Adventure Novel recommendations

Stephen Jared

New member
I may have posted about this once before. Forgive my old age. 44 now!

Anyway, I couldn't resist a couple mentionings: The Lost City of Z is fantastic if anyone hasn't read it. The original Lost World is great, I agree. Lost City of Z details much of the life of Percy Fawcett. I know, he's a character from an Indy novel! He also (I'm sure many of you know this) was one of the biggest inspirations on Conan Doyle's The Lost World. Doyle knew him and used to sit in on his lectures at the Royal Geographic Society and that's how his imagination was sparked for a South American adventure into the unknown.

I see no one mentioned King of the Khyber Rifles. Great great book, and totally different from both films based on the book.

Also, lately I've been reading the Ian Fleming James Bond novels and they're just terrific. I had never read any of them. Had no idea what I was missing. I know, you might call them spy novels rather than adventures, but they're adventures to me.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Stephen Jared said:
I see no one mentioned King of the Khyber Rifles. Great great book, and totally different from both films based on the book.
Nice to see you posting again, Stephen.:hat:

Yeah, "King of the Khyber Rifles"!(y) Talbot Mundy's novels have been mentioned before here at The Raven. Particularily, in these 2 threads (which would benefit from a thread merge):

Quality Adventure Novels
Book Classics: H. Ryder Haggard and Crichton

Talbot Mundy wasn't mentioned here but it's essentially the same topic:
If You Like Indiana Jones, You Might Like...

There's also this short-lived, 'adventure book' thread: Real Life Adventure

P.S. There is a thread here about the recent "Lost City of Z" book.
 
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Indy Scout 117

New member
ok i've got a question for yall. do you know of any good steampunk fiction books?? ive read the Ghost books (Ghosts of Manhattan and Ghosts of War), and i am really into steampunk. in fact, im writing a book about steampunk. but do any of you read that kind of fiction? if so, i'd love to know what you've read!! :hat:
 

The Drifter

New member
Indy Scout 117 said:
ok i've got a question for yall. do you know of any good steampunk fiction books?? ive read the Ghost books (Ghosts of Manhattan and Ghosts of War), and i am really into steampunk. in fact, im writing a book about steampunk. but do any of you read that kind of fiction? if so, i'd love to know what you've read!! :hat:

Wasn't Wild, Wild West a novel with steampunk and western elements?
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
The Drifter said:
Wasn't Wild, Wild West a novel with steampunk and western elements?

My understanding is that it was just a tv show and a movie, although I could be wrong.

Indy Scout 117 said:
ok i've got a question for yall. do you know of any good steampunk fiction books?? ive read the Ghost books (Ghosts of Manhattan and Ghosts of War), and i am really into steampunk. in fact, im writing a book about steampunk. but do any of you read that kind of fiction? if so, i'd love to know what you've read!!

Apart from the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novels, there's obviously the pre-steampunk works of science fiction from which steampunk is derived. You've done the Verne & Wells classics?

As an aside, the film version of Verne's submarine adventure was released 57 years ago today.

Also, there's a blog that may be of interest.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
Indy Scout 117 said:
ok i've got a question for yall. do you know of any good steampunk fiction books??

The Leviathan Trilogy by Westerfield & Thompson fits both of those bills, steampunk & adventure. It has pretty pictures too. You might fancy the works of Cherie Priest as well.

Take in the dulcet tones of Abney Park too.

The original pulps are rarely mentioned around here and I wanted to mention a couple that are well worth anyone's time. G-8 and his Battle Aces details the heroic exploits of the World War I aviator and spy G-8!

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The Yanks and English knew him as ?The Red Falcon.? The French call him ?L? Faucon Rouge.? The Germans curse him as ?Verdamnt Der Rot Falker.? Unjustly wanted for a firing squad on his own side of the lines??Facing death from the Germans on the other! He is a man abandoned by his own country, but still willing to die for it! Along with his aide, the great African warrior Sika, The Red Falcon fights WWI on his own terms.

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adventure_al

New member
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Just finished this. Thoroughly enjoyed it! Coincidently it was the first in a series. I plan to read them all. Would definately recommend giving it a go. (y)
 

adventure_al

New member
adventure_al said:
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Just finished this. Thoroughly enjoyed it! Coincidently it was the first in a series. I plan to read them all. Would definately recommend giving it a go. (y)

So good I went straight on to the next one from the local library! So much better than the somewhat lame titles suggest. Some one read them so we can talk about how awesome they are!!!

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My other recent read was sandwich in between the Andy McDermott ones. I played it safe with good old Clive Cussler... while he usually sticks to tried and tested lay outs but this is definately one of his better ones!

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Plaristes

New member
I guess these wouldn't technically count as "adventure novels" (one reviewer called them "theological thrillers"), but I recommend Paul Maier's trilogy of A Skeleton in God's Closet, More Than a Skeleton, and The Constantine Codex. I really enjoyed them, and I don't see why Indy fans wouldn't also, since they include lots of archaeology, suspense, mystery, etc. The main character is Dr. Jonathan Weber, a Harvard professor of biblical studies. The first book revolves around the apparent discovery of Jesus' bones in a grave in Israel and the third focuses on the discovery of a lost book from the New Testament.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
The Road to Samarcand by Patrick O'Brian.

Yes, the title is spelled correctly. I was at my local bookseller earlier today looking for something else, when I came across this...

