Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Path of the Apocalypse

Tomb Raider Universe

by S.D. Perry

The official tie-in novel to the Shadow of the Tomb Raider video game.

In a brand-new adventure, Lara Croft must evade the agents of Trinity and discover an ancient secret. When a mysterious stranger offers to help Lara uncover a clue that could give her the upper hand, she embarks on an expedition to a system of caves in Colombia. However, once they learn of Lara's plans, Trinity will stop at nothing to reach the location first. Trinity believes they can turn the tables on Lara, but in the darkness of the underground caverns, there are terrors in the depths that neither Lara nor Trinity anticipated.

Game is due to release on 9/14/18 across all major platforms

Genres: Video Games, Fiction, Adventure, Fantasy, Thriller, Collections

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 18, 2018

About the author

SD Perry (Stephani Danelle, by the way, though she prefers SD or Danelle) has been writing novelizations and tie-ins for most of her adult life. Best known for her work in the shared multiverses of Resident Evil, Star Trek, and Aliens, SD is a horror nerd and an introvert. Her father is acclaimed science fiction author Steve Perry. SD lives with her family in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Flo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Path of the Apocalypse is a tie-in novel for the recently released video game Shadow of the Tomb Raider and I was so desperate to get my hands on this book. And I really tried to like this one, but now that I finished it, I couldn't be more disappointed.

It must be hard to write a Tomb Raider novel in the reboot era since these games are very cinematic and story-driven, which already resulted in several lackluster comics and another novel, Tomb Raider: The Ten Thousand Immortals, storywise. I wouldn't dare to say that all those stories were bad, but you can really feel how limited there are since they can only take place between games and give not to much away since the players shouldn't be forced to read them to understand the next iteration of the video games.

But given the fact that this novel is supposed to tie in with the newest game in the franchise, I actually expected something good since Lara has grown up as a character a lot in the previous games and comic stories. So I hoped for a kinda individual adventure where long time nemesis Trinity might be involved for sure, or maybe something which directly leads up the Mexico part from Shadow of the Tomb Raider since the game hints that Lara and Jonah had a lot of things to do prior to the introductionary events. This novel is neither of it.

In fact, it takes place between the Mexico and Peru parts of the new game, which was a nice surprise, but also a letdown. For those who already played the game will know that there are not even 48 hours of time between those bits left untold. And people have to sleep from time to time, so it is actually less than that. And that is where the plot of this novel squeezes in.

And it gives me the creeps to call this a "plot" since there is almost no plot at all in those few hours of storytime, so I will not talk about it in case you really wanna read this one. I will talk about how good this book actually ties into the game instead.

At the beginning, it does an okay job with it and I would actually believe that this story takes place after the first part of the game, even though I think some actions leading up to those events are kinda out of character for Lara Croft in some way, but nothing I would describe as completely contradictory. It also does an okay job with tying in to the next part of the game, but it doesn't really reflect the mood of Lara and the tension between her and Jonah we experienced in Mexico, which is a shame.

Does the book contribute to the narrative for Shadow of the Tomb Raider? If you wanna read the book, skip the answer, if not, feel free to hit the spoiler tag. No. There is even a thought from Lara on the last page that this adventure was rather "useless". Which should really led to the question for all the people involved with this book why it even exists in the first place.

The writing itself was actually pretty good, especially compared to Tomb Raider: The Ten Thousand Immortals and Lara Croft and the Blade of Gwynnever which sometimes felt like a toddler wrote them. But again, the narrative switches too often to the point of view to the bad guys, which also happended in those other two books. Even though those shifts are clearly marked this time, they most often feel like they are only there to stratch out the page number. And there are so many parts told from different perspectives that I sometimes even forgot Lara is supposed to be a part of the story.

Recommended for: die hard Tomb Raider fans who want to claim that they know everything about Lara Croft and Tomb Raider.

Not recommendend for: everybody else.

[Laura (crofteereader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's not a lot of substance to this one (with a media tie-in that's pretty much a moot point since you're supposed to go into things already knowing the characters and the background) but man reading about my favorite badass Lara Croft crawling through some caves and trying not to get murdered all while confronting her anxiety and feelings of inadequacy/self-pity in a way that the game this goes with (Shadow of the Tomb Raider) enhances so brilliantly.

The writing was detailed and formulaic. With a constant shifting perspective, it felt like a big long scene from an action movie where the camera switches between our heroes and the bad guys to draw out the tension. Perry does a brilliant job of detailing the caves - from the inhabitants to the structures to the maps - and how each character reacts to them.

Fans of the Tomb Raider franchise will appreciate this accurate portrayal of Lara Croft from the reboot trilogy - and it's much better writing than the Dan Abnett books.

