Book Log 2011 #3: The First Emperor by Steve Berry

Cotton Malone moves his landmark-destroying antics eastward in this latest novel in the series. The conflict this time comes with a secret society of eunuchs, who are trying to influence the selection of China's next leader by manipulating the two most likely candidates. Part of this involves proving that petroleum is created abiogenically, as ensuring China's energy resources would give a leg up to whatever person could claim it.

Unlike the other books in the series, this one starts off well into the adventure and then tells the story (mostly) in flashback, which is a nice change. I did think the story was better here than in the last book, and we've thankfully lost the two younger characters from that book who looked poised to become regulars. I still think the overall quality of the series has dipped from the beginning, but there's hope in this entry that things are rebounding.

(I also discovered on Berry's website that there's an original ebook that follows Cassiopeia Vitt as she tries to find the tomb of a Thracian king but stumbles across some sort of shadowy Russian mining interest. It's supposed to be a prequel to The First Emperor, and I'm just enough of a sucker to seek it out - though not enough of one to buy it.)