...story [that] begins where Patrick O'Brian's devoted fans would want it to, with a sloop in the South China Sea barely surviving a killer typhoon. But the time is the 1930s, and the protagonist a teenaged American boy whose missionary parents have just died. In the company of his rough seafaring uncle and an elderly English cousin, an eminent archaeologist, Derrick sets off in search of ancient treasures in central Asia.Along the way they encounter a charismatic Chinese bandit and a host of bad characters, including Russian agents fomenting unrest.

If you haven't heard of it, don't be surprised. Originally written in 1954, it wasn't published until after Mr. O'Brian's death in 2000. While I'm only a couple of pages in, it definitely shows much promise.
 

adventure_al

New member
Le Saboteur said:
The Road to Samarcand by Patrick O'Brian.

Yes, the title is spelled correctly. I was at my local bookseller earlier today looking for something else, when I came across this...



If you haven't heard of it, don't be surprised. Originally written in 1954, it wasn't published until after Mr. O'Brian's death in 2000. While I'm only a couple of pages in, it definitely shows much promise.

Sounds good. i'll try look it up. (y)

Currently rattling through some Indy novels. Most recently 'the philosophers stone'.

Ordered Antarktos Rising as well. No idea if any good yet but sounds interesting.

THE WORLD RACES TO CLAIM A NEW CONTINENT...

A phenomenon known as crustal displacement shifts the Earth's crust, repositioning continents and causing countless deaths. In the wake of the global catastrophe, the world struggles to take care of its displaced billions. But Antarctica, freshly thawed and blooming, has emerged as a new hope. Rather than wage a world war no nation can endure, the leading nations devise a competition, a race to the center of Antarctica, with the three victors dividing the continent.

It is within this race that Mirabelle Whitney, one of the few surviving experts on the continent, grouped with an American special forces unit, finds herself. But the dangers awaiting the team are far worse than feared; beyond the sour history of a torn family, beyond the nefarious intentions of their human enemies, beyond the ancient creatures reborn through anhydrobiosis--there are the Nephilim.

It mentions the Nephilim so thats enough incentive for me to give it a bash!
 

WilliamBoyd8

Active member
I just finished reading The Road to Samarcand by Patrick O'Brian.

It is a pretty good book but just pretty good.

Young American boy (12-14 years old?) and two hard-boiled sailors land in China, meet the boy's uncle, and head for Samarcand.

The uncle is a prominent archeologist but is nothing like Indiana Jones, more of an absent-minded professor.

The time period setting is not stated in the book, the cover says the 1930's, but a late-1940's invention shows up.

The first part of the story is set on a boat, so there is lots of nautical talk, as one might expect from the author of the Captain Aubrey British Navy books.

Most of the story takes place in rural China, the group travels with Mongols and Chinese war-lord armies.

The last part of the book is set in Tibet, not the Tibet of Lost Horizon, but a much more violent place.

There are no women in this book.

:)
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
WilliamBoyd8 said:
I just finished reading The Road to Samarcand by Patrick O'Brian.

I have been gradually assembling the complete Aubrey-Maturin series over the past few months. Often referred to by the first title in the cycle, the Master & Commander cycle was a series of 20-novels featuring the naval exploits of Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey throughout the Napoleonic Era. Good reading for those of you who can absorb a bevy of period detail. The lifelong debate between the twin leads underscores the duality of man.

While picking up the ninth & tenth book in the series, I found a copy of another one of O'Brian's unknown works, Hussein. From the description, it should be right up our regular's alley!

Book Jacket said:
As a boy, Hussein falls in love with a beautiful and elusive girl, Sashiya, and arranges for another of her suitors to be murdered with a fakir's curse. The dead man's relatives vow vengeance. Hussein escapes and his adventures begin: snake-charming, sword-fighting, spying, stealing a fortune, and returning triumphantly to claim his bride. All of this is set against an evocatively exotic India, full of bazaars, temples, and beautiful women despite the fact that O'Brian had never been to the East when he wrote the story

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Finn

Moderator
Staff member
O'Brian had never been to the East when he wrote the story
As much becomes evident simply by reading that description. So much cultural clichés packed together, and very likely a common misconception or two as well.

For the record though, this was not a complaint but merely an observation. Those are, after all, very often the norm when creating some pulpy, adventurous fun. All the more power to those who can avoid said pitfalls, but a lot of jolly fun stories would have been untold as well, had the author not taken a bunch of liberties.

Still, worth noting, considering they're rarely made this evident in what is supposed to be the pitch.
 

otto rahn

New member
Two more authors that you might like to try are Will Adams ("The Alexander Cipher", "The Exodus Quest", "the Lost Labyrinth") and James Rollins ("Map Of Bones", "Subterranean" etc) (There are several more of his, but I won't list them all here). If your taste runs to genuine "pulp era" adventure novels (written in the 1920's) then you might try Talbot Mundy's "Jimgrim" novels.
 

otto rahn

New member
adventure_al said:
Recently looking for authors of adventure books in addition to Clive Cussler to pad out my reading material.

James Rollins sounds interesting, he was involved with KOTCS. He contributed the good bits before Lucas botched it up with his nonsense (i'd imagine! :p)

Anyone read his books? Excavation and Sandstorm sound particularly good.

Also Matthew Reilly is well known for his fast paced adventure novels. As an aside he also own the actual golden idol prop from Raiders.

Seven Ancient Wonders feat. Jack West looks good. Can anyone confirm?

Also if this sounds good I'd strongly recommend Cussler's 'Inca Gold' and 'Serpent'.
Geez I didn't even read your first post properly ! I.ve only read "Subterranean" so far, but I enjoyed it.:eek:
 
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