Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Amulet of Power

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider #1

by Mike Resnick

Here at last–the first exciting book in a bold new series of Lara Croft novels tying directly into the popular video games. The Amulet of Power reveals the never-before shown events that took place between “The Last Revelation” and “Angel of Darkness.” Trapped beneath the ruins of an Egyptian tomb, Lara faces certain death . . . until fate intervenes and sets her on the trail of an ancient talisman of power.

Archaeologist and explorer Lara Croft travels the world in search of ancient relics, forgotten crypts, and lost cities. Highly trained for combat and possessing an insatiable appetite for adventure, she answers to no one and goes wherever the quest takes her–heedless of the danger.

When Lara turns up in the Middle East, despite the rumors of her death, religious fanatics believe she has located the coveted Amulet of Mareish. Lost since the siege of Khartoum, the amulet is rumored to grant the wearer untold power. Some long to possess it, others want to see it destroyed, and both sides pursue Lara relentlessly. While she fights trained warriors and ruthless mercenaries, and desperately searches for the jewel they all seek, one thing becomes the fate of the world rests in the hands of . . .

LARA TOMB RAIDER.

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

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Michael "Mike" Diamond Resnick, better known by his published name Mike Resnick, was a popular and prolific American science fiction author. He is, according to Locus, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short science fiction. He was the winner of five Hugos, a Nebula, and other major awards in the United States, France, Spain, Japan, Croatia and Poland. and has been short-listed for major awards in England, Italy and Australia. He was the author of 68 novels, over 250 stories, and 2 screenplays, and was the editor of 41 anthologies. His work has been translated into 25 languages. He was the Guest of Honor at the 2012 Worldcon and can be found online as @ResnickMike on Twitter or at www.mikeresnick.com.

Reviews

[Meldelen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the complete review here: http://positivelyamazonian.tumblr.com...

First of all, this book was meant to be “the” book whose storyline would fill the gap on the events between Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation and Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness. Which is, what happened to Lara since she almost die when the Temple of Horus collapses on her, at the end of TRIV, to when she goes to Paris to answer to Werner Von Croy's call of help, and the beginning of TRAOD.

Well, forget about it. This book is not filling that gap. Not in your craziest dreams.

Mike Resnick, the author, ignores completely the games' original storyline and makes up his own story without respecting the evolution of Lara's story in the games. Which is something I hate. Believe me, I really hate it. That's the reason why I don't like TR movies, TR comics, and now, TR novels.

We all know the basic highlights of what happened to Lara between Egypt and Paris, according to Core Design: Werner Von Croy tried to rescue her from the collapsed pyramid but he only managed to find her backpack. Then, Lara was rescued by a female shaman, a Bedouin woman named Putai. This woman took her and treated her terrible wounds. Lara's recovery was slow and hard, and then, when her body was healed, her mind remained hurt because of the horrible experience. She stood with the Bedouin tribe and lived with them. She even rejected to talk again with Von Croy, blaming him for having left her buried in the ruins. Putai helped her to recover also in spirit, for what she used, somehow, a beautiful Egyptian amulet similar to a scarabeus. Then, something uncertain and horrible happens to the tribe, which results in the slaughter of them all, maybe Putai included, and Lara blames herself for that. She became a furious, resented, bitter wounded beast. And after her return to England she is contacted again by Von Croy, who desperately seeks for her help in a dark issue he has with a client named Eckhardt. She agrees to met him, but more thinking of a reckoning with her hateful mentor and nemesis, than in helping him. That's where The Angel of Darkness starts. And the rest of the tale, is well known by all.

One may think that The Amulet of Power is the developed novelization of this story. After all, TRAOD was released in June 2003 and this novel, in December 2003. But it is not. The amulet of Resnick's novel has nothing to do with the amulet Putai gives to Lara. The story has nothing to do with Core Design's storyline. Again, the same unforgiving sin as in comics and movies. What's the point of producing a TR novel for the gap between Egypt and Paris is it's not loyal to the character and the game's storyline?

They gave Mike Resnick the chance to write a wonderful, CANON story, and he chose to make up his own without taking into account the data already provided for this story. In fact, he seems not to have played a TR game ever, nor to know but basic highlights about Lara and Tomb Raider universe.

So, if you expect a canon story telling you about Lara, Putai, her amulet, the Bedouin tribe and Von Croy, forget about it. This is not it. But if you can content yourself with just another Lara Croft's adventure, for at the end it is all this book it is, then, go ahead.

