Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Indiana Jones: Film Novelizations #2

by James Kahn

The swashbuckling archaeologist returns in one of his most challenging adventures yet! 

A novelization of the major motion picture

The time is 1935. Through a series of misadventures in Shanghai—and a narrow escape from death—Indiana Jones finds himself in a remote village in India. A mysterious old shaman tells him that his arrival has been foreseen—and that he and his companions are destined to save the villagers.

So begins the most daring, dark, and dangerous quest of Indiana Jones’s career.

Genres: Adventure, Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Action, Media Tie In, Thriller

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

James Kahn is an ER doctor, novelist, TV writer-producer, and singer-songwriter. In addition to many original novels (including the sci-fi trilogy World Enough and Time, Time’s Dark Laughter, and Timefall) he authored the novelizations of Return of the Jedi, Poltergeist, The Goonies and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

His television credits span the genres, from St. Elsewhere, to William Shatner’s TekWar, to Xena: Warrior Princess. He was a Supervising Producer on Star Trek: Voyager, Co-Executive Producer on Melrose Place, Emmy-nominated for his work on All My Children, medical advisor on Spielberg’s ET: The Extraterrestrial; and produced the feature film The Bet, which won Best Feature at the LA Femme Film Festival, 2013.

He’s previously released four Americana music CDs, including Waterline, The 12th Elf, Man Walks Into A Bar, and The Meaning of Life. Matamoros is the first simultaneous novel and CD release, and his first foray into deeply researched historical fiction.

Reviews

[Benji's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical novelization fare, with some nice references to the Shadow, Master of Darkness---the original pulp hero. I thought this was a nice touch, considering Indy Jones is a callback to the old pulp heroes.

In fact, the original concept art for Indiana Jones was done by Jim Steranko, who not only did a lot of comic book artwork, but the covers for the 1970s Shadow novel reprints. So I think he was perfect for coming up with the design of Indy.

Anyway, yeah. The story is pretty much scene-for-scene, along with the dialogue, but we do get to look into the thoughts of Short Round. This is my second book by James Kahn, who wrote another novelization of a film co-starring Ke Huy Quan, the Goonies. Another good read if you're a fan. That book delves into much more different material than what was in the film than this one does, but I would still recommend both.

[Craig "NEEDS MORE DAMN TIME TO READ !!!!" · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the movies! The book was pretty good, follows the story well but 'reading' those iconic scenes as opposed to 'seeing' them doesn't do them justice, feels a tad drawn out.

[Abigail McKenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5 stars

I enjoyed it more than the novelization of Raiders, so we love to see that, lol! this one has historically been my least favorite of the original trilogy (it's decidedly darker and more intense than the others), but I would die for Short Round and Willie is an icon, so it all balances out, y'know? 😂

[Jason Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was typical novelization fare, and a little closer to the movie than its Raiders of the Lost Ark counterpart. I confess that Temple of Doom actually might be my favorite of the movies, though I recognize it's the weakest of the original trilogy. This is odd considering that when I was a kid, I used to cover my eyes (albeit with fingers wide open) when the heart ripping scene came on. For anyone who is interested, (I assume nobody, but since when did that ever stop me), here is my ranking in terms of personal enjoyment:

1. Temple of Doom
2. Last Crusade
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
4. Dial of Destiny
5. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

(Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny might switch with each other depending on my mood for the day, but the rest are firmly entrenched in their spots.)

As far as which is the best movie (due to production value and all that), I rank them like so:

1. Last Crusade
2. Raiders
3. Temple of Doom
4. Dial of Destiny
5. Crystal Skull

Take that with a grain of salt since I'm not all that knowledgeable about what makes a "good" production and typically defer to the opinion of others who study the craft of movie making; I just know what I like.

Anyway, you see that I recognize that The Temple of Doom isn't really all that great when pit against the others, so why is it my favorite? Willie. Willie kills me, and I laugh at most of her scenes every single time.



Plus the three main actors had such great chemistry with each other, and that makes a world of difference. In spite of the script's shortcomings, they all worked so well together that they made these ridiculous situations look almost natural. (For contrast I direct you to Crystal Skull where some scenes come off a bit stilted even though all the actors are good in their own right.) Some of this was harder to swallow in the book. In fact, the interactions in the book could get downright dorky at times.

