ALEX HUNT and SAM QUINN are back for another Action-packed Archaeological Adventure! This time, in the Cambodian jungle!
After their return from The Lost City of Rhapta (Alex Hunt Adventures Book 1), Professor Charles Hunt retired and handed the reins to his daughter, Alex.
So, when the sacred Golden Urn believed to have contained Buddha’s remains, mysteriously disappeared from a mountain shrine in Cambodia, the Cambodian government hired the highly acclaimed pair for their assistance in finding the holy ancient relic and returning it to its rightful position in the Royal temple in Phnom Penh.
Alex and Sam were on the next plane to Cambodia in their quest to find the sacred Golden Urn. But what they encountered was far more than what they expected.
Finding The Golden Urn was supposed to be easy. Nothing the skilled Alex Hunt and Sam Quinn haven’t done before. But little did they know they would become the center of an international conspiracy. A conspiracy, so entangled in a web of secrets and crime that it could cost them their lives.
Faced with danger and underground syndicates, they soon realized they couldn’t trust anyone. Nothing was as it seemed.
Would their pursuit for The Golden Urn lead to someone’s demise, or would it lead to the discovery of a relic no one even knew existed?
Alex Hunt and the Golden Urn by Urcelia Teixeira. Book number 2 in the Alex Hunt Adventure Series. Published by Urcelia Teixeira, May 2018. I received a Kindle AR copy from Netgalley & BooksGoSocial in exchange for an honest review.
I want to start out by saying that I have not read book 1 in the series yet. I didn’t realize this was a book 2 until I already got started on it. I did not have a hard time following along with the story because of missing book 1. There were plenty of references to the first book that helped me get an over all idea of who Alex and Sam where. While I would have liked to have read the first one before hand, it was perfectly fine starting with book number 2. So there is no need to worry about reading it out of order. Yay!
An entertaining action story. A very fast paced adventure. Very Indiana Jones. You can tell those movies have been a great inspiration to the author. It is pretty clear to see her passion showing through the whole story. You can tell she loves treasure hunts, puzzles, lost ancient relics, and more. I really enjoyed that because I love the same things that she does. I could really connect to her love of these topics. Those sort of fun, passionate themes and mysteries keep the reader engaged all the way to the end.
I kinda went back and forth on liking the main character, Alex Hunt. Sometimes it was great because she was a strong female character. Sometimes, though, it seemed like she was kinda being hostile or bitchy without adequately explaining why she was being that way. I get that she had some sort of gut feeling, but it wasn’t really explained in a way that made us understand where she was getting that feeling from. Instead it just made her sound like a paranoid grouch. Also, sometimes it felt like she was too inexperienced to be the lead archeologist on a project of this kind of importance.
The mystery in the book is actually based on a true story. Some 2500 years ago, Buddha’s remains were gathered in several golden urns and shared with his followers in holy burial urns. In 2013, The Golden Urn believed to have contained Buddha’s hair, fingers, and ashes, disappeared from a shrine in Cambodia. The whole situation was highly shady. I thought it was extremely cool that the relic was not your typical relic that we see all the time in treasure seeking adventure stories. Most times it’s some sort of christian biblical artifact, and it was a nice change up to have a relic from a different religion and culture as the treasure to find.
I enjoyed the trip through Cambodia. It is a location you do not see often in fiction. As an added bonus, on the author’s website, you get behind the scenes photos from trips to actual locations from the books! I thought that was really cool to include! It is always fun getting to see or hear about how the author researched things for the book and the photos added to the experience of really filling like you are there with the characters when you are reading the book.
The twists and villains were a little bit too predictable. It didn’t ruin the story or anything, but it felt like Alex and her partner Sam should have seen some of these things coming. It was a little bit frustrating.
There is something a little off about the writing style. Nothing terrible, and it’s a little hard to put my finger on it exactly… You know how sometimes in a new series, the first couple of books are a little rough in some spots because the author is still finding their rhythm? That is what this book felt like. I think this series will be one to keep an eye.
The Golden Urn was a pretty decent relic seeking adventure. A few small bumps here or there, but over all entertaining. A fun pick for action adventure fans, and fans who enjoy Indiana Jones.
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