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.