Indiana Jones novels

I was wondering if the movie novelizations and the Bantam books published in the '90s were worth a read?

 

Definitely worth a read. The quality of them varied to be fair with some very good and some average. But if you can pick them up cheap then I would advise giving them a go as there is some entertaining stuff in them. I'd start with them in order of release, however I must admit that I found the first one published to be one of the weakest IMO.

Heres the list of them in release order:

https://www.goodreads.com/series/50372-indiana-jones-prequels

 

I just love tie-in fluff novels, but it'd be cool if these expanded Indy's character. Like an expanded ... universe.

 

Hes certainly expanded on with his college buddies and theres a recurring love interest for him too. If you've ever read the Star Wars EU novels then these Indy ones are of similar quality. Just approach them as an interesting extension on the films and don't go in expecting to read quality like Raiders of the lost Ark and you won't be disappointed.

 

Excellent, that's what I was hoping to hear.

Tracking them down will be a fun quest too! "Sean and the Hunt for the Indiana Jones Novels" will be title of the movie.

 

I'd try sites like eBay, Abebooks, and the Amazon Marketplace to begin with. There are also sites like Bookfinders that I've used in the past.

 

I hope we get some new (officially canon?) Indy novels when number 5 comes out

 

I'd expect at least a novelization of the film.

 

Back in the day I read The Last Crusade novelization - at least I thought it was at the time, but it was so short, I think it was actually the "Junior Novelization" (what is that??). It was disappointing. The tank battle was reduced to about one paragraph.

 

Junior novelizations are usually aimed at younger-aged readers - 10 and above? That group, anyway.

 

Never ready Indy's EU. What book would you guys recommend for a beginner?

 

I read one, by Martin Caidin (an excellent aviation writer as well as the creator of the character Steve Austin, The Six Million Dollar Man), and I was very disappointed. Can't remember what it was called.

 

The quality of them varied to be fair with some very good and some average. But if you can pick them up cheap then I would advise giving them a go as there is some entertaining stuff in them. I'd start with them in order of release, however I must admit that I found the first one published to be one of the weakest IMO.

Heres the list of them in release order:

https://www.goodreads.com/series/50372-indiana-jones-prequels

 

Thank you very much. I'll give it a go.

 

I've been in an Indy mood of late, and despite the rather mediocre reputation of the Indy EU (and my failed three attempts to read Indiana Jones and the Riddle of the Sphynx), I checked out Indiana Jones and the Hollow Earth from my library. Only 25 pages in, but so far it feels like the Indyverse and it's doing the job.

For those itching to read the books, don't forget to check your local libraries. Mine only has five or six, but it's a start (and they're free). And just perusing Amazon I saw that the bulk of these can be found for literally .1 cent. If you've got Amazon Prime w/free shipping you could pick up the entire run for less than a buck.

I've read the novelizations to the first three movies, but it's been ages. As I understand it, Raiders of the Lost Ark differs the most from its on screen counterpart, so I might delve into those next.

 

They are very hit and miss, but stick with it and theres some decent stuff in them.

 

AndyLGR Yeah, I'm currently on page 225 (of 335), and though it's had some misses (Pistols at dawn with Belloq? Really?) and some odd sidetracks, it's more or less scratched the itch, and this last stretch has felt tighter so far.

 

I haven't read any of the adult Indiana Jones books. Just some of the "Find Your Fate" and Young Indy books when I was a kid. Now might be a good time to start since Indy 5 is still several years away.

 

I hope Lucasfilm/Disney re-start the Indy book/expanded universe soon. I think there's a market out there for them, and I'd like to see a mix of talented well established and up and coming authors take a crack at them.

I ultimately gave Hollow Earth a somewhat mixed review, but it satisfied my Jones Jones if you know what I mean, and I plan to sneak in a few more every now and then; including a re-read of the novelizations.

 

I hope Indy 5 is very successful, not only so Harrison can have a great ending (assuming they don't make 6 one with an then almost 80 year old Harrison Ford) but so that the franchise gets some life in it as you say. Which includes new novels and comics. (but those are probably gonna come anyways with the new film, the longevity of them is dependent on the success I think) perhaps a game? Or even an animated series?

 

CaptainRegor It's odd that Indy hasn't had more success outside of the live-action films. Virtually every toy line, from Kenner to LJN to Hasbro, has flopped. The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles only lasted a year, and the EU hasn't enjoyed anything near the success of something like Star Wars (or even those of far lesser properties). Really not sure why that is. I'd love to see Disney give it the animated treatment, and I have a suspicion it'll happen.

 

The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles as a series on ABC may have only lasted a year but four additional tv movies were released between 1994 and 1996 on The Family Channel. I always wondered if these were brand new episodes produced exclusively for The Family Channel or if they were left over episodes they edited together to make movies out of. I'm guessing the later but I'm not 100% sure. Lucas could have made them despite the cancellation from ABC and hoped to sell them to another network which he did.

I've always felt Young Indy was ahead of it's time. It's scope and production is more akin to current HBO standards then was was currently on the air in the early 90s.

 

Gobi-1 Yeah, I'd always assumed the latter as well. Doing a little digging, it does appear that was indeed the case, however some new footage was shot and integrated in to make it all flow more smoothly.

 

He wrote two of them: Indiana Jones and the Sky Pirates and Indiana Jones and the White Witch. I've read them both and they're both well-written and well-researched. The problem is that Caidin wrote Indy as a brilliant planner who goes into his adventures with everything thought out and leaving nearly nothing to chance. This is, of course, the complete opposite of the character we know and love. It's very similar to the mistake Timothy Zahn made in the Old EU novel Scoundrels, making Han Solo a Jim Phelps-like mastermind, rather than the constantly improvising character of the movies and the Brian Daley books.