Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Mass Market Paperback)

by Dave Stern (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

THE POWER...
An ancient relic called the All Seeing Eye that grants the owner the ultimate power in the universe. A power so immense that those who possess it could rule the world.

THE ILLUMINATI...
A secret brotherhood hell-bent on finding the All Seeing Eye and taking over the world. A sinister band of men who will stop at nothing to fulfill their diabolical plot.

THE HERO...
Lara Croft The greatest tomb-raiding high-flying adventurer of all time, who just so happens to hold the key to finding the All Seeing Eye.

Through the living jungles of Cambodia to the frozen wasteland of Siberia, Lara Croft takes you on her greatest adventure.

THE CLOCK IS TICKING AND TIME IS RUNNING OUT...

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One

Manfred Powell rode into Venice like a king.

The procession felt natural to him, like putting on a favorite old suit he'd forgotten in the corner of his closet. Comfortable.

Pimms, on the other hand, looked anything but. He kept shivering, and trying to hide it, kept trying to zip up the front of his orange windbreaker higher, to insulate himself from the sea spray and the gusting wind.

Powell leaned into his ear and whispered, "I'm getting angry with you, Pimms."

The man went pale.

"Sir?"

"I said, I'm getting angry." At that moment, the commandante, who was steering the motorboat, turned around and smiled at Powell. Powell smiled back, and surreptitiously nudged Pimms, who smiled as well. "This is a great honor we have been given, to ride with these gentlemen, and you look like you'd rather be anyplace else."

There were five of them in the boat: Powell, Pimms, and three members of the Venezia Brigati, Venice's canal-based firefighters. All were dressed identically, in orange foul-weather gear and black firefighters' helmets with wide yellow stripes around them.

"Sorry, sir." Pimms's longish sandy-brown hair peeked out from underneath his helmet. "It's just that I hadn't expected it to be this cold."

Powell drew in a breath. "Pimms."

"Yes, sir?"

"You're whining. You know how I detest whining."

"Sorry, sir."

"So look like you're enjoying yourself -- please."

"Yes, sir." Pimms clasped his hands behind his back and made his mouth into a grimacing sort of shape that -- Powell supposed -- was intended as a smile. Then Pimms cleared his throat.

"What a privilege to be here, and now, with you gentlemen, and in this boat," Pimms declared, much too loudly.

The three men, who had been talking amongst themselves, suddenly stopped. The commandante turned left, and then right, and then back toward Pimms.

"Grazi, signore," he said. The other two nodded. Pimms, in turn, nodded at Powell, and gave him the thumbs-up.

Powell sighed. Good help was so hard to find these days.

It had been overcast this morning, and chilly, but now, as they came up the Grand Canal, past San Marco on their right, and then on under the Ponte de-Accademicia, the sun broke through the clouds, light struck the water, and the great parade of marble buildings on either side of the canal shone spectacularly. This was the Venice he had fallen in love with on his first trip to the city thirty years ago, when he was just a young, impressionable lawyer. Now Powell had become, in fact, by virtue of his legitimate business interests, a very important man in the city of Venice. Hence the invitation on the fireboat's inaugural ride.

The commandante docked the boat, as Powell had instructed, at a small quay in the shadow of the Palazzo Grassi. Powell climbed off, shaking hands and smiling with the men, Pimms a step behind.

The two of them walked at a brisk pace, squeezing their way among tourists and tourist trappers, hurrying down the Calle di Mandela, and turned into an alleyway that was so small people often passed by it unknowingly. They emerged into a surprisingly large courtyard.

Before them stood a massive stone building that during the late sixteenth century had served as headquarters for the Council of Three, the secret society that had then ruled the republic. For the last few hundred years, it had served a similar purpose, for a similar organization.

The building's exterior gave no clue to what lay within, though, save for a single stone gargoyle perched high above its entrance. A sharp-eyed observer might note that this gargoyle differed from the usual Renais-

sance statuary found throughout Venice. It seemed out of place somehow: Venice presented a face of wealth and opulence to the world, a face that asked observers to enjoy its beauty.

This gargoyle presented a face that said, simply, "Go away."

That same sharp-eyed observer might also note that the stone gargoyle held something in its hands: a triangle, with an eye in the middle of it. The eye in the pyramid.

The symbol of the Illuminati.

Powell, Pimms walking a step behind him, passed underneath the gargoyle, into the building, and out of sight.

If the exterior of the building did little to call attention to itself, the Grand Hall was just the opposite.

It was the size of a football field, with vaulted ceilings five stories high, immaculate ivory columns spaced the length of the room, elaborate, gilt-edged scrollwork, a huge, floor-to-ceiling mural on one end, and two massive iron doors at the other.

Along the length of the room, long oak conference tables provided enough seating for the Order's ninety-nine voting members. Underneath the huge mural, seven chairs sat on a raised dais. Seven chairs, for the seven members of the High Council. Six of the chairs were occupied, only the center chair, directly to Powell's left, was empty.

Across the empty center chair, Powell saw Gareth fidgeting, and looking at his watch. Mrs. King crossed her legs. Ravenna folded his arms and sighed.

Powell allowed himself a small smile. Gathered in this room were some of the most powerful men and women in the world, business and political leaders, people used to giving commands, being waited on hand and foot at all hours of the day. Now they were the ones doing the waiting.

