Fun, enjoyable read, but I don't know how any of the characters were able to understand each other considering how much they murmer their dialogue.

Read my review at:

http://ani-read.tumblr.com/post/60801112464/the-mask-of-troy-by-david-gibbins

While i did enjoy this book, the last third was a bit to predictable. Far too much of what happened in the last third of the book was sign posted. You knew that Rebecca would get kidnapped, that the swastika would not be in the salt mine, that all the russian thugs would die and that the girl from the concentration camp would be found alive.

definitely a page-turner... David Gibbins always amazed me with every thrilling scene...

I read the book Pharaoh before reading this, but I didn't really love it. It was alright, but I just felt there was something missing. Based on this, I was prepared to (wrongly) set this author aside and pass over any more of his books that I happened to come across. Then I stumbled upon this book and decided to give it a shot, and I'm so glad I did. I really liked it and can't believe I almost put it back on the shelf in the bookshop. I think I'll be looking out for more of Gibbins' books in the future.

First things first: yes, this book can be read without reading the first 4 Jack Howard books. Any events or other information needed to understand the events of this book are summarized within the text. Personally, this was my first Jack Howard book and I never felt lost. This is definitely one of those books that the history is the main star, not the characters.

Overall, I can't say this book is well written, but it was a nice book to waste away my first week of summer on, especially considering I just returned from studying abroad in Greece where the focus of our program was Gods and Heroes: Homer's Bronze Age. It was fun for me to see these details I spent a whole semester learning about woven into a story involving the Nazi Regime, Schliemann's excavations at both Troy and Mycenae and modern day archaeology.

This book requires a lot of background information to be pretty much dumped on the reader from the get-go in order for it to work. Gibbins tried to make the information interesting, by weaving it into the conversations, internal reflections and debriefing meetings of the IMU underwater archaeology team but... it's really hard to dress up the boring details of archaeology, geology and diving protocol for the layman. It is apparent from his descriptions that Gibbins is very passionate about diving and underwater archaeology, both of which are main focuses in the scenes carrying the most tension/ suspense. But... I honestly found them dull. If I wasn't so determined to stick with this book, I may have put it down after the first dive scene and missed the actually good writing Gibbins has to offer in part 2 of this book, the part focusing on a flashback to a bunker in World War 2. The characterization was better in these chapters, the emotions felt more raw, and the events felt like they had actual weight and thus real consequence/ importance. Accompanied by the chapters in modern day that are focused on a friend of the soldier in part 2, this part of the book was an actual page-turner.

Unfortunately, that's when things started to go downhill. Early on in the book, there is a thug storyline introduced but not mentioned again until after the World War 2 flashback. It's meant to tie those events to the present day and add conflict/tension to pressure the characters into real action. It reads like a bad action movie plot: predictable, which makes it not very interesting and not very tense. Honestly, the actions of the "heroes" in the showdowns against the bad guys really confuses me.

Mainly, I mean the killing of the thugs, especially in the salt mine. It felt really cold, despite the narrative attempting to make it seem justified. I understand that Jack was angry about his daughter being kidnapped, but the way he kills the thugs and the way Costas and Jack try to "joke" about it make it seem more cold-hearted than necessary for their survival, which based on the facts the reader knows it is and Gibbins tries to reinforce with guilty revelations from Jack after the fact. Overall, I got really mixed vibes from the "heroes" way of winning these showdowns. It felt wrong.

I really liked the details from history and archaeology Gibbins put into this book, even if it did bog down the pacing most of the time. For that reason, I don't think this book is for everyone. I, however, look forward to reading another Jack Howard book.

I reviewed Atlantis, by the same author, and my opinion of this novel is similar to that one. Again, I liked the plot and it was fast-paced, but Jack Howard and the dialogue were annoying. I will say it improved a bit, though. The characters weren't as flat.