Indiana Jones and the Sky Pirates

Indiana Jones: Prequels #7

by Martin Caidin

In London, Indiana Jones is called to an emergency meeting. Mysterious sky craft have been ravaging the shipping lanes, making off with a fortune in diamonds, bonds, and raw materials. Unable to detect how the craft are powered, experts have come up with a frightening hypothesis—involving the use of psychokinetic levitation.

To get to the truth, Indy must search through a labyrinth of archaeological information reaching back four thousand years. But as he and his team move from Africa to Tibet to the American Southwest, they discover something even more astounding. A clandestine organization is fast becoming an evil, world-dominating power—and the only way to stop it is in a high-tech, no-holds-barred battle on land . . . and in the air!

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

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1993

About the author

Martin Caidin was a prolific and controversial writer. Most of his work centered around the adventures of pilots and astronauts. A number of his books were notable for their reasonable, realistic predictions of then-futuristic technology.

Caidin's body of work was prolific and varied, ranging from additional speculative/SF novels such as Marooned, which was made into an acclaimed film and considered a harbinger of the Apollo 13 accident, to a novel based upon the character Indiana Jones. He also wrote many non-fiction books about science, aviation and warfare.

Caidin began writing fiction in 1957. In his career he authored more than 50 fiction and nonfiction books as well as more than 1,000 magazine articles. His best-known novel is Cyborg, which was the basis for "The Six Million Dollar Man" franchise. He also wrote numerous works of military history, especially concerning aviation.

In addition to his writing Caidin was a pilot and active in the restoration and flying of older planes.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the seventh Indiana Jones pre-Raiders novel, and the first of two written by Caidin. (I did not read the other one.) It's not a good Indiana Jones story, but it is a good early aviation adventure. Here, Indy is a spy and an aviator rather than an archaeologist and adventurer. (Though he does have a spunky female sidekick, Gale.) There's an afterword explaining the historical context of some of the many airplanes from the novel, which, again, is cool for air-history buffs but not so much if you're waiting to hear the whip snap. It was okay, but I enjoyed the couple of the earlier books in the series (all of which had been written by Rob MacGregor) I'd read much more. This one is much more slowly paced, as is the character. Somehow or another I got an "Uncorrected Page Proofs" ARC of this novel; I probably won it at a convention raffle in the summer of '93. There's no cover illustration, just blue thick paper over the bound pages. The interesting thing is that it lists Rob MacGregor as the author. Each of the even-numbered pages of the 310 has Rob MacGregor's name on the top. I'll bet someone at Bantam got in trouble for letting copies of the book out in the wild with the wrong author's name on it, and the wrong author's bio in the back! I remember reading it and thinking it was nothing like the earlier books, and I was really surprised when I saw the book on the bookstore shelves in December with a different author's name on it, and a cover painting with a sleepy-eyed Gale looking nothing like I'd pictured her. Anyway, aero-plane buffs might like it, but Indiana fans should stick with the real MacGregor.

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

After six Indiana Jones prequel novels by Rob MacGregor, 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, Indiana Jones and the White Witch.

[Robert Fenske · Rating 1 out of 5]

By far the worst of the Indiana Jones books I've read so far. Caidin goes extremely in detail and technical about the mechanics of flying. An aspect some would appreciate but might just go over the average reader's head if they have no interest in flight.

This story thrusts Jones into a spy like position where he is only loosely involved due to the supposed involvement of an ancient device being captured by enemy forces. And when I say 'spy' I don't mean like 007, but I mean like a real life spy(it's boring). The story lacked the Indiana Jones type of action and humor that I come to expect from the character.

Despite great lengths to get us interested in the characters of the story, none of them really caught my interest or sympathy. The worst being that the author, just didn't seem to understand the character of Indiana Jones. Although this is the first novel in the series where Jones is finally maturing it didn't really have an impact because this barely ever felt like an Indiana Jones story.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

This... is not a good book.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel was the first in the series to feature a new author, and I just didn't enjoy it as much as the previous novels in the series. I wasn't familiar with author Martin Caidin, but later found out he was an accomplished author as well as an accomplished avator. He the novel CYBORG, which was the basis for the Six Million Dollar Man franchise. He also had experience investigation UFOs and restoring vintage aircraft.

