Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Man of Bronze Book

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I don't know why, I expected this to be the best of all three… sadly it wasn't. Not the worst, but definitely not the best. And though in so many aspects I liked it, in the end I was disappointed by some details that seem to be the curse of all TR novels, movies or comics which are… well, nope, not yet. We'll talk about that later. Right now, as always, I must say that this review contains SPOILERS, so it's at your choice if you keep on reading or not. Also, I hope this review will be useful for TR fans - if you can reach the end, because it's long af.

First of all, don't let the cover fool you, as it happens with the two previous titles, this story has nothing to do with a TR game storyline, it's not a prequel, nor a sequel, and of course it's not related with TRAOD. The cover with Lara and Eckhardt is just a promotional image since when this novel was published - January 2005 - Core Design still is mentioned as owner of the franchise and TRAOD was, back then, the last released game.

So this is, yet again, another story, a new story exclusively built up by the author, J.A. Gardner, which is a science-fiction writer - and it becomes obvious when reading his novel. Also, he links his story with some hints of the previous novel - The Lost Cult, but that's all. As for the rest, and despite the little efforts to link his writing to TR and Lara Croft's canon, this is entirely a new story.

First problem: boring storyline. I'm sorry, but I've to be honest. This book is so boring and uninspired, and also as slow-paced as The Lost Cult was, though both are written by different authors. But I can't help but feel this story had such a great potential, which feels absolutely wasted when you reach the end of the book.

It's obvious that Gardner is a sci-fi writer - something which hardly fits with Tomb Raider. And it's the main problem of the storyline. The Egyptian myth of the god Osiris being killed, mutilated and his body parts scattered through the map by his brother and rival Seth is a good start - though part of this myth, concretely Osiris being avenged by his son Horus, was already used at Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation. Anyway, it's even original and creative to transform the myth in the story of two rival androids, the silver one dismembering and scattering the parts of the bronze one, as an original foundation of the ancient myth. Even Bronze having a strong sense of justice and serving mankind as some kind of unbiased Robocop - and Silver being a hedonist who only exists to enjoy earthly pleasures, is a good, creative idea with a lot of potential - the fighting opposites, righteousness versus lust, justice versus idleness, cynicism versus hedonism.

But that's as far as it goes. The entire storyline it's reduced to describe how Lara goes and gets the missing leg, without going deep in the background story of the androids and why each one has an unique feature, where they come from, etc. And it's not a short book - 294 pages, so, what's the author describing all this time?

The first part of the book its focused on tell us how Lara meets Reuben, who's badly injured after being shot by Urdmann's minions, and there's a long, very long scene in which Lara fights, one by one, all the mercs in an illegal medical clinic in Warsaw to save Reuben from his pursuers - though to be honest, this is the funniest part of the book. This lasts like 53 pages (!!!) until the real plot is disclosed: the existence of the Order, the purpose of Bronze, and Reuben's murder. Then, the real adventure starts at page 91 and with it, the most boring part of the book, which sadly lasts to… the very end of it. Just a lineal description of Lara going there, and there, and there, and there, and… ooops, the end. The predictable, no surprising at all, end. Just. Boring.

The storyline of The Man of Bronze doesn't just link to the Osiris-Seth Egyptian myth, but to the ancient Jewish legend of the Golem, the conscious authomat whose feature can be also seen in Bronze and Silver.

Also, most of the narration focus on Lara - who, for the first time in TR novels, speaks to us in first person, explaining every detail and decision she is taking at every moment. What she's gonna do, when and how she changes strategy, long, never-ending descriptions of weapons, how to use them, its pros, its flaws… which would be really nice if not taking entire paragraphs between one action and another because she's explaining everything she was going to do in the meanwhile, instead of just describing how she actually does it. This totally breaks the pace of the book.

Second and main problem: out-of-character shit. Well, it's the main problem of any non-game-related stuff, isn't it? The author thinks he knows about Lara… and fails and the deepest, more complex side of her. The first flaw we find is that in this book, Lara's not interested at all in recover Bronze's scattered limbs. She just gets involved because a friend asks for help. And then, she just goes because he's murdered and she wants to avenge him… working for the sames who put him in that danger, by the way. But she doesn't care about the story of the androids and from where Bronze gets its strict sense of justice and Silver his desire for pleasure, despite they are ancient, very ancient, intelligent, wit-gifted and conscious artefacts. She just doesn't give a shit about nothing of all it. And at the end of the book, she just walks away and forgets about it, without taking nothing with her, without asking questions. Like if all this just bored her.

I'm sorry, but that's not how Lara Croft is. She's always curious about myths, and legends, and artefacts. Her bored, uninterested attitude during all the book contrasts with the several dangers she faces and the risks she takes just for… avenging a friend? And what's the revenge? Because in the end, Reuben remains dead, some of her friends and helpers died in the meanwhile too, and, despite that the baddies - how not, are killed, she gets nothing in exchange for her services to the Order. So in the end she just works for spiteful killing. Just… pointless. Even more for Lara Croft.
Yeah, this resembles a lot TRAOD storyline… -did you copy something, Gardner?- Anyway, while in TRAOD she acts not just for avenging Werner, but also out of curiosity and yep, also a sense of justice, in this book it's just about revenge, on the murder of a character who doesn't appear enough time for the reader to relate to him. Meh.

In the end, I must say this book it's not the best of the three TR novels from Core's era, but it's not the worst. That sad honor still goes to The Lost Cult, and yep, I'm implying The Amulet of Power is the best of all three - the best well-researched, the best Lara Croft's characterization, and the funniest to read.

The Man of Bronze is not as boring as The Lost Cult - I've to give it the fact that the idea of merging the ancient Egyptian myth of Osiris and Seth with the Golem legend and revamping it into some futurist, sci-fi stuff as two metallic androids with self-conscience but different motivations is kinda original, creative and interesting. Sadly this storyline is not, as told previously, exploited in all its potential. Instead, the author prefers to waste pages and pages describing Lara describing her decisions - yeah, the repeated word is not a typo, and also describing Lara's gear and weapons in some kind of Bond's paraphernalia gibberish - nothing to do with Lara's gear and weapons in real games. I mean, double pistols activated by voice??? In a book where she's always concerned of not speaking in loud voice before her enemies, so they couldn't locate her? C'mon!!!

Also, Lara's characterization is not so bad - it's better than in The Lost Cult, but not as good as in The Amulet of Power. Here she is clever, she is relentless, she is ruthless, but sadly there's this femme fatale and objectifying stuff that totally ruins her characterization, together with her utter lack of interest on the artefact she is searching and the story of both androids… which doesn't suit the real Lara Croft.

So… my advice? If you've to read TR novels, definitely The Amulet of Power is the best of all three - the most similar to a real TR with a real Lara Croft. The other two resemble more TR movies and are full of some Bond and sci-fi stuff who doesn't suit the series at all. And sadly, the three of them contain some objectifying, unnecessary sexualizing stuff.

In the end, they are worthwhile only if you want to enjoy some TR adventures, based loosely on the games, but don't expect anything glorious, extremely good or even any kind of sequel or extra content to the games, because those are not it.