An initially fascinating book with a fine first-half but a disappointing follow-through
933529
An initially fascinating book with a fine first-half but a disappointing follow-through. The mystery angle is weakly rendered, and the demon-on-the-loose stuff for the last 100 pages is ho-hum at best. Preston & Child are merely going through the motions here. Read their superb "White Fire" instead.
2927923
Robert Charles Wilson is one of my favorite authors so I was a little disappointed with this book.  The first half of the book detailing the metamorphasis of Europe is interesting and exciting but the second half where you discover the cause of the change is less interesting.  I liked the adventurousness of the first half, but I found the second half to be plodding in some places.
Still, Wilson is a great author and this book is better than most of the science fiction being published today.
602529
I have to say that I enjoyed the book.  The story was of great interest.  The first half of the tale (before the decent into Hell) was the best part.  There was plenty of character interaction and development and the pacing was spot on.  As for the second half, once in Hell, it just became a "who's who in historical figures" of cameos and guest spots. The richness of the first half was lost in the need of the author to get as many names of the dead in as possible.  The main characters stopped developing and rushed through their journey.  I would have liked to see the pace remain the same as the first half of the book and have been given a richer and more textured look of Hell and it's inhabitants.  I never really felt as if the characters were in any peril of awe of their surroundings.  They are supposed to be in Hell and they just keep walking from one place to the next saying "Hi and who are you?"
2736220
This is one of those books that starts out great and just sort of goes downhill.  From the get go you're thrown into a very interesting excavation of an ancient site, only to have things go catastrophically insane. The beginning really is great. It is imaginative and suspenseful. In fact, with this book, immagination and suspense could have served a much greater purpose. The fear of things unknown could have succesfully drawn a little more life into the story, for once the author describes the horrid soul ingesting "lizard people," the book sort of becomes a joke.  So, my main gripe is that the antagonistic force driving the story is a bit weak. All in all, that's not too bad. The book isn't terrible by all accounts.  It certainly won't strike terror into your soul, or even make you slightly perspire at the thought of the coming of the title date. But hey, at least there is some negative force to contend with, even if it is ridiculous. My other main gripe is a continuity issue that pops up when the protagonist from the two moon world meets the protagonist from our own world. Wylie from one moon earth smokes a cigar, in which Martin from two moon earth is absolutely schocked because no one from his world smokes tobacco. There is a big deal made of it at this point in the book.  Much earlier in the story however, Martin hijacks an automobile in order to escape a crazed mob of pursuers.  When Martin enters the vehicle, the interior is described as smelling of cigarrettes(page 137 paperback), which would imply that people in his world do indeed smoke (since individuals would not draw a reference in comparison to an object of unfamiliarity, would they?).  Whereas later (page 278), this knowledge is unheard of to Martin. While this is not a huge error, it does show that either the writer was rushed and looking for filler material, or, he kept proofreading to a minimum, or both.  Minor continuity flaws are fine, unless they are highlighted and brought to attention later on. Some people may defend page 137 as being descriptive narrative, however, if people on two moon earth did not smoke tobacco, the car would not smell like cigarrettes, so there would be no need for the author to describe it as smelling as such.
  There are points to this tale that I enjoyed. The concept of alternate worlds was enjoyable, however, awkward, with no real explanation given for the difference in circumstance from world to world. I also greatly enjoyed the concept of a latent energy within all humans. Any at home Doomsday prophecy theorist has probably already came across a couple of possible correlations between the Mayans, people of Ancient India, and the idea of Kundalini. I won't go into detail about Kundalini, because it would take far too much time. It is nice to see the auther draw in a tie for those who have already speculated on the idea.
  In conclusion, it's not a terrible book. Not a good book either. If you're already a Strieber fan, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. If you're not a fan of his, however, this book probably won't transform you into one. Thank you for your time.
1552970
I enjoyed the first half of this book so much, filled as it was with  original characters and fresh situations.  Who could resist a cat who was  comatose 23 hours out of 24, but whose owner loved him madly nevertheless?  And a female astronaut who learned faster than anyone else, but who was  still prey to love problems?  Once I got to the second half, though,  somewhere in a star system far far away, the goings-on weren't as much fun  for me.  I was never the least bit tempted to quit reading, but I wanted to  get back to the home planet where the characters were REAL, not giant red  and blue robots, a creature named Ooze, something called Rastus, computer  consoles that saw and knew all (well, not so unreal after all), and a very  smelly overlord, or whatever he was.  In other words, the story went from  magic realism to total fantasy, even though, I must say, the author makes a  good case for the physics of what's happening.  The quotes about quantum  physics interspersed throughout, by the way, added a lot for me.  All in  all, a funny, tongue-in-cheek, and sometimes thought-provoking novel.
4692379
This book begins and ends magnificently, with a fascinating portrait of Lance Armstrong on his way out of his Austin mansion and some impressive sleuth work on his early childhood and family. But it struggles in the middle chapters to match the highs set at the beginning and end, which, we learn later, were the result of a four-hour interview done in Austin as Lance was leaving his house. Lance comes off rather badly -- the bullying behaviour is rather amply described, and at a level of detail that other accounts have missed. But the reader is left nonetheless with the feeling that Lance may be only half-wrong here -- he has in fact been saddled with the sins of a deeply corrupt sport, where his principal sin was to do so well at it, and to treat so many people so badly along the way. It's a good read, if you're interested in the story, especially the beginning and ending chapters. But the middle chapters seem very hastilly written, and curiously missing in key detail -- Lance breaking his collarbone during his comeback, Marco Pantani's untimely death, and a sharper account of Floyd Landis' humongous flame out. All in all recommended reading, but it falls a bit short of being the definitive account of this man and his sport.
67979
Back about 1960, as a preteen, I came across a paperback copy of Althea Gibson's autobiography, "I Always Wanted to Be Somebody."  Books like these are why we read: to learn about a world and lives outside of ourselves, and thus [indirectly] learn about ourselves; to discover heroes & heroines, those who strove against adversity to achieve.  This book was my first exposure to tennis [going on to play on the tennis team at school], and my first exposure to the struggle for equal rights.  I haven't reread it in 40 years, but its lessons still reverberate.