As far as the novel itself goes, the tone was very different than the others, with almost too much emphasis being placed on non-fiction aspects of flight. There's an afterword detailing while the flying machines in the story were more than science fiction. While I'm sure some readers enjoyed the information, I think most of us were just looking for pulp adventure.

Also, the story had so many characters Indiana Jones was almost relegated to a background role. The story also seemed to leave out some important transitions, as at times the reader is left wondering how we got from point A to point B. The ending left some loose ends as well.

Overall I did still enjoy this, but so far came across as the weakest of the series.

[Thom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group story led by Indiana Jones, it feels a lot like the role playing adventure it was adapted into 3 years later. The first of two additions to a series of prequel novels, which to that point had apparently been more closely tied with Young Indiana Jones.

Martin Caidin did a lot with planes, from flying to writing manuals and other books on the subject. This is a main focus for the bad guys here (group acronym - "EVIL") and the modified Ford Trimotor that the good guys fly. The additional main character Gale Parker is well l written and complex, and I understand she returns in the next book. Finally, an author's afterword details some of his sources - there is good history to this fiction.

The writing was just okay. It was irritating to hear inner thoughts from two different characters on the same page. Other reviews have criticized Caidin for writing a very un-Indy like Jones, and I can see some of that. I wonder if he had a story mostly written and then edited to make it an Indiana Jones story when the franchise came calling.

For me, I liked it. Very hard to find, but I'm glad I read this before tackling our book club choice and the sequel, Indiana Jones and the White Witch. 3½ stars.

[WhatShouldIRead]

I'm afraid I agree with some of the reviewers here in that there was alot of information about planes and flying, etc. that I wasn't interested in. Slow going from what I read so decided to put this one aside. Hopefully the next will be better.

[Adsun22 · Rating 2 out of 5]

To nawet nie jest źle napisane, ale… nie pasuje do Indiany Jonesa. Jeśli nie jest się fanem statków powietrznych, jest to nużąca lektura.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Indiana Jones and the Sky Pirates is well written and a good story. What it is not is a good Indiana Jones story. Our hero almost seems like a supporting character in the novel that bears his name. The story of a thieving and destructive mystery airship could star most any secret agent, detective or super hero. The ensemble of the beautiful but fierce lady, crusty British pilot, French flyer and Turkish tough would make good characters for any story, with or without Indy. The majority of the story is investigating the bad guys, descriptions of the Ford Tri-Motor plane they fly around in and other aviation science than it is archaeological adventure. There isn’t even an artifact being sought out in this story. For those seeking a fun aviation story, this book should be enjoyed. Those wanting an Indiana Jones adventure will likely be disappointed.

[Rob Irwin · Rating 1 out of 5]

For some time, Indiana Jones and the Sky Pirates by Martin Caidin was one of the Indy novels I wanted to read the most, but my decision to read the novels in order meant it took a little time to get there.

Why did I want to read it? Because the title is very exciting – it absolutely sounds like a 1940s serial, befitting the Indiana Jones franchise – and the cover is excellent. What’s not to like about that?

However online comments about Sky Pirates always gave me pause for thought as I worked my way through the other novels. I’m paraphrasing here but, “The author is totally obsessed with aviation to the detriment of the novel…” and, “I don’t think the author has even seen an Indiana Jones film, because the character is so unlike Indy…” were common things I would read and I’d think, come on, could a story be published in a novel line like this if it was really that far off-base? The line had editors, didn’t it? Wouldn’t they have pulled the author back onto the straight and narrow if he was so wildly off-piste? Surely?

After a satisfying opening – where an exciting raid happens on a train just like the pre-credits sequence of an action-adventure movie – I thought all those reviews saying this novel was absolute hot garbage must have been wrong or at least exaggerated. The opening is quite good even if there’s the slight red flag of more aviation detail than is needed. But from there, yes, the novel indeed goes off-course.

