The DIG - novel by Alan Dean Foster

[skygoblin]

So, after lugging my five huge bags of (mostly) scifi books to the used book store, I got a 500 Kr bill and the question "If you wan't a couple of new books, just grab something from the shelf". Now, I'm about to move to another home, so the whole point of getting rid of these books was to not have so much lose junk to lug around. I was about to decline and walk out the door, when the familiar DIG logo caught my eye from one of the bookshelves.

 

 

I figured, heck, how much can it suck? I'll give it a chance.

 

Now, I'm no huge DIG fanatic, I like the game like any other average point n clicker obviously would, I am however specifically in love with the games' backdrop art, music and overall ambiance. The actual story never really stuck out to me as something worth getting all literate about. However, I decided to revisit the world of Cocytus a quickie by reading the book, and I'm very glad I did.

 

It brought me back to the beautiful purple/orange world and had me bathing in it's visual wonders once again. I liked being back. The story however was no doubts lacking, as everything that really mattered sort of suddenly got insta-solved on the last two pages of the book. I must admit though that I remember having the same feeling when beating the game. All pieces of the puzzle sort of dropped in place in a period of five minutes at the end, leaving the player/reader nothing but dazzled by all the cheap auto-happy-solutions. I personally, would not have minded if Foster took some liberties with the original story and tried to avoid the big deus-ex-machina type solution, or at least tried to embed it a bit better into the overall story arc.

 

As a stand-alone novel I think I would have dissed this book quite badly if it weren't for the fact that I have played the game and loved it's ambiance and art direction. As it is now, I found it a pleasant way to pass the time when sitting on the tram zooming about in Gothenburg.

 

Now, I'm curious to hear if anyone else here has read the book, and if so, what where your feelings about it? Also, are there any die-hard DIG fans out there who read the book? Did it strengthen the story or break it?

[whipwarrior]

While I've never read The Dig, it (and the finished-but-cancelled novelization to Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings) inspired me to write a similar treatment to the beloved LucasArts classic Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.

 

 

And yes, this writer DID take some liberties with the original story in order to make it a more action-packed cinematic adventure. Still four chapters left to go (hey, I'm WORKING on it!), but it is available for everyone's reading enjoyment: Just click the link at the bottom of this post.

[The Tingler]

I'd do anything to read Rob McGregor's Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings. He certainly would've done a better job with the story than any of the games.

[whipwarrior]

Last year, Rob tried to get it published as an e-book, but Lucasfilm deemed the project too cost-prohibitive and unprofitable (the same reasoning cited when they axed the real book in 2009). In the grand tradition of Sam & Max: Freelance Police, they ignored a petition signed by legions of devoted fans who desperately wanted the product: http://www.petitiononline.com/IJatSoKN/petition.html

 

Prepare to weep, folks, because THIS is the Indy novel that could have been:

 

[skygoblin]

Cool project whipwarrior! Best of luck with it. FOA is no doubts a story with a lot of potential, it certainly needs some poking at though:)

[whipwarrior]

Thanks! It has a LOT of potential, and I've been 'poking' away at it for quite awhile to make it absolutely the best Indiana Jones story that I possibly can. Hopefully fans will embrace the novel as the unofficial companion to the game; the book that should have been published alongside of it back in 1992.

[Snugglecakes]

Cool project whipwarrior! Best of luck with it.

 

It's more than cool. I can't wait for it to be finished so I can have it printed! Very good read IMO.