[Estanteriadecho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shadow of the Tomb Raider. La senda del apocalipsis es un libro para fans de la saga que quieran vivir a tope las aventuras de nuestra intrépida arqueóloga. Un libro cargado de acción, exploración y mitología para los fans acérrimos de las aventuras.

Reseña: https://laestanteriadecho.blogspot.co...

[Kendra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before I start my review let me just say I LOVE LARA CROFT. And EVERY SINGLE game! And comics! But this book was just a damn shame... and that breaks my heart to say. Because the idea that they made a book to the marvelous game I was so excited to learn more about the cults and the lost city. But let me tell you this book doesn’t tell you SHIT! The only reason I give this book 2 stars is because the beginning was decent and gave more background on Trinity! But lemme just say this book should have been titled Lara running around aimlessly in cave with enemies after her. Because that’s pretty much what the whole book was. Running around in repetitive circles in this cave while she kills off Trinity soldiers. Oh and also this is nothing close to the game at all!

That being said the games are so beautiful and I would love if every single one of the games had a LEGIT novel tie in. I think that would be really cool and give us readers more insight. But not if it’s anything like this book!

Lara let’s go raid some tombs and leave this book to rot!

[Reading into the Void · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun and quick read! Basically all action that felt pretty believable. If you want to read something that’s like 97% action/adventure—I’d recommend!

[Яна Хараланова · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gosh! So disapointed. Most of the story was overextended which made it boring.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lara Croft not being a main character in her own series was a bold move that did not pay off.

This was boring; this era of games has so much lore given the games themselves and expanded in the comics but this book added to none of it. Everyone was the same, stiff and lifeless.

[Andrew Geczy · Rating 3 out of 5]

How does this tie in novel differ from the first one (Ten Thousand Immortals)?

The writer this time loves guns. Like really loves guns, describing them in excessive detail. The knives too. It was so weird how much he loved describing every weapon of every character in great detail.

The plot, meanwhile, was meaningless and goes nowhere and is basically just an excuse to have Lara stumble around in a cave for 200 pages.

But some of the Lara characterizations were alright and it’s nice how it fits right in the middle of the third game, after the prologue and before the plain crash. So I’m mixed on this. The first book was super mediocre… but consistent. This book has higher highs, but also lower lows and doesn’t go anywhere.

Your mileage may vary which you enjoy more.

[Kassie Schumann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the kind of book people talk about when they talk about tie-in fiction being bad. It takes place between the prologue and main story of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and is just a nothing story.

We get a little aftermath of the Mexico flood, then two hundred and fifty pages of people fumbling around in a pitch black cave network trying to kill each other. That's it. That's the book. I skipped over thirty or forty pages in the middle and was able to pick up the story like nothing had happened.

And the fact that there're no chapters means the drag of the cave section is a million times worse because it just keep going and going and going without anything to break it up.

The only reason it gets two stars is because the writing is good and Lara is a compelling character. But otherwise it's totally pointless. It doesn't add a single thing to the lore in general, doesn't add to or enhance the story of Shadow, and it's not even a fun read on its own. Nothing happens.

Avoid this one.

[Kristin Erhardt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great novel!

This was such a great novel! I think I love this author now! What a great writer. I love Tomb Raider and Perry did Lara Croft justic! Absolutely loved it and eagerly await the next book of adventure! Thank you!

[JJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to start reading Path of the Apocalypse, coming off another Tomb Raider book (Blade of Gwynnever) that immediately seemed poorly written by comparison. Unfortunately, this novel ends up a bit of a slog. It's not bad, and it does a bit of interesting character work for the Shadow of the Tomb Raider game, but it feels like it's a few important tweaks away from being easy to recommend.

Path of the Apocalypse fits snugly between the opening chapter of the game in Mexico and the rest of the game in Peru. Of course, most people who play the game aren't going to pick up this book -- so the plot is extremely inessential. Basically Lara and Jonah need to make a quick pit-stop in Colombia to try to find hints as to where exactly they're supposed to be going in Peru, so Lara goes into a cave system to see what she can find. Not exactly riveting stuff, it's mostly just an excuse to set a Tomb Raider novel in a big cave with Lara being hunted by a team of bad guys.

The meat of the novel from the perspective of understanding the wider story of the series is the insight provided into the mental states of the characters. Lara does a lot of talking to herself in the games, so this isn't the first time we've heard from her mind, but it's interesting to see her grapple more fully with the ramifications of what happened in Mexico -- and to see how other characters, like Roth, occasionally come up in her thoughts.