It’s like Caidin’s had an idea for a story that’s part spy adventure, part Ocean’s Eleven, with a Danny Ocean style mastermind leading a team to complete a big mission. Instead of just keeping that in his top drawer until it found a publisher, Caidin’s got the Indiana Jones gig, pulled out this story, set it back in the 1930s, and performed a find/replace on the lead character’s name. I’m only half-joking, sadly.

(Given anachronisms in the text like the town of Truth or Consequences existing in this story – which is set in 1930 – when it didn’t exist until a couple of decades later, I get the feeling this was originally a storyline set in the 1950s or 60s and hurriedly converted to a 1930s Indiana Jones adventure.)

There are multiple times in the story where Indy, apart from not acting like himself, doesn’t even talk like himself. He often says incredibly British expressions that don’t suit the character and which I really can’t imagine Harrison Ford uttering on-screen. This is interesting because Caidin himself is American, but he seems to get so engrossed writing the story’s British characters that when Indy interacts with them, the author doesn’t have the patience to write Indy’s dialogue differently and authentically.

Put the dialogue to one side, though. Indy’s entire character is all wrong. It’s frankly bizarre to have Indy as a very cold, calculating and even quite mysterious guy – extremely unlike the make-it-up-as-you-go-along, seat-of-the-pants adventurer we know him to be. Add to that he’s such a game-playing Sherlock Holmes level genius in this story, the US military has basically put itself in his hands and anything he needs – including access to military bases and a state-of-the-art aircraft build – is his to command. Does that sound very ‘Indiana Jones’ to you? Even James Bond doesn’t get this much government support.

And now that I’ve broken the seal and mentioned the building of that aircraft, let’s discuss the aviation this story. Oh lord, the aviation. Let’s be clear: Caidin is obviously an aviation nut – and was also a pilot who did some genuinely impressive things in his career – and puts this to use throughout the novel.

There’s loads and loads about the history of aviation, and the finer details of how to fly a plane. I felt like I could get into the cockpit and have a crack myself after reading this novel. He even has Indy become intensely interested in becoming a pilot, seemingly just to write scenes where even more pilot talk can happen. The afterword to the novel is yet more aviation history and information, with Caidin justifying how all the aviation-related content in the novel (giant airships, saucer shaped fighters, the combat build of the Ford Trimotor, etc), is not only plausible, but gives real-life examples to make his case.

In some ways, this reminded me of the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O’Brian (think Master and Commander), where O’Brian always goes into insane detail about how sailing ships operated in the Napoleonic era. The difference, however, is you open an O’Brian novel expecting to hear all about sailing ships in great detail, because that’s what the stories are about and you likely have a real interest in it. Meanwhile, you don’t open an Indiana Jones novel expecting to be hit over the head, repeatedly, with aviation information on almost every page. It’s insane. You open an Indiana Jones novel thinking Indy will be breaking into some ancient tomb, and finding some cool artifact, and maybe having an adversary looking for the same thing… that sort of vibe. This novel gives you nothing of the sort.

Indeed, most of the novel barely features any information about an adversary at all. We know that UFO-like objects have been seen in the skies, and there’s some sort of big mothership… but that’s it.

The first 200 pages plus – count ’em, I’m not joking – are all about Indy gathering a team of hot-shots (who are largely there just to talk about aviation a lot), to go on the hunt for these UFOs. Even when we get to some information about who’s behind the UFOs, however, it’s not some clever, ‘show don’t tell’ and a grand reveal after waiting so long, but a quick info-dump of a bunch of stuff that’s happened, off-screen so to speak, in years prior to the novel’s setting. We’re beyond 250 pages before we even get a scene set on the mothership of the UFOs and although we’re introduced to some characters by name, they never do anything of note or even appear in the novel again. It’s like Caidin had no interest in that side of the story, so simply didn’t write it. Without it, however, we really don’t have a great insight into what Indy’s up against. Even the resolution at the end leaves a bunch of huge, unanswered questions.

