Tomb Raider The Amulet of Power Review

Written by Mike Resnick
Published by Ballantine Books, New York, 2003
ISBN: 978-0345461711
Notes: All three of the classic Tomb Raider novels can be read for free by visiting 'Raiding the Globe''s website.

'The Amulet of Power’ acts as the first in a trilogy of novels that bridge the events of ‘Tomb Raider IV The Last Revelation’ and ‘Tomb Raider VI The Angel of Darkness’ video games.

‘The Amulet of Power’ was published in 2003, the same year as ‘Angel of Darkness’. Despite this it was written by Mike Resnick who was not working with Core Design, the team working on the games. This leaves its level of canon up for debate. Some fans consider it to be canon to the events of the ‘Classic Era’ timeline simply due to the lack of any other material explaining how Lara survived the ending of Tomb Raider IV. Other fans don’t consider this trilogy of novels to be canon for a few reasons. There are some details that author Resnick included that seem to conflict with the games, most notably the relationship between Lara and her mentor Von Croy. You could chalk this up to Lara’s opinion shifting and changing over the years, or you could equally just assume that Resnick failed to do his research on these characters and their relationships properly. For what it’s worth, Core Design, originally included a cutscene that explained how Lara survived the ending of Tomb Raider IV. This would have directly conflicted with the opening of ‘The Amulet of Power’ making it definitively non canon. That cutscene was ultimately removed from ‘Angel of Darkness’, but I think it shows that Core didn’t consider this novel to be canon themselves. The canon status of ‘The Amulet of Power’ and the two sequel novels is something that you will have to decide for yourself since there is no conclusive answer.

Since the release of the ‘Tomb Raider I.II.III Remastered Collection’ in 2023 I’ve fallen in love with Core Design’s iconic Classic Era story and universe. I started this novel very hopeful that this would be a continuation of that era of Tomb Raider. Things started off well. The story picks up directly following the events of ‘The Last Revelation’ with Lara still trapped under a mountain of rubble within the Temple of Horus. She is found and rescued by a charming young man who explains that he’s Kevin Mason, an archaeologist looking for a powerful artifact. This artifact turns out to be the titular ‘Amulet of Power’, otherwise known as the Amulet of Mareish. From here Lara is attacked by members of an Arabian cult who believe she has the Amulet. It’s now up to Lara to find this Amulet and stop this cult. Along the way she meets up with plenty of interesting characters who will either aid or hinder her search.

"Her decision made, she hurled herself through the air. Her outstretched fingers latched onto a pair of weeping bricks that extended out from the chimney, and she slowly pulled herself up. Her feet found purchase, and she began climbing the chimney. She reached the roof a moment later."

Extract from 'Tomb Raider The Amulet of Power' by Mike Resnick.

I wish I could say that I really enjoyed my time with this novel and that it was the continuation of classic Lara’s story that I wanted but it’s just not. To be fair, It’s not all bad, but it’s also far from great. At times Lara’s somewhat hostile, occasionally caring, always playful personality shines through and I find myself really enjoying myself; I even found myself smiling or giggling to her one liners. As the novel went on, however, this became much rarer, until I was so worn down by the final few chapters that I was just glad to have finished it.

What changed between the start of this novel and the end that soured my opinion on it so much? It’s not really that the novel changed, per say, it’s more that the continuing annoyances became too much to ignore. First of all, author Mike Resnick, is an American and it shows in his writing style. Lara doesn’t feel English at all, despite the shallow attempts to reference British history or stereotypes. She refers to soft drinks as pop, she reads the temperature in fahrenheit rather than centigrade, uses dollars instead of pounds, and lots of other little details like this. Simply put, no Brit would do any of those things, they are purely Americanisms that out this version of Lara as a Yank mimicking a Brit. Then we have the strange nods to right-wing, conservative, ideals as well as political and historical figures that leave this novel feeling slightly biased towards a right-of-centre world view. For example, hunting animals for their pelts or ivory is often fondly remembered, when homophobia occurs there is no push-back against it from Lara or the novel itself, one of Lara’s friends complains about ‘political correctness’, and so on. The worst of it, is, without a doubt, when Lara Croft uses a fucking slur!! That’s right, Lara Croft uses the R-slur within this novel and that just about floored me. This is why, despite moments when this novel really does capture the spirit of the older games and classic era Lara rather well, by the end of it I was just done. This is not the Core Design Lara at all; this is a pretender that slips up far too often as an American with a bigoted personality.

"Well, there's no sense pretending I'm a boy. There's probably no reason to pretend I'm re****ed either - but I don't know what Omar's told them, so I'd better be careful and play it by ear."

Extract from 'Tomb Raider The Amulet of Power' by Mike Resnick.

I am glad I read this novel. ‘The Amulet of Power’ released during a very interesting part of Tomb Raider’s history. It was still the Core Design era, before the IP was given over to Crystal Dynamics. That being said, it was far removed from the golden age of the series with all three of the previous mainline games losing players when compared to the one before it. Lara Croft was no longer the cultural icon she had been only years prior. This means that this novel, and it’s two sequels, were most likely attempts by publisher Edios to breathe new life into the series.

Since the mainline video games had yet to be rebooted the idea of different timelines was not as widely accepted within the fandom as it is now. Because of this, a lot of fans, at the time, most likely just accepted this novel as canon. I don’t think I can accept it as such though. It’s not just because of the discrepancy with Lara and Von Croy’s relationship either, but rather because of the personality that this Lara has. While there are moments, when, during the odd line, it feels like classic Lara shines through all the mistakes, far too often we are just left with this uncanny doppelganger. In my opinion, it’s best to just accept this, along with the comic’s version of Lara, as two more timelines to add to the video game timelines. As an obsessive nerd that likes to experience all the parts of the franchises I love, I am glad I read this novel, but there is another question that needs to be answered.

Do I recommend ‘The Amulet of Power’ to other Tomb Raider fans?
For most fans, I’d say this isn’t worth the time investment. It’s just not a very well written novel to be honest. Author Mike Resnick gets historical events wrong, placing the battle of Omdurman before the siege of Khartoum when they happened the other way round. Then we have the lack of knowledge of the Tomb Raider games themselves. I highly doubt that Resnick played these games based on this novel. He most likely just worked from a synopsis of the story. Then we have Lara Croft speaking and acting like a bigoted American instead of the Englishwoman she’s supposed to be. Unless you’re an obsessive fan like me, this novel is not worth the time it takes to read it.

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