Customer Reviews

The Mystery of the Aztec Warrior (Hardy Boys, Book 43)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

When the will of a deceased man requests that an Aztec Warrior be returned to its rightful owner, Private Detective Fenton Hardy and his sons, eighteen year old Frank and Joe, seventeen are called in. The two boys immediately begin to search for clues: who or what is the Aztec Warrior and where can they find its rightful owner? Their quest for the truth will eventually lead them to the ruined temples of Mexico and, as always, into danger.

The Mystery of the Aztec Warrior is not one of the best of the Hardy Boys books. There is little suspense or plot and I did not feel a great compulsion to keep reading in some parts. The descriptions are good and the characters act as they should but this book lacked originality and did not possess the action and tension of some of the others. Like all the Hardy Boys mysteries, it was fairly enjoyable although I dont think I will be re-reading it any time soon. Of all the spinoff and original series, my favourite would have to be the more recent casefiles series, designed to appeal to older readers and dealing with complex issues and serious crimes. The Aztec Warrior, however, I would only recommend to the avid collectors.

While I wouldn't put this book among the worst in the Hardy Boys series, it's definitely below average in terms of quality and plot. The story (like many Hardys books) starts out as somewhat interesting and then gets bogged down by boring writing and plot. The boys go to Mexico to find the descendant of an Aztec warrior. Very unoriginal. This book started a long downturn in quality in the series. Every book from Aztec through the Arctic Patrol Mystery is mediocre to terrible. Avoid the mid to late 1960's Hardy boys books if you can.

A dead man's will directs that Mr. Hardy, Frank and Joe deliver a valuable Aztec warrior object to its rightful owner, a direct descendant of an Aztec warrior. However, the will does not say what or where the object is nor to whom it belongs. The trail leads Frank, Joe and Chet to Mexico, where they try to find the object as well as its owner. Do you like to be bored? Do you like to read books that make you wish that you had never started them? If so, then "The Mystery Of The Aztec Warrior" is just for you! It has NO ACTION! NO EXCITEMENT! NO SUSPENSE! All for the low price of the waste of your reading time, you get a 178-page mexican tour guide not-so-cleverly disguised as an extremely bad Hardy Boys mystery. It comes complete with a bad plot, bad writing and a really bad ending. So if your feeling restless, buy "The Mystery Of The Aztec Warrior" today and kiss those sleepless nights goodbye.

A dead mans will enlists the aid of the Frank and Joe Hardy along with their Detective Father, Fenton to find a person who's only description is 'The Aztec Warrior'. The case takes the boys, along with their best pal, Chet, to Mexico. Among the ruinded temples and ancient pyramids, they find themselves against a group of people who will do 'anything' to get to this Aztec Warrior before they do.

This is the least enjoyable Hardy Boy book I have read so far. Their detective skills in the book relies solely on pure luck and coincidence with not much, if any, detective work being done by the duo. Action sequences are all a let down. A chapter will end with a Bull bearing down at them giving the boys no escape. This will all be resolved in the next chapter within one very small paragraph saying that it suddenly turned down a side street. This is what I call 'A COP OUT!!!". A majority of all the exciting parts of the novel end this way making the novel a very frustrating read. I would recommend this only to Hardy Boy completists out there.

Of the original 58 titles, this one ranks 57th. It was awful. No mystery, no action, and ABSOLUTELY no creativity. Very poor. Some of the books I've read of a dozen times. I read this one once and that was enough!!

I love all Hardy Boy Books, they are all filled with lots of adventure and are very fun to read.

I found this book to be better than the previous book in the series, "The Viking Symbol Mystery." While this story is still less exciting and interesting than the first books in the series, at least I found the action reasonably plausible and the three boys seemed to face actual danger.

Mr. Jonathan Moore dies and leaves instructions that Fenton, Frank and Joe Hardy are to return an object the Aztec Warrior before any beneficiaries receive anything from his estate. The only problem is that no one knows what the object is, and neither do they know who the Aztec Warrior is. Thus begins a new mystery for the Hardy boys!

This mystery will see pilot Jack Wayne kidnapped. Dangers will threaten Frank and Joe Hardy and best friend Chet at every turn. A fake policeman attempts to stop the boys. Dangerous hoodlums corner the boys in an alley. Someone kidnaps Chet and leaves him in ancient ruins. A bull charges the boys on a city street, where they have no where to hide.

As the boys investigate, all they find are more questions. Who are Robert Hermosa and Senor Tatloc, and what do they have to do with the mystery? Senor Tatloc seems especially mysterious and difficult to locate. There is even a report that Senor Tatloc accidentally died while excavating ruins!

I found this story interesting. I thought the mysteries were much better than in several of the previous books, and the style was more similar to the earliest books in the series, though the writing was not as good as those books. While I thought this story was interesting, I still recommend someone begin with the earliest books in this series rather than begin with this book. Read this book only after you have had a chance to see how good the Hardy Boys books were early in the series.

The publisher recommends the Hardy Boys series for ages 8 to 12 because the series is relatively tame for the previous target audience of ages 10 to 14. This particular book is a very good fit for the new age range. Though the Hardy Boys series contains archaic information, as reading material for an increasingly younger audience they are fine. Once a child has reached age 12 or so the stories may be of less interest, but given the combination of mystery and action, these books remain good safe choices for parents who want to know what their children are reading.

I'm a huge mystery fan. By the way, I love The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, as well. I've read about 80% of all the books in the original Hardy Boys series. This one I read some time ago, and I remembered it because I'm studying the Aztecs in history right now. Anyway, I've read the other customer reviews and it is NOT boring. I agree that the Hardy Boys series declines in qualtiy in terms of excitement and the fresh, original action that captivated so many readers in the first books...but it is NOT unbelievable. NOT put-you-to-sleep boring. NO WAY. Don't believe a word any of those other reviewers wrote. It has a some exciting parts and is pretty good, like all the Hardy Boys books.

This one is GREAT. My favorite character is Chet because he likes eating and so do I. He helps solve the mystery by saving the Hardy Boys. It has a few pieces of history in it, but it's not real accurate.

Are we allowed to curse on here? Probably not - so I shall refrain - but what in the name of crimony were these people thinking when they published this compilation of letters and sentences and stamped the name Hardy Boys Mystery on it????????????? This WAS without a doubt the WORST book in the entire series. My opinion - they got this mixed up with the Bobsey Twins series and put the wrong name on it. Written by Harriett Adams - no surprise! Anyone who has read her works (Namely Nancy Drews volumes 35-56) will understand why this book is as bad as it is. First of all this book deals with genealogy and a descendant of an Aztec Warrior getting an inheritance. Now come on people - think about this.......Everytime I hear this sort of thing I wince. Aztec Warriors lived in what century?? Let us suppose this Aztec Warrior was born in 1700 (And I'm being Conservative) Do you realize how many descendants this person would have? THOUSANDS! Not one. How could anyone legally or logically determine who was the rightful heir of someone who lived so long ago! What a legal battle that would bring. Volume #44 should not be The Haunted Fort. It should have been titled THE HAUNTED LAW OFFICE. Utter ridiculous plot. Furthermore this was the most boring of any Hardy Boys book. The cliff hangers in plain English - [were bad]. Actually WHAT cliff hangers? You mean there were some? I read this book once and that was enough. I do not intend to ever read it again - unless alzheimers kicks in. A one star rating is much to good for this one. There had to be a worst book in the series somewhere and this was it. RATED F Triple Minus Infinity!