I always thought people expect too much from these movies and judge this and Crystal Skull a little too harshly. They're supposed to be campy adventure movies filled with impossible feats. All of them deliver on that score, though I admit this and Skull are campier than the others and have a couple of scenes worthy of a face palm when you see them. (The mine cart jump, which also happens in the book, is the big one for this movie.)

But I could be wrong. Even the director, Steven Spielberg his own self, didn't like it. (He considers it to be worse than Crystal Skull!) "I wasn’t happy with Temple of Doom at all. It was too dark, too subterranean, and much too horrific. I thought it out-poltered Poltergeist. There’s not an ounce of my own personal feeling in Temple of Doom." When talking about Last Crusade, he said he made it for a couple of reasons, one of them being to apologize for Temple of Doom... Come on, dude, it wasn't that bad! However, he's Spielberg, and I'm just Pierce, so I reckon he knows better than I.

Both movie and book start with the musical number Anything Goes which is simultaneously so out of place and so appropriate. (Spielberg had said he'd always wanted to direct a musical number, and Lucas said "knock yourself out.") You can tell right from the start that they were just going to throw whatever they had at the wall and see what stuck, and they were flat out telling us from the git-go that anything goes. Thus forewarned, we get quite a fun ride as long as you don't take it too seriously. In the book, verses from the song are thrown out as a running theme when we're reading from Willie's point of view.

Another theme is Short Round praying to any of a million Chinese deities depending on his present need. This caught me off guard since I had no idea he was so religious. It was fine in the book, I guess, but I'm glad they left it out of the movie, and I'm not sure how they would've been able to include it without doing it awkwardly. We actually get a lot of backstory on Short Round which I appreciated.

As far as novelizations based on the screenplay go, this was pretty close. Some scenes played out line for line as they do in the movie. Others were altered, but there were only a couple of places where something was completely omitted and most of the omissions were an improvement. For example, we discover that Mola Ram was also in a Kali trance just before he falls to his death... This just generates confusion. Was there no real bad guy? Who started the blood drinking? I used to love Mola Ram as a villain, but if he's just someone else's zombie lackey, then that's no fun at all.


Here he is playing Patty Cake with Indy, so he's not such a bad guy after all, and doesn't that just suck! Give me a hardcore villain, not some namby-pamby tool in a trance, dammit. One that rips the hearts out of his victims with sadistic glee without needing to be impelled by some Indian voodoo hoodoo obeah narcotic!

While I'm glad that silly twist was left out of the movie, I do wish they had left in one scene. In the movie, Willie and Short Round get captured together after Indy gets taken and is forced to drink the blood of Kali which turns him into a Thuggee. In the book, Short Round is taken while Willie escapes back up the passage to her room. (How she gets through the sealed-off bug room chamber isn't explained, but I reckon that's not important.) She finds Chattar Lal (not knowing he was a Thuggee) and Captain Blumburtt and explains everything they found. Indy shows up, gets Willie to go lay down for a bit, and he explains that she kind of panicked when they were down in the tunnels and must've dreamed up a nightmare. Then when Blumburtt suggests he take her along when he and his men depart, which he's commencing to do right then and there, Indy says he doesn't think she's well enough to travel. So, he pretty much ruins her day which was already pretty bad to begin with. It was a nice touch, but I understand that it wasn't necessary to further the plot.

That's about it for the review. As for me...



Okay, so I'm not from Missouri, but we don't do that kind of shit in Virginia either, so I reckon I'll stay there and leave India be.

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Birthday gift. Was left for me on the piano next to...I forget...but it was all bright and shiny (supermarket paperback) and the only thing I wanted, besides a bullwhip.

[sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

[2.0]

[☮ morgan ☮ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite, Willie is just too unlikable.

[Joseph D'Aquisto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting to see Short Round's character development expanded
This has always been my favourite Indiana Jones film. Of course the novels have more information in them, but in this book the biggest expansion is that of Short Round's character. He is highly superstitious, always thinking about various gods and omens. He even believes a baby elephant was his deceased brother reincarnated. It was actually quite interesting to hear his thoughts.

It was also interesting to see Indy's thoughts when he was possessed by the blood. You didn't get to see what evil Indy was thinking in the film.

[JBJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The movie version was full of humor, action, and close-calls, and this novelization had a lot of the same feeling. Of course the action moves faster when you're watching it, but the book made everything more believable. I liked James Kahn's style, especially with the characters' personalities; Short Round's innocence and fearlessness made him really likeable, and Willie was like a comic relief, accidentally caught-up in one bad situation after another. Indy was shown as intelligent, brave, and having his heart in the right place.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The time is 1935. Through a series of misadventures in Shanghai - and a narrow escape from death - Indiana Jones finds himself in a remote village in India. A mysterious shaman says his arrival has been foreseen and that Indy and his companions, Willie Scott and Short Round, are destined to save the villagers.

The prequel to Raiders - Jones is a different character here, more inclined towards “fortune and glory, kid, fortune and glory” than putting items in a museum - this is fast paced, occasionally broad, amusing and darker than you expect. Well constructed, even if some of the writing is fairly basic, this dwells longer on the mines and Temple of Doom itself (though never calls it that) than the film does but is all the better for it. Clearly written from the shooting script, the novelisation provides back stories for Short Round and Willie, explains how she got captured before her sacrifice scene and shows us how Shorty knew that fire would bring Indy back. An entertaining read (with wonderful last lines - “They did eventually all make it to America. But that is another story”) and the perfect accompaniment to the film, I thoroughly enjoyed this and would highly recommend it to fans of Dr Jones.

[Noel Thingvall]

A near perfect ideal of how to write a novelization. Punchy, vivid writing that keeps things at a tight 200 pages, while still slipping in wonderful swathes which flesh out Willie and especially Short Round as characters. Kahn obviously did his research on Chinese and Hindi culture as he often smooths over and even outright challenges the reckless racism of the script. It's a really solid read, structuring each chapter to end on a cliffhanger, and especially after the rough adaptation of Raiders, makes me wish Kahn had written some more for this franchise.

[Pollo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Como para desintoxicarme un poco de tanto Mandalorian y como algo ligero en fechas navideñas le dí la vuelta en el Kindle a esta novelización de la pela y bueno... mejor vean la pela. El autor también hizo la novelización de El Regreso del Jedi que me encantó, aunque supongo que no es lo mismo cuando ya no tienes seis años.

[Callum Hyslop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book, filled in many plot holes from the movie

[Tony Sohl]

This book wsa full of action and Indiana Jones got into some situations and he got his way out! The good guys won!

[Belinda Vlasbaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 sterren- Nederlandse pocket

Naar young adult addic club.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

The movie is made in to a book instaid of the other way around. This book would have been perfect when I started to learn english. But now it read like a childs book but with a lot of murder 😂

[Sarah McLean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun novelization of the movie. Always interesting to see how authors handle the "in between" moments we don't see in the movie.

[Teo · Rating 1 out of 5]

The adventures of everyone’s favorite professor continue in what is a prequel to “The Raiders of the Lost Ark”, where Indy and his two companions – the beautiful Willie and the mischievous Short Round – venture into the heart of India to stumble upon a dreadful secret – a horrific cult of death devoted to the worship of Kali.

This time, penned by James Kahn instead of Campbell Black. Having read three other Indy novels beforehand by all three authors – McCoy, MacGregor and Caidin – I was pleasantly surprised with Black’s writing. Finally, there were descriptions off characters and places, and most importantly, character development.

James Khan’s “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” was also a positive surprise. His writing style was almost on par with Black’s (whom, if you hadn’t figured it by now, I consider by far the best writer in the Indiana Jones novel series) – the places were properly described, so were the characters; their development was satisfactory (below Black, but above other authors); there were quite a few jokes thrown around, too; and generally, the story flowed along nicely.

And then came the action, and the writing became progressively worse. The novel has nine chapters; the Temple of Doom is discovered in the sixth chapter, and shit hits the fan as they say, in the consecutive three chapters. Kahn seems to handle his story rather well, until something starts happening – like a fight or a chase. Then, Kahn’s novels ends being a novel, and turns almost into a script. There is an art to this, and Kahn is no artist in the field. Here, let me offer an example:

"Shades of death! Shall I waste time in parleying with this base scoundrel!" Kane snarled in a voice suddenly blood-thirsting, and his lean frame flashed forward like a bent bow suddenly released. At the same instant Le Loup with a wild laugh bounded backward with a movement as swift as Kane's. His timing was perfect; his back-flung hands struck the table and hurled it aside, plunging the cave into darkness as the candle toppled and went out. Kane's rapier sang like an arrow in the dark as he thrust blindly and ferociously.


- from Red Shadows by Robert E. Howard

vs.