At times reading this, I tried to imagine this was Indiana Jones if he’d remained in the intelligence community. When you watch the Indiana Jones Chronicles TV series, there are episodes where Indy is working in intelligence and ends up in some wild escapades – but he ditches that potential career path before going home to America. So while it’s a road not travelled, if I switch my brain off and pretend we’re in an alternate universe, I can imagine the situations in this novel to be somewhat realistic to an Indiana Jones universe, albeit an Indiana Jones universe that never happened. And maybe the author had that in mind, with this novel coming out a year after episodes had aired on TV, featuring Indy as a spy. There’s even a line near the end of the story about Indy serving in the Belgian army during WW1, so there’s absolutely some knowledge of the TV series in the background of the Indy character this story.

Of course I fully acknowledge that I’m clutching at straws there because ‘in-universe’ (which is where it’s supposed to be set; there’s no indication of an Indiana Jones multiverse!), this really makes no sense as an Indiana Jones story at all. But as an intellectual sort of exercise it was almost fun to try and wrap my mind around Indy being a very different kind of character, in a very different kind of situation. But it’s certainly not how many readers would be able to see it (having not seen the Chronicles series and having no knowledge of Indy’s intelligence background), and I think it’s a poor novel in general where you have to imagine a literal alternate timeline for the lead character for it to make any real sense.

So, Indiana Jones and the Sky Pirates… is it as bad as people say? Yes. Is there too much aviation in it? Yes. Is it like a novel written for a different lead character altogether? Yes. Will you find it unsatisfying if you have even a passing interest in Indiana Jones? I think so. In summary, while there’s a story here, which goes from A to B to C and the author clearly has some ideas he wants to convey alongside real-world knowledge that he’s trying to work into an action-adventure tale to make it seem more real – and that’s commendable in a broad sense – this is a total mis-fire as far as an Indy adventure goes.

[Nicolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like maybe the author was not aware that Indiana Jones was an established character with patterns of behavior and areas of expertise.
This is an okay book about spies and planes, but Indiana Jones? I don’t think we’re talking about the same guy.

We talked all things Indiana Jones over on But Have You Tried: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/bu...

[Benji's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone said to stay away, but to paraphrase Irina Spalko from Indy 4, "I [vonted] to know".

This book and the other one that followed by Martin Caidin are considered to be THE worst Indiana Jones books written. I can confirm they are not, as I have read Army of the Dead by Steve Perry. I put this one aside and read Rib MacGregor's run on the Indy prequel novels and after Max McCoy's run too.

So is it really that bad? Well, it's a heck of a lot better than Army of the Dead, but that's not saying much. People said they hated this one for too much talk about planes and Indy felt more like James Bond than Indy and I hate to break it to you, but George Lucas and Steven Spielberg based his character on not only swashbuckling pulp action heroes of the 1930s and 40s, but also on James Bond. Mr. Spielberg really wanted to direct a Bond film, but history had other plans.

As for the planes, writer Martin Caidin was an expert on them, especially during the war Era. As a sort of epilogue for the book, Mr. Caidin goes into details about how real his descriptions for everything was. If that's what everyone had a problem with, I didn't really mind, as it wasn't apart of the actual story. The plane talk in the story itself, however, was a bit excessive, but this is a novel, not a movie. You can't just throw Indy in with a crew of pilots and plane experts and not have them talk about planes.

I've also heard people complain Indy wasn't a pilot and that this book tried to make him one. There are numerous times throughout the novel where characters say to him, "you make a better teacher than a pilot" or Indiana himself saying, "I'm no pilot." They literally spelled it out for the reader that he is indeed, not a pilot and people were still upset. Even if he was a pilot in the book, all Mr. Caidin had to base these stories off of were the three films. He's been into archaeology and adventure for so long, even before Raiders, that there's no telling what else Indy is capable of, so I would honestly believe he did have his share of flying before Raiders. Not to mention there's a scene in this book where a pilot is actually teaching him how to fly and he's not the best at it, but he says he knows the basics because he's a good listener.

Something else I enjoyed before I close is the inclusion of one of Indy's old friends from the Rob MacGregor books. This type of continuity, with Mr. Caidin referencing former publications is another reason why this book isn't as bad as everyone says.

