I love a good archaeological adventure; they always bring me back to my dreams of being Indiana Jones: pursued through the jungle while recovering a long-lost talisman from the past. These stories allow for all of the convenience and setting of a modern story with a connection to our past. The Lost Spear brings us back to the world of Genghis Khan.

Unfortunately, The Lost Spear just did not work for me. I found it lacking. Lacking in content, lacking in character, lacking in substance. The best part was that at 121 pages, it was not lacking in brevity.

I hate to be so cruel, but Croft failed to create characters that I cared about. I found myself reading the pages, waiting for one of these people to create a connection: they did not. I want my protagonists to have some depth, a flaw that holds them back, something that sets them apart from the rest of the cast. Our two protagonists, Dr. Eve Blakeley and Zachary Martin, lacked any sense of depth of character; I might even say that the two were almost carbon copies of one another when it came to how they acted.

There is nothing worse than finding yourself in the middle of a book when you just don’t care; this is where The Lost Spear lost me.

*2.5 Stars

I love what I call archeology mystery books and found the premise intriguing i found the plot itself hard to follow and did not really enjoy this one

A novella with adventure and fun.

Eve was searching for the lost spear as she thought it would lead to Genghis Khan's tomb. Zach thought it was all connected to terrorist attacks. Following the clues to the grave, their romance too kicked in. But someone didn't want them to find the spear.


My first book by this author, this was an intriguing mystery of the Lost spear. I loved the race against time and against an unknown enemy, it caused my pulse to spike. I wasn't too fond of the romance..

The story had its fun moments but it had lot of theories which lost my interest too. This was the prequel and it did well in making me curious about the next book.

Overall, a fun read in most parts.

Wow this book was just so good and so easy to get lost in. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I just didn't want it to end. I just couldn't get enough of these wonderful characters and I just loved getting to see their journey. I will most definitely be reading more stories from this wonderful author.

Join Eve and Zack as they go on a Quest for the lost spear of Gangis Khan. Fight the bad guys and see if they get the spear. Be warned this is a bit of a cliff hanger but well worth the read. Zack is a MI6 agent whose partner is critically injured in a terrorist bombing. Eve is an archeologist who has PTSD from a terrorist kidnapping.

I read this book as an arc from NetGalley

The Lost Spear by N.J. Croft was an engaging, quick read featuring a quest to find the missing Spear of Genghis Khan. Dr. Eve Blakeley is an archaeologist who is really enjoying the security that her job provides as she is researching from her office. She receives a surprise visitor with an invitation to lead the search for this missing spear and soon she is off on another adventure in her life. She is joined by MI6 agent Zachary Martin, who poses as a journalist on the expedition. Someone wants her stopped at all costs and she is not sure who she can trust.

This is more of an action, adventure mystery than a romance novel, but I found it to be a good, enjoyable read. I want to know more about Eve and Zachary, and about Eve's ex and their backstory. The Lost Spear had plenty of action, good characters I want to know better, and mysterious people that I wanted to suspect immediately. I can't wait to read more!

I requested to receive an ARC of The Lost Spear from NetGalley because the story intrigued me and it was something different from the titles offered Entangled Publishing. My thanks to Entangled Publishing, NetGalley, and author NJ Croft. My opinions are my own.

It's strange that 'The Lost Spear' came as part of the ARC offering under Entangled Publishing. But the blurb wasn't one that I could resist, so I took a chance on an archaeological thriller, not knowing whether it was actually part of an imprint primarily associated with romantic fiction.

The long and short of it is, 'The Lost Spear' would be a disappointment especially if you think this is one that falls under that category. The romance plot is thin and weak, with the barest hint (that's more told than showed) of what could happen between several characters. That the male protagonist (is MI6 agent Zachary Martin even one?) was kissing Eve Blakeley with nary a hint of chemistry while contemplating his own feelings towards his recently-dead partner mere pages ago didn't really bode well for a strong romance.

