A review by thelauramay
Ramsey's Gold by Russell Blake
1.0
Predictable. Derivative. The characters have the depth of wet cardboard. Sexism, racism, and prejudice rule the day. For example:
There's one woman character, who exists only as a sex object and damsel in distress. She's a trained archaeologist, but at NO point does this matter.
Then there's the fact that the bad guys are Russian - classic and tired - who exist only to torture and kill, with a bit of sexual violence thrown in. Ridiculous caricatures.
The 'good' guys are toxic, with zero emotional depth, and the protag is a Mary Sue: he's got a photographic memory, details on how to find a lost city, is talentless but stumbles his way to where he needs to be. And then of course, receives maximum and overstated glory.
The portrayal of Peruvians, and particularly indigenous groups, is sickening. Apparently, everybody is uneducated, conniving, dirty, obsequious, and 'lesser than', while indigenous groups are either a Deus ex machina or murderous. Truly disgusting.
If this had been written in the seventies, it would have been just 'bad'; but as a book written in the modern era, it's an embarrassment. Don't waste your time.
There's one woman character, who exists only as a sex object and damsel in distress. She's a trained archaeologist, but at NO point does this matter.
Then there's the fact that the bad guys are Russian - classic and tired - who exist only to torture and kill, with a bit of sexual violence thrown in. Ridiculous caricatures.
The 'good' guys are toxic, with zero emotional depth, and the protag is a Mary Sue: he's got a photographic memory, details on how to find a lost city, is talentless but stumbles his way to where he needs to be. And then of course, receives maximum and overstated glory.
The portrayal of Peruvians, and particularly indigenous groups, is sickening. Apparently, everybody is uneducated, conniving, dirty, obsequious, and 'lesser than', while indigenous groups are either a Deus ex machina or murderous. Truly disgusting.
If this had been written in the seventies, it would have been just 'bad'; but as a book written in the modern era, it's an embarrassment. Don't waste your time.