Lara Croft, buried beneath the ruins of the Temple of Horus, is rescued from a certain death by a young, handsome archaeologist, Kevin Mason Jr., who takes her to a hospital. When still recovering of her wounds, she is suddenly attacked by a group of fanatics who try to kill her without no apparent reason. Still sick and wounded, she has to run away from her enemies and soon discovers two groups of fanatic Arabs (the Madhists and the Silent Ones) are searching for her because they think she has the Amulet of Mareish, a device which grants unlimited power and immortality to its owner, and that was supposed to be hidden in the same Temple of Horus where Lara had just trapped Seth's spirit. Together with Kevin, Lara starts a long, tiring journey between Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria and the Seychelles islands to search for this powerful amulet while constantly escaping from death at the hands of this two fanatic cults, one wanting to possess the amulet, the other wanting to destroy it.

Well, I have to give one thing to Resnick. He perfectly captured Lara's personality. In fact, it's the best detail of this book, the one who makes worthy to read it. She is just as we love her: sassy, sultry, sarcastic, relentless. It is delightful to read her quotes and reactions in this book, specially when every man surrounding her -and she deals with a lot of men, for women as characters are totally absent in the plot- keeps telling her how beautiful she is -despite her beaten face, lol-, how they want to protect her, pretend to tell her what she has to do or protest about her clothing or her behaviour. The sexist attitude of men in this book is constant, everlasting, and they insist on treating her like a broken doll despite she puts them in their place again and again. She mostly reacts to that with contempt or irony. She takes no shit. She acts as she truly is, a fearless, liberated woman, her essence is perfectly captured, and this is a strong point.

But, as everything can't be perfect, we should remember than she has just been rescued from a burial in life, she has serious injures, she barely can rest at the hospital and has to run away immediately, she has a great blow on the head so she spends the first chapters passing out repeatedly -and falling into Mason's arms, by the way- which is ridiculous. She has not a broken bone, she has no deadly injures, and she recovers fast. But she keeps passing out and having terrible headaches. C'mon girl!! You need a CT scan on your brains!! You could have a stroke at any moment!!

At some point in the middle of the book, Resnick stops telling us about her injures and her swollen eyes (?) and her bruised face and simply she moves on, as if she has get over that trauma totally. That's the wrong part about her personality. She has no trauma for what has happened in Gizeh. She doesn't care anymore about Seth and leaves behind all. She doesn't wonder herself about Von Croy, she doesn't feel outraged or abandoned, she simply feels OK, whatever. Fail. Where's the wounded beast we meet at the beginning of TRAOD??? The author simply ignores that.

I'm a Historian and a History teacher, so I knew a bit of Egypt and Sudan's recent history, but the exhaustive research done by Resnick for the plot of this book amazed me. Considering he's a sci-fi author, he did a really good job with The Amulet of Power's background story. And that's another credit I must give to him, despite he has some minor sins -he should know that Sudanese is pretty much Arabic, together with other local and tribal languages- and the fact that most of characters are Arabic or white -even Circassian-, but there's no black people, as it would be expected in Nigeria and Sudan. Also, most of African characters are depicted as fanatics -the baddies- or just superstitious and traditionalists -the good ones- which is some kind of simplistic.

Anyway, the story of Chinese Gordon -Charles George Gordon, general of British Army and colonial governor of Sudan- is truly fascinating, as it is his confrontation against Al-Mahdi and all the background story of colonial Sudan. The author also took great care of researching about local traditions, languages, place names, and most of all, he presents us an aspect of Lara which is not really explored at the games: her researcher and Historian side, she being the bookworm more than the grave robber, which I found delightful indeed.

However, this is also one of the main critics this book has received. I mean, some reviews I've read previously complain about the lack of action this book has, and that Lara spends most of the book talking rather than doing anything. It is true, indeed, there are far more dialogue scenes than action scenes, but there's action too. I think that what this reviewers forget is that this is a book, not a game. It would be hateful to read if pretending to be an exact description of all Lara's actions in a gameplay -a flaw that more than one fanfic commits, sadly-, so it's perfectly OK with the genre having more descriptions and dialogues than action scenes.