And for Drew Struzan's artwork on the cover, that alone should get you to pick this one up.

[Matthew Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a huge Indiana Jones nut, I'm a history teacher that wears the hat every day to school. With that being said, the novels aren't that great - they're pulp/popcorn, rainy afternoon reads that the reader should not expect a great deal out of.

This novel was an excuse for Martin Caidin to talk about airplanes for about three hundred pages.

[Paolo Calabrò · Rating 1 out of 5]

Martin Caidin was obsessed with UFOs and thought he possessed psychokinetic powers. That should explain everything.

[K · Rating 1 out of 5]

🤷‍♀️ 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Huuuuge miss - extremely not my cup of tea, and therefore majorly disappointing. :/

There was so much technical detail of plane stuff in one way or another, that it was either desperately dry, lengthy (boring), or so much technical description that it was confusing and extremely difficult to picture what even was happening, in soooo many places.

At pretty much no point did Indiana Jones actually seem like or feel like the character we know - he even rarely sounded like him. He seemed randomly British alot?? And dreams of being a pilot?? 🤔

Considering this was supposed to be an Indiana Jones book/adventure, it felt like neither. He was a side character at best, and somehow this book felt like a small cast of side characters, with no actual main character. Maybe Gale?? Maybe planes?? 😅 And not so much an adventure as... I don't even know what.

Also, Gale has the most hilariously Mary Sue intro - there's sooort of an attempt to make her unique by saying she has a Muslim father, and English mother who was a "bona fide witch of the Wiccan religion and senior of an unbroken line [...] going back fourteen hundred years". But this is immediately followed by - oh, get ready:

-how Gale has spent years living off the land, learning how to read signs of wildlife, and recognizing "the artifacts of her mother's native land stretching six thousand years" (fine by itself but...)

WHILE ALSO

-being an intense academic
-herb expert (which apparently, it says, means she only needs 4 hrs of sleep per night. k sure)
-got a doctorate in ancient cultures
-was trained by "masters of ancient traditions"
-is "intensely athletic in the real world" (apparently, it says, this means she's not a track and field expert, but she IS an expert at mountain climbing, swimming, hunter tracking, acrobatics AND jujitsu. mmkay.)
-also as much an expert on Celtic history/lore as Indy
-and perfect with crossbow type weapons

SHE'S 24 ONLY.

As if this isn't enough, later in the book she ALSO is an EXPERT pilot, though somehow has never officially gotten a license. 🙃

I want to be clear that I am all for super capable ladies, or ladies with atypical skills and crazy backgrounds, and what not. But the level of pure expertise and the sheer VOLUME here, with her only being 24 years old, is absolutely insane/not remotely believable, and it comes off a lot more like the author is trying to like, "justify" someone being good enough for Indy. Which feels extra weird given how the "romance" is barely a footnote.

There's about 2 pages early on in the book where Gale seems to have a sudden internal crisis of having feelings for Indy, though there is zero follow up nor indication of any attraction or anything from either of them through the rest of the ENTIRE book. Out of nowhere in the last 3-5 pages, Gale randomly tells Indy she loves him, kisses him, leaves the room and he has exactly ZERO reaction whatsoever. SO RANDOM AND UNNECESSARY THEN???

The title of the book sounded cool, the cover is cool, even the back of the book description is intriguing, but... mostly it was more like sooort of a spy-ish novel, I guess, but mostly just excessive technical details, some very odd mini detours or deeply unnecessary information avalanches or both, a sprinkling of action maybe 3 times including the ending, and who even knows what happened. 🤷‍♀️ Even the somewhat archeological stuff in it - which was extremely minimal - was somehow somewhat alien-tinted, which gave very off-putting Crystal Skull vibes.

I was going to give it 2 stars because I actually didn't completely hate it - more so just very bored by it - but also, there was literally nothing I liked about it. 🤷‍♀️

TL;DR: Way too technical, dry, plodding, disappointing, deeeeply forgettable.

