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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
This book became one of my favorite Dirk Pitt novels. This story centered on treasure hunting more than the other novels which is my favorite part so that made this book all the better.
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A typical adventure book. I did enjoy it. My only problem was I found Dirk Pitt to be too much of a Superman type character, too good at everything so for me there was no emotional stake and I felt the plot was very predictable. A fun read either way.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
5 stars for Inca Gold by Clive Cussler.
Everytime I pick up a Dirk Pitt novel - I am never disappointed. Fantastic book involving the adventures of Dirk, Al Giordino and Rudi Gunn as they embark on a mission to discover an underground treasure of Inca Gold.
Looking forward to diving into the next book
Everytime I pick up a Dirk Pitt novel - I am never disappointed. Fantastic book involving the adventures of Dirk, Al Giordino and Rudi Gunn as they embark on a mission to discover an underground treasure of Inca Gold.
Looking forward to diving into the next book
Anul 1533 d.Hr.Pe o mare uitată
Veneau dinspre sud, o dată cu răsăritul, pâlpâind ca spectrele unui miraj deşertic, lunecând pe apa ce scânteia sub razele de soare. Velele dreptunghiulare din bumbac ale flotilei de ambarcaţii atârnau fără viaţă sub azurul nepăsător al cerului. Nu se rostea nici o comandă, ci echipajele vâsleau într-o tăcere stranie. În văzduh un şoim se prăvălea în picaje şi se înălţa, ca şi cum i-ar fi călăuzit pe cârmaci spre insula aridă care se ridica în mijlocul mării.
Ambarcaţiile erau construite din mănunchiuri de trestii legate laolaltă şi arcuite în sus, la extremităţi. Şase asemenea mănunchiuri formau coca, a cărei chilă şi traverse erau din bambus. Prova şi pupa înălţate aveau formă de şerpi cu capete de câini, cu boturile îndreptate spre cer, de parcă ar fi urlat la Lună.
Căpetenia flotei şedea pe un jilţ asemănător unui tron, instalat pe prova ascuţită a plutei conducătoare. Purta tunică din bumbac, ornată cu plăcuţe de turcoaz, şi mantie din lână cu broderii multicolore. Capul îi era acoperit de un coif cu panaş şi de o mască din aur, iar podoabele din urechi, colierul masiv şi brăţările de pe mâini sclipeau, de asemenea, gălbui sub razele soarelui. Până şi încălţările sale erau confecţionate din aur. Cu adevărat impresionant era însă faptul că mateloţii purtau podoabe nu mai puţin magnifice.
De pe ţărmul roditor al mării, băştinaşii din tribul local au privit cu teamă şi uimire flota străină care pătrundea în apele lor. Nu încercaseră să-şi apere teritoriul de invadatori. Ei erau simpli vânători şi culegători, care prindeau iepuri în capcane, pescuiau şi culegeau recolta puţinelor plante şi arbuşti pe care îi sădeau. Aveau o cultură arhaică, diferită în mod ciudat de cele ale vecinilor din răsărit şi din miazăzi, care clădiseră imperii întinse. Trăiau şi mureau fără să construiască temple masive închinate zeilor, iar acum priveau fascinaţi etalarea de opulenţă şi forţă care traversa apa. Pentru toţi flota însemna apariţia miraculoasă a unor zeităţi ale războiului din tărâmul spiritelor.
Străinii misterioşi nu i-au băgat în seamă pe oamenii adunaţi pe ţărm, ci au continuat să vâslească spre destinaţia lor. Se aflau într-o misiune sfântă şi ignorau orice le-ar fi putut distrage atenţia. Îşi propulsau impasibil ambarcaţiile şi nici măcar unul dintre ei nu a întors capul pentru a-i privi pe spectatorii înmărmuriţi.
Se îndreptau direct spre pantele abrupte şi stâncoase ale muntelui micuţ care forma insula ce se ridica la 200 de metri peste suprafaţa mării. Insula era nelocuită şi aproape complet lipsită de vegetaţie, iar băştinaşii de pe uscat o numeau „Uriaşa moartă”, deoarece creasta lungă şi scundă a muntelui aducea cu trupul unei femei cufundate într-un somn veşnic. Soarele sporea iluzia, conferindu-i un nimb de o strălucire nepământeană.