Indy knocked the executioner off the platform once more. As he was beginning to crank the cage up out of the brew, a priest attacked him with a pole. He grabbed the pole, threw the priest off its other end, into the pit. He fenced a guard with the pole, finally bashing him unconscious. This brought him near the altar, where he noticed Mola Ram bending over the stones. Indy broke the stick over Ram’s back. Mola Ram fell forward.


- from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom by James Kahn

This was an account of an actual battle. Here’s one of an active event:

He turned toward the arch-- with appalling suddenness the seemingly solid flags splintered and gave way under his feet. Even as he fell he spread wide his arms and caught the edges of the aperture that gaped beneath him. The edges crumbled off under his clutching fingers. Down into utter blackness he shot, into black icy water that gripped him and whirled him away with breathless speed.


- from Jewels of Gwalhur by Robert E. Howard

vs.

The wall drew nearer. But not quite as quickly. Indy groaned with pushing; the brake pad began to smoke. The car slowed even further. The wall approached. Indy jammed down with his whole body. The car slowed more. Indy pressed.


- from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom by James Kahn

Do I even need to say it? Edge: Howard. Of course, Howard gets the edge every time because he is the best there ever was, but this writing by Kahn is simply appalling. I mean, can you imagine how tiresome it gets after 60+ pages? Basically, what you get is three chapters of play-by-play commentary. If I were the editor, I would’ve torn off the last third of his manuscript and made him do it all over again, because in all fairness – this is not publishing-worthy material.

Of course, as with most novelizations, there are slight differences between the film and the novel. Kahn brings more depth to the characters; not so much to Indy, but to Willie and especially Short Round. The whole scene in the Temple of Doom is a bit more gruesome and scarier, one part in particular even resembling a horror story.

Overall, “The Temple of Doom” is a good read; even very good at times, lacking behind only Campbell Black’s “The Raiders of the Lost Ark”. The final chapters are, however, really dreadful and bring it down considerably, to the level of other novelizations which are, as discussed before, only average and forgettable reads as best.

Rating: 5/10

[Sean Carlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

After previously rereading Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time since I was a kid, I moved on to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. What follows isn't a review of the story, which, over thirty years on, is still a cinematic classic (though initially viewed as a lesser follow-up to Raiders that was later compensated for with the splendid Last Crusade, the passage of time has placed Temple on equal critical footing with those other two entries, and its darker overtones are even -- and rightfully -- regarded as a distinguishing plus now), so much as it is an assessment of James Kahn's overall novelization of the screenplay.

The plotting and particularly the dialogue skew much closer to the finished film than Campbell Black's Raiders of the Lost Ark does, and the novel embellishes on the slam-bang action by offering regular insight into the internal thoughts of Indy, Willie, and, most of all, Short Round. But, that's also the book's biggest problem: It switches perspectives jarringly from paragraph to paragraph sans transition (like, for instance, a scene break); that style of omniscient third-person narration was out of fashion even in 1984 when the novel was first published. In addition, the internal monologues don't shed light on any unexpected facets of Indy, Willie, and Shorty's characters, and even get a little annoying; case in point: Willie doesn't seem to have a thought in her head that doesn't reference the Cole Porter tune "Anything Goes" (from the movie's opening song-and-dance number), and Shorty is constantly invoking various and copious deities from Chinese mythology with encyclopedic expertise! (But only in his thoughts -- never through actual dialogue.) What the point of that is, I have no idea, other than to remind the audience (all of whom had/have surely seen the movie) that he is Chinese. Shoehorning in endless obscure references to Chinese folklore via Shorty's inner monologue doesn't give his character depth, it merely makes it seem like Mr. Kahn substituted factual research for emotional truth. Rather than endow these characters with dimension, their internal thoughts/observations actually render them more simplistic.

And, much like the first film's novelization, no attention is given to Indiana's character arc as he goes from a man without faith who appreciates the historical/cultural value of the MacGuffin du jour (the Ark in the first story, the Sankara stones here) to someone who learns to appreciate their spiritual value. The opportunity to enrich characterization, it would seem, is the whole point of a movie novelization (read David Morrell's Rambo: First Blood, Part II and Rambo III for an example of such), otherwise it's just a transcription of a story originally intended for -- and better served by -- cinematic presentation.

