Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils

Indiana Jones: Prequels #3

by Rob MacGregor

Having barely survived a hair-raising archaeological dig in Tikal, Guatemala, Indiana Jones has returned to New York just in time to get caught up in a controversy. The mysterious writings of Colonel Percy Fawcett, a missing British explorer, have turned up, and what they describe could revolutionize history—and make or break several scientific reputations. For Percy paints a tantalizing picture of a lost city in the Brazilian jungle, and a mythical redheaded race who may be the descendants of ancient Celtic Druids.

No one loves mystery or adventure more than Indiana Jones. So with his trusty bullwhip in hand and the lovely Deirdre Campbell firmly in tow, he sets out for the wilds of the Amazon. But Indy has more enemies than he knows, including a bunch of hard-nosed thugs and a cannibalistic Indian tribe that is out to make him instant history. And if he survives what they throw in his path, there’s still the fabled city itself . . . where the inhabitants practice the magic of the “seven veils” and no one leaves alive!

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

304 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1991

About the author

Rob MacGregor is author of 19 novels, 14 non-fiction books, and has teamed with George Lucas and Peter Benchley. He is a winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for mystery writing, and has been on the New York Times best-seller’s list. He writes both adult and young adult mysteries, adventure, and science fiction/fantasy. He’s best known for his seven Indiana Jones novels. He co-authored The Fog with Bruce Gernon, and with his wife, Trish, co-authored three books on synchronicity. His latest book is Aliens in the Backyard: UFO Encounters, Abductions, and Synchronicity. In his spare time, Rob teaches yoga and meditation.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the next in the Indiana Jones prequels (the title does sort of give that away I know) but here I feel that the books are finally finding their stride. I feel that the magic and wonder I experienced when watching the films are now finding their way in these pages.

SO for that I am really pleased -after all its starting to feel like the Indiana Jones I remember and love so much. However then there is the subject of Deirdre which considering my own self imposed rules of no spoilers does make discussing a little bit of a challenge - but I agree with the other reviews out there - it was all rather rushed.

Anyway that aside this book is starting to feel a lot more familiar - I am not sure if its the start of mentioning other supporting characters like Marcus or references to his father but the book feels like is an episode in the franchise I missed rather than some hastily tacked on story to give flesh out a back story - after all the series did start with Indiana just finishing and receiving his PhD.

There are quite a few titles it would seem in this series - I will admit that the first two have me wondering how far I was willing to work at it - however after this book I have changed my mind and I want to see and learn of the events that shaped the man we see in the films.

[Whipwarrior · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Harrison Ford is the physical embodiment of Indiana Jones, then Rob MacGregor is his heart and soul. In 1989 he wrote the novelization to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Over the next two years, he would take us on a journey that explored the life of the globetrotting archaeologist in a time before the films occured. It must have seemed like a daunting challenge, but MacGregor tackled the project with confidence. His greatest attribute lies in the fact that he transformed Indiana Jones from a larger-than-life movie hero to a regular person, not so different from the rest of us.

When I first discovered the series, I was overwhelmed by the number of books in it. I selected Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils because I thought that it had the most attractive cover art. I wasn't sure how it would compare to the movies that I loved so much. Once I started reading, however, I could not put it down. Immersed in the story, I could almost see and hear Harrison Ford. But the author's writing transcends even that. MacGregor becomes Indiana Jones, writing the character with such breathtaking ease that it seems as if he created Indy, rather than George Lucas.

A globe-spanning tale in which the intrepid Indy winds up trekking through the Brazilian jungle in search of a lost city, Seven Veils is vaguely reminiscent of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The enchanted city of Ceiba is not unlike Pankot Palace, whose sheer walls tower from the craggy mountain face in a waning twilight which permeates the latter part of the story with an inevitable, almost timeless quality. Rob MacGregor captures the essence of the 1920's in a contemporary style that resonates with the reader. Like the films which inspired it, I have enjoyed this imminently rereadable book literally hundreds of times, and it is without a doubt the most unique Indiana Jones adventure ever written.