În scurt timp echipajele înveşmântate sclipitor şi-au oprit plutele pe o plajă micuţă acoperită cu pietriş, care se deschidea într-un canion îngust. Au coborât velele ţesute cu desenele gigantice ale unor animale fantastice, simboluri ce sporeau şi mai mult teama tăcută şi respectul băştinaşilor care priveau, şi au început să descarce pe ţărm coşuri mari din trestie şi vase de ceramică.
Pe toată durata zilei, încărcătura din ambarcaţii a fost stivuită într-o grămadă imensă, dar ordonată. Seara, când soarele a coborât spre apus, activitatea de pe insulă nu a mai putut fi urmărită de pe malul mării şi prin beznă răzbăteau doar pâlpâiri slabe de lumină. În zorii celei de-a doua zile, flota continua să fie pe plajă, iar mormanul uriaş nu fusese clintit.
Veneau dinspre sud, o dată cu răsăritul, pâlpâind ca spectrele unui miraj deşertic, lunecând pe apa ce scânteia sub razele de soare. Velele dreptunghiulare din bumbac ale flotilei de ambarcaţii atârnau fără viaţă sub azurul nepăsător al cerului. Nu se rostea nici o comandă, ci echipajele vâsleau într-o tăcere stranie. În văzduh un şoim se prăvălea în picaje şi se înălţa, ca şi cum i-ar fi călăuzit pe cârmaci spre insula aridă care se ridica în mijlocul mării.
Ambarcaţiile erau construite din mănunchiuri de trestii legate laolaltă şi arcuite în sus, la extremităţi. Şase asemenea mănunchiuri formau coca, a cărei chilă şi traverse erau din bambus. Prova şi pupa înălţate aveau formă de şerpi cu capete de câini, cu boturile îndreptate spre cer, de parcă ar fi urlat la Lună.
Căpetenia flotei şedea pe un jilţ asemănător unui tron, instalat pe prova ascuţită a plutei conducătoare. Purta tunică din bumbac, ornată cu plăcuţe de turcoaz, şi mantie din lână cu broderii multicolore. Capul îi era acoperit de un coif cu panaş şi de o mască din aur, iar podoabele din urechi, colierul masiv şi brăţările de pe mâini sclipeau, de asemenea, gălbui sub razele soarelui. Până şi încălţările sale erau confecţionate din aur. Cu adevărat impresionant era însă faptul că mateloţii purtau podoabe nu mai puţin magnifice.
De pe ţărmul roditor al mării, băştinaşii din tribul local au privit cu teamă şi uimire flota străină care pătrundea în apele lor. Nu încercaseră să-şi apere teritoriul de invadatori. Ei erau simpli vânători şi culegători, care prindeau iepuri în capcane, pescuiau şi culegeau recolta puţinelor plante şi arbuşti pe care îi sădeau. Aveau o cultură arhaică, diferită în mod ciudat de cele ale vecinilor din răsărit şi din miazăzi, care clădiseră imperii întinse. Trăiau şi mureau fără să construiască temple masive închinate zeilor, iar acum priveau fascinaţi etalarea de opulenţă şi forţă care traversa apa. Pentru toţi flota însemna apariţia miraculoasă a unor zeităţi ale războiului din tărâmul spiritelor.
Străinii misterioşi nu i-au băgat în seamă pe oamenii adunaţi pe ţărm, ci au continuat să vâslească spre destinaţia lor. Se aflau într-o misiune sfântă şi ignorau orice le-ar fi putut distrage atenţia. Îşi propulsau impasibil ambarcaţiile şi nici măcar unul dintre ei nu a întors capul pentru a-i privi pe spectatorii înmărmuriţi.
Se îndreptau direct spre pantele abrupte şi stâncoase ale muntelui micuţ care forma insula ce se ridica la 200 de metri peste suprafaţa mării. Insula era nelocuită şi aproape complet lipsită de vegetaţie, iar băştinaşii de pe uscat o numeau „Uriaşa moartă”, deoarece creasta lungă şi scundă a muntelui aducea cu trupul unei femei cufundate într-un somn veşnic. Soarele sporea iluzia, conferindu-i un nimb de o strălucire nepământeană.
În scurt timp echipajele înveşmântate sclipitor şi-au oprit plutele pe o plajă micuţă acoperită cu pietriş, care se deschidea într-un canion îngust. Au coborât velele ţesute cu desenele gigantice ale unor animale fantastice, simboluri ce sporeau şi mai mult teama tăcută şi respectul băştinaşilor care priveau, şi au început să descarce pe ţărm coşuri mari din trestie şi vase de ceramică.