And that's ultimately all Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is: a faithful adaptation of Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz's screenplay (from a story by George Lucas) that doesn't compensate for the absence of Harrison Ford's charming performance, Steven Speilberg's masterful direction, or John Williams' thrilling score with any emotional depth whatsoever. This novelization will help pass a stormy summer afternoon, but it's ultimately a missed opportunity.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Mola Ram, prepare to meet Kali...in hell!"

In this prequel to Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, it's 1935, and Indiana Jones, along with Willie, and Short Round were crashed their plane into India from Shanghai, China, and they went on a trail on a dangerous adventure in India. With his faithful companion Short Round and nightclub singer Willie Scott, Indie goes in search of the magical Sankara stone, and uncovers an ancient evil that threatens all who come into contact with it.

This film is my least favorite of all the Indy's but it's still necessary, nonetheless. It's a decent prequel to the Indiana Jones franchise, with Indy, goes to India to find and goes into a dangerous evil adventure to find a way to free their kids, and bringing back the Sankara Stones, and it was of the darkest Indiana Jones films to date. However, the movie often feels like a sequel than an actual prequel. Willie Scott is a very annoying and unlikable character, she screams a lot in bloody murder for no reason, same with Short Round (Wan Li). The fight scenes are amazing, such as fighting in the underground quarry, and fighting the Thuggees to save Willie Scott. The scene where the Thuggees burns a Sacrifice Victim is pretty terrifying. There are tons of great action scenes during the Cinemax, such as the mine cart chase, and saving Willie from getting burned into the lava pit, and even the final battle on the destroyed wooden bridge with the Thuggees and Mola Ram, which is very epic. As for Mola Ram, well, he's a quite amazing villain, that he's a very threatening villain that he wanted to find all Five Sankara Stones and use their power to make the Thuggees unstoppable. The ending scene is fantastic, Indiana Jones, Willie, and Short Round brought the Sankara stones back and the kids finally return to their family at the small village, ending the film on a near-high note. The film's special effects are still well done, and the performances, especially for Indiana Jones who played as Harrison Ford is still spectacular.

Despite a bigger budget than the first movie, there's a lot of ropey blue screen shots, and some qualities don't redeem. Steven Spielberg's direction is a bit weak. The pacing isn't as tight as Raiders's is. The infamous dinner scene which caused controversy due to the racist portrayal of Indian cuisine. Things like eyeball soup, chilled monkey brains, dead beetles and "Snake Surprise" are served. Keep in mind, though, that the chilled monkey brains are actually custard and raspberry sauce, the soup is rubber eyeballs floating in tureens of chicken broth, and the dead bugs are actually made of rubber and contain a high-quality custard. As for the snake, I'm not sure. Due to controversy over racial stereotypes and this infamous "Banquet", the film was banned from filming in India and was filmed in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) instead while it was never released in theatres or aired on any TV channels in India. However, the ban was later finally rescinded and the film is available to watch on online platforms. Although Mola Ram is an amazing villain as mentioned before, he barely gets any screen time throughout the movie. Even worse, the film can be way too scary to the younger viewers due to it's pretty dark and violent scenes during the inside the secret temple, and the caves, and it's not suitable for the PG-rating (yep, this was rated PG). This ultimately led to the creation of the PG-13 rating in the United States and the 12 rating in the UK. The film was originally certified PG with cuts made over there. If they didn't cut it, it would've been a 15 instead. Not helping is the fact that George Lucas suffered a devastating divorce from his ex-wife Marion Lucas during production of the film, hence resulting to the film's overall darker tone. Even though Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was heavily panned by the fans of the franchise (except for me), director Steven Spielberg did not like this film thinking it was dark, subterranean and horrific, and relied too much on Indian stereotypes.

I honestly didn’t like this sequel, prequel, whatever, but it wasn’t bad.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The time is 1935. Through a series of misadventures in Shanghai - and a narrow escape from death - Indiana Jones finds himself in a remote village in India. A mysterious shaman says his arrival has been foreseen and that Indy and his companions, Willie Scott and Short Round, are destined to save the villagers.

