The setting of the book, Inca Gold by Clive Cussler (A Dirk Pitt Adventure), takes place in 1533, when we first learn about how the book begins with the Inca Gold. Then, in Chapter 1, we jump ahead in time to the Andes Mountains in Peru in 1998. This is when we learn that two American archaeologists are diving into an ancient sacrificial pool in a desperate attempt to find a legendary, massive treasure hidden by the ancient Inca civilization, which disappeared centuries before the archaeologists’ time. They travel to various places to escape the bad guys and return to Pitt’s ship, the NUMA research vessel.
The author’s style, in this case, Clive Cussler’s, is to pull the reader into the story. To me, the book Inca Gold is a “I just can’t stop reading this book” or a “I can’t put the book down” kind of book. I like this style of writing because it makes me feel much more engaged in the story, as if I am part of it, just observing from a side view of what is happening, and I don’t want to miss what’s next. This is my favorite way of reading books. I like the intensity of that kind of book that I just can’t stop reading.
What I think is good about the book is that it is funny while serious. The main character, Dirk Pitt (everyone calls him Pitt, so I will too), is super funny. To me, it is very clear that he has a crush on one of the American archaeologists, named Dr. Shannon Kelsey (everyone calls her Shannon or Dr. Kelsey, so I will just call her Shannon). We all know that Shannon also has a crush on Pitt as well, and it is pretty funny because they each try to hide it from the other, and from everyone else, but as hard as they might try, it is quite clear to me that they like each other. I like all the adventure in the book, and I like how Clive Cussler also tied in some comedy.
I really enjoy the character development in the story. Some things I liked about the character development were how we learned about the characters and how Clive Cussler introduced them. He introduced them in a serious/funny way. He introduced Pitt and his pal Al by saying they landed in a helicopter. Pitt dove into the ancient sacrificial pool to find the 2 American archaeologists that everyone thought would already be dead. We keep learning more about the characters as the story progresses, and we start seeing more of their silly sides, especially in the main character, Pitt. We also begin to see their more serious, problem-solving sides, which I enjoy.
I can’t think of anything negative about the book, or anything I don’t like about it, which I believe is an excellent sign of a fantastic writer.
In summary, I really love the book. I love learning more about all of the characters and their relationships with one another. I really enjoy all of the adventure in the book. To be honest, I was expecting the Clive Cussler book to be quite dull just because of the name and the cover, but once I started reading, I loved it and was happily surprised to find it funny and adventurous. Now I know where the saying comes from don’t judge a book by its cover. I recommend this book if you like action-adventure with comedy, or if you just want to try something new. Inca Gold by Clive Cussler (A Dirk Pitt Adventure) is one of my favorite books I’ve read, and I look forward to reading more of Clive Cussler’s books.