But it's not true this book has a lack of action. Indeed, it's truly fast paced. It barely gives you a moment to breathe. Lara is being relentlessly attacked all the damned book. Her enemies leave her little time to rest, even to eat. (Yep, another flaw of this book is that the author needs to describe every meal Lara has or pretends to have, and what she eats exactly, which is as unnecessary as ridiculous, imho... why not describing every moment she needs to pee, then?). She arrives in Nigeria skinny and famished, with not enough rest and definitely not enough feeding, because all she has done is running away while fighting merciless enemies. She tries to go the bathroom, she finds a black mamba in it. She tries to sleep, there's a killer behind the curtains (LOL). She tries to take a plane, there are Madhists waiting for her at the airport. Still, she fights them all and kills them all. And there's also the friend-who-betrays-me-and-becomes-my-enemy cliché, of course.
C'mon, Resnick. Give her some break.

The end is just as ridiculous as the beginning. Lara feels really bad for all the friends and allies she loses in this adventure and decides to go to live in Paris (?) and stop raiding tombs. Then she discovers Von Croy is living in Paris too and decides to meet “her old friend and mentor” to have a nice dinner. And they lived happily together for ever and ever. Oh, well. Resnick has no fucking idea of what's TRAOD about. He didn't even seem to have bothered in taking a look at the game's intro. Great. Just great.

In the end, I give this book three of five starts, or 7 over 10 points, because it was fun, it was a fast paced reading, Lara's personality was accurate, and I learned a lot about Sudan's recent story. But it's not more than a very-well written fanfiction. What I’m saying, there are lots of fanfics more CANON than this book. It doesn't fulfill with its meaning, which is to fill the gap between TRIV and TRAOD. It is just another adventure of Lara, not really connected with the games, and not caring at all about the storyline in The Last Revelation and The Angel of Darkness.

So it's up to you if you give it a chance or not. I'm not totally disappointed, I think it was worth reading, but it's not what I expected and consequently, it's not canon to me, no matter how “official” it is as a novel. If some TR merch doesn't respect the game is based on, it's not canon to me, it's just another merch to make money. I guess I'll keep it and cherish it because is a bit of the past we've lost totally: when Tomb Raider was still Tomb Raider and there was a chance in the horizon for a TRAOD sequel.

[Binx CuentaCuentos CuentaCuentos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Al leerlo da la sensación de ver una película llena de acción y aventura donde la heroína es una verdadera mujer empoderada y llena de conocimientos.
Si no te gustan los videojuegos, lee y diviértete con una lectura corta y sencilla, pero si te gusta pasar muchas horas con un control entre las manos, esta lectura será ideal para esos momentos cuando necesitas descansar del monitor, relajar los brazos y prepararte para seguir disfrutando de los videojuegos.

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Tomb Raider novel is advertised as filing in the gap between the events of “The Last Revelation” and “Angel of Darkness.” However, reliable sources indicate that this is not actually the case and that the author went off on his own story tangent, ignoring available plot data, and demonstrating that he had probably never played those games in the first place. While I have played all the newer TR games, I never played those older ones so am easily able to simply sit back and enjoy this novel for what it is: a Lara Croft adventure ala Indiana Jones-style action adventure.

It's a fun story, although with a feeling of being merely a travel log interrupted by a number of attacks on Lara and whomever she is travelling with. She is certainly a badass fighter whether with her twin guns or her hidden knife and she proves it over and over. The surprise reveal at the climax, unfortunately, was quite predictable from early on. Author Mike Resnick has proven his writing credentials many times over and has won numerous awards but he falls a bit short of the mark this time out.

[ignus · Rating 4 out of 5]

a surprisingly entertaining and well researched adventure novel. if this was released today, it would be considered woke :)

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I walked into this first novel with almost no expectations other than a Lara Croft adventure a la Indiana Jones in style. I played Tomb Raider when it was first released ages ago and didn't like it, but back then the graphics were pretty poor and games were not necessarily very well designed. I just didn't have the drive to move on with some of the older games and after that I hadn't run into a Tomb Raider related product until I saw the movie starring Angelina Jolie. I still like those movies, even though they probably ignore a ton from the games and kind of seem to be their own thing. They're cheesy action flicks really. So, with that background take my review with a bit of a grain of salt as I am not up and up on the true Tomb Raider lore or how it ties into the video games. In fact, I didn't play through a Tomb Raider game until they effectively re-launched the character. I will say it was sort of strange to finally pick these books up off my shelf only to find out the author had recently passed away.