Thus I was excited to find this book, and read it full of anticipation.  The first part of the book is excellent: you get a feel for the narrow [and unprofitable, by today's standards] world which tennis occupied in the 50s; and you get a sense of how a narrow, specialized world reflects the biases of the larger world.  The struggles of Angela Buxton and Althea Gibson to be accepted as players, as well as accepted as individuals, are very vivid.  When we despair of the slow progress of accepting diversity, we should re-view the world of 50 years ago and note our progress.  The part of the book describing the youthful lives and struggles of these two women is compelling.

After that, I felt that the book fell apart.  Schoenfeld did some excellent research, but his writing became pedantic.  The descriptions of the tennis matches are accurate, but lifeless.  And the "after life", once they left tennis, is cursorily treated: 40 years in about as many pages.  While bemoaning the fact that they were ignored by the tennis world, wasn't he doing the same thing?

I think you will be moved by the first half of the book.
1480635
The first half of this book was compelling, interesting and thoughtful.

Then, it morphed into something less interesting - a 'biography' not of Jobs, but of Apple Computer. The author lost sight of the subject of this biography, and instead just recites the general facts that are well know about Apple - particularly from when Jobs was 'fired' by the company, founded NeXT, and returned.

Overall, the book is an easy read and worth the effort. I had hoped for more detail and insight from people mentioned. We all know that Steve could be cruel, erratic etc - but no one really is able to answer 'why'. This book is more about the 'what' and the 'how' of Steve Jobs.

An appealing feature is that it's not an entirely flattering portrait of Jobs, and very critical comments about him are not glossed over or 'explained' - as a more conventional 'authorised' biography would usually do.
4174549
I bought this book after thoroughly enjoying The Magicians and Mrs Quent. This book is certainly deeper, and has interesting themes. But... while it was a satisfying read and I'm glad I finished it, there were several things that almost made me put it down mid-way.

1. It was *very* long, and the central portion of the book seemed very slow. It felt that it needed tightening up. I think this book could lose about a third of its weight. Maybe there'll be an abridged version some day?
2. Ivy does nothing much except read her father's journal, go to parties, and learn more about herself and her world. Except for bursts of action from time to time, she's quite passive. I didn't expect *her* to become boring.
3. The real protagonist of this book is Eldyn Garritt.  His story is the most engaging, but barely interweaves with the main story-line; and when it does, it feels forced.

Despite all that, it's worth reading if you enjoyed the first book. It deepens your understanding of the world, which is wonderfully layered. And Eldyn, who's nothing much in the first book, truly develops into an amazing character.

