’The Emperor’s Tomb’ is the 6th book from Steve Berry in’Cotton Malone’ series. This series goes in the same format as some Indian readers can relate to Surendra Mohan Pathak’s different characters’ series. Its like a continuation from some happenings(like if some character is dead, he/she is discontinued, and reference to old scenes, or the relationships carried forward) but all-in-all a new and fresh story which starts from the book and end it right there, so this novel can be read as a standalone novel.
This is my 2nd read of Steve Berry after reading his other Cotton Malone novel’The Alexandria Link’(2nd of the series), and which inspired me to try the author one more time.
Steve Berry is much alike Matthew Reilly, like they both use some actions and fast-paced thriller is their specialty, and both goes into intricate details about the surroundings and setups, though still you can’t compare them. My favorite still is MR, since his details are more detailing and action is more fast, SB is little gentle in proceedings, and he take time to build the thrill.
I found this in his earlier read, and so goes for this, this again is a blend of facts and fiction(like Dan Brown’s style). This book goes high on double-cross feel, everybody’s double crossing everyone, or everybody’s helping everybody.
Cotton Malone and Cassiopeia Vitt find themselves is a very tight situation running on a makeshift bridge crossing a rift and where a chopper is hunting them, and we flashbacks to the events which led them here. We come to know about a vast history of China, how they’s very advanced, their history is very rich and they have invented almost everything in this world, but their bad as no one knows about these inventions, and foreigners took the claim, they themselves are destroying their culture, history.
There were references of China’s old rulers, their style of ruling and then there is an ambitious vice premier Karl Tang who want to become premier by hook or by crook, and there is a true leader in name of Ni Yong, who is the head of anti-corruption squad of China, and then there is a power-maker Pau Wen who live out of Denmark.
And not only these are the characters, Russians too included because of Lev Sokolov, a Russian expatriate and now a Chinese resident, who along with Jin Zhao has discovered that the oil, petroleum is infinite, its not only produced from fossil fuels but earth also replenishes it, and which can be found more deep in the earth’s crust, this oil is abiotic and if China has infinite reserve of this oil, its dependency on heavy oil import from middle east will end and it can emerge as superpower. But what will happen, to know that, you have to read the book.
The book goes on for 436 pages, divided over 82 chapters and a writer’s note, and as per the writer’s note, most of the thing depicted in the novel is fact including abiotic oil theory. Author didn’t visited China, but was able to plot the whole story describing minute details of the landmarks, that make this novel good for adventure lover. Then there is multitude of double crossing right from the first page, which make you feel that you want to end this book soon, to know the truth, who is in side with whom?
The language is easy, not that easy, but easy enough to understand, and you have to be with your mind to process all the proceedings page-by-page. A map is also provided at the beginning of China and its surroundings to help you find the areas referred in the story.
The negative thing which I will say about this book is that it is a bit long for the matter it covered, and that the ending again didn’t fulfill my appetite developed over reading the book. In the end, it looks like’why the hell we go through all these stuff, it can be achieved in another way much easily?’, so that’s that. I was expecting more better solution or end to the novel.
If you’re a Steve Berry fan or if you want to try thrill+ adventure, you can opt for this book/author. I will put’Alexandria Link’ above this one, but nonetheless its a good read, and a good timepass over journey or anywhere. I took 34 days, so you can read at the same rate, if not faster! I rate 3.5/5
G Ruchir G.
Jai Raam ji ki:)