[Paolo Calabrò · Rating 1 out of 5]

Same as the previous two books, entertaining but very messy.
This time around there's also very little history but a lot of "magic", foggy visions and collective dreams.
The villains have confusing, sometimes unbelievable motives and the secondary characters don't last long enough to make an impression on you.
It feels as though the author wrote this book just because he didn't want to lose his contract.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is probably more like 2.5 stars, but I rounded up because it wasn't terrible; it just ended suddenly, and left too many plot points unresolved.

Like the first book in the series, the bulk of the story was fun and full of adventure, but the ending was disappointing. MacGregor is still building off of the earlier books in the series as he goes, which is interesting, but it's not like there's an overarching story here that he's telling; he's just using details from previous books to help with the plots of the later books.

(Which, now that I think about it, is a little like cheating, especially here, where it acts a bit like a deus ex machina.)

One thing I've enjoyed about these books, though, is how MacGregor uses real places, real mythology, real history, and real culture when he writes these stories. I've been fact-checking some of the things he's used in building his plots, and they all check out. The author bio in the back of the book mentions that he's well-traveled, and I like that he's using some of that in his stories.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall 2.5*. Enjoyed it more than the other Indy books I've read (I read it quicker at least). Rounded up to 3* as that ending left me feeling so sorry for him. I mean, how could you? :'(

Preferred the adventure pre-Ceiba, as when the party arrived at the lost city it all got a bit too weird for me. But I suppose Dr Jones' stories always end with more than touch of the supernatural so I shouldn't have been surprised .

Not certain I'll read another, although I'm sure I said the same thing last time, and yet here I am again; still hoping maybe one in series will capture the charming Indy I love.

[John DiBiase · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the Indy books, but this was a slog fest at times. It took me forever to get through. Sometimes it was a page-turner, other times I was fighting to get to the next paragraph. I recently decided to read the books in order through the series, but I’ll need a break after this one. And I agree it ends very suddenly. And for a long book with plenty of boring sections (like the journal entries), it seems unnecessary to end it with a lack of resolution. I’d say it’s more of a 2.5 star rating but I decided to round down.

[Terrance Layhew · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fact it took me a month to finish this is part of the reason it has three stars. An adequate adventure, but not one which I’ll remember.

Indy’s relationship with the girl from the last book makes it to marriage, which means you know from the start it isn’t going to last.

Nothing about the book is terrible, it just fails to remain gripping or sufficiently memorable.

[Emiliya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Много трудно намерих пълната версия на книгата.

[Jose Vidal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Leí esta novela hace años y la relee ahora, mientras repaso ciertas cosas sobre Percy Fawcett y he tenido que revisar mi demasiado generosa nota muy a la baja.

En primer lugar Indiana Jones no posee nada de la personalidad del personaje y es un personaje mayormente pasivo que es arrastrado de un lado a otro. Las escenas se suceden sin saber proporcionar dialogos memorables, pero tampoco escenarios de aventura salvables. En uno de los ejemplos más absurdos, de intentar subir las apuestas sin ningún objetivo real, Indy monta en el teleférico que sube al Pan de Azúcar en Río, y ante una parada (que resulta ser normal y no una trampa) decide salir, subirse al cable, casi caerse dos veces y luego volver a entrar sin que la escena haya servido para nada, ni siquiera para plantear un peligro bastante vacío.

Deirde Campbell, la novia escocesa (luego volveré al fetiche celta del autor), de esta serie de novelas de Indy es aún más pasiva y realmente, por momentos, parece completamente estúpida (cayendo en trampas vergonzantes) y posiblemente sea una de las peores estudiantes de arqueología de la historia, ya que no parece saber nada sobre nada.

Por otro lado la obsesión de Rob MacGregor con lo "celta" y la pseudohistoria hace que no solo convierta a Brody en protavoz de ideas "dudosas" sino que además decida que lo mejor que puede hacer para meter una civilización perdida en el Amazonas, es convertirlos en refugiados atlantes-celtas (blancos, por supuesto) que utilizan ogham (un alfabeto celta que en realidad es, como mucho, tardoantiguo). Es decir, una de las novelas anteriores se sitúa en Delfos (que al fin y al cabo tiene su conexión hiperbórea, a través de la leyenda de Apolo, y céltica, tras al conquista de los celtas de Breno) y el segundo en las Islas Británicas, ¿pero es realmente necesario recurrir a lo mismo (que además no está presente por ningún lado en el Indiana Jones cinematográfico) en una aventura situada casi al 100% en Brasil?