Lara isn't the only perspective character though. This book spends time with Jonah, Miguel (the pilot who flies them to Colombia and Peru), and the various bad guys who pursue Lara in the cave. Jonah is clearly the highlight since so much time is spent with him in the games, and it's fun to see how he handles himself when Lara's not around. Miguel doesn't add much, but it's good for him to be humanized a bit more and fleshed out compared to his brief appearance in the game. And the bad guys, who take up a large portion of the novel, are a bit of a mixed bag. It's cool to see things from a Trinity perspective, but it's a very narrow view that doesn't give a wide scope of the organization and the individual characters are almost comically incompetent and full of themselves.

Taking a more zoomed-in view of the story, not the wider series context, is where things really start to struggle. I was enjoying things in Mexico, the trip to Colombia, everything up until Lara descends into the cave -- but then the story spins its wheels for basically 200 pages (out of 286) as she creeps around the tunnels, takes pictures of things, and hunts or dodges the enemy team coming after her. The descriptions of the cave are extremely repetitive (tight cracks, bats, lizards, mud and bat poop on the floor) in a way that made it feel like Lara was just going in circles. There are no interesting mysteries or discoveries either, just stumbling around the tunnels until she comes across what she needs (which didn't have any meaning for me in the moment -- it's a discovery for her but doesn't feel like one as a reader). And the enemy encounters, which could've had a tense stalking nature, are undone by following the predictable "overconfident enemy hunts Lara, she's clearly more powerful than them, she survives" formula. At least we cut to Jonah and Miguel occasionally to mix things up.

And one final note here: There are no chapter breaks, just breaks of a few lines for perspective changes and occasional breaks of a line of asterisks. I'm not sure why, but it feels like it hurt the reading experience by making what was already a slog through the cave feel even longer.

Overall, Path of the Apocalypse is hard to recommend. I guess if you're a huge fan who needs to consume everything in the Survivor Trilogy, you'll read it anyway. But if you're just a Tomb Raider fan who isn't voraciously obsessed with this particular sub-series of games (or even if you're just not planning to play Shadow of the Tomb Raider), skip it. And even if you are playing the game, you're not really missing much by not reading this one.

[Sky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, first time doing this, bear with me.

First and foremost: I have read the "core" books of TR, those six ones, back to back, so you know, good for comparing eachother.

Now, onto the juicy meat that is the review: for starters, despite what it might imply, this is not a precuel of the game, at most treat it as a prologue of the same.

Why, you might ask, because what it truly brings to the equation is the evolution of the psyche of Lara, as well as the perception of her that not only Trinity as an enity holds, but rather as a group of individuals with their own reasons each as to why they'd put a bullet through Lara's forehead.

Some might argue the point of this, but for me it was very satisfying not having an antagonist based on an ambitious charismatic leader and faceless croons. It is with a sense akin to that of a proud parent to see how others think of Lara, how much of a threat she represents, similar to how the Scooby Doo gang goes from impertinent or anoying to truly "the enemy" in ""recent"" series.

Moreover, the action is there still, it brings a sense of development to the story; even if slow it still crawls. It's the spice in a soup, not the broth, you get my meaning? The first 3 books of the lot empathise the action wholly, while the most recent ones bring some variety to the table, being this one the most different due to the previously mentioned reasons.

Finally, the point that made me write this review: even if for some it might be considered "pointless", there's something to be said about how much and what do you take from a book and how much you disregard because it wasn't what you were expecting. I confess the end left me with hunger for more, for the closure, and that's where I came to realize that I wasn't reading a prequel but a prologue, a game's prologue to be clear. I'm sure there are many who would rage over this fact, rather than enjoy the journey that took them and Lara there, how much growth she has done and how far she has come from her first rodeo at Yamatai. And, of course, I will always find it quite funny that, as I stated before, people would go to such "useless" lenghts just to bring Lara down.

Overall, a very satisfying read once you know what you are in for; I hope this helps anyone considering to read this :D.

[Chris The Lizard from Planet X · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tomb Raider: Path of the Apocalypse by S.D. Perry is a tie-in novel to the 2018 Shadow of the Tomb Raider video game.

The plot picks up just after the beginning of the game where Lara unleashes the Mayan apocalypse on an unsuspecting Mexican town. In the game, we see Jonah urging Lara to have a heart and stay to help the survivors before they go beating Trinity to find the Box of Ix Chel.

Here, the book zooms into aspects of the characters that the game itself could not touch on, mainly the character’s inner-monologues. The ability of the narrative to reveal Lara’s thoughts gives a lot of insight into her motives and actions, and might be valuable for those fans who really love to dig deep and get to know more about their favorite game characters.

On the other hand, the book shifts perspectives a lot. (There are no chapters, so P.O.V. changes mark different segments of the book.) Not only does it include Lara’s, but it also shifts to Jonah, a few members of Trinity special forces, and sweet Miguel the pilot. If you aren’t that into hearing about these other characters, it doesn’t detract much from the book. At the least, it helps develop more three-dimensional characters.

