Books like The Goddess Legacy

The series has shifted back to it’s treasure-hunting roots and it’s a relief to have the political/intrigue content of the 2nd book gone. Instead, this book has an entirely different problem – the story and setting instantly bring to mind Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, so much so that I’ve seen accusations of plagiarism. It’s a bizarre choice for the author to make, why not use another story that won’t immediately remind readers of an incredibly popular movie series whose imagery is the first you picture when you hear about Kali worshippers with mines and slaves? So there’s an entire storyline here that feels completely unoriginal, and the only thing that saves it is the modern setting. Of all the stories the author could have told, why such a cliché one?Drake and Ally are a mess as characters. I already noticed it in book 2, but Drake seems to be becoming more and more immature with each book. He’s gone from a character I liked, to one that vaguely annoys me. He reminds me more and more of a stereotypical surfer dude instead of an intelligent, methodical treasure hunter. His ‘ability’ to connect information that was cool in the first book, disappeared in book 2, never to be mentioned again. His constant and rather pathetic attempts to romance Ally are getting annoying at this point. There’s zero chemistry between them so I have no interest whatsoever in their relationship: the whole relationship ends up feeling like a required element for the genre, and not something the author thought was important.I was already troubled by Ally in book 2 but here she has deteriorated to a meaningless filler character with no personality other than obnoxious naivete. Her being an archaeologist is just a word now, it means nothing at all since she never uses any of her so-called knowledge, and her almost complete ignorance of the subject matter means it would have been better just to have her as Drake’s girlfriend, rather than set her up in the laughable position of being their ‘expert’. She had such potential in the first book - sassy, smart and charming - but the author has done nothing with her, and the interesting girl I cared about is completely gone. Now she’s just there as Drake’s love interest, and even that is so insipid you wonder why the author even bothered.Spencer is the only character who has completely remained intact and consistent and is a constant relief from Drake and Ally. There was so much potential in the first two books for Drake and Spencer to become real partners: Drake’s intelligence with Spencer’s military training and instincts, but it has never really come to fruition. Spencer is a fantastic character and I enjoy him immensely. In fact, Spencer is so perfectly ‘in character’ that I am very confused how the author seems to have forgotten who Drake and Ally are, none of their unique and distinctive traits have survived at all. This series started out so strong but the author has made some strange choices – book 2 was an entire genre shift into a political thriller with almost no treasure hunting, and book 3 has a large chunk of the story which is so uncomfortably familiar that it’s off-putting. I’m getting the distinct feeling the author doesn’t know what type of genre he wants to write, so is fumbling around trying to figure it out. I did mostly enjoy it but the experience is soured. It’s a disappointment when I loved the first book so much – I would have loved more of that, but unfortunately, the second and third books have been completely out of step. I would definitely read more in the series but the author needs to figure out what story he’s trying to tell, because right now, it’s coming across as confused and he’s losing control of his characters – the book feels lazy, from the cliché storyline to the bland, almost unrecognisable characters, the author needs to sort his vision out. I don’t want to do such a negative review but this book has serious issues and I’m very disappointed by that, the first book was great and I wanted more just like that.Let me be clear – I didn’t dislike it and would read more of the series without hesitation, there’s a lot of great stuff in here and the author creates some exciting, immersive sequences, but the series definitely needs work if it’s to get back on track.