Spartan Gold

Fargo Adventures, Book 1

By: Grant Blackwood, Clive Cussler

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's Summary

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Clive Cussler and Grant Blackwood's debut title in the Fargo adventure series, Spartan Gold, read by the award-winning narrator Scott Brick.

Thousands of years ago, the mighty Persian king Xerxes the Great was said to have raided the Treasury at Delphi, carrying away two solid gold pillars as a tribute to his glory.

In 1800, while crossing the Pennine Alps, Napoleon Bonaparte and his army stumbled across the pillars. Unable to transport them, Napoleon created an inscrutable map on the labels of twelve bottles of rare wine. When Napoleon died, the bottles disappeared - and the gold pillars were lost once again.

Treasure-hunters Sam and Remi Fargo are exploring the Great Pocomoke Swamp in Delaware when they are shocked to discover a 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. But not for the wine; he wants what the bottle may lead to. For he is Hadeon Bondaruk - a half-Russian, half-Persian millionaire - and he claims descent from King Xerxes himself.

And the treasure will be his, no matter what....

©2010 Clive Cussler and Grant Blackwood (P)2011 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

"No holds barred adventure... a souped-up treat." ( Daily Mirror)

Just as good as the Isaac Bell series...!

Really enjoyable tale, following the Fargo's on a global hunt for lost Napoleon treasure.
I've mainly enjoyed Clive Cussler's work with Isaac Bell, but this is without a doubt a great, action packed adventure, and I'll certainly be listening to more :)

Good easy adventure

Haven't listened to cussler before just what i was looking for.
Will listen to next one.
A cross between indiana jones and uncharted on play station

History lesson included

I like this author and narrator they work well together. Always good to find out a bit about history too

Thoroughly Entertaining

I found this audiobook to be a great listen; great pace to the story with enough detail in the slower sections to keep you interested. Really looking forward to more Fargo adventures from Cussler.

an amazing listen

loved it i'm going to listen to it again after some others from clive cussler

I paid £1.99 for this, I can see why.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Any piece of literature is worthy of time to read or listen to. It is the quality of that time that matters. In consideration, I was not surprised by the content nor the characterisation. This was typical Cussler. A winning recipe for him, and in my younger days I read many of his books, particularly the Dirk Pitt sagas. Uncomplicated. Unbelievable but fun. Sort of James Bond at Sea. This was no different, albeit not at sea. The two principle characters, the Fargo couple dropped one-liners every other sentence, regardless of the perils they faced. So, was it time well spent. Yeah, but I won't visiting Clive's work for a while.

If you’ve listened to books by Clive Cussler and Grant Blackwood before, how does this one compare?

Hhhmmmm. How does one bowl of cornflakes compare to another bowl of cornflakes?

What three words best describe Scott Brick’s voice?

Predictable, Untested, Potential

If this book were a film would you go see it?

No. Why, because it's far too fanciful. What was the last Cussler book to make the big screen? Was it "Raising the Titanic", one his first? Fun books, but require big sets, international filming. Too expensive, and would require a massive rewrite to produce a worthy adaptable screenplay.

Any additional comments?

Nope, I've said enough

Dreadful narration

Whilst the story was reasonably entertaining, it was spoiled by poor pronunciation by the narrator. A small amount of research would have given an indication of the correct way to pronounce place names etc.

My review

I loved the story line but I found the readers voice boring there were no sound changes just one droning cadiance

Fun Listening but not the best

At times predictable. Storyline followed usual form
ula.. action man and sidekick follow treasure hunt in race against evil baddies. That said easy listening and quite pacy. Good long journey/ holiday listen.

excellent Read

really good enjoyed it very much want to read or should I say listen