I will start by saying, this is supposed to be video game tie-in novel. It's not supposed to be some ground breaking work, you should expect certain things to be cliché and at times I expect bad writing ideas to show up. I love a lot of the franchise novel stuff and usually they can hit the three star range pretty easily if they get the characters right, but I think Resnick went the extra mile in this story to really put the reader in the places he describes. Now, I've seen reviews that complain that this book gets the bridge between the games all wrong and I suppose I would be more frustrated at that if I had actually played the games, so the fact I haven't played these earlier games seems to be a boon for enjoying this novel.

If you want a random Lara Croft adventure Resnick absolutely delivers. He clearly has done exhaustive research into the region Lara is placed. This book picks up where the video game The Last Revelation and according to the back of the book it's supposed to lead into Angel of Darkness. I guess at the end of The Last Revelation it was left unknown if Lara was actually killed when she was in the collapsing Temple of Horus in the town of Edfu, Egypt. Well, naturally, she survived and she was rescued by the song of a well known archaeologist Kevon Mason, Jr. He was, in turn, looking for a different artifact originally from the Sudan, the Amulet of Mareish.

However, there are others looking for this amulet and they are willing to kill for it and for some reason they think Lara has it. The book starts off with her waking up in the hospital then it's a non-stop chase to try and find the amulet. It's a story that feels a bit like 24, where the main character just can't catch a break. Everywhere they turn they are being pursued and enemies are everywhere. Sometimes it's exciting sometimes it's a bit too ridiculous and far fetched, which is often how I feel when I read these types of stories. Overall, it was a good story in this regard and there's enough excitement to keep the pages turning.

I think Resnick did a good job of capturing Lara's character. She's sassy and confident, but I think the only thing he kind of missed out on is that I think she would have generally been more respectful of other cultures. Certainly, she would be loathe to deal with any kind of patriarchy, but I get the impression that she also has an appreciation for cultures beyond the standard imperialist British sense of their way being the only way. Honestly, my only real gripe with her character in this book. It's not that she was going around being mean to everyone, once she had teamed up with Omar and his friends that was more what I expected from Croft.

On that note, I really did like a lot of the companions she picked up along the way. Omar and his friends were great. I thought they added a lot of things into the book, which made it a lot more fun to read. When she finally makes her way out of Khartoum she runs into her old friend Malcolm Oliver and he was really great to have around. I really did like the fact that she wasn't just some lone traveler being generally super human. The only thing that was a bit off was that she was usually the only woman in any of these areas. Perhaps Resnick figured it was just a part of that region of the world? I'm not sure, but some gender balance would have been nice... maybe in future novels.

Resnick's research into the region really brought it to life. The areas and their histories referenced are all real. The history of Chinese Gordon is all there and the history of Khartoum is laid out for the reader, which I appreciated. One of the major things I appreciated, that I feel like isn't touched on as much, is the scene where Lara spends a good deal of her time reading old books to try to solve the mystery of where Gordon hid the amulet. I feel like this kind of hard work is left out of video games and movies a lot, even though in an Indiana Jones movie they try to point out that most archaeology research is done in the library. Hey, they tried... As with most Indiana Jones or Lara Croft styled stories there is a hint of ancient magic that always shows up, kind of to lend a bit of "truth" to the ancient mysteries of course. So, the amulet in question is indeed magical and it summons sand demons to talk to Lara and everything.

The ending of the book was really just okay, which is what dropped the star mostly. It's very abrupt, this novel is such a long grueling chase and then at the end the find the amulet, as you expected... but they mostly just go and pick it up? The whole finding the amulet part of the story is a scant few pages. It felt somewhat anti-climatic. The one thing I truly hated about this ending was that they killed Oliver. There was really no point to him dying at all, and so suddenly either. I like that he tried to fight her for the amulet, but for the amulet to call up sand demons and kill him? It was really just annoying.

All in all, it was a quick and fun read. I'm curious to read the next book, even though it is not written by Resnick, in fact this is the only Tomb Raider book he wrote. I feel like this was a bit outside of his normal writing, but I found it a fun read. Who knows if he had ever really played the games, so if you go in with a lot of expectations about the games, you may be disappointed. If you go in wanting a generic, but fun, Lara Croft adventure I think Resnick pulled it off pretty well.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amulet of Power covers the span of time between Last Revelation and Angel of Darkness. Nowadays, Chronicles covers some of that time but it mostly coincides with the events of this novel. Lara is crushed under some rubble in the Temple of Horus and is rescued by the son of a famous archaeologist. She doesn't have time to recover though, as a group of robed men calling themselves the Mahdists are chasing her demanding she hand over an Amulet. Of course, she has no idea what they're asking for...so begins the mad chase to locate the Amulet before the Mahdists do. The problem? Lara doesn't know what she's going to do with it once she is in possession of it.
I thought this was a fun adventure with Lara. She translated really well into the written word and the adventure felt like it could be a video game. With fun and dangerous twists and turns throughout the book, it was an edge of your seat ride to see if Lara would get the prize and what came next if she did. It was a bit long on the expedition side with some things feeling out of place in a novel that would have made more sense in the digital counterpart. However, it was a great story for fans of Lara Croft.