That said, if archaeology and searching out lost items, racing against time if your thing, then 'The Lost Spear' does well to outline an intriguing mystery surrounding Genghis Khan and his Spirit Banner and the quest to find it.

But at 114 pages, it felt like this went nowhere, with a compendium of theories about the Spirit Banner, the revelation of bad guys who quite predictably masqueraded as good guys and an unsatisfactory cliffhanger that at the end, left me wondering if this was just a circular walk in the steppes of Central Asia. It's a clear setup for what looks like a full-length sequel, but I'm not sure if I'm into this enough to continue.

I really don’t normally read this sort of thing. It’s all too Clive Cussleresque for me. The pseudohistorical adventure quests that mainly serve as a platform for dishing out as much action as possible. But…this one grabbed my attention with Genghis Khan. And the novella length made it seem like it might be worth checking out. And who knew…maybe the author was going to radically upturn every genre stereotype and deliver a quality so exceptional that it would completely change my mind about the genre altogether. Which is actually exactly what this book went on to do. No, just kidding, of course, it didn’t. What were the odds, seriously. This book was exactly what one might have expected, starts off with an explosive action scene, resulting in a disgruntled agent who team up with a PTSD challenged scientist on a quest to discover Genghis Khan’s spear, which may or may not contain his soul, but is sure to help them find his mysterious burial site. All of which has to be done in two weeks. The time restrictions reflecting the page restrictions. Through a series of variedly implausible circumstances, semihistorically based speculations and wild assumptions, they get what they are after, but by doing so they stumble into a dangerous territory of ancient conflict by two warring factions determined to maintain the secrecy and/or use the knowledge to their specific advantages and not afraid to kill for it. Yeah, every genre cliché there is and all heavily seasoned by foul language for no apparent reason, but to demonstrate how…what? Tough? Relatable? Something….the characters are. I mean, I seriously don’t care about this sort of thing, but this just seemed gratuitous. So there you have it, this book is exactly what you think it would be and the worst thing is that it doesn’t even have the decency to be a self contained novella, it’s essentially a prequel for the author’s proper length novel. There was this guy on a beach reading a Clive Cussler book the other day, he looked exactly like the sort of dude who’s like that sort of thing and I bet he’d like this one too. For me…well, the Genghis Khan thing was very interesting, the Mongolia setting was nice, the rest…well, let’s just say it was a quick read. Not completely unentertaining, but left a lot to be desired. Thanks Netgalley.

Eve was kidnapped when she was just a student. It has shaped her professionalchoices over the years, making her research based than out in the field. She divorced her husband and now it's her and children. She won't let anyone else in. But what's an academic to do when she is offered unlimited funding to go after her own "white whale", Genghis Khan's tomb!

Zach works for MI6 but he's benn put on leave after his partner was injured in a bomb blast and they think he has fallen prey to one too many "conspircacy theories". His own tenuous lead links to Eve. He inserts himself into her fieldwork and they are off to Mongolia. Mongolia was the safest place to travel - until this new, unlikely partnership arrived!

This is short but perfectly formed. Sets the scene for what looks like a great series. I loved that there was no wrap up in the book ending, the bog bad is still out there, waiting to strike again! Potential romance, Spies, Undercover Agents and a whole lot more to keep you entertained.

This is a good, short read. Good action and interesting characters kept me mostly engaged. I rue cliff-hangers, and if you do then either skip this or be ready to get the next one before you get this. Good otherwise.

I really appreciate the copy for review!!

A bit of Indiana Jones adventure for you! Eve has been trying to locate Khan's spear because it leads to his tomb. But, Zach thinks it's linked to terrorists and is trying to follow the leads. Although novella in length this packs a pretty good story in a small space. There's a little hint at romance, plenty of spies, some guns and lots of mystery. I requested the book from Netgalley because I felt like reading an exciting adventure, I got it. Looking forward to the rest of the series.