[Brian Reeves · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Adrian Halpert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Team Jones? I guess...
I was expecting a pulp-style adventure, i.e. not exactly "Dune" fare, but still wound up being disappointed. Granted, it was fun to see Indiana Jones back in action. This seemed to be more of a spy thriller with some archaeological babble scotch-taped in to make it a real Indiana Jones story, which was ok I suppose. After all, we do know that he worked as an intelligence agent during WW2 thanks to Crystal Skull, so I can live with that.
The trouble is that this book is so SLOW and really meanders. It spends way too much time on too many characters we don't really care about, I don't know about anyone else, but I picked this up to read an adventure with Indiana Jones, and too much time discussing flying as though it were an ad for a pilot training school. Maybe that was the author's intent and he's trying to set one up. Just so he knows, I'm not interested.
Even the writing style was so amateurish that I found myself thinking more about all the places that needed a red pen rather than paying attention to the story. At several spots I wasn't even clear what was happening and had to rerread it several times in order to figure out what was going on. Look, Indiana Jones novels aren't high literature and aren't meant to be, but I don't think it's too much to ask that you EDIT your story before publishing. Is it really that hard? More likely, it's a blatant display of how little the writer and publisher care. Since they don't, I don't see why I should. I read these with the expectation that I'm going to get a fun pulp adventure. Evidently that's too much to ask from this book.
2/5 Stars
*Added 1 star since it is always fun to see Indy in action.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Brooks Langford · Rating 2 out of 5]

A concept that sounded really cool but was poorly executed. This never really felt like a Indiana Jones adventure but more of a bargain James Bond plot with some overly explained plane schematics and plot mechanics.

The story is about Indiana Jones and the Governments of the world tracking down Pirates attacking artifacts in UFOs. The UFO concept was actually pretty interesting but didn’t really feel like a job for Indiana Jones. Everytime they tried to explain the plane and the UFOs they went far too much into detail making the plot drag a lot. By the time it actually came to a confrontation with the UFO it was pretty anticlimactic for all of the detailed built up.

This is a story that never really felt like a Indiana Jones adventure. Why did they need a archaeology professor to track down a weapon threatening the world and not you know a spy? This is a pretty interesting story but never really feels like a Jones adventure, just a bargain Bond tale.

[Les Hopper · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I continue through all the Indiana Jones 'adult' spin off novels. This one was slightly hard going to be honest, but gets points for technical detail.

Why was Indiana Jones teaming up with various WW1 fighter aces to fight 'UFOs'? The only reason I can think of is that this author really wanted to write a novel along those lines and so when he was hired by Lucasfilm to write an Indiana Jones novel he just dropped Indy into a plot he already had in mind.

The aviation knowledge of the author is clearly outstanding, and the writing isn't at all bad. However, Indy's archaeological skills, knowledge of languages, and experience of religious artifacts play really no part in the story and he adds nothing plausible to the team.

So, while it's a fun and silly romp of a book about flying in the 1930s it really isn't an Indy novel in my opinion.

On to the next one...

[Keith · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book just annoying. Even though MacGregor’s books were ok, not great, this book goes off the deep end. Firstly, Caidin turns Indy from archaeologist extraordinaire into an amalgam of Danny Ocean and James Bond: a master of disguise who can summon at will the world’s greatest underworld experts and to whom all world governments seek for help against an evil international terrorist group known as E.V.I.L. (seriously not making that up). In fact, this is the first Indy adventure I know of in which there is no archaeological object or angle. Oh, there are *faked* archaeological objects - faked by Indy in order to bait E.V.I.L. (or something). And there is discussion about ancient aliens and ancient UFOs, but it does nothing to further the plot.

Caidin also retcons MacGregor’s stories and characters very stupidly. In Genesis Deluge, Pencroft fires Indy from the London university because he’s an American teaching Celtic archaeology. In this book, 3 years have passed and Indy is back teaching the same subject while on sabbatical from his new gig (what college offers sabbaticals after 3 years?) - and now Pencroft and Indy are great friends. Then there’s the recurring character of Shannon, Indy’s old college friend who plays jazz. In Genesis Deluge, Shannon’s mobster brothers are killed by Capone, who also seizes their nightclub, the Nest. Shannon ends up leaving Chicago, marrying his dream girl, and moving with her to San Francisco. In this book, Shannon is back in Chicago as a mafia boss, headquartered at the Nest, and nonchalantly organizes a train heist only because Indy tells him its for the good of the country.

