Wanderlust Challenges discussion

September/October Group Read
The Lost City of the Condor by Loretta Jackson & Vickie Britton

Everyone is invited to join us in our Group Read for September and October.

**Please use spoilers when posting your comments.



While traveling on a local bus in Chinchero, Peru, Arla is approached by a mysterious female peddler who shows her a small, silver warrior. The statue is identical to those found only in rare Inca tombs located high in the Andes. Arla suspects this is a genuine artifact, perhaps stolen from the same Capacocha burial site her co-worker, Lance Hayden, is seeking. When the woman tells her she has many more items for sale, Arla follows her to an abandoned house. Too late, Arla realizes she has fallen into a trap!

Arla gets kidnapped by a group of ruthless thieves who are holding Lance Hayden hostage. They believe Arla's in possession of a journal, which is the final link to the Lost City and the secret it holds. A race against time takes Arla to a snowy mountain peak and a clash with the looters for the most priceless treasure of all - the golden condor!

A new group read is coming up!! Hope you will join me in reading this. An it's going to great with our new Seasonal Challenge :)

I got this as a Kindle book but I'm not exactly sure when I'll start reading - maybe the second week of September. Looking forward to it!

I'm looking forward to it too Denise! Glad you will be joining me.

I'm reading too many books at once so this will be slow at first.

Chapter 1
(view spoiler)[ A purported mysterious Lost City in Cuzco, Peru, an assistant dean at Chicago University's Archeology Dept., Dr. Arla Vaughn called to the Chicago hospital bedside of an archeologist, victim of a hit-and-run which looks like attempted murder; his colleague, Lance, in Cuzco can't be found; the archeologist's dying plea for Arla to go to Cuzco and find the Lost City.

So them's the elements. (hide spoiler)]

I'm so glad you started this Denise! I should be able to get it started within the next couple days.

Chapter 2
(view spoiler)[ Arla heads right into Peru. I find it hard to imagine she would do this because she has just left a man who she thinks was murdered over something about a Lost City in Cuzco Peru, then she can't find her colleague, Lance, who is already supposed to be there. To walk in on this seems dangerous to me. There is a good description of the bus ride in Cuzco and an annoying extrovert one always finds while traveling. Sure enough the set up is there - she is kidnapped and tied up. Just too predictable. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 3
(view spoiler)[ Arla is taken to a room and tied up and interrogated about a journal that belonged to Lance which describes where The Lost City is. But, Arla doesn't speak and gets hit and threatened. While the kidnappers confer outside, she figures out a way to undo the ropes around her hands but just as she gets one loose.....the kidnappers return! (hide spoiler)]

I'm starting this tonight!! I will pop in tomorrow with some comments.

Chapters 1-2 (view spoiler)[ There wasn't quite enough set up for this before we were plunged into everything. And I agree wit Denise that Arla running off to Peru without thinking it through was a little foolish. I know she is worried about her colleague Lance and made a "death bed" promise but going alone was kind of stupid. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 4 (view spoiler)[ No, the kidnappers did not return! It is the annoying extrovert from the bus, the photographer Ryan Evans who saw something he thought suspicious so followed her and eventually found her. He helps her escape just in the nick of time - for now the kidnappers have come back but Ryan and Arla have escaped. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 5 (view spoiler)[ Ryan drives Arla to the police station and tells her he will be back to take her to Cuzco - but does she stay safe? No off she goes to try to get the journal from Donna Sebastien - exactly the thing she was doing when she was kidnapped. Sebastien's house has been ransacked. As Arla leaves the house she comes upon the body of a woman who resembles the peddlar who had lured her to the kidnappers. Arla gets the police. She learns it is the body of Donna Sebastien who is dressed in traditional dress as was the peddlar. The plot thickens as the police officer, not believing Arla's story calls for the National Police (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 6 -7(view spoiler)[ Lopez, the National Policeman arrives after a long wait while Arla has been getting anxious about Ryan's return - he should have returned long ago. Lopez indicates she is a suspect and doesn't buy her story. I probably wouldn't buy her story either. Lopez shows her a story about a hoax that follows the same lines of her story and accuses her of copying the story of the hoax and believes she is part of a plot to steal artifacts. Ryan is found near the truck he had used which has now broken down and is being held in custody, under suspicion for being part of Arla's "hoax." Arla calls the University of Cuzco to send someone to help her - a man named Zell Marsano appears in that role. He knows Lance, is familiar with his search for the Lost City and surprises Arla by telling her he has called in a favor and she is free to go. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 8 (view spoiler)[ once again there is a swift change of action with Arla going to the Univeresity of Cuzco to meet with the man who works with Lance, Luis Corrientes. (note: this author is not very good with transitions - how did Arla get from the police station to the university? is it the next day? where did Zell Mansaro go?) Luis is rather hostile to Arla based on Lance's behavior - he had taken off some time ago without permission to use one of their Jeeps and has not been heard of since. When Arla tells Luis about Langston's death, he is deeply concerned the author tells us not for the members of his department but for himself. (note: how could anyone tell that - another leap) Arla is suspicoius about the department's possible collusion with looting. So, they are both suspicioius of each other.