Lo mejor que sigo encontrando a la novela es parte de la descripción de la sociedad de esta ciudad perdida selvática, con el uso de poderes de ilusión y una sociedad en que el rango social viene determinado por el poder sobrenatural cuyas terribles implicaciones apenas son exploradas.

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recognize, going into books of this calibre, that I shouldn't be expecting a five star storytelling job, but I'm disappointed to find my beloved character and guilty indulgence tainted by overt racism and the mollifying of sexual violence.

Any author as late as 1991, when this book was originally published, should know better than to use language such as "negro" when describing a character. The charade of rape masquerading as the savior for a thinning population is disgusting.

The language should be accessible to most readers. I didn't find the prose confusing.

****Spoilers Ahead!****

The plot contained holes. What happened to Indy's gun when he nearly lost consciousness in the rapids? I know from later books he still has it, but it was never mentioned again after his fight with the guardians in the river. Did he drop it? How was he able to carry out two handed tasks after that if not?

Why would limiting the gene pool also limit the population's veil stength? You'd think bringing in outside blood would weaken it. How is the population so sparse if Indy sits at the top of the tower and spies a vast city if thousands of people?

Fawcett claims, save for their treatment of him, the Ceiba civilization is more advanced than modernized societies, in part, because crime has been eliminated, but they condone raping men and women regularly? Sexual violence isn't a crime to them? I wouldn't call that too advanced.

It seemed like Deidre went from a capable character in the last book to a meaningless plot thing in this book. Then she's abruptly killed off for no real reason and we're left with unanswered questions about how the plane lost all of its fuel. Annoying.

The idea of the lost city and the veils was cool.

[Rob Irwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils is the third novel in the Indiana Jones series published by Bantam Books. It’s also the third original Indy novel written by Rob MacGregor. Released in December 1991, this is the most like “traditional” Indiana Jones in the series to date when compared to the other two books that saw our hero still a student in the first one, and just starting out as a professor in the second, and having a very basic adventure in the British Isles that, to be honest, didn’t feel very exotic at all.

Here, we’ve got Indy on a dig in Tikal, Guatemala, from the start. Admittedly he’s also got students on the dig (and there’s a whole side plot of Deirdre Campbell, the love of his life, being annoyed at his interest in other students), so it’s not quite the prologue to Raiders of the Lost Ark. But it’s something.

Back to civilisation for a moment (see how this one flows like Raiders?), and then onto the Amazon where Indy hopes to find the missing Percy Fawcett. An inspiration for the Indiana Jones character on some levels, Fawcett was a real-life geographer, artillery officer, cartographer, archaeologist, and explorer who disappeared in 1925. With Fawcett’s interest being in an ancient lost city which he – and others – believed existed in the Amazon rainforest, you can see where this one’s going already.

What MacGregor has to do, of course, is fill in enough pages between, “Let’s go looking for Fawcett…” and “Whatever happened to Fawcett?” to make the story worthwhile. On the whole, I think he succeeds but let’s start with what I don’t think works. I mentioned a whole side plot with Deirdre Campbell earlier and… yeah. Not only does she come across as quite different and basic compared to the smart, spunky girl from the previous novel, but the way she and Indy fight for the first section of the novel feels awkward, unrealistic, and forced. Then she leaves him “for good” only to be back almost immediately and within what feels like a week or so, they get married. It’s all over the place. And yes, if you’re thinking, “I never knew Indiana Jones got married before Marion…” now you do. And how’s it going to be resolved because, assuredly, he’s not a married man 10 years from now during Temple of Doom?

I think this novel would have been better off not having the whole marriage thing and letting Deirdre go after the Guatemala segment at the start of the book. Indeed, if I was writing this, I would have gone in the direction that she never came on the dig at all or, at best, had been on the dig but had already had her fight with Indy and had left. She feels like such a drag to have around most of the time and I wonder if MacGregor even enjoyed writing the character because, as I said, she’s really quite different to how she was portrayed in Indiana Jones and the Dance of the Giants. My main interest in Deirdre while reading this was, “How long is she going to hang around in these books and when/how will she leave them?”

