Item - Indiana Jones and the Eye of the Fates

The general pattern in the Find Your Fate Indiana Jones books is that Jones finds a clue to a valuable item, and he must get to it before it's found by the wrong people. In this book, your rivals are the Nazis (or not-- more on that later).

The other plot device in the series is that you play a kid who travels with Indy. How does that work? In some of the books, you're literally his cousin, and you get wrapped up in the adventure because you happen to be with him. In others, your parents are scientists or archaeologists who happen to know Jones, and give you permission to travel with him. That's the case in this book-- your father is the curator of an American museum in Greece, and it's on his diving expedition that Indy finds the shield of Perseus at the start of the story. Having a kid tag along on Indy's adventures may sound like an unrealistic plot device, but then again, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom featured the character of Short Round.

At any rate, I found this adventure to be a fun read. Rather than just looking for the cliched vast treasure, you're looking for the Eye of the Fates, a fantastic item every bit as intriguing as the Lost Ark or the Sankara Stones in the Indiana Jones movies. Depending on your choices, you could end up on Mount Olympus, or Crete, or even Japan.

These possibilities can all work because there is next to no internal consistency within the book. Many people would consider this to be a negative; on the other hand, it ups the replay value tremendously. Whatever you learned on a previous reading won't apply the next time since you're on a completely different adventure. In some cases, you find the Eye, and in some cases, you survive but the Nazis get to it first. In other paths, your rivals aren't the Nazis, but the Imperial Japanese. In some paths, the eye is destroyed (or you and Indy CHOOSE to destroy it, because owning it is too much responsibility for any nation). In one case, the eye "exists," but in a completely unexpected way. And in perhaps the most memorable path, you and are led into a trap by Rene Belloq's brother(!), who is hell-bent on having his revenge on Jones for what happened to Rene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

This book is well-written. It captures the correct tone of an Indiana Jones movie-- there are humorous situations and lines, at times, but without descending into anything overly silly. Definitely worth acquiring.

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