Arla searches Lance's office. She comes upon a meeting of Luis, Zell and a couple other department people and feels hostility from all of them. Cutting through all this she convinces them to start a search for Lance. I am having a hard time, what with all these leaps and assumptions, keeping interested in this book (hide spoiler)]

Chapters 3-5: (view spoiler)[ She is rescued by Ryan which is pretty unbelievable. And yes, she trots off AGAIN on her own and runs into more trouble. It looks like Donna's place has been ransacked and she has been killed - wondering where the journal is?

I had higher hopes for this. So far it's pretty bad ... sorry :( (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 9-14

(view spoiler)[ Ryan coincidentally becomes a documentary director for the Archeology Dept. at U of Cuzco where Arla is working. Arla goes to Lance’s apartment only to discover it has been ransacked and everything had been opened and searched through. There she coincidentally meets Zell Marsano’s daughter, Maria who is a graduate student in archeology who studies with Lance, had noticed a light on and had come to check the apartment.

The author does a fairly nice description of part of Cuzco but there continues to be problems with transitions from chapter to chapter which is distracting.

Luis takes Arla up in a helicopter to search for Lance and there is a nice description of the surrounding mountains and terraces. There is some innuendo by Maria that the Department of Archeology is not what it seems to be with regard to Lance. I found this innuendo a bit confusing. I had to laugh when Zell is telling Arla about Maria being rebellious and Arla provides a non sequiter that often young people get tattoos as a form of rebellion – where did that come from?

Lopez takes Arla for a ride not telling her what it is about. He takes her to the site of Lance’s jeep which is bullet ridden and the driver’s seat is bloody. Lopez says he is trying to shock her into realizing what she is facing.

I enjoy reading about Incan symbolism which the author provides through the character Korena, a native Incan and expert on weaving for the Archeology Dept.

Ryan is a confusing character, well, actually I find them all a bit confusing, and I’m suspicious of his motives for being so helpful to Arla and protective of her. Its very suspicious especially when Arla “has no reason to distrust Ryan.” Then, in the next section she calls her friend cop Glen in Chicago and asks him to run a background check on Ryan “not trusting Ryan anymore than she did the rest of them.” Which is good maybe she should think of getting some security for herself.
Luis explains Incan mythology about the condor who dwells in both the material world and the spiritual world and is an intermediary from the gods. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 15-18

(view spoiler)[ Luis and Arla decide to search for the plane that crashed years ago piloted by Carl, as a clue to where the Lost City is and possibly anything to do with where Lance is. Arla still takes stupid chances with her life and escapes a shooting just in the nick of time. Its a miracle she survives these things.

The typos and spelling errors are getting distracting. The text isn't rife with them just enough to think "Editor!"

After finding the crashed plane and looking for the Lost City where they suspected it might be, Luis is frustrated and decides to cancel the entire project. (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 14: (view spoiler)[ I agree with Denise that the transitions from chapter to chapter are choppy and at times confusing. And so are the characters!

Zell - keeps telling Arla he will take care of things with Lopez yet Lopez thinks he is a scoundrel.
Lopez - can't decide if he really suspects Arla or is just playing with her to get information.
Maria - plays all young and vulnerable but is always hanging around watching and seems to be having a relationship with Ryan.
Ryan - I really don't trust him and think he and Maria were involved in the set up for Arla's kidnapping.

That tattoo comment Arla made to Zell was out of the blue though I think Arla is having suspicions about Maria being the woman on the bus. She commented that her voice was familiar and now is trying to find out if she has a tattoo. I think the author is trying to give us clues but is being awkward about it and doing a poor job.

Arla is all over the place for me - I don't particularly like her and she continues to make poor decisions.

I do think the author is doing a good job with her setting and sharing some cultural and Inca background. (hide spoiler)]

Jan
(view spoiler)[ You caught on to the tattoo thing faster than I did. It took me until she said something about Korena having a tattoo (which apparently she didn't) to get this thread about tattoos and the peddlar woman. I think we are in the same boat with regard to the book- I like the setting and some other descriptions about the Incan culture very much, but its choppy and needs a lot of editing. I can't warm up to Arla either. The basic story is good enough, and in a culture I don't read much about so I'll keep going:) (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 19-24
(view spoiler)[ So, Luis has called off the project searching for the Lost City of the Conor. Arla convinces her boss at her university to fund a search as they have to find Lance. Ryan, who I am suspicious of, is conveniently a helicopter pilot and insists on being involved with the project. Arla's casual attitude toward possible violence toward her leads to Ryan being shot (not fatal) and she is almost killed.

Maria gets a written message purportedly from Lance to tell Arla to meet him at a certain spot. Even though it is dangerous, she, of course, decides to go. It actually is Lance that meets her and tells her about the Lost City he found and how they cannot trust anyone. They are soon interrupted by Lopez but Lance gets away, Arla returns to Cuzco.