On the good side of the ledger, meanwhile, I think tying the story into Percy Fawcett was a sound decision. The idea that he found his lost city is appealing and the way he gets to meet Indy and be somewhat heroic in his own right, is great. But when dealing with an historical character who is lost to time, you know there’s going to be a big but… somewhere along the line and I think the novel does well to give a credible reason for Fawcett’s disappearance. Less credible is a deus ex machina character who we met in the previous novel and pops up at the end of this story to save the day – or, at least, Indy. And no, it’s not Indy’s mate, Jack Shannon! In some ways I could barely believe the author went there.

If it feels like I’m half-hearted about the novel, I’m really not. The idea that inhabitants of the lost city can ‘veil’ themselves and disappear – in much the same way they can veil their city from outsiders – is quite good. And when we start getting into dream landscapes and not being entirely sure if scenes are happening in awakened or asleep states of consciousness, the story certainly feels like it’s trying to do something different and is definitely not a children’s novel by any stretch. Indeed, I think a child would get thoroughly lost in some of these scenes. So there’s some real meat on the bones here, for sure.

Overall, is it better than the first two novels? Yes, even with the Deirdre character being written oddly, and the whole marriage thing, there’s still plenty of exotic locations, chase scenes, fights, and a general sense of adventure that keeps the story chugging along to its conclusion. Your mileage may vary on the resolution, as mine did, but I don’t think it soils itself in the way that, say, Dial of Destiny did. It's better than what came before it in this range; far more Indiana Jones. But perfect? No, it does a few too many strange things for my taste. With a good edit, I could imagine the same story another point higher, so the ingredients are all there. I’d just ditch one or two of them and try again.

[Jude McAnelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

First, permit me to begin by saying that it is by no means impossible to translate a character/art form as grandiose as Indiana Jones to book form. Max McCoy, who contributed four novels later in this series, did superbly in capturing the heart and fist ;) of the Indy we know and love. True, McCoy does flatter Indy by downplaying his womanizing and dialing up his good intentions, but he also sends the character on compelling, white-knuckle journeys with concepts on par with the five existing movies.
Rob Macgregor does neither. I sincerely wish this were not the case, given that I came to this book fresh off a study of the real Col. Percy Fawcett and his search for the Lost City of Z. I could not have been more thrilled to find an Indiana Jones crossover, and one which takes place pre-Temple of Doom but post Hollywood Follies (= Young Indy Chronicles).
Even allowing for the fact that Indy would not yet have grown out of the Sean Patrick Flannery phase at this point (I never had a problem with Flannery's performance, just the writing) this iteration of Indiana Jones feels positively sabotaged. You might have been bothered by his interactions with women in the films, but let me assure you, Temple of Doom Indiana threatening Willie Scott with a skewer is chivalrous compared to Rob Macgregor's Indy. I pray I will never encounter someone who treats a woman the way Indiana treats Dierdre. Unacceptable, whatever your worldview is.
Furthermore, we know that Indy is the persevering action hero who beats the odds as well as the baddies, right? Wrong. Here, Indy is an inept pugilist with no sense of strategy, who is rescued from a tight spot in every brawl he's involved in. Indiana Jones action was not meant to reflect reality to begin with, but if Indy handled every scrape the way he does here, he would never have lived to become the man who slides under a moving truck and climbs back up the back. Plus, Indy loses his hat and revolver at the end, which flaunts all the rules.
Because of said limp, disappointing perils, Indy's encounters with the bad guys were ruined, and only served to slow down the story instead of propelling it forward.
Finally, despite all the fantasy concepts ingrained in this plot, the eponymous seven veils and orb of Bel do not take their proper place as our macguffin, with the result that the only supernatural rescue to cement this formula is that Indy forgets everything, which does corroborate his later skepticism of magic, but also means that this story never needed to happen because the only thing which changed for him was the loss of Dierdre (and that could have been executed better).
I have a theory that because Rob Macgregor was a real-life adventurer, he held the Indiana Jones movies in contempt because they differed from his own experience. His handling of these prequel novels could be viewed as a clash of his own perspective and the requisite style established by Raiders.
Even people who do not care for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull would prefer James Rollins's novelization of said instalment as opposed to this counterfeit adaptation.
I'd encourage you to make up your own mind, but this novel is disgusting and unreadable, so I can only advise you to exert yourself in search of a better read. Out of the Silent Planet, perhaps.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils cracks on straight after the previous book! :D Colonel Percy Fawcett sets Indy and Deidre off having to trek of to the Amazon to track down the legendary explorer Colonel Percy Fawcett! :D At the same time they have to investigate the same mystery that Fawcett is after, investigating the mysterious Celts who have set up shop in the Amazon! :D Indy's reaction to the his request from Marcus Brody is what anybody would react like! :D Frankly its bonkers is the common consensus but he humours his friend ! :D This gives the book its feel of humour throughout! :D The book has light airy feel in addition to everything else that fits the tone of the dreamlike situations they find themselves in! :D Whatever happens you know there will be daring do to get them out of their predicament and the book from the start never lets up! :D It specialises in putting the characters through one hair raising situation after another! :D

Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils puts it characters through there paces from the start! :D The book is full of assassination attempts as well as epic mysteries! :D It is all cleverly handled as they are thrown from one potential hair brained situation to another! :D This make for Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils being a real roller coaster of a whip cracking adventure from the beginning! :D The book plot twist all over the place making guessing the plot a twister in itself! :D

The discovery of the 'Celts' and what they are about,up to, scheming, etc, neatly ties into the previous books! :D It is clear that more plot threads are being created form the beginning and the book does a great job of setting up new plot points! :D Throughout though we get to catch up with diverse characters such as Marcus Brody, Deidre etc but are also introduced to new ones such as Rae'la, Amergin, a certain beardy weirdy etc! :D The Cieba are do fit the environment well and the culture feels alien but fits the story brilliantly! :D The atmosphere of the Amazon is captured with the local tribes such as the Morgego all appear as three-dimensional characters! :D The action never lets up from the start and everything has a feeling of daring, pulse pounding, do from the beginning! :D

Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils is of brilliant whip cracking adventure and mystery from the start! :D It never lets up and will keep you on your toes and up late to see what happens! :D
Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils is full of intrigue, mystery, character development, lost cultures , archaeological discovery, daring do, adventure and action! :D Brilliant Crisp High Five! :D Go and Get! :D Make sure you have the next one! :D

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect from this going in, as often times movie/tv tie novels can be pretty meh. This one was okay overall, I think, but there's a lot of asterisks here. 😂

Firstly, this is an older book and it shows - the style is very flat, very emotionless, very distant, very just simply telling a story with zero connection. Which is too bad, because there's a lot potential in this adventure for some truly great emotion. The distant/old style is not my cup of tea, but I also had kinda expected that style going on, so I give it some leeway there.

There was a lot of really cool history and intrigue, some stuff that felt richly researched in a good/story coloring way (not a shove-it-down-your-throat, look-at-my-research way). But also a lot of weird mystical, magical in the last 1/4 that did not fit Indiana Jones vibes at all (yes there's a certain amount of weird mystical/magical in the series, but the last part just really didn't fit for me). And also too much "oh you'll see" non-explanations or comments - a lot of things ultimately lead to nothing?

There was some great set up in the front half, some solid action throughout, but the ending was so nonsensically abrupt. When I hit the last (clearly short) two chapters, I wondered how anything was going to get resolved in so few pages. It was not. It honestly felt like the last chapters were written in under ten minutes to a deadline and the "resolution" was borderline a handwave of "nothing matters, erase everything that happened so this technically can be canon, the end" in 3 pages or less.

Honestly, I'm baffled more than mad.

If the ending didn't feel like some weird chopped off/tacked on, non-explanation, non-resolution, then this would be a true 3 stars. As it stands, it's actually a very generous 2.5 because it was *mostly* a decent (if dry/old style) adventure. But literally what on earth was that ending, y'all. I'm just... what, who, why, how........

