the dark, annoyingly so.
There is no real connection to the Indy world we know from the movies. For example, there's a major scene in 'Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom' involving a Ford Trimotor and Indy's inability to fly it and the subsequent crash. A Ford Trimotor features prominently in this book, as does Indy's desire to learn to fly it. Despite all this no reference is made to tie the book to the movie. Adding insult to injury is the number of pages devoted to the Trimotor.. I feel like I could probably fly one myself having read this book.
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