B&A&M

I am a huge Tomb Raider fan. A fanatic fan really. I adore Lara Croft, and the original games are my absolute favorite of the franchise—though I do love love love the new ones too. I got this book with high hopes, which I learned was a bad idea. This is the worst Tomb Raider content I've ever seen. It butchered Lara. Dan Abnett and Nik spit on her! Their portrayal of Lara Croft is downright offensive. Real Lara is tough with poise, clever, witty, sexy...this Lara was wimpy, whiny, paranoid, and a victim of continuous panic attacks. (Even if this book is supposed to continue TR 2013, which is fails to do, Lara shouldn't be having such problems; she should be a hardened bada**.) She didn't raid a single tomb and a good portion of the book was dedicated to her riding trains, hanging out at colleges, and "sipping" water. She also acted helpless and thus endlessly depended on others...AWFUL! Lara is supposed to be a strong independent woman, a total role model. I don't want to hear people say "Well, this is her origin story." No, even in an origin story, a character who is supposed to turn out strong will be strong. Intrepidity will be in the person's blood from the beginning. I should've put it down, but I am a very committed person, meaning I always feel compelled to finish what I start...but I regret reading this through because it put a stain on my girl Lara that will take me a while to overcome. I had to watch the movies after I finished the book to get refreshed with the real Lara. To all true TR fans, pretend this book isn't real! And please disregard the foreword where the Crystal Dynamics team somehow endorses this pile of poo and calls it "canon." Positively ridiculous!