Secret of the Lost Empire

Kim Van Vliet is a Winnipeg-based freelance writer.

Secret of The Lost Empire is a mystery adventure novel, suitable reading
for kids 10 and older. Set in the jungles of the Amazon, it concerns the
quest for the legendary Falls of Orellana and the lost city of the Incas
said to be located at the top. Christopher Skye, who was obsessed by the
legends, disappeared while searching for them when his son Jonathon was
still a baby 15 years before. When Jon’s Uncle Howard is recruited to
guide Mr. Plumm and Maria da Cada on a new search for the mysterious
falls, where they hope to get their hands on some Incan gold, Jon is
more interested in finding out what happened to his father so long ago.
The group makes a perilous journey by canoe, then by small aircraft, and
finally through jungle, with the requisite number of clues to gather and
narrow escapes to make.

The book is well written and the plot moves quickly; chapters often end
on a note of suspense. The fact that the travellers make contact with
several native tribes living in the jungle, including the Incas and
Jacamas, and the references to the explorer Orellana provide
opportunities for further exploration beyond the scope of this novel.
The main characters in the story are committed to nonviolence, so there
is no gratuitous killing, although there is plenty of conflict. My one
complaint is that after an absorbing journey and a fascinating
discovery, the story concludes with a somewhat hasty and conventional
ending.