The prequel to Raiders - Jones is a different character here, more inclined towards “fortune and glory, kid, fortune and glory” than putting items in a museum - this is fast paced, occasionally broad, amusing and darker than you expect. Well constructed, even if some of the writing is fairly basic, this dwells longer on the mines and Temple of Doom itself (though never calls it that) than the film does but is all the better for it. Clearly written from the shooting script, the novelisation provides back stories for Short Round and Willie, explains how she got captured before her sacrifice scene and shows us how Shorty knew that fire would bring Indy back. An entertaining read (with wonderful last lines - “They did eventually all make it to America. But that is another story”) and the perfect accompaniment to the film, I thoroughly enjoyed this and would highly recommend it to fans of Dr Jones.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this thing until it disintegrated when I was ten. The whole thing just fell apart. It gets a retroactive five stars because I think even trying to read it today would not dull the nostalgic glow!

[J.M. Giovine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m no expert on the “novelizations” territory, but for what it’s worth, I love ‘Indiana Jones’, and ironically, he’s one of the few original movie characters, I believe, could easily translate into the “book” field without removing the essence of the films; maybe it is because of the subject his stories revolve around, him being an archeologist, who’s also an adventurer, treasure-hunter, womanizer, action hero. Yeah, I’m sure Spielberg was heavily inspired by James Bond to co-create his ultimate American version of the British agent, alongside Lucas’ sense of wanderlust and callbacks to classic serials and films he saw in his childhood, Indiana Jones became a tribute to classic characters and films to, well, become classic and unique on his own, pretty much what happened with the ‘Star Wars’ franchise, where Lucas saw an opportunity to utilize plenty of classic mythology, history, and narrative elements to build his own universe.
So now, we have the novelization of the film-sequel, that is essentially a prequel in the timeline, by the hand of writer James Kahn, who already worked on the novelization of ‘Return of the Jedi’, and in general, I think he did a pretty good job transcribing the events of the film into the book. Now, as I said, I don’t really know much about novelizations. I’ve only read a few of them, and it is really hard not to like them, since I’ve made sure those were book versions of movies I love. It is interesting to read about material that originally was intended to visual media, mostly because through text we’re able to dig more information that a script can’t expose because of the film’s runtime. Now, that’s where I encounter a certain nitpick when it comes to Kahn’s novelization of ‘Temple of Doom’: it doesn’t take advantage of the format to disclose the story in a rather deeper or better way. Not that he takes away elements from the film and straight up changes them for worse, modifying the experience in a negative way, is just, he doesn’t add much when the rest is essentially similar, and here’s the deal, why should I read a book based on a movie, when I could easily watch the movie instead, save time, and have the same experience in a quicker way?
Not that I didn’t enjoy going through this, but I feel I just got more of the same, with the exception of a couple of moments that actually improved my thoughts on the movie. For example, there’s a few scenes where we got the POV from Willie, so we got to know more about her inside the story itself. Perhaps the better addition in this is the moment we got to know the backstory of Short Round told from his own perspective. In fact, I do appreciate Kahn’s novelization since it made me like the character originally portrayed by Ke Huy Quan even more, since there’s an entire initial part of a chapter told from his own side. I’m not entirely sure, but there’s only one extra scene in this in the middle of the book, when Indy already drank the blood of Kali and he goes rogue, and that’s where he captures Willie, who- in the film- is captured at the same time Short Round does, after witnessing the sacrificial ritual in the Temple. Here, she manages to escape and even return to the castle, and there’s an entire sequence that feels like an initial scene from the script’s first draft. That was neat to read, while not precisely a game changing moment, but it made the novelization feel distinguishable, mostly due to Indy’s description of how he sees the world being possessed by Kali. Other than that, is just the movie sequences narrated from different perspectives (gotta say, I was afraid the entire novel would be narrated from Willie’s point of view), adding certain layers to some important moments, but is basically that, the movie with a couple of extras. I guess I expected a little more depth, context, even scenes from this, since we’re talking about a book. Again, the idea of novelization should be more complementary, instead of making the audience go through the exact same experience, but in a different media. I don’t know, I did like it, and I enjoy experiencing a story that I know from start to finish in a distinct way, but some more extra scenes, a little bit more character introspection, hell, Kahn could’ve also work his way on constructing a backstory for the main villain, Mola Ram, explaining his motivations, even how he managed to bring back the Thuggee’s cult after a hundred years of absence, or even how he stole the Sankara stones, and the children as well. All of that could’ve improved the book experience of this version of ‘Temple…’ but, for what it is, and I guess for anyone expecting to read through the movie as it is, this isn’t a bad addition to anyone’s collection, and as a experience, it is always great to sit through a read about Indiana Jones.

