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Dan Abnett

Lara Croft and the Blade of Gwynnever (Tomb Raider 2) Paperback – 26 Jul 2016

by Dan Abnett (Author)

6 customer reviews

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This stand-alone novel is an all new Lara Croft adventure filled with ancient secrets, supernatural powers, archaeological mysteries, and high-powered action.

Facing threats from multiple fronts, Lara hunts legendary artifacts around the world in an effort to solve a mystery and avert disaster.

Straddling the line between factual history and fantastical extrapolation, the intense and action-packed tale weaves together the modern and ancient worlds.

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Product details

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Prima Games; 01 edition (10 Oct. 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1465441417
ISBN-13: 978-1465441416
Product Dimensions: 14 x 2.2 x 21 cm
Average Customer Review: 6 customer reviews
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 522,306 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2558 in TV, Movie, Video Game Adaptions
- #2733 in Film & Television Tie-In
- #2947 in TV, Movie, Game Adaptations

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Product description

About the Author

Dan Abnett is a multiple New York Times bestselling author and an award-winning comic book writer. He has written more than forty-five novels. In comics, he is known for his work on the Guardians of the Galaxy for Marvel and The New Deadwardians for Vertigo. Dan is published in well over a dozen languages and has sold millions of books worldwide.

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6 customer reviews

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Matthew L.

Cheesy, campy fun

1 September 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I bought this on a whim after finishing Tomb Raider Underworld for the millionth time, mostly due to Dan Abnett’s name on the cover as I have previously enjoyed his other work, and because the ebook was pretty cheap.

If you’re looking for a classical epic this is not the book for you, but it perfectly captures the cheesy, camp and at times ridiculous tone of the franchise, in a neat and easy to read manner.

In summary, if you’re looking for something over the top, light and fun to read for a few hours, pick it up, otherwise look elsewhere.

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Frances Kemp

Four Stars

16 February 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Ideal for Lara croft fans

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chris

Yawn.

18 July 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Instantly forgettable. Not sure what I was expecting. Just reads like a synopsis of one of her adventures. Thought it might have more substance,

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emma reeves

Five Stars

14 August 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

A very good read for any tomb raider fan

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Aisha Heine

Keep on reading

15 November 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Lara Croft is just great. My daughter can hardly put down the book when she starts reading it.

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Swordswench

Unnngggghhhh.

1 December 2017

Format: Kindle Edition

Apologies for the subject heading, but there's just no textual version of the heavy, regret-laden sigh that this book inspired from me. Below, I have copy-typed Crystal Dynamics' (CD) intro which, upon reading, caused me to erupt in laughter and speculate what drugs their management team must be on, because whilst Blade of Gwynnever was an improvement on Ten-Thousand Immortals (hereinafter referred to as TTI), it still came across as a lazy, write-for-hire book written by people who have no understanding of or love for the character.

"When given the opportunity to work with Dan and Nik a second time, we jumped at the chance. Their work on Tomb Raider: The Ten Thousand Immortals demonstrated their understanding of our beloved character, and a dedication to faithfully representing Lara in novel form. We knew they possessed a desire to craft a pitch-perfect story. [...] we asked them to shift gears and deliver a nostalgic Lara Croft experience - one that would transport fans to multiple locations around the world, and was filled with high-spirited action, intrigue, and otherworldly forces. At the helm: the dual-pistol-wielding, confident Lara Croft who has a quip for every dangerous situation. Writing a novel like this would warrant a different style and tone. More importantly, it required a deep understanding of the traits that make the two versions of Lara distinct, as well as the core character qualities they share."

So let's take a look at these points:

"When given the opportunity to work with Dan and Nik a second time, we jumped at the chance". Why? Take a look at the vast majority of reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. Abnet and Vincent's last effort was so poor, I find it odd that CD continued to use them.

"Their work on TTI demonstrated their understanding of our beloved character" - No it didn't. It was an atrociously written book which managed to make Lara the dullest character I've ever read (and given that I also read 50 Shades of Grey this year, that's quite a feat). They delivered a dumb, panic-stricken Lara, stripped of her athleticism, her sense of humour, her wits, her attitude, her bravery - in short, all of her defining characteristics - and was utterly removed from the awesome original character. And Lara is "beloved" is she? Because CD seem to be completely desperate to obliterate everything that made her great.

"We knew they possessed a desire to craft a pitch-perfect story". Really? Because they didn't manage to achieve that at all.

"We asked them to deliver a nostalgic Lara Croft experience". Finally admitting that the majority like your old Lara better CD? It's about time.

"... filled with high-spirited action, intrigue and otherworldly forces". Yep, I'd agree that it at least delivered on this. There were some nice action scenes, an interesting Macguffin, a worthy opponent in Florence Race, and although the end of Blade of Gwynnever (BoG - hee hee!) descended into a bit a bit of an incoherent mess where Lara trips out for a whole chapter, it was fairly enjoyable up until then.

"At the helm: the dual-pistol-wielding, confident Lara Croft who has a quip for every dangerous situation". Her quips were non-existent. This Lara was completely dour with a sideline in misogyny via her jarring comment about how "strong women are always man haters". WTF? If I'd been buying for one second that this was the Lara Croft I'd admired for 20 years, that throwaway line alone would have changed my mind.

"Writing a novel like this would warrant a different style and tone". Or at least some talent for writing perhaps?

"More importantly it required a deep understanding of the traits that make the two versions of Lara distinct, as well as the core character qualities they share." See the first point, the authors didn't. But nice that CD have finally admitted that there are two versions of Lara and that bizarrely it appears to have been an actual commercial decision to totally change a successful, well-loved character to something completely anodyne. Not that I was buying the "oh but she's young and inexperienced!" excuse anyway.

So onto BoG which is an improvement on TTI, although that book was such a turd that this really isn't much of a compliment. BoG has an interesting plot, nice locations (I liked all the underground stuff), quirky side characters that actually have a point to the story and some cracking action scenes. They've tidied up the layout this time round so there's none of that annoying sudden shift of perspective and scene that dogged TTI, but I have to be honest and say that the writing is still not that engaging, and they still really don't seem to have got the character of Lara Croft right. She brave and tenacious here, but where's her humour? Her cockiness? Her arrogance? She's just so dour. And that, to me anyway, is NOT the Lara Croft I've loved. While the story is interesting enough it sags towards the end and some of the action becomes confused - it took a concerted effort to discern between Trinity soldiers and Section 13 soldiers because I found my attention wandering and I was slipping into skim-reading through the boring bits. A better editor (or writer) might have tightened it up a bit more. Someone recommended Vincent's latest sci-fi novel to me, and I rejected it purely on the quality of these two books. I have no desire to ever read anything else by these authors and I'm only reading these Tomb Raider books because of my great love for the character and her world. Whilst BoG is better, it's still not as good as Lara Croft deserves and I can't help but feel that there are so many better authors that would do this character justice. Please CD please! I'm imagining what Kim Wilkins or Angela Slatter could have done with this material. Look at some of the Tor novellas - many of their up-and-coming genre writers are amazing. I'm begging you to put some real thought into your Tomb Raider/Lara Croft property (although I concede Rise was great)! The ingredients are there - great protagonist, mysterious macguffins, exotic locations - and yet nobody seems to be able to put them together. It's a mystery that even Lara Croft wouldn't be able to solve.

So, although it has its good points and is a huge improvement on the last book, I can only recommend this book for die-hard Lara and Tomb Raider fans who are still desperately longing for media that does this incredible character and world justice. And they should prepare to be fairly disappointed. Again.

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