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topdragon's review against another edition
3.0
After six Indiana Jones prequel novels by [a:Rob MacGregor|4094986|Rob MacGregor|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1364920494p2/4094986.jpg], veteran Martin Caidin took the reins for two novels beginning with this entry in the series. Judging by this book, Caidin’s version of Indy is a bit more cerebral and a more mature version. It seems that between the last book and this one, Indy has changed from the “Young Indiana Jones” style, as played by Sean Patrick Flannery in the TV series, to a Harrison Ford style Indy. He accomplishes less by luck and accident than he does by careful preparation and being ready for anything.
Caidin also brings his considerable experience in aviation, especially pre-WWII era flying machines to the plot. Indy is recruited to stop a mysterious group of flying craft shaped like disks or scimitars that have been plaguing the shipping lanes. We see Indy in more of a James Bond-style espionage caper this time around instead of pure adventure. It works OK but somehow didn’t seem quite as “Indy-like” as I was looking for.
Indy’s professorly knowledge on a variety of subjects is on full display throughout this novel. There are several info dumps on subjects such as piloting skills, aeroplane engine mechanics and the Indians of the Southwestern US. There are also mentions of ancient artifacts including a cuneiform-covered cube and a “crystal skull”. Oh my.
[I must digress for one moment to identify a couple of anachronisms that seemed to have escaped the author and editors. The town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico is mentioned at one point in the narrative when Indy and his cohorts are navigating the skies in search of the strange aircraft. Keep in mind that this novel takes place in 1930. In point of fact, the town's name was changed from "Hot Springs" to "Truth or Consequences" on March 31, 1950, after Ralph Edwards, the host of the popular game show "Truth or Consequences," called for any town in America to do so - in celebration of the show's ten year anniversary. Indy’s group also references Los Alamos which in 1930 was still just a Ranch School for boys, certainly not a reference point for aerial navigation. Sorry to digress but I felt compelled to point out these errors. Don’t you hate it when reviewers do that?]
This is not the best of the Indiana Jones prequel series but isn’t bad either. There is a lot of planning and coordinating and lots of characters are introduced but, there is not nearly as much action as what a typical Indy fan would anticipate. The finale is well done though and certainly highlight’s the authors understanding of high altitude flying. I also really enjoyed the major character introduced in this novel, Gale Parker, a feisty gal who is certainly more than she appears. I was happy to discover that she will be back in the follow-on novel, [b:Indiana Jones and the White Witch|429147|Indiana Jones and the White Witch (Indiana Jones Prequels #8)|Martin Caidin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320430956s/429147.jpg|418135].
Caidin also brings his considerable experience in aviation, especially pre-WWII era flying machines to the plot. Indy is recruited to stop a mysterious group of flying craft shaped like disks or scimitars that have been plaguing the shipping lanes. We see Indy in more of a James Bond-style espionage caper this time around instead of pure adventure. It works OK but somehow didn’t seem quite as “Indy-like” as I was looking for.
Indy’s professorly knowledge on a variety of subjects is on full display throughout this novel. There are several info dumps on subjects such as piloting skills, aeroplane engine mechanics and the Indians of the Southwestern US. There are also mentions of ancient artifacts including a cuneiform-covered cube and a “crystal skull”. Oh my.
[I must digress for one moment to identify a couple of anachronisms that seemed to have escaped the author and editors. The town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico is mentioned at one point in the narrative when Indy and his cohorts are navigating the skies in search of the strange aircraft. Keep in mind that this novel takes place in 1930. In point of fact, the town's name was changed from "Hot Springs" to "Truth or Consequences" on March 31, 1950, after Ralph Edwards, the host of the popular game show "Truth or Consequences," called for any town in America to do so - in celebration of the show's ten year anniversary. Indy’s group also references Los Alamos which in 1930 was still just a Ranch School for boys, certainly not a reference point for aerial navigation. Sorry to digress but I felt compelled to point out these errors. Don’t you hate it when reviewers do that?]