Pe toată durata zilei, încărcătura din ambarcaţii a fost stivuită într-o grămadă imensă, dar ordonată. Seara, când soarele a coborât spre apus, activitatea de pe insulă nu a mai putut fi urmărită de pe malul mării şi prin beznă răzbăteau doar pâlpâiri slabe de lumină. În zorii celei de-a doua zile, flota continua să fie pe plajă, iar mormanul uriaş nu fusese clintit.
If you expect a story that resembles an action movie with Bruce Willis, then you won't be disappointed. This is exactly a story like that. Nice entertainment, although I admit that I did not like everything.
This is not my first story with Dirk Pitt. I've read [b:Atlantis Found|41707|Atlantis Found (Dirk Pitt, #15)|Clive Cussler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389418438l/41707._SY75_.jpg|255727] before, so I have some comparison. I don't know why, but I think I liked Pitt better in Atlantis Found, I think he had more peculiar charm in that one. This of course doesn't mean I don't like him in this book. Though his indestructibility and ability to survive any kind of death are almost grotesque. And probably in this book even more visible. At times, a pinch of realism could be useful.
The plot, or maybe I should say the idea for it is fine. I have not been interested so far in the cultures of the Incas and other civilizations from this period and area, so it is difficult for me to say to what extent the story is based on some facts or even legends. That is why I lack the perspective to find out where fiction mixes with the actual history. Certainly, the plot of this book sounds much more credible than the intricate intrigue in Atlantis Found that combines the threads of the lost Atlantis and the revival of the Third Reich. On the other hand, I regret it a little. That plot, detached from reality, captivated with its completeness, imagination and ability to combine all these unbelievable elements into one fairly coherent whole thing. Anyway, the plot of this book is fine and pretty entertaining.
What I didn't like are sometimes too detailed and too scientific explanations of some technical things. Very often they are woven into the action extremely clumsy. One of the characters asks how this or that works and the other answers him with all the technical details. This is very unnatural and sometimes simply boring. This is also goes over other dialogues, which sometimes also sound artificial and forced. Cussler makes sure that the reader knows what is going on all the time, he explains everything, even the obvious things. It's good that he tries to do this through the conversations of his characters and not just descriptions, but it leads to strange unnatural dialogs. I won't even mention that it annoys and disturbs.
Fans of the author's work will surely appreciate the fact that the author himself appears in this book as one of the less significant episodic characters.
On the whole, I liked this story although I expected better entertainment. I will certainly go for this author's books in the future. In this book, I think I liked the most the relationship between Pitt and Giordino.
This is not my first story with Dirk Pitt. I've read [b:Atlantis Found|41707|Atlantis Found (Dirk Pitt, #15)|Clive Cussler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389418438l/41707._SY75_.jpg|255727] before, so I have some comparison. I don't know why, but I think I liked Pitt better in Atlantis Found, I think he had more peculiar charm in that one. This of course doesn't mean I don't like him in this book. Though his indestructibility and ability to survive any kind of death are almost grotesque. And probably in this book even more visible. At times, a pinch of realism could be useful.
The plot, or maybe I should say the idea for it is fine. I have not been interested so far in the cultures of the Incas and other civilizations from this period and area, so it is difficult for me to say to what extent the story is based on some facts or even legends. That is why I lack the perspective to find out where fiction mixes with the actual history. Certainly, the plot of this book sounds much more credible than the intricate intrigue in Atlantis Found that combines the threads of the lost Atlantis and the revival of the Third Reich. On the other hand, I regret it a little. That plot, detached from reality, captivated with its completeness, imagination and ability to combine all these unbelievable elements into one fairly coherent whole thing. Anyway, the plot of this book is fine and pretty entertaining.
What I didn't like are sometimes too detailed and too scientific explanations of some technical things. Very often they are woven into the action extremely clumsy. One of the characters asks how this or that works and the other answers him with all the technical details. This is very unnatural and sometimes simply boring. This is also goes over other dialogues, which sometimes also sound artificial and forced. Cussler makes sure that the reader knows what is going on all the time, he explains everything, even the obvious things. It's good that he tries to do this through the conversations of his characters and not just descriptions, but it leads to strange unnatural dialogs. I won't even mention that it annoys and disturbs.
Fans of the author's work will surely appreciate the fact that the author himself appears in this book as one of the less significant episodic characters.