Arla discovers that Maria was the peddlar woman who lured her into the kidnapping. Gilberto hired Hector Savoy to assist with the kidnapping but Maria swears their object was to make sure the journal they thought she had leading to the Lost City would came into their keeping. (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 24: (view spoiler)[ After an altercation with Hector who is now dead, we find out Lance is alive. Arla goes off to meet him alone and Lopez shows up. Maria had called him "to protect" them.

We find out that Gilberto and Maria were involved in the kidnapping. And Arla learns from Vincent that there is a plane spotted looking for the site. They decide to make a move and try to locate the site since they now know where it is.

Arla goes to Luis to get his help and somehow everyone is involved and planning on joining the trip. This will prove to be interesting since nobody trusts each other at all.

This has gotten ridiculous and the only thing keeping me reading is all the Word Search words I'm finding....LOL. And I'm a little curious about seeing this "lost city". (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 24-30
(view spoiler)[ All the main characters, except Lopez and maybe one or two others, go on the trek to the Lost City of the Condor. Harrowing, freezing, dangerous -Arla, of course, takes dumb risks. None of the characters trust each other and its tense for them but somehow not for me. But I'm interested in the descriptions of the site and Incan lore. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 31 - End
(view spoiler)[ The burial ground is discovered and while they find a mummy of a girl none of the usual artifacts are found in her burial place nor is the golden condor. After more back and forth about suspicions and the usual it turns out Ryan is the son of the man, Carl Harver, who 20 years ago had seen this site from a helicopter but died in a crash. I had thought Gilberto would turn out to be the son, but forgot the son had been adopted by relatives in the States so was American, like Ryan. He had looted the grave and buried the artifacts nearby. Holding everyone at gunpoint, it seems he was going to kill them all then go back blaming someone else and saying he escaped. He shoots Maria. (Why her first????) Lance and Lopez come along to save the day. There is such a gap about Lance in this story it feels so incomplete. Maria survives and the final scene in the hospital seems abrupt and unsatisfactory.

As I said before I liked descriptions of Cuzco, the Incan symbolism, culture and lore but it was not well-written and cried out for a lot of editing. Giving it 2 stars cause its a mess. (hide spoiler)]

LOL...we are at exactly the same spot. I just finished Chapter 30 and am determined to finish this tonight.

(view spoiler)[ I'm enjoying the descriptions too. But I keep wondering how they come up with all the equipment they need. The parkas and snow boots, etc. Everywhere they go they have everything they need to tackle it. How did they plan ahead for all this??

Arla has found the spot of the tomb but a storm is coming so they return to camp only to find out that Zell has the journal. He says that he bought it from Hector but everyone is wondering if he might be behind the murders.

And I'm wondering where in darnation is Lance???? (hide spoiler)]

Finished this: (view spoiler)[ All in all, this was disappointing but I felt like I learned some things about the Incan culture so it was not a total loss. I suspected Ryan of being Carl's son before they went on the expedition so that wasn't a surprise.

I was surprised to see at the end of the ebook that this pair of authors have wrote 42 books!! This felt like a "first" book to me. They really needed a better editor for this one. I'm not sure I will be reading any others by them.

Giving it 2 stars for the learning factor. If that wasn't there it would have gotten 1 star. (hide spoiler)]

Jan wrote: "LOL...we are at exactly the same spot. I just finished Chapter 30 and am determined to finish this tonight.

That was me last night too - just finish it already! We thought the same about the book, too.

I just downloaded it! Have to finish a couple of others first.

Once you get to it, I hope you enjoy it Louise. To be honest it had its up and downs. But be sure to stop in and let us know how it goes.

I just discovered (view spoiler)[ this is the second book in a Pre-Columbian series featuring Arla Iforgotherlastname - so maybe her character is better explained in the first book. It doesn't look like there is a third book in the series. (hide spoiler)]

Oh...I didn't realize that. Good to know Denise...(view spoiler)[ though now I need to think about whether I really want to read the first one. (hide spoiler)]

Jan (view spoiler)[ I don't think I could bear it but maybe after a while I'll forget the pain and read another. (hide spoiler)]

I had to abandon this one. :-(

That doesn't surprise me Louise!! At least you tried...lol.

Jan wrote: "That doesn't surprise me Louise!! At least you tried...lol."
Ha, yes! I gave up when Arla was talking to the random cop about Ted Langston, without explaining who he was. Didn’t get too far really.

I wasn't encouraged when I couldn't find the book in my really large library system, but you shouldn't feel bad - this is a travel discussion group and you (both) learned a lot about Cuzco and Incan culture! I was to Peru, Cuzco, and Machu Picchu a few years ago - fabulous trip! I didn't find any lost cities though. Or condors. And I wasn't wild about Lima.

Not to mention it got a 4.29 rating on GR! Who wouldn't think it was a good book?

You are right Karen - I did learn something and the book did a good job of describing the area. I just wished it lived up to that rating...lol.