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a little more in line with the feel of Indiana Jones and kept the Eagle spirit animal stuff out of it. I liked the bigger part that Brody played in the book and the dichotomy of the villains and their goals. The spiritualism of the book was probably closest to the Temple of Doom for its approach. However, I have read The Lost City of Z so it was neat having a fictionalized version of that story written I believe before the events and study of that work. Anyway, when Indy and Deidre got married about a 1/3 of the way into the book I was like well he's either going to be a divorcee or a widow. Either way I wasn't too sure I liked that part of his backstory and I won't spoil if it went either way here but I Deidre just seemed to flighty in this book for a woman that Indy would pursue as he does but whatever. I liked it, I liked the adventure and intrigue probably because the meat of the story is the journey of getting to the place which the first and third Indy films really excelled at.

[Alfred Lorenzo Stine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am reading these in order. So far, this series has been entertaining and a very fun read. I am glad I finally discovered these novels. Every few pages you find yourself on a "cliffhanger," and what is ironic about that is there are quite a few moments in this story where Indiana and his crew are literally dangling from cliffs almost about to die. While Indy is a young archeologist/professor at this point in his career, he certainly acts very much like a detective. His love for Dierdre is clear and she has a tremendous role in this story as she also carried on from the last novel. But overall, people die in these stories and gunshots ring out. I think that the ending also ended on a "cliffhanger" but you are also left with hope as Indy is alive. But at the last page, it's frustrating because it leaves you wanting more and to find out what happened to a specific someone. Overall, 5 stars, loved this story, and I'll be reading the next one too.

[WhatShouldIRead · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got the whole slew of Indiana Jones books when the movies first came out. More Indy, yay! I'm sure I really enjoyed them all when I read them for the first time years ago (though I can't remember any of the stories). Now, however, I'm finding more often than not that these are just not very interesting.

Aside from the pace being slow, I found the woo-woo thing bordering on the ridiculous and honestly skimmed the last 50 pages of the story just to finish it. It was nice to visit with an old friend, Marcus Brody, and some of the action was pretty good but all in all these do not make it to the top of my reading pleasure list. I love Indy but I'm afraid I'm finding these books more often than not miss the mark for me.

I do have others so I'm sure I'll pull the next out when I need an Indy fix but that won't be for a little while now.

[Sebastian Zavala · Rating 2 out of 5]

De las tres novelas tipo precuela que he leído, esta definitivamente es la más floja. Dejando de lado la interpretación algo retrógrada (y poco verosímil) de algunas de las culturas de la selva sudamericana, en términos generales, no se trata de una historia particularmente emocionante o interesante. Las cuatro películas de Indy tienen elementos fantásticos o mágicos, pero 'Indiana Jones y los Siete Velos' es una novela de fantasía pura, llena de exposición sobre velos, sueños compartidos, vudú, y más... honestamente, es demasiado, incluso para una aventura de Indiana Jones.

En pocas palabras: me demoré mucho más de lo esperado en 'Indiana Jones y los Siete Velos', más que nada por lo innecesariamente enredado e inverosímil que es. Me quedo con las dos novelas anteriores... y por supuesto, con cualquiera de las películas (¡sí, incluso la cuarta!).

[Tim Ristow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting integration of a somewhat unique mythology with the Seven Veils into this Indy adventure. Also, some nice action sprinkled throughout. But overall this is just an okay Indy story. Some aspects of the mythology get a bit convoluted near the end and it started to remind me (in not so good ways) of Indiana Jones and the Interior World (also by MacGregor) which was overstuffed with its metaphysical mythology. As in that novel, here we are again by the end of this novel wondering at times what parts of the story are “real” and what parts are only “dreams”. It’s not a bad novel and, in some ways feels closer in tone to the cinematic Indy adventures. But only slightly so. Decent read but not something I’d pick up to ever read again.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, I was expecting the Indiana Jones novels to be terrible but I was in for a pleasant surprise here. The book feels like it could be another Indiana Jones movie. It has the same feel, excitement, and pacing. In my mind's eye I can see Harrison Ford saying and doing the things in the story. And while there's definitely supernatural things happening, they fit the Indiana Jones universe, much better than a certain movie in the series that shall remain nameless. I love how MacGregor weaves in historically accurate details that on more than one occasion I had to Google because I figured they were fictional and they weren't.