[Larry Vanderbook · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a general adventure book it’s an alright read. As the bridge between the two games it’s supposed to connect, disappointing. TR fans who want to see what the “official” bridge between The Last Revelation and Angel of Darkness is aren’t missing anything. Lara is well written enough and true to character. The twist near the end is easy to see coming, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. There’s a lot of time spent describing locations and geography, which can be interesting but sometimes detracts from the plot. At times it feels like you’re reading a travel guide and not an adventure book. Copies are hard to come by these days and selling for crazy high prices - unless you’re a die hard TR fan and collector of merch, don’t go spending $70+ dollars on this. It’s an ok book but certainly not worth more than $20.

[Kelly Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing and good read! It was easy to see as a Tomb Raider fanatic how this story picked up where the 4th game ; (The Last Revelations) left us at the end, and told a NEW story that led to the beginning of infamous ( or likewise depending on opinion) Angel of Darkness; 6th game/story!! A good in-between. Proud to own all of the Original Tomb Raider Novels! I am hoping the next one I read will be just as good as this one was! I would definitely revisit this novel again.
Adventurous, Lara witted, jam packed with historicals, unbelievable betrayal that's action packed page to page; I'm glad to have raided this Tomb. On-to the next Adventure in the Tomb Raider Novel Series; The Lost Cult.

[Michael Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not great literature (everyone talks in infodumps, some of the language is very much an American writing Brits, and there's a massive mistake in the backstory) but the set pieces are exciting, the characters are fun sketches, and the pace never lets up. Given the debt Lara Croft owes to the pulp heroes of yore, it's pleasing how much this reads like a latter day entry in the Sexton Blake Library.

[Pasfia Raider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick and fun to read. Easy to follow story. You don’t really need to know the lore to follow unlike the never series so you can start from this one.

[Max Meade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this twice and I think you probably should too.

[Jolivhanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the ending of the fourth instalment of the Tomb Raider series left Lara Croft presumed dead, the entire fandom was left pondering the fate of the world's greatest virtual heroine. With the release of The Amulet of Power, the first official Tomb Raider novel, everyone's questions are finally answered and the fanbase can now rest assured that Lara did not perish in the collapsing temple in The Last Revelation - but she was badly hurt. Despite the previously offered explanation that Lara was dug out of the temple by a Bedouin tribe and healed by a shaman, this novel reveals that Lara was rescued from the tomb by a mysterious journalist, and that his agenda will play a huge part in Lara's next predicament.

After Lara recovers in hospital from the ordeal in the Temple of Horus, she is accused by a religious cult of having the Amulet of Mareish - a relic believed to make its owner completely invincible. Lara faces repeated assassination attempts by this group and as she is forced to go on the run throughout Sudan and Kenya, the reader will not be able to put the novel down.

This novel completely captures the spirit and thrills that made the game series such a hit, with unpredictable plot twists, thrilling and addictive action scenes, intriguing new characters and a band of determined religious devotees who will stop at nothing to claim the Amulet - this is a Lara Croft adventure not to be missed out on!

The Amulet of Power is an extremely riveting read, highly recommendable for both Tomb Raider fans and general readers.

[İlteriş · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bu kitabı çok küçükken, tahmini 4. yada 5. sınıfa giderken okumuştum. Okuduğum zaman çok sevmiştim. Harika bir macera romanıydı. Lara Croft karakterini de zaten Angelina Jolie'nin oynadığı Tom Raider filmlerinden ve o filmlerden de önce oynamaya yeltenip korktuğum ve bulmacalarını nasıl çözeceğini bilmediğim için bıraktığım bir oyunundan biliyordum zaten. Kitapçıda görüp "Oyun karakterinin kitabı mı var?" diye düşünerek almıştım ve zamanında iyi bir karar vermişim. Üzerinden 15 sene kadar geçmiş olmasına rağmen bu kitabın bir çok detayını hatırlıyorum. Lara Croft'un kitabın başlangıcında Seth ile yaptığı dövüşten sağ çıkıp hastahaneye kaldırılması, sonra yaralı haliyle oradan da kaçmak zorunda kalmasını, gemi yolcuğunu bölümü, herkesin silahlarına isim koyması üzerinden yapılan şakaları, güç muskasının bulunmasını ve sonrasında olan olaylar vb. gibi şeyleri hala hatırlıyorum. Güzel bir macera romanıydı ya.