After leaving the town, the books spends a majority of its time recounting a mission before Lara, Jonah and Miguel get into that devastating plane crash. The three make a side trip to explore a cave system that holds yet another key to solving and saving the world from the Mayan apocalypse. But once Lara reaches this cave, the pacing of the book stagnates a bit.

For a good three quarters of the book, the perspective switches between Lara in the cave and whatever’s going on in the outside world. And while some of the cave portion of Lara’s exploration is interesting, after spending so much of the book going up, down, left and right just exploring Shrödinger’s cave, it loses the spirit of Tomb Raider games and doesn’t feel as exciting.

If you can get past some of the pacing during the last part of the book, then Path of the Apocalypse might still be a great novel to satisfying your Tomb Reading !

[Alyssa Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Lara Croft has to find an ancient artifact to stop the end of the world that she caused. An evil organization called Trinity is also after this artifact and will stop at nothing to have it. Lara receives help from a stranger who gives her a clue. This clue leads her to Columbia to explore a cave system. This evil organization takes note of what she’s doing and follows her. Lara has to out-smart Trinity all while fighting an unexpected horror in the cave.

The author writes with very descriptive words and language. The writing really captures the emotions well. There’s no chapters labeled in this book but it’s still easy to understand. There’s also strong dialogue throughout the novel. The language used in this book is very compelling and makes you wonder what’s going to happen next.

I recommend this novel to anyone who is a fan of the Tomb raider reboot series. I'd give the overall rating a 3 out of 5 stars because it can get a little repetitive. I think it has a good amount of action and suspense. It does a good job of tying all of the story together. This book is worth the read it may get boring at times but it definitely picks itself up and becomes more interesting as it goes.

[Rose George · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started off so strong! I was breezing through action-packed pages, eager to find out what happened next. Then the cave thwarted my enthusiasm.

I enjoyed the shifting points of view, especially getting to experience the same events through different characters’ perspectives. There were some genuinely tense moments sprinkled throughout, too. But I found myself bored. The events themselves weren’t necessarily boring; they were just drawn out, and the excitement gradually wore off. And while I appreciated the multiple perspectives, they did make the slower, less eventful stretches feel even longer.

After all that buildup, the story wrapped up with an anticlimactic ending. I played the game, so I get it… but it still felt underwhelming.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many heads means not a lot else.

It's hard to say this without a sad shock. SD Perry is one of my favorite authors, but this book was a mess.

Why were there so many POV characters? Why was there so much time spent info dumping those character's thoughts? I ended skipping everyone other than Lara.

And also, you do know that absolutely no one cares about Trinity, right? We especially care not at all for their goons, who are the main characters of this book.

[Laura Hart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, only the first, maybe, 4th of the book was good. Even the first part of when Lara was in the cave system was interesting. But after that it was literally the same exact experience except placed in different parts of the cave. This is coming from someone who did not play the 2 games that this book is suppose to bridge.

[Nadia Rhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

It read a bit like a Clive Cussler book but definitely slower. I appreciate the author putting in description of the cave but at some point, my eyes glazed over the continuous descriptions of the various crevices, cave ledges, and walls. But Lara and Jonah were very true to the video games which is impressive and appreciative.

[Julián Ramírez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro me sorprendió. Esperaba una aventura "indianajonesca" como son las demás historias de Lara Croft, pero resultó ser una claustrofóbica lectura de acción sobre una sobreviviente atrapada en una cueva con asesinos entrenados que la buscan sin parar. Si se convirtiera en una película no relacionada con la franquicia, me la imagino convirtiéndose en un éxito.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was action packed and gave a little insight in Lara and Jonah 'a dynamic while also giving a peak in Lara's thinking. The focus is the action but I thoroughly enjoyed this read.

[Jack Barker · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems fitting to me that my least favourite game in the reboot trilogy also has an incredibly dull book to match. Unfortunately, although I would have loved to love this book, I did not. I did enjoy the quote “When I die, the entire world will
disappear... except for you, I think."

[Keri Honea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really well written with an intense story, yet it was ultimately pointless for both the book and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

[Artak Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good narrative for a videogame-based novel.

[fay · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS WAS SO FUCKING GOOD. and it PROVES that what the games’ lack is a good writer.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

For those who love to explore caves . Lots of bats and salamanders. Kept me on the edge of my seat. Nail biting!

[Ceilidh Knight · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst books I’ve ever read. So glad I got it for $1 so I only wasted my time reading it

[Santii Pepicce · Rating 5 out of 5]

lara croft tu patrona

[Sam Nicholson · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

[Mark Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

have to look out for more. not my usual books

[A. E. V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personally, I loved how fast paced it was. The 'villains' made me giggle the whole time, I love them. Super good for a tie-in book.