Caidin is an aviation aficionado and he can’t tell you enough about airplanes: how to fly them, all the things you have to do to prepare to fly them, it’s esoteric history - it’s almost like learning about whaling in Moby Dick. He even appends an afterword to defend the outrageous technology employed by E.V.I.L.

But what is most annoying about this book is that it’s essentially a mystery in which all the clues and revelations have already been figured out by Indy - everyone else is just sitting around waiting for him to tell them what’s going on. In other words, Indy is also Sherlock Holmes, as attested by this actual dialogue between two members of E.V.I.L.:

"By the horned toads of my ancestors, how could they know this!"

"I do not yet know. But Jones either knows or has deduced far more than what I thought was possible. Remember, he is allied with the keenest technical minds of England and America. But I believe it is his own marvelous grasp of the past and his proven ability to meld many small details into larger facts and conclusions that is so troublesome to us."

In short, this is the “Crystal Skull” of the prequel novels.

[Philly Kash · Rating 4 out of 5]

It doesn't feel like any of the movies. Weirdly enough, it feels like a perfect blend of James Bond and A New Hope (think of the space battles near the end, but replaced with WWII planes and Zeppelins).

And it works!

I was captivated exponentially as the story progressed, first with the covert assembly of their team up until the final showdown.

It also helps that I already love everything to do with aviation.

Kudos to Martin Caidin for writing the fun Indiana Jones book!

My only gripe is that it's too exciting for something Jones would have allegedly done before the first three movies. This adventure is the kind of thing I feel like he should have retired after (but I suppose saving the world in the most extreme ways possible is just his thing).

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Indiana Jones and the Sky Pirates is the 1st book that I've rated 3 stars in 2024 so far. It's currently the middle of April, which is a bit later that when I typical start handing out 3-star ratings. On the other hand, it is still rather early enough in the year, and only time will tell if I write any more 3-star review this year. This book at a lot of really cool action scenes. And at times, it felt like it could pass for one of the actual Indiana Jones movies. But the overall plot was kinda strange, and some things were hard to follow, hence why I rated it 3 stars.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the author's attempt to add science and history into the tale of adventure. In the afterword, the author explains how he used his life experiences to aid in writing the book. This insight made me appreciate the book even more.

In terms of being an Indiana Jones novel, it wasn't exactly what I expected. I was hoping for more adventures and puzzle-solving. However, the Indy character in the novel was admirable, and the unique blend of history and science added depth to the story.

This is my first book in the series and other reviews say this is not the best one.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very generous three stars as this is probably the oddest one so far likely due to it being authored by someone different. For a good chunk of the story it's told almost from Gale's perspective and only really tells the story from Andy's point of view intermittently. The story just happened though and they didn't deal with much opposition and the villain remained so beyond their grasp they barely interacted. I am giving it 3 as there are some cool ideas and some neat action moments but the story was pretty straightforward and flat.

[Chris Mcclure · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally! This took longer than I feel it should have. It’s not a bad story, but at times it felt like reading a flight manual. I want to just read an Indy adventure not learn to fly. I understand the reasoning behind the author’s decision to add it, but still feel that if it was removed about a third of the book would disappear.

[Matt town · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. Definitely a weird Indiana Jones story in that he is barely doing anything typical of an Indiana Jones story. It is more of a spy thriller than an adventure quest, but it still works for the most part? Definitely not as good as Rob's books in my opinion, but still nothing to sneeze at.

[Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was nice and full of action and tragedies. I liked the book because it didn't really have many slow spots in it as well as it being full of action. It was an interesting read and I look forward to reading more from this author.

[Craig Andrews · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have never disliked an Indiana Jones book. This one however was bloody terrible. Nothing in it that felt like an Indiana Jones adventure. Felt love it was written by a guy who likes flying planes tok much. Hope the next one isn't pap.

[Peter Wilson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a dud.