[Diana Szaiak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Indiana Jones și Taina tainelor, Campbell Black
Indiana Jones și Templul blestemat, James Kahn

Sunt autori diferiți însă cărțile au fost scrise după scenariile filmelor și subiectele lui George Lucas deci sunt serie și le tratez împreună, mare diferență între stilul de scriere nu-i.
Am văzut filmele acu-s o sută de ani, ca norocu’, și recunosc c-am fost vrăjită pe vremea aia. Îmbunătățire de la cer la pământ față de filmele cu karate, că altceva nu prea pupam.
Cu IJ și Taina tainelor mi-am lămurit și o curiozitate, fapt ce m-a bucurat. N-am priceput niciodată de ce Marion se comporta de fiecare dată ca și cum Indy ar fi călcat pe bec dar noi, muritorii de rând, nu merităm lămuriri în acest sens. Ei bine, pe când fata avea vreo șaișpe ani, Jones a muncit cu tatăl ei la niște situri de la naiba-n praznic, ea s-a amorezat, el a plecat și gata baiu. Acum, în primul volum al seriei, fătuca își răzbună resentimentele ce-au măcinat-o atâta amar de vreme dar ne și explică. Măcar atât că de alte revelații n-am avut parte.
Hitler este interesat să între în posesia Chivotului legii și, pentru asta, Reichul îl angajează pe Belloq, cel mai mârșav dușman al lui Indy. Ori de câte ori Jones descoperea o comoară nemaipomenită, francezul deja trecuse pe-acolo și încă i se simțea mirosul la fața locului. De data aceasta însă avantajul este de partea lui Indy, el găsește amuleta călăuzitoare la Marion și acesta este singura cheie spre Chivot.
Aventura aducerii la lumină a Păzitoarei poruncilor sfinte va fi una tare palpitantă, presărată cu pericole: de la bărbați chipeși ce-o tentează pe Marion, la capcane mortale și cea mai mare spaimă a cutezătorului nostru- șerpii. Bineînțeles că vor scăpa cu toții cu bine, doar avem și volumul doi!
In povestea cu Templul blestemat suntem demult plecați din Peru, am trecut și prin Shanghai deja și poposim cu mare tam-tam în India. Undeva prin palatul unui maharajah stă bine pitit un diamant cu proprietăți miraculoase și acesta-i este de mare trebuință unui șaman. Cum Indy al nostru este pita lu’ Dumnezeu, s-a și pus la drum să-i satisfacă omului nevoile. Pentru că de fiecare dată are tovarăși de aventură, de data aceasta se alipesc un căntăreț ș-un pici iar împreună se vor bucura de nenumărate peripeții. Acum avem parte de un cult cel puțin dubios, de ritualuri crude, obiceiuri ciudate și astea pe lângă nelipsitele capcane și șerpii ce par a-l urmări mereu pe Jones.
Sunt și câteva faze mai mult decât scârboase iar autorul n-a vrut să facă oleacă de economie în descrierea lor, dar scenariul atât de diferit față de primul volum este chiar revigorant.
Ca plusuri care să tenteze sunt descrierile atât de vizuale. Te transpui cu ușurință în poveste chiar dacă n-ai văzut filmele. Din acest punct de vedere, cărțile sunt grozave dar acest aspect nu compensează restul. Aventurile prin care trec personajele sunt de domeniul sefeului, luptele și mare parte din acțiuni mult prea exagerate pentru a fi credibile, glumele forțate și deplasate, întregul ansamblu este bombastic.
Deși am pornit cu elan alături de Indiana Jones, mă puteam lipsi liniștită de al doilea volum. Ce-i prea mult strică și anumite lucruri este mai bine să rămână îngropate în trecut.

