What is the Best 90's Indy novel?

LawgSkrak

Member
I'm reading Interior World for the first time (Had the book since it came out, but somehow skipped reading it :confused: ), and I'm enjoying it so far. I'm about halfway through.
 

HovitosKing

Well-known member
I probably mentioned this before, but I really liked the books by Max McCoy, especially Secret of the Sphinx. He really did a nice job focusing on the environments...such as tombs, catacombs, etc., really brought those tricky dungeon labyrinths to life for Indy. Also he had Sallah in his stories.
 

Indy Scout 117

New member
hmm i am definitely going to go with Philosopher's Stone because it is a lot like Raiders in a few ways. it was just an amazing adventure that you couldnt stop reading. a few of the other books were like that too, like Hollow Earth, Secret of the Sphinx, and a few others. dont get me wrong, all of them were great. i think that Seven veils was the worst one, but it still wasnt terrible. but i'd say Max McCoy is the best Indy author of them all (y)
 
A bit lost with the novels...

So Ive read all the comics and all that but was thinking on starting out with the novel world. I already have the movie novelizations, so which ones would u recommend, which ones are the most popular, where can i find a list with all the novels published??

Thanks in advance,

LJ

Ps. I would really be interested in the french novels as ive heard some were published only in this language and im learning it right now, if anyone could give me the list would be great.
 

Violet

Moderator Emeritus
THREADS MERGED.

Ok, LJ, I think a great place to start would be to have a look around this thread.

There are a number of threads on the novels (the vast majority released in the 90s).

But the following would be what I recommend to read for homework:

http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=5425 - General novel thread
http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=19331 - Army of the Dead novel review.
http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=5858 - Rob McGregor
http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=5871 - Max McCoy


In terms of French stuff:

http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=18283 - Very good place to start, the Grimoire Maudit thread.
 
Violet said:
THREADS MERGED.

Ok, LJ, I think a great place to start would be to have a look around this thread.

There are a number of threads on the novels (the vast majority released in the 90s).

But the following would be what I recommend to read for homework:

http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=5425 - General novel thread
http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=19331 - Army of the Dead novel review.
http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=5858 - Rob McGregor
http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=5871 - Max McCoy


In terms of French stuff:

http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=18283 - Very good place to start, the Grimoire Maudit thread.

Thanks a lot for the quick and effective reply :)

Regards,

LJ
 
Just got the 12 main Adult novels + army of dead off Amazon at a great price. Hopefully theyll be worth the read and if not as collectibles they shall remain (like yoda would say)

Thx again for the info,

LJ
 

InexorableTash

Active member
It is good to know that two of the three original Indy novels I've read are those with no votes... 'cause they were *terrible*, and made me despair of ever reading a decent one.

I do wish I had the time to frequent used bookstores for cheap bargains like I did when I was in college. I can't wait for the publishers to get with the 21st Century and dump their entire back catalogs into ebook format, charging a pittance for books like these and making back the investment in volume.
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
InexorableTash said:
It is good to know that two of the three original Indy novels I've read are those with no votes... 'cause they were *terrible*, and made me despair of ever reading a decent one.

Unicorn's Legacy is a little more interesting when read in sequence. It feels a bit like an interlude between grander chapters.

And Sky Pirates...eh, most of what's good in Sky Pirates is Indy's band of associates. Not awful, but not Indy either.
 

Caidanbi

New member
I enjoy reading all of them! Sky Pirates and White Witch are my least favorite, but I still read them once in a while, parts of them are good. The others I really like a lot ^-^ Secret of the Sphinx was really cool, and I also like Genesis Deluge a lot. I so wish they would release them all as ebooks already!!!
 

Marshall2288

New member
I'm a big reader. I'm also kind of a timeline and plot "Nazi". I like to know EVERYTHING going on that the reader is supposed to know. I also like reading things in order or at least the order they were intended to be read in. That being said, after knocking out all the Game Of Thrones books, Black hawk Down, American Sniper ext books and all Michael Connelly "whodunit" books I need something to read. I made the mistake of checking Amazon and reading reviews some of which were not appealing. So....where to start?
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Looks like we lost the poll from the thread formerly known as #16435, here's where it last stood, from the Google cache...

Peril At Delphi - 6
Dance of the Giants - 6
Seven Veils - 2
Genesis Deluge - 5
Unicorn's Legacy - 0
Interior World - 3
Sky Pirates - 0
White Witch - 1
Philosopher's Stone - 16
Dinosaur Eggs - 8
Hollow Earth - 8
Secret Of The Sphinx - 11
 

InexorableTash

Active member
InexorableTash said:
It is good to know that two of the three original Indy novels I've read are those with no votes... 'cause they were *terrible*, and made me despair of ever reading a decent one.

So... based on this thread I ordered dirt cheap copies of the top four poll winners on Amazon:

Philosopher's Stone
Army of the Dead
Secret of the Sphinx - library discard
Dinosaur Eggs - signed by the author, it turns out

Not knowing any better, I read them in the above order. (Tip to others: the 4 Max McCoy books do have a plot arc!). I think I got each book for under a dollar, not counting shipping.

Overall, much better than Sky Pirates and Unicorn's Legacy. I do think Peril at Delphi ranks up there, but it tries too hard to be an "origin story" for my taste.

Army of the Dead was IMHO the most well written, with a good mix of action, character development, and overall structure. It's main problem was that the overall structure of the book is a simple chase and the cuts between parties involved in the chase to check in and ensure that yes, the chase is still going on, gets a little boring after a few iterations. Indy also doesn't do much in the story, but at least he is characterized well. The novel also dives into the action from the start, but without the "teaser" adventure to kick things off. While that's refreshing, I think it does make some of the rest of the novel seem like padding.

Reading those four in a bunch, the trope of Indy losing his identification and needing to wire Marcus for money gets tiring. :p
 

IndyBr

Member
Just don't stop reading when you get to the Caidin novels, they're not very good, but what comes after makes up for it. :D
 

fixer79

New member
Interesting thread :)

My girlfriend and I have both read all of the Indiana Jones novels minus the Caidin books.
I tried to read Caidin's Sky Pirates twice but stranded every time. Never finished it. Awfully mediocre compared to what McCoy and MacGregor did with Indy. Probably a decent adventure book, just not an Indy story. Maybe I should give White Witch a chance one day.
Army of the Dead was OK, but not quite as good as the old ones.

My personal favourites are the ones written by Rob MacGregor. He really gets Indy. Each and every one of his Indy books would've made a fine movie. Plus, it shows that he went to great lenghts to research the subjects he wrote about in his Indy books.

Still think it's a darn shame his finished Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings book never got published. Would've loved to read it... :(
 
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