Item - Grave Robbers

With a title like Grave Robbers, it should be a fairly exciting story, right?

The actual premise is this: a bunch of ancient Anasazi dwellings are being looted, with a bunch of pots being stolen, and likely sold on the black market.

There is no grave robbing in this book. None of the paths mention anything about burial grounds.

There's a bit of cliff climbing, there's a bit of riding the rapids, and you have a path where you can trap a crooked dealer. It's not bad exactly - the writing is pretty decent, and it remains mostly grounded in reality. But there's something missing from the book, and that's a sense of excitement. There are a few paths that have a little touch of adventure, but most of the time, there aren't many things that captivate the reader.

The highlight: "Mr. Belton pulls out his wallet and peels off a hundred one-hundred-dollar bills. They lie in a stack in front of you."

That must be an incredible wallet.

More reviews by Jordashebasics

Ramsey Montgomery's four Choose Your Own Adventure books were all rather different; Grave Robbers is about a high-performing civilization that vanished centuries before the story's events. Your attention is caught one day by a news story regarding a chain of thefts in Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada. Someone has been raiding heritage sites of the Anasazi Indians, a culture that abruptly disappeared long ago. You became fascinated by the Anasazi last summer while visiting your great-aunt in New Mexico. She introduced you to Edward Chinaua, an Indian boy your age, and the two of you fantasized about solving the mystery of the Anasazi. Your parents agree to your visiting Edward again now, and it's just in time to help his father, chief of the Navaho police, track down whoever is stealing priceless pottery from the Anasazi sites. You want to inspect some of the crime scenes in Utah's Escalante River region, but should wait until Mr. Chinaua can join you and Edward?

While waiting for Mr. Chinaua, you and Edward poke around at local pottery shops for proof they are dealing in stolen Anasazi goods. You scrape up a few leads, but by this time Mr. Chinaua is prepping to raft down the Colorado River and investigate a string of related robberies. If you go with him and his guide, an Indian named Slickrock, you'll see the devastated Anasazi sites firsthand. You spot some suspicious men leaving the scene, and Slickrock is as game as you to follow. When your chance to confront them arrives, should you jump at it or await a better opportunity? You might become entangled in a secret hundreds of years old, and discover carefully hidden knowledge. Maybe you declined Mr. Chinaua's offer to raft down the Colorado, and followed up your leads at pottery shops said to traffic in hot items. Mr. Belton, a man with underworld connections, pays top dollar for burgled Anasazi pieces. Will you risk your life to defend Indian sites from profiteers?

As police chief, Mr. Chinaua is busy these days. You and Edward couldn't be blamed if you set out immediately for the Escalante River region, hoping to unearth a lead at locations raided by thieves. You and your guide are at a despoiled Anasazi site when you find a folder marked Elk Mountain Mining Co. They were a uranium mine closed down in 1978. Visit the abandoned mine, and you stumble onto a room packed with Anasazi pottery. Mr. Chinaua promises to helicopter in, but before he gets there you watch a man gather the pottery and leave. Should you pursue on foot? The landscape is treacherous, and your quarry may have accomplices. If you remained at the Anasazi site instead of checking the mine, your guide introduces you to Mary Simmons, an expert on the Anasazi. Your group follows footprints leading from the robbery site, and you end up crawling through a low-ceilinged cave in use by thieves. Beware; these men would kill you to avoid prison.

I don't think highly of Grave Robbers. The story is convoluted, with too many characters who aren’t important. The stakes are low; how many readers will be excited to defend pottery against thieves? I suppose the book raises one interesting question: is it better for artifacts to stay sealed in abandoned sites, or be excavated and sold so society can glean inspiration from tribes like the Anasazi? Ramsey Montgomery never earnestly faces this debate, though. The book isn't full of internal inconsistency, but in one set of endings the pottery thefts have been committed by a surprise perpetrator; in every other branch, common criminals are to blame. Ultimately, I doubt I'll revisit Grave Robbers soon.

More reviews by KenJenningsJeopardy74