[Austin M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not often like books, but I have really been into the book series Indiana Jones lately. I give it 4 stars because it is a good book and I like books that yell out adventure and I believe that Indiana Jones dose just that. I also like books that keep you on edge, so you can't predict the entire book after the first page.
One good thing about the book Indiana Jones is that it is emotional not very much on the sad side, but on the exiting side. There was lots of times in the book were my heart started to beat fast because Indiana was about to die, but don't worry all happy endings in this book. When you think of an adventure book you may sometimes think of a hero that goes on one adventure and saves someone or something, but in Indiana Jones there is bunch of heros that save Indiana jones in a bunch of different adventures.
Another good thing about this book is it keeps you on edge and you normally can't predict what happens next. I believe it makes books way more exciting when you can't predict what happens next, there was one part in the book when Jones was in a plane and the pilots jumped out, And i had no idea what was going to happen but the bell for IAP raining and it keeps me on edge for the entire day tell English class.
The best part about this book is the story line. The storyline for Indiana jones just basically says good book, it's a man that goes on advents for the good of history and saving people, how much better can a book get. The setting and characters make the book just come to life. There was parts of this book when I just thought I was one of the characters and my life could today relate to there's. Like there was one part of the book ware jones says “nothing ever goes my way but I make the best of it”, and I thought to myself, that always happens to me”.
It is rare to come across a decent book sometimes but I believe I got lucky by finding the Indiana Jones series. I will continue to reading the Indiana Jones series because I know if one book is good the rest of them have to be somewhat decent. I believe that Indiana Jones and the temple of doom deserves four stars and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good book but quick read.

[Tim Ristow · Rating 3 out of 5]

James Kahn ‘s adaptation of Temple of Doom is good. There are lots of expanded scenes (especially early on) and inner monologues not found in the film. Short Round clearly gets the most character expansion here, while Willie gets a few minor background details added. There are some scene differences in this adaptation vs the final film and this feels like it was adapted from an earlier script draft. Blumbert and the British are given slightly more screen time here than in the film. Overall, TOD is not up to the high mark Kahn set novelizing Return of the Jedi but it’s still a good read. The last two chapters lose some momentum. Indy’s inner monologue while he’s in the “black sleep” of Kali is done in an interesting way but it’s also kind of a slog to read those passages. Also, Kahn’s novelizing of the very action heavy mine cart chase and rope bridge standoff don’t come across quite as exciting in novel form. But that’s not Kahn’s fault. He really does an admirable job with the story he’s been given.

I really do wish Kahn had been given the novelizations to The Last Crusade and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to write. He would have done a phenomenal job, I’m sure.

[Bryan Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it was released I was extremely excited for the Temple of Doom novelization. I had read the Raiders novelization just prior to going into the new Indy film and really wanted more insight into my favorite movie character of all time.

The book did a great job of narrating the events of the movie. But that’s pretty much it. No expanded scenes or inner monologue techniques that Campbell Black had successfully employed in the previous movie’s novelization except for a few paragraphs dedicated to how Indy met Short Round, I can’t recall any additional information provided beyond what was scene on film.

Still, a very good adaption and worth the read, if only for the Short Round background.

[Giuliana Unlibropersognaregiuly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chi ha visto il film sa bene cosa aspettarsi dal libro; una copia fedele delle avventure di Indiana Jones da Singapore fino in India, in un palazzo sperduto in mezzo alla giungla con un tempio nascosto nelle sue viscere in cui puoi scegliere se diventare schiavo nelle miniere o una specie di zombie al servizio della dea Kali. Ad accompagnare Indy in questa avventura, la bella Willie, ballerina che sogna un principe che la porti via dalla monotonia del Missouri, e Shorty, ragazzino salvato da Indy e per questo sua guardia del corpo. Le emozioni e i colpi di scena non mancano di sicuro in loro compagnia.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good supplementary read. Of note:

*Short Round is always praying to various gods, which further involves and endears him in regards to the story

*SR also discovers that fire brings the bad guys out of their Kali trance when he’s enslaved, as opposed to just accidentally figuring it out whilst in the ToD

*Willie curses a lot more in this and it’s great

*Mola Ram is also revealed to have been in a trance, so...there’s a bigger bad guy presumably? Book doesn’t say

*The inner monologue of Indy’s when he’s in his trance is...odd?

*I really like the focus on fatalism that ToD espouses in both film and book.

[Rylan Fuqua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indiana Jones and the temple of doom is about archaeologist going around the world . The characters are Indy, Short Round, and a woman named Willie. They are challenged with a plane crash in India because their pilot bailed on them. Indy is probably my favorite character because he is very adventurous and knows how to get out of sticky situations. I could relate to Indy in a few ways of being adventurous and always having something interesting going on. Although I have never done anything that Indy did in the book I still feel like I relate to him in several ways. The book was really good and I really enjoyed reading it because it was always intense. My favorite part is when they landed in India and had to fight out. The author did a really good job keeping the book the book easy to stay attached to. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is into adventures books because this book is great and keeping things interesting. Anyone who has a good taste in books would enjoy this book and should really read it