Overall this book was a lot of fun. It has inspired me to read the rest of the series.

[Rob Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll be honest: I would have been satisfied with fanfiction, with Indy cracking his whip and barreling through an increasingly ludicrous series of deathtraps with a beautiful woman by his side. This book has all that -- hoo boy, does it have all that -- but it also delves into what it might actually mean to be an archaeologist in the 1920s, how Indiana Jones comes to be the person we know and love (or at least root for) and what he makes of the quasi-religious, mythic, mystical adventures in which he finds himself on a regular basis. In short, this was much, much better than it had any right to be, and I'm on board for The Genesis Deluge.

[Kiril Valchev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Година след "Indiana Jones and the Dance of the Giants", Инди и шотландското му либе се отправят на пътешествие в бразилските пущинаци, в търсене на легендарния английски изследовател Пърси Фосет, който се е загубил, търсейки легендарния загубен град Z (оказал се впоследствие "D"). Келтската митология не оставя на мира Инди дори и в Амазония. "Диваците" от митичното племе, което Фосет преследва, явно са далечни потомци на друидите от Албиона (полинезийските приятели на Тур Хейердал, батати да ядат).

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, South America seemed like an untapped resource for Indiana Jones stories. The timeless scene that opened Raiders gave us but a taste of how grand a South/Central American story could be. The Seven Veils gives readers a fun adventure set south of the Equator. It lags at times and still includes a heavy European influence. It is still worth a look by fans of the globetrotting and highly knowledgeable archaeologist. I will read more Indy adventures by the author.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first few chapters are superb and had mystery and excitement. After they finish their tomb-raiding adventures in Tikal, Guatemala; the pace drops. There's a fair bit of travelling, with brief bits of action when they are followed. However it feels less Tomb Raider and more like Tin Tin. It's decent enough but I didn't find it as gripping as the opening chapters. There's some mystical/fantastical elements in the hidden village in Brazil, but I felt the story didn't really go anywhere exciting with that premise.

[Juan Eduardo Castellon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read some Indiana Jones books and I must admit this is not the best. Because of the title and the cover, let's start by saying that I thought this was settled in Middle East and Africa, not Guatemala and Brasil.
I have high hopes for the next one, thought, and it's the reason why I bought the whole series anyway : Noah's Ark.
PS: Indy marrying? Not a good idea. It didn't work with James Bond, so it had no reason to work with Jones either. Didn't like Merlin, also, even if it was presented on the last book.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, Indiana Jones meets a real explorer named Percy Fawcett. (Side-note: His middle name was Harrison, which always makes me laugh. I mean, this guy is one of the real people who inspired Indy, who of course, was famously played by Harrison Ford.) If the name Percy Fawcett sounds familiar to you, it's because he was the subject of the movie The Lost City of Z. He actually did go missing in the 1920's while trying to find a lost city in the Amazon. In Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils, Indy is tasked with finding Fawcett. I really liked this book.

[Michael V. Galarneau Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the weirdest of the series so far. The Indiana Jones movies do not shy away from the supernatural, and the books have not either. But, this one may have gone a little extreme with the mystical elements. The ending of this one is a little on the odd side and almost becomes an instance of “it was all just a dream.” Without giving anything away, this book contains a major event for the life of Indy. I’m interested to see how it effects him in the next book.

[Ben Mariner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one has followed the same pattern as the others in the series in that very little happens in regards to the actual main story. Just a bunch of little things and then the main focus of the story gets wrapped up in a couple of chapters at the end. Entertaining to a degree, but a little slow and tedious.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my least favorite of the Indy prequels so far. It starts out pretty strong, but then leads up to a big fizzle at the end. The ending was very abrupt and while there was a major happening at the end, it was rushed through and not given nearly the impact it deserved.

Overall still a good read, but it started strong and then slowly got weaker until it reached an unsatisfying ending.

[Cayla rimmell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy the book a bit. There were some parts that were slow. The one thing I had a big issue with was the ending. The ending was anticlimactic. There was this huge build up for the ending and I was all for it and then just…it felt like it ended too abruptly. I closed the book and was like “uhhh what?”