punisher5150
Member
Mystery of Mt Sinai thoughts
OK, I finished the second young reader novel yesterday, but was too tired to post. Here are my thoughts on that one:
This one felt a little more like a young reader novel to me for some reason. Perhaps it was the cartoonish villain, which I was really looking forward to (mechanical arm Nazi on the cover). The PG-rated violence was still there. I definitely think this one hit its mark for the target audience. This was a fun read, and I think I liked it better than Pyramid of the Sorcerer, which I also enjoyed, but Mt. Sinai had a few problems that stick out.
**Possible Spoilers ahead**
The story is set just a couple of days after Pyramid of the Sorcerer. Indy is in full cooperation with Col Musgrove and Army Intel now. The set-up to the story is one of the areas I felt was a problem. Army Intel has lost sight of what the Nazis are doing and have no idea where to go now, and neither does Indy. So Musgrove simply tells Indy to follow his gut. Out of the blue he decides to follow in his old mentor Prof Oxley's footsteps because Ox had made connections between the design of the Mayan pyramids and the Egyptian pyramids. This set-up seemed a little convenient to me, but it is a young reader book so I gave it a pass. Anyway, Indy travels to a Mayan pyramid and finds a secret chamber that has some Egyptian and Mayan heiroglyphics intertwined. He seeks out the help of his dad, who gives him clues on how to translate them. The scene with Henry Sr was humorous, as Indy has brought along Bert, the female pilot from the first book. Needless to say Henry thinks more is going on between Indy and Bert and it leads to some humorous dialogue. Henry tells Indy his answers are locked away in Vatican City, which is in Italy. This poses a problem as Italy has sided with Nazi Germany in the war.
The scenes in the Vatican are original, but Indy's way of getting into the secret Vatican vault was a little too easy, considering it is a library that no one is supposed to know is there. Once again, like the setup, the library scene was a little too "convenient". But it was still fast paced and exciting.
As Indy escapes from Vatican City we are introduced to the villain. Very cool SS officer with a mechanical arm. This is very cartoonish, but I am sure was a homage to the original design of Toht from Raiders. However, my main problem with the book as an adult reader was that the villain's dialogue was way over the top and cartoonish. He always introduced himself using a string of titles and stating the medals he had won as a for Germany. But I can overlook this, as the book was intended for young readers. I just don't like comedy relief in a villain. I like menacing traits. Anyway, they end up in Egypt at Mt Sinai looking for a secret temple. I won't spoil the ending. I enjoyed it very much, as it hinted on some Babylonian mythology. It did stray into Graham Hancock/Zecharia Sitchin territory, but not too heavily.
All in all I liked this book. My biggest complaint was that along the way Indy and Bert picked up two stray kids in Italy that served absolutely no purpose in the story. I thought they might come in toward the end, but not really. They were used by the villain, but Bert was also in that position so I am not sure why the author had them in the story unless they play a part in a later book in the series. There are hints of another book. At the end Musgrove tells Indy they are going to lay off the Nazis for awhile as Japan has been tinkering in some occult activities, so Indy's next assignment was to head to the Land of the Rising Sun.
OK, I finished the second young reader novel yesterday, but was too tired to post. Here are my thoughts on that one:
This one felt a little more like a young reader novel to me for some reason. Perhaps it was the cartoonish villain, which I was really looking forward to (mechanical arm Nazi on the cover). The PG-rated violence was still there. I definitely think this one hit its mark for the target audience. This was a fun read, and I think I liked it better than Pyramid of the Sorcerer, which I also enjoyed, but Mt. Sinai had a few problems that stick out.
**Possible Spoilers ahead**
The story is set just a couple of days after Pyramid of the Sorcerer. Indy is in full cooperation with Col Musgrove and Army Intel now. The set-up to the story is one of the areas I felt was a problem. Army Intel has lost sight of what the Nazis are doing and have no idea where to go now, and neither does Indy. So Musgrove simply tells Indy to follow his gut. Out of the blue he decides to follow in his old mentor Prof Oxley's footsteps because Ox had made connections between the design of the Mayan pyramids and the Egyptian pyramids. This set-up seemed a little convenient to me, but it is a young reader book so I gave it a pass. Anyway, Indy travels to a Mayan pyramid and finds a secret chamber that has some Egyptian and Mayan heiroglyphics intertwined. He seeks out the help of his dad, who gives him clues on how to translate them. The scene with Henry Sr was humorous, as Indy has brought along Bert, the female pilot from the first book. Needless to say Henry thinks more is going on between Indy and Bert and it leads to some humorous dialogue. Henry tells Indy his answers are locked away in Vatican City, which is in Italy. This poses a problem as Italy has sided with Nazi Germany in the war.
The scenes in the Vatican are original, but Indy's way of getting into the secret Vatican vault was a little too easy, considering it is a library that no one is supposed to know is there. Once again, like the setup, the library scene was a little too "convenient". But it was still fast paced and exciting.
As Indy escapes from Vatican City we are introduced to the villain. Very cool SS officer with a mechanical arm. This is very cartoonish, but I am sure was a homage to the original design of Toht from Raiders. However, my main problem with the book as an adult reader was that the villain's dialogue was way over the top and cartoonish. He always introduced himself using a string of titles and stating the medals he had won as a for Germany. But I can overlook this, as the book was intended for young readers. I just don't like comedy relief in a villain. I like menacing traits. Anyway, they end up in Egypt at Mt Sinai looking for a secret temple. I won't spoil the ending. I enjoyed it very much, as it hinted on some Babylonian mythology. It did stray into Graham Hancock/Zecharia Sitchin territory, but not too heavily.
All in all I liked this book. My biggest complaint was that along the way Indy and Bert picked up two stray kids in Italy that served absolutely no purpose in the story. I thought they might come in toward the end, but not really. They were used by the villain, but Bert was also in that position so I am not sure why the author had them in the story unless they play a part in a later book in the series. There are hints of another book. At the end Musgrove tells Indy they are going to lay off the Nazis for awhile as Japan has been tinkering in some occult activities, so Indy's next assignment was to head to the Land of the Rising Sun.