A chime sounded, and a door at the back of the room opened.

A tall, distinguished-looking gentleman walked through.

He appeared to be in his early sixties -- but no one knew exactly how old he was. He spoke eight languages (that Powell knew of) without the trace of an accent. No one knew where he'd been born. No one could recall a time when he had not sat on the Order's High Council. Twenty-seven years ago, on the death of Madame Simon, he had been named their leader by universal acclamation. No balloting was necessary.

A good thing, because the man had no name.

Within the Order, he was known simply as the distinguished gentleman.

He sat down, between Powell and Gareth, and cleared his throat.

"Brothers and Sisters, it seems we are running out of time. This is not acceptable."

He stressed the last two words, and then allowed the room to be silent a moment.

At the floor tables, Powell sensed as much as saw

the younger members shifting, growing nervous. The

distinguished-looking gentleman often absented himself from the Order's monthly meetings, allowing Gareth to run those proceedings. Gareth, who had all the presence of a mole rat, and hemmed and hawed, rarely speaking in absolutes. The presence of their leader, here and now, brought home the importance of this meeting to the Order.

"Mr. Powell." The distinguished-looking gentleman turned to him. "The explanation for this, please?"

Powell held the older man's gaze a moment, without flinching. He was no neophyte, no toady. He was his own man. Their leader had recognized that by putting him in charge of the most important project in the Order's history.

A folder appeared before Powell, a folder held by Pimms, who was bending over, offering, he saw, the latest results from Miss Holcomb's team. Powell waved him off.

"I have no ?explanation,' and certainly no excuses, except to once again -- respectfully -- " his eyes caught Gareth's on that last word, "remind the Council that our calculations involve an almost inconceivable number of iterative operations. We are working from clues based on ancient cosmological models, older than Ptolemy, pre-dating Aristotle, before Plato, models of the universe derived from hypotheses never recorded in the pages of history. Correlation between these models and the actual universe as we know it has proved somewhat of a code-breaking challenge. But I am happy to announce that we are almost ready. And I am supremely confident tha

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (May 22, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743424298
• ISBN-13: 978-0743424295
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,448,229 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good! Can't wait for the movie!, June 8, 2001

By	"desmony" (Keystone, SD) - See all my reviews

I'm a huge Lara Croft fan, and this book didn't let me down! The plot is very good, it has some humorous moments and it's action-packed. What more can you ask for? Although the movie's going to kick butt, I suggest reading this book beforehand because it offers more insight into what she's doing, and why. In the book, we know what's going through her mind, while in the movie we just have to rely on our own interpretations of what's happening on-screen.

Fans of the video game (and who isn't?) will love the many familiar moments - Lara taking out a green flare to examine a hidden entrance to a tomb, unholstering her pistols to shoot a monster, etc. - present in the book. There's also several references of Lara's past with Von Croy (from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation), which I don't think will be in the movie.

All in all, it's a VERY good read, and I can't wait for the movie!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Left me eager for the movie!, May 29, 2001

By	Huntress Reviews (United States) - See all my reviews

Long ago a meteor fell onto Earth with a magical, metallic form within it. Witnessing its power, it was forged into the (thought of) holy form of a triangle and a temple was formed to protect it. A city grew around the temple, The People of the Light were there. During an invasion, the nine planets aligned and the power of the Triangle was shown. Realizing no mortal should possess such power, the High Priest ordered it cut into two smaller triangles. One stayed at the temple. The other was hidden at the end of the Earth. However, the Craftsman who cut the Triangle in half secretly made a highly advanced device. It could serve as a guide to find the hidden piece, and preserve the Triangle's powers for future generations. It was a magic clock.

Lady Lara Croft was much like her father had been. Beginning with a clock he had hidden for her to find someday and tales he had told her as a child, she must set out to save the world. The Illuminati, a secret group of powerful people, were out to find the two triangle pieces before the planets aligned (which happened only once every 5,000 years). At her side was Mr. Hillary, her butler, and Bryce, her technician. Two tombs must be entered and survived or the world would belong to Manfred Powell.

***** I made that brief as possible, but left out much to do it. Even though the movie, as of now, has not been released, I can already tell that the book gives much more insight to Lara and the adventure in which she finds herself. However, many scenes have the potential to be much more vivid and exciting on the big screens! I found it to be a wonderful book! I plan to be in the theater, with a huge group of friends, on its first night out!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, May 27, 2001

By	Hobbes (California) - See all my reviews

With three more weeks before the film opens, I finally broke down and read this novelization, in little spurts (promising to stop before any major spoiler points) that finally went to the finish. There are nice little touches --- what you'd expect from a book that should flesh-out what the film can't dwell upon --- but nothing that should really spoil the moviegoing experience. The film will sink or swim with Angelina Jolie's performance, period.

Stern does a nice job with character backgrounds and interactions, though depth is limited to the characters of Lara Croft and her father. The story hangs together, but the book isn't a revelation like the best of film novelizations; unlike works like Orson Scott Card's *The Abyss,* you won't be inclined to return to this one over and over. It provides a moderate amount of detail on the Tomb Raider universe, with enough skill to make the read a pleasant weekend diversion (although not enough to make you *really* curious about archaeology, pistolcraft, or bungie jumping in the foyer).