I've already bought the next book.
1952086
I really enjoyed much of this book even though I was disappointed somewhat with the second part. Overall, the author did her research very thoroughly. The first part of the book is especially informative, giving readers insight for the first time into the life of this often-forgotten member of the Kennedy family.  At first I was impressed with how careful the author seemed to be to attribute every word to its source and act as an objective narrator. But half-way through the book that changed abruptly. When information became scant about Rosemary's post-operative life, Larson started editorializing instead of reporting. She often tried to guess what various people might have been thinking, with no basis in reality. Joe Kennedy is faulted greatly for his decision to have Rosemary operated on, even as the facts in the book seems to indicate he loved his eldest daughter a great deal. As someone who very recently was talked into a surgery that went wrong (however different), I know well how wishful thinking can lead to wrong medical decisions. It's the doctors who should shoulder the blame, not those who were misled by them. The author even describes in detail what lengths the elder Kennedy went to to tend after Rosemary's every need, such as providing her not just with every therapy available at the time, but also with luxuries such as hair dressers and tailors in the years after her surgery. I would have enjoyed this biography better if the author stayed more neutral, presenting the facts and allowing us to draw our own conclusions. Finally, the book seems to end rather abruptly. Perhaps information on for the latter part of Rosemary's life is harder to come by, but reading through 100 pages filled with lists of legislations for the handicapped becamons rather tedious. Instead, I wish she would have included more of her interviews with two of Eunice Shriver's sons. But a thumbs up overall
4899149
Ahoy there me mateys! This book appealed to me because it's about anthropologists from another plane doing research on the Black Death. Their plane is also suffering from a plague and they are hoping the research can save lives back home. Anthropologists are supposed to stay neutral but one member of the team, Habidah, breaks the rules and rescues aFlorentine Carthusian monk named Niccolucio.

Now I abandoned this book at 48% but, to be fair, I loved the first half. I thought the story of Niccolucio was excellent and really enjoyed reading about the research of Habidah and her team. The imagery was well done and I really cared about both of the characters. The problem arose once the politics of the other plane got involved. The entire tone of the book switched, and I began to feel like I was reading a different book.

Because apparently the expedition had another goal besides the one that Habidah was given. I won't get into it here but basically it spoiled the premise for me and I didn't want to read about where the author wanted to take the story. I wanted a book more along the lines of the Doomsday book rather than a space opera. I did attempt to keep reading several times because I wanted to know what ends up happening to Niccolucio specifically. But alas I couldn't stay engaged once the plot switched. I do have other crew members that loved it though so it might work for ye.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for me honest musings.  Arrrr!!
38598
Very interesting first half dealing with measurable data, physical evidence and historical significances of shape development. Info about hoaxsters and possible cover ups also interesting for the reader's consideration.  Plenty of photos and anecdotes in general. Seems reasonably objective thus far.  Second half, during  fascinating Chapter 11 on acoustics, the book suddenly deteriorates into a highly subjective argument for what is obviously the authors own religious viewpoint. I got this book to learn more about the physical and mathematical significance of crop circles. I could not be less interested in being preached at by ANY religion, especially when pushed via disrespect of another. What a shame that the author thought he could net two audiences in one swoop. 5 stars for the 'Science' then, and 1 star for the 'Mysticism (aka.. authors religious views and showing off about his own magick prowess) = 3 stars.
Next time Sir, please write two books for the two distinct types of readers.
1146674
First, let me say tht Clara's story and the late revelations of her importance at Tiffany's are very interesting and an excellent historical note. It's interesting that a woman with so much talent could have had her recognition so thoroughly supressed by Louis Tiffany for so long. Therefore, the first half of the book is very interesting and engaging.
The second half of the book becomes a drag. Once the reader is introduced to Clara's extraordinary achievements, there is not much more to tell. The book becomes a day to day telling of life in middle class New York in the early 20th century. The book could have definitely been much shorter, as I found myslef no more interested in Clara's day to day life, loves and trials than I would anyone else's. I was also distracted by the author's clear anti union bias, and her insistence on continually pointing out how different things are today than back in Clara's day. I understand that things like rent were cheaper then than now, and I definitely do not need to be told again and again.
Overall, Clara's story and the injustices done to her are very interesting, and I'm glad I know a lot more about it. I just think that it becomes a bit of a slog to get through in the last half, and could have been cut a little shorter.
4390547
Enjoyable, although pacing in the first half is uneven.
2694308
Let me begin with the good stuff. The  idea of the book (how fascism can come to America without most people even realizing it) is extremely interesting. The plot is compelling, the characters are memorable, and  the author has a deep insight into the American character.  During the first 1/3 of the book, I literally could not put it down. Then the book slowed down, and I felt that certain episodes do not contribute much to the story. But the pace picked up again towards the end. Overall, I found it uneven, and not in the same league as the best books by Roth, such as "A Human Stain". Nevertheless, I highly recommend it. Among other things, there is a very charming description of a Jewish neighborhood in Newark in the 1940s where the author grew up (the book is semi-autobiographical).
73294
There are some good things about this book. It gets off to a fast, pretty exciting start, and there's a prolonged period of wandering for the main character early on that engaged me rather than boring me. And the author exhibited a great sense of timing by ending that wandering just when I felt like the story needed to transition out of it. So that was good. The author does have an elegant writing style, and some descriptions and quotes into the nature of characters are pretty insightful and unique. The dragon species is given a lot of treatment in depth, and is quite fascinating at times.

