GREAT FIRST HALF, SECOND HALF FALLS APART
924091
Fountain has the writing mojo.  He writes well, very well.  His use of similes and metaphors is first rate--though he tends to overuse them at times.  As a Vietnam veteran, I was intrigued with the fact that Fountain had no combat experience to draw upon in writing what was billed as a "war novel."  I soon learned why.  Except for vague references to battle scenes, Fountain does not deal with war.  He concentrates his attention on the aftermath of combat, both from the soldiers' point of view, as well as the civilians'.  And he does a creditable job.
  The novel's main plot-line--a squad of soldiers returns to the US for a "victory tour" after a heroic battle in Iraq--is based on historical fact: during WWII, the marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima were brought home to participate in a "victory tour" to raise money by selling war bonds.  A secondary plot-line--not as credible, but still believable--depicts a Hollywood producer attempting to broker a movie deal based on the squad's combat exploits.
  Fountain's characters largely ring true, with a couple of notable exceptions: Billy Lynn is a 19 year old "coming-of-age" type of protagonist, whose observations about the American way of life hit the mark--unfortunately, Fountain imbues Billy's inner thoughts with a sophistication that does not match his actions and dialogue, a kind of omniscient narrator who intrudes into the story; Sergeant Dime is the tough, wise NCO who shepherds his squad through the tour's travails; Sergeant Shroom is a soldier who was KIA, but who, in a series of flashbacks, serves as the novel's philosophical voice and conscience; Norm Oglesby is a thinly veiled caricature of the Dallas Cowboy's present owner, Jerry Jones; Major Mac is an enigmatic figure, whose place in the novel is a mystery; the remaining minor characters have different personalities that flesh out the story.
  There are a few plot twists that seem contrived and detract from the novel: Billy's fifteen minute romantic fling with Fraison, the Cowboys cheerleader, strains believability; the plot by Kathryn, Billy's sister, to convince Billy to desert from the Army rather than return for his tour of duty in Iraq serves virtually no purpose other than to create tension and cause the reader to wonder if he will follow her advice; in a scene loaded with stereotypical racial dialogue, several black Dallas players query Billy about joining his squad in their return to Iraq for a couple of weeks to kill  some "ragheads"--even if Fountain wrote this scene in humor, it still smacks of racism, or at best it appears mean-spirited.
  Overall, the first half of the novel was well worth the read; the second half, however, seemed to deteriorate and fall apart.
3290870
Having studied Josephus' War intently for the last several months, I bought the novel to help me flesh out all the characters I read about.  The novel was quite good and mostly faithful to the War until the last third of the book, in which there are ridiculous assertions regarding dual and triple identities of some important characters, there is major degradation of the primitive Nazarene (Jewish Christian) movement and its known history and characters, and the novel just falls completely apart at the end, totally anti-climactic and ridiculous.  The concept is very good - that Josephus is the Jewish Messiah and is cleverly working to become the Roman Emperor - but there is absolutely no resolution to it.  Three stars for the first 2/3rds. Wish the author would rewrite the ending.
243990
The first 75% of this book was fantastic. It was well written and well edited. The characters were fully described and likeable. The descriptions were wonderful. The paranormal aspect (which is not always something I enjoy) was subtle enough to blend into the story without overwhelming it. Unfortunately, the author tried to stretch the plot out too long. She did everything but write the solution to the mystery in blood on the heroine's dressing room mirror, and poor Lee still couldn't figure it out. I had a difficult time finishing the book, simply from exasperation. After all the stumbling around being oblivious, the heroine's final confrontation with the culprit was overdone. I seriously think the author only did it to put her outside, nearly naked and surrounded by photographers. Why the need for cheap thrills? Then, if that wasn't bad enough, the author added one of those mega wrap up chapters : then this happened, then that happened, then .... I still gave the book three stars, but the last few chapters were a disappointment after the book started off so splendidly.
1638066
First Half is Very Interesting but the second half becomes kind of repetitive and boring.

Worth a buy for even the first half.
3085517
First half of the book was amazing!!! Nevill did an amazing job at cultivating  anxiety and desperation in that dark Scandinavian forest. Had me on the edge of my seat the whole way through!
However the second half was less to my liking. I will not give anything away but I think the ending was adequate. The rest of the book failed to stand up to the first half though.
3286278
The first half of the book (up until she turns into a wolf) was great. The first chapter especially had me hooked and the hints of Tess being meant to take over her family's coven were very promising