This is not the best of the Indiana Jones prequel series but isn’t bad either. There is a lot of planning and coordinating and lots of characters are introduced but, there is not nearly as much action as what a typical Indy fan would anticipate. The finale is well done though and certainly highlight’s the authors understanding of high altitude flying. I also really enjoyed the major character introduced in this novel, Gale Parker, a feisty gal who is certainly more than she appears. I was happy to discover that she will be back in the follow-on novel, [b:Indiana Jones and the White Witch|429147|Indiana Jones and the White Witch (Indiana Jones Prequels #8)|Martin Caidin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320430956s/429147.jpg|418135].
hawaiianbrian's review against another edition
2.0
While none of these Indiana Jones books have really captured the essence of our beloved adventuring archaeologist, this book was the farthest from the mark. The character ostensibly called "Indy" in here was portrayed as some kind of master intellect, a super spy, and someone who was so cunning that the military deferred to his judgment. Although he was in just about every scene, we were almost never in his POV. Actually, we jumped POVs constantly, spending a great deal of time in the POV of his assistant, Gale, but in the space of a paragraph we might dip into the thoughts of any number of people around Indy. We rarely get his thoughts on anything. Instead, he's this quiet fellow who always seems to be two steps ahead of everyone else, despite protesting that he doesn't know anything, and who is capable of stunning global heads of state into shocked silence by simply asking a single question.
He is surrounded by a group of elite bad-asses who are described as being top in their field – yet they do very little throughout the entire novel. In fact, pretty much nothing set up in the early pages of the book or described on the back cover has any bearing with what actually happens. Indiana Jones *doesn't* travel to various libraries and museums to do research... he just offers what info he already knows. There's a trip to a museum, yes, but that's just to meet with some people in a secret sub-basement room. (There are actually many, many meetings in this book, and Caidin wants you to know just how cloaked in super-secrecy all of them are.) If anyone ever talks about psychokinetic lift as a way of powering the UFO-like aircraft employed by their enemies, I missed it. The book makes it seem like Indy and his team will be battling "Sky Pirates," which are really more like an incredibly secretive organization of pseudo-altruistic power brokers who want to end conflict by... dominating the world, and decided to do so by pretending to be aliens. They only steal at the beginning of the book, and that's to send some kind of a message in their global cat-and-mouse game. No actual piracy involved, folks. That would have been cool! But... no.
The best part of the book is the train heist at the beginning. When I read that, I got all excited, thinking we'd finally have one of these supposedly Indiana Jones novels with some actual action sequences and pulp intrigue. There was another train heist at about the 25% mark, but that involved Indiana Jones and his super team stealing... an artifact he put on the train himself... all to... trick the evil organization (which calls itself E.V.I.L. for some reason). It wasn't really all that clear. Pretty neat scene involving a skyhook and some of Jack Shannon's mob goons, but didn't amount to much. A few smaller action sequences here and there, including one involving a mechanical bear (???) but most of the novel involves lots of discussions, planning, flying here and there for meetings, brooding, an awkward attempt at flirting between Indy and Gale, some hijinks. Other potentially exciting scenes, other than the last sequence, happen "off camera."
In all, not the greatest book in general, and definitely NOT an Indiana Jones book. Probably the most action-packed of this series, but even though we finally get some exciting action, we don't really get Indiana Jones in anything but name. As others have said, this would have been way better as a Sky Captain novel. Then Caidin, who obviously is a nut for flight history and terminology, could have had his main character be an actual pilot. But ah, well.
He is surrounded by a group of elite bad-asses who are described as being top in their field – yet they do very little throughout the entire novel. In fact, pretty much nothing set up in the early pages of the book or described on the back cover has any bearing with what actually happens. Indiana Jones *doesn't* travel to various libraries and museums to do research... he just offers what info he already knows. There's a trip to a museum, yes, but that's just to meet with some people in a secret sub-basement room. (There are actually many, many meetings in this book, and Caidin wants you to know just how cloaked in super-secrecy all of them are.) If anyone ever talks about psychokinetic lift as a way of powering the UFO-like aircraft employed by their enemies, I missed it. The book makes it seem like Indy and his team will be battling "Sky Pirates," which are really more like an incredibly secretive organization of pseudo-altruistic power brokers who want to end conflict by... dominating the world, and decided to do so by pretending to be aliens. They only steal at the beginning of the book, and that's to send some kind of a message in their global cat-and-mouse game. No actual piracy involved, folks. That would have been cool! But... no.
