Spartan Gold

By: Clive Cussler

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

The debut of a brand-new, action-packed series from the number-one New York Times best-selling master of "pure entertainment" ( People).

Thousands of years ago, the Persian king Xerxes the Great was said to have raided the Treasury at Delphi, carrying away two solid gold pillars as tribute. In 1800 Napoleon Bonaparte and his army stumble across the pillars in the Pennine Alps. Unable to transport them, Napoleon creates a map on the labels of 12 bottles of rare wine. And when Napoleon dies, the bottles disappear....

Treasure hunters Sam and Remi Fargo are exploring the Great Pocomoke Swamp in Delaware when they are shocked to discover a World War II German U-boat. Inside, they find a bottle taken from Napoleon's "lost cellar". Fascinated, the Fargos set out to find the rest of the collection.

But another connoisseur of sorts has been looking for the bottle they've just found. He is Hadeon Bondaruk - a half- Russian, half-Persian millionaire. He claims to be a descendant of King Xerxes himself. And he wants his treasure back.

©2009 Clive Cussler (P)2009 Penguin

This series gets better

Remy is a bit stiff in this book and the plot loses out to overwhelming description. But the story is good. Scott Brick is a national treasure!

Always love Clive Cussler books

After Dirk Pitt I needed more Clive, enter the Fargos. A good moving story with Clive's interesting research.

Abridged might be better for me

I guess I'll never know what was the Fargo's actually saw whatever supposedly mystery this is. and I am sure that there are readers who love this type of detailed descriptive writing. But it is not for me. I made it through a little more than 6 hours and when I saw that there was still a little more than 5 hours to go and the book went into a detailed description of some Russian Villa and Moore historical rambling I'm giving up. Most of the books that I enjoy (Lucas Davenport and Virgil flowers series of John Sandford, Jack Reacher of Lee Child) I am excited to get in my car so I can find out what's going to happen next. this book I have had sitting in my Audible waiting on me 4 days and even weeks at a time. I've got to move on. People like my older sister may enjoy this style, but history was one of my least favorite subjects in school. maybe The Abridged version would just focus on the exciting parts. The reader was excellent. I enjoyed his accidents and delivery and just would have enjoyed it a lot more had there not been so much discussion of roof pitch and what Napoleon was thinking or doing.

Great story

Great story great performance And fun to listen to. Looking forward to the Fargo’s next adventure

Fun read

The dialogue between Remi and Sam adds so much comedy to the tense action scenes .

Rather Tedious

I had a hard time finishing this one. I found the characters completely uninteresting. A wealthy couple running around the world playing amateur archeologist with their macbook and iphone (lots of apple product placement references in the book). Yeah right. Some of the historical references were interesting although I admit that I didn't double check them to see if they were real. The plot is not terribly complicated--a linear treasure hunt story. Personally I did not feel very entertained at the conclusion. I was happy that it was finally over. Don't think I'll be reading any more of this series at least.

Albeit over the top, but a solid 3 stars

So, historical fiction, meets treasure hunt, meats wealthy amateur archaeology sleuth, meats super villain,
Yes, it was over the top in action and how the husband/wife team get into and out of danger; but I found it still enjoyable. I felt the characters were well fleshed out, and back stories were strong. Writing and character dialog was mature and engaging, at least compared to others that I've listened to. Narrator was strong and able to differentiate different characters well.

Fun, adventurous and suspenseful

I enjoyed the couple aspect of the story. They work so well together and with each having different skills, they make a complete team and compliment each other well.
Although fictional, I learned many knew historical events.
I downloaded a free atlas so I could follow their journey around Europe.
I strongly recommend this book!

Just ok

This book had its moments, but several parts of the story were stretched pretty thin.

I Learned So Much

Having lived in Europe for most of my adult life, Napoleon is more than just a historical figure ... he was a game changer. And he still has influence, even 200 years later. I enjoyed the intertwining of history and a good story. Scott Brick's narration makes it even better.