But there were many things I didn't really like. I was pretty surprised to find some sloppy mistakes. First of all, there are quite a bit of typos (for example, "It felt good so see Hieba's smile" on page 257, "Does he have an signet?" on page 275, "it's approaches are thick with elves" on page 283, and the Wyrmmaster's character is spelled "Wrymmaster" on page 349). Second of all, the author seems to break some of his own devices. The book begins with an explanation that a dragon's name before his first flight puts the accent on the first syllable, then after his first flight, the accent shifts to the second syllable. So the protagonist is "Auron" before his first flight and becomes "AuRon" after it. Yet, after the protagonist's actual first flight, the author refers to him as "AuRon" once and then "Auron" the next two times. Then it seems to switch back to "AuRon" permanently, but a few "Auron"s still sneak in here and there throughout the rest of the book. It's just sloppy.

But here's where sloppiness can screw up a reader's place in the story. When AuRon infiltrates the villainous Wyrmmaster's island, he tells them all that his name is NooShoahk to hide his true identity. Then on page 316, the Wyrmmaster softly says to him, "What is your vision, AuRon?" I thought, "Whoah, the Wyrmmaster knows his true identity!" Nope...just a mistake in the book. That's not really acceptable.

From a more general perspective of the narrative, relationships are formed between the protagonist and secondary characters, but they don't last long enough or develop enough depth to matter when they break or end. Some of them just seem like devices to fulfill the "hero makes friends throughout journey" cliche -- they didn't really advance Auron's character or story in a significant way. And who are the main villains and antagonists? It seems like it depends on which page range you're reading. I believe the narrative suffers from not having a persistent antagonist or antagonist group throughout the book.

I guess the most damning comment I can make is that I reached a point in about the middle of the book when I couldn't really wait to just be finished with the book and move onto my next one. It's hard to recommend a book to others when you feel that way about it.
3289864
Julian Stockwin's "Kydd" has a strong first half but dissapointed me during the second half.  He's an obviously knowledgeable period writer and has developed a protaganist that comes from a different social caste than all other naval heroes, a common sailor as oppossed to an officer or gentleman.  This take was what first attracted me to "Kydd".
The first half of the novel is excellent and would easliy deserve four or five stars.  Thomas Paine Kydd is a wig maker pressed into the Royal Navy very much against his will.  The harshness of the lower deck is only moderately alleviated by his acquiring a "sea daddy", a long time able seaman who takes Kydd under his wing and teaches him the trade.  Kydd is also an intelligent, physically active young man who is a natural leader.  Despite these many positives, they are not sufficent to avoid the brutal existence experienced by mere landsman on a man o' war.
The second half falls apart.  The story is fragmented and does not flow as well as the first half.  More importantly, Kydd makes an easy half dozen errors but because of luck, acts of god, or the sudden unexpected benevolence of formerly brutal or indifferent superiors, manages to repeatedly avoid the consequences of his actions.  From bad luck, he suddenly lives a charmed life.  Where he was on the way to become a stoic, he transforms into a petulant child.  The second half deserves a mere two stars.
I do recommend the book, as the good far outwieghs the bad.  However, I think the longevity of the series will have to rest on the second novel (titled "Artemis", the name of Kydd's second ship) which I will certainly buy.  As a devout fan of Forester and O'Brien, both deceased, here's hoping that the author manages to capture the essence of the first half of Kydd, and avoids the chaos of the second. We need more Napoleonic fiction.
By the way, when will someone write from the French view of the naval war between France and Britian?