The Emperor's Tomb

By: Steve Berry

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

The tomb of China’s First Emperor, guarded by an underground army of terra-cotta warriors, has remained sealed for more than 2,000 years. Though it’s regarded as one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world, the Chinese government won’t allow anyone to open it. Why? That question is at the heart of a dilemma faced by former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone, whose life is shattered when he receives an anonymous note carrying an unfamiliar Web address. Logging on, he sees Cassiopeia Vitt, a woman who’s saved his life more than once, being tortured at the hands of a mysterious man who has a single demand: Bring me the artifact she’s asked you to keep safe. The only problem is, Malone doesn’t have a clue what the man is talking about, since Cassiopeia has left nothing with him. So begins Malone’s most harrowing adventure to date—one that offers up astounding historical revelations, pits him against a ruthless ancient brotherhood, and sends him from Denmark to Belgium to Vietnam then on to China, a vast and mysterious land where danger lurks at every turn.

©2010 Scott Berry (P)2010 Random House Audio

Thought provoking

This is another in the series of triumphs by Stephen Berry. The underlying storyline is fascinating along with the international tradecraft where on any given day who knows an aly from a enemy. Berry is a skilled story teller. Brick has a voice that is like your grandfather telling you a tale. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Slow Start Great Ending

I’ve read 11 oh the Cotton Malone series. This was my least favorite. It took a while to get going. Almost put it down and was going to request a credit refund from Audible Amazon. Glad I didn’t the last part of the book was excellent reading.

This is an interesting and fun read!

I almost didn’t purchase it because of some very bad reviews. I’m glad I read it. I think the disparaging remarks are a matter of taste. For me, I liked the history, the sociology, the hints of science. That one guy who said the premise was preposterous was way too harsh. I didn’t even know the stuff existed and have spent some time looking into it. That means it’s interesting.

Interesting story line, learned alot from this

I enjoyed this book and felt like I learned a lot about ancient China. I am not a big Sterry Berry fan, but this was enjoyable and the narrator was great.

enough action

I liked the effort to present a feel of the significance and vastness ancient Chinese culture. It was an excellent foil to a straightforward "guns and badguys" book.

Not boring - for history buffs

I really enjoyed this book and the whole series! Sometimes it will move slow, but all series have slow moments. I believe you need the background. If you are too far above the story, you loose appreciation for the whole weave of the tail.

Great story

This was a great book that I listened to each day as I was writing my bicycle. The storyline was believable and the research was extremely well done. I really enjoyed it.

Solid, intricate, but very western perspective

For those who don't know the Cotton Malone series, he's a super-agent who investigates modern crimes that involve historical mysteries of the conspiracy variety. Steve Berry is much better than Dan Brown at working the historical premise into the plot, and he's much better at explaining the historical detail, but he's not as exciting at creating the modern day action. He doesn't fail at it, but he's not as suspenseful as Brown.

Overall, this is a complex mystery and intriguing political thriller that will illuminate the basic themes of Chinese history as the story works its way through the modern world. Berry does that well. He falls short in two areas, though. The history is a very westernized opinion of Chinese history, and the premise of the mystery is just silly. The biggest question you will have at the end of this book is "Why were they fighting over that?"

But it's a reasonably good mystery with a good primer of Chinese history and a weird little science conspiracy theory woven in. The characters are good, the reading is good, and it's entertaining. If you like history. If you don't, it probably wouldn't be worth the listen.

Didn't hold my interest

Didn't hold my interest; I did finish it but can think of many books I'd recommend over this.

Great

It was nice to learn about chinese history. Love the story line lots of action throughout the book. You never knew what was going to happen. the ending was great. An enjoyable read.