On the whole, I liked this story although I expected better entertainment. I will certainly go for this author's books in the future. In this book, I think I liked the most the relationship between Pitt and Giordino.
I think I liked this one more then Sahara. Also aware I am reading these books in a strange order but I’m picking them up from the op shop when I see them so eh. But yeah I think Pitt is more likeable in this one. Very exciting. Also author has a way of explaining things without making me feel dumb and then when he does explain something that I know I get a little excited. So ya it was nice.
Man these are getting long. 20 hours on the audiobook. Even at 2.5x, that's a while. It probably doesn't help that every. single. time. a measurement is mentioned, it has to be converted. Is that the same in the print version? Because it's maddening...
On the other hand, there are so very many quotes from these books that make them a joy to read:
Pitt's heart pumped a good five liters (a gallon) of adrenaline through his system, but he remained calm and clinically surveyed the towering figure that looked like a monstrosity out of a science fiction horror movie.
On the other hand, there are so very many quotes from these books that make them a joy to read:
The inside of her one-piece black Lycra swim suit was nicely filled by an hourglass figure with an extra twenty minutes thrown in for good measure, and when she moved it was with the fluid grace of a Balinese dancer.
What does it even mean?
Gunn shrugged. "He's my boss as well as yours. I'm an old navy man. I follow orders."
"I'm old air force," Pitt replied. "I question them."
Or ignore them for the greater good. Or a good action scene. Pitt in a nutshell.
For a moment she was too stunned to answer. Then finally, she stammered, "Dirk. . . is it really you?"
"If there's another one, I hope they catch him before he signs our name to a lot of checks. I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner."
Wonderful.
"It," he answered, "is a pre-Columbian antiquity that contains the directions to hidden riches worth so much money it would take you and your buddies in Congress all of two days to spend it."
She looked at him suspiciously. "You must be joking. That would be over a billion dollars."
"I never joke about lost treasure."
He's not even wrong.
Plotwise, it's pretty much a Dirk Pitt adventure in a nutshell, everything somehow linked and larger than life. This time around we're in South America, with an ancient sacrificial pool (Pitt to the rescue), kidnapped friends and new acquaintance (Pitt to the rescue), a crazy underground river chock full of gold (Pitt to the rescue?), and a crime family that deals in stole art (Pitt to the rescue!). It actually fits together than most of the Dirk Pitt plots, so I'll take it.
Charaterwise, it's pretty much the Pitt and friends we've come to know. We're seeing more and more of others such as Permutter and Yaeger and Gunn--and I like it. It's interesting to see how they are each fiercely, maddeningly loyal to Pitt yet each in their own way with their own strengths. I will say though (since computers are my thing), that Yaeger's tenth floor super computer system is getting a bit ridiculous. Breaking Incan quipu in a matter of hours? Finding a centuries old sea wreck? If you need something done, put the computers on it. It will be done in hours. Impossible. But it keeps the story moving, so it goes.
It's interesting to see a lamp hung on Pitt's increasingly vengeful solution to the baddies:These men had come to kill all witnesses to a criminal operation. Kill or be killed was a cliché, but it held true.
That doesn't mean it's necessarily the right thing to do.
Womenwise, Cussler has progressed a lot through this books. Heck, one of the main characters is a Congresswoman who sometimes at least can hold her own with Pitt. That being said, exactly how many times has she been kidnapped? This book alone? Oy.
It's also interesting that Pitt's pining for Summer (from [b:Pacific Vortex!|361081|Pacific Vortex! (Dirk Pitt, #1)|Clive Cussler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1269478239l/361081._SY75_.jpg|6841892]) has come up again. I don't recall that in any of the intervening books. It makes sense and it's making Pitt a more solid character, but ... now?
Oh. And of course Cussler is back:
Pitt smiled as he stared at the road ahead. "He could really spin the yarns, couldn't he?"
"The old cook? He certainly had an active imagination."
"I'm sorry I didn't get his name."
Loren settled back in the seat and gazed out her window as the dunes gave way to a tapestry of mesquite and cactus. "He told me what it was."
"And?"
"It was an odd name." She paused, trying to remember. Then she shrugged in defeat. "Funny thing . . . I've already forgotten it."
Of course.
Edit 2/27: It seems Clive Cussler has passed away. 80 books in 85 years. On top of starting a real life NUMA and finding numerous ship wrecks. Quite the life and quite the legacy.
my favourite of this author, and the 1st one that got me addicted to his work