The best part of the book is the train heist at the beginning. When I read that, I got all excited, thinking we'd finally have one of these supposedly Indiana Jones novels with some actual action sequences and pulp intrigue. There was another train heist at about the 25% mark, but that involved Indiana Jones and his super team stealing... an artifact he put on the train himself... all to... trick the evil organization (which calls itself E.V.I.L. for some reason). It wasn't really all that clear. Pretty neat scene involving a skyhook and some of Jack Shannon's mob goons, but didn't amount to much. A few smaller action sequences here and there, including one involving a mechanical bear (???) but most of the novel involves lots of discussions, planning, flying here and there for meetings, brooding, an awkward attempt at flirting between Indy and Gale, some hijinks. Other potentially exciting scenes, other than the last sequence, happen "off camera."
In all, not the greatest book in general, and definitely NOT an Indiana Jones book. Probably the most action-packed of this series, but even though we finally get some exciting action, we don't really get Indiana Jones in anything but name. As others have said, this would have been way better as a Sky Captain novel. Then Caidin, who obviously is a nut for flight history and terminology, could have had his main character be an actual pilot. But ah, well.
2925chances's review against another edition
1.0
Disjointed and callous Indiana Jones becomes Danny Ocean
timgonsalves's review against another edition
2.5
As fun as a full on pulp Indy adventure is on paper (and it occasionally is in practice as well), this one very quickly turns a bit tedious with repetitive descriptions of aviation vehicles and constant plot complications without the presence of a villain to add much gravity.
How Indy is it...
4/10 - We're sort of generally working in the same action adventure genre here, but it's all wrong. Any element of history/archaeology is lip service. Indy isn't the audience surrogate going through it all alone by the skin of his teeth without the hint of a plan, instead he's this aloof spymaster with a professional crew and various elaborate schemes that are constantly coming as a surprise to the other characters and the reader.
How Indy is it...
4/10 - We're sort of generally working in the same action adventure genre here, but it's all wrong. Any element of history/archaeology is lip service. Indy isn't the audience surrogate going through it all alone by the skin of his teeth without the hint of a plan, instead he's this aloof spymaster with a professional crew and various elaborate schemes that are constantly coming as a surprise to the other characters and the reader.
unreliablebooknerd's review against another edition
1.0
I'd simply love Indiana Jones but this book really disappointed me to the extreme level. It was slow and un-exciting! I personally dislike Indy teaming up with other teams, i like him alone the best!
verkisto's review against another edition
3.0
This book is fine (the writing style is cleaner than Rob MacGregor's, and the plot is more straightforward), but it relies a lot on telling us everything there is to know about airplanes and flying them than is absolutely necessary, and the depths to which the conspiracies run in this story is hard to believe (and yet there are TWO of them). It's all a little far-fetched, even for an Indiana Jones story.
Interestingly, Caidin includes an afterword where he talks about the reality he used to create the story. He draws a lot on his own experiences as a pilot, but also uses history to back up his use of what appear to be plot devices. I like this sort of thing, and since Caidin includes the notes in the book, it saves me the trouble of looking the details up myself, like I was doing with MacGregor's books.
Though a bit overlong and long-winded, this book is a decent read. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to recommend it (at the very least, Indy doesn't feel like Indy here), but it was a fun read.
Interestingly, Caidin includes an afterword where he talks about the reality he used to create the story. He draws a lot on his own experiences as a pilot, but also uses history to back up his use of what appear to be plot devices. I like this sort of thing, and since Caidin includes the notes in the book, it saves me the trouble of looking the details up myself, like I was doing with MacGregor's books.
Though a bit overlong and long-winded, this book is a decent read. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to recommend it (at the very least, Indy doesn't feel like Indy here), but it was a fun read.
darkwave1062's review against another edition
1.0
Disjointed and callous Indiana Jones becomes Danny Ocean
unreliablebooknerd's review against another edition
1.0
I'd simply love Indiana Jones but this book really disappointed me to the extreme level. It was slow and un-exciting! I personally dislike Indy teaming up with other teams, i like him alone the best!
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