Lara's Book--Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider Phenomenon [Paperback]

Douglas Coupland (Author), Kip Ward (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 29, 1998

A digital love affair.

Lara Croft is much more than the sum of her 38,000 polygons. Having jumped out of her virtual 3D environment and into the real world saturated with magazines and rock concerts, Lara has taken on a life of her own. With countless Web sites, fan letters, merchandise, TV commercials, and comic books dedicated to the worship of the world's digital Diva, Lara's fandom has swept the globe. Get to know the real Lara Croft–a fearless, tough, and completely loveable femme fatale!

• Original fiction by Douglas Coupland starring Lara Croft
• Thousands of Lara pictures
• Exclusive interviews with Lara's designers and game developers
• Background on the Tomb Raider story
• Lara's impact on the game industry and world at large
• Exclusive info about Lara's future career
• Complete gameplay strategies for Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II, and Tomb Raider Gold
• A guide to Lara's fandom: Internet sites, e-mail, merchandise, etc.
• Complete Lara stats

Ever alert to the trends of modern society in the digital age, Douglas Coupland turns his keen eye to the world's love affair with pop culture icon Lara Croft of the fabulously successful Tomb Raider video games. See Lara through the eyes of one of the 20th Century's most gripping young authors.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Lara's Book is a love letter from definitive Gen X scribe Douglas Coupland to definitive Gen X pinup girl Lara Croft. The buxom star of Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider II is idolized in both words (Coupland provides a work of fiction about Lara and waxes poetic about his feelings for her and her unique stardom) and pictures (literally thousands from digitally rendered images of Lara in a polo uniform to handmade drawings by her legions of fans). Coupland's story, "Air Tibet," illustrated wonderfully by Kris Renkewitz, is tons of genre-hopping fun, and his description of his obsession with Ms. Croft is singular and evocative of the freestyle interludes of Generation X.

If you're feeling a little weird about owning a glossy-paged, coffee-table-worthy pinup book dedicated to a video game, Lara's Book justifies itself by containing complete strategy guides for all the versions of Tomb Raider. Anyone interested in game development or the minutia of Lara's workstation-induced birth will find the Core team's account of Tomb Raider's development entertaining. Did we mention that it has thousands of pictures of Lara Croft? --Andrew Boscardin

Review

A digital love affair.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Prima Games (June 29, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761515801
• ISBN-13: 978-0761515807
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #785,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great book for the Tombraider fan., August 7, 1998

By 

[e-mail] or Drew Pierson (Whichita,KS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lara's Book--Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider Phenomenon (Paperback)

This book has practically all the tombraider fan needs background imformation, imfomation on what she wears, walkthrough (there nice and simple not like on the web pages),and of course thousands of pictures.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A few mistakes, but the only way to win., March 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Lara's Book--Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider Phenomenon (Paperback)

Sure there were mistakes. Page 121: "Leap atop the fence, Find the Uzis", and later "Leap and grab the edge of the wall Shimmy Left". They should be switched! I spent about three days figuring out this and many other mistakes. But I shouldn't complain: I would never have gotten past page 2 if it weren't for this book. It really helped a lot! Seriously, I would reccommend it to anyone who is into Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider series!

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I know exactly how Coupland feels about Lara, June 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Lara's Book--Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider Phenomenon (Paperback)

In my mind's eye, I picture Lara back-flipping and gunning down the giant Atlantean mutant in Natla, the last level of Tomb Raider. If it wasn't for this book I wouldn't have completed Tomb Raider I, II or Unfinished Business.