Küçükken ne kadar da çok sevmiştim. Hatta kitapçılara gidip devamı var mı? diye sormuştum ama maalesef devam kitapları çevrilmemişti. Sanırım ilk kitap çok tutmamıştı. Şimdi bu kitabın devamı olduğunu biliyorum. Devam kitaplarını bir yerlerden bulabilir miyim? Okunacak yüzlerce kitabın arasında bu serinin devam kitaplarına ne ara sıra gelir? bunların cevabını bilmiyorum ama bu kitapları da okumaya çalışacağım.

Bu kitabı macera romanları ve Lara Croft oyunlarını sevenlere öneririm ama üzerinden bu kadar yıl geçmişken nasıl bulacaksınız? Sahaflara ve Nadir Kitap'a bakın derim.

[Mohamed · Rating 3 out of 5]

~~~~ A really quick/summary review ~~~~

Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: TAoP was my first English reading experience, and it was great!
What I liked about the book: Well-written, fast-paced and action-packed. I liked the conversations too, even though they seemed more interested in arguing than actually discussing. The humour was true to the video game heroine, and I liked that too.
What I disliked: Short. Some parts left me really hungry.
Also, even if Lara Croft is known by everybody, I think for a first novelization of the game, a description/backstory would've added depth to the character in the book.
The writer should know that Sudanese is pretty much Arabic.
Over all, it was quite an enjoyable read. Straight to the point and true to the video game spirit.

Oh, and English never looked closer to French, IMO.

Looking forward to reading about the world's most famous femal archeologist ever.

[Jeff Crosby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I belonged to the Mike Resnick email group for over 20 years. I enjoyed his insights on writing and his humor. This novel has a fascinating back story.

1n 1998 Mike published all of his highly praised Kirinyaga stories as a “novel” for Del Rey books. The publisher were so pleased with their coup that they signed a two book deal with Mike.

The next novel Mike wrote was The Outpost. The editors at Del Rey wanted changes. Mike refused and sold the novel to Tor.

To complete his contract Mike agreed to write the first novel of a planned Lara Croft series.

This novel is a fun adventure yarn based on Mike’s extensive knowledge of Africa. It is quick paced with some interesting detail, but probably not what Tomb Raider fans expected.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first of a Tomb Raider book trilogy that came out around the time of Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness. In this book, we find Lara on the hunt for an amulet worn by the Mahdi and stolen by Gordon before the final siege of Khartoum. If you are not familiar with the story of the British hero General Gordon, I highly recommend a little extra research before reading this book. As a stand alone, it is wonderful, but knowing the real history that is used as a backdrop for it makes the story much more fun to read.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a video-game adaptation I have no way to rate this book, being completely ignorant of the game itself. I suspect that the author was in the same boat, as he put many, many fictionalized versions of his own travels into this novel; compare it to some of his safari journals published in his non-fiction collections and you'll be amazed. It's a fun, fast and fast-paced light read, though I'd hesitate to recommend it to fans of the franchise.

[S. Rutherford · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't read this... it kept putting me to sleep. I'm keeping it, mind you, because I have all the other books and all the movies and all the games... I am a HUGE Lara Croft/Tomb Raider fan... but these books just bore me to DEATH!

[Slayderd · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is very good, it is like a book of the video game.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't really expect very much from this, since it's a Tomb Raider book, but I actually found it fun to read and well written. Nice surprise!

[constantine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chybějící článek mezi TR4 a AoD, naše stará dobrá Lara a nové záhady, které musí objasnit. Skvěle psaná kniha, napínavý děj a prostě Lara. Víc asi netřeba dodávat :)

[April B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually enjoyed this book much better the second time!

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the trilogy 90's, this was my favorite!

It's bound to the real world with a bit of mysticism thrown in the way most Lara Croft adventures seem to end up. The author did a wonderful job of staying true to the character. I also greatly enjoyed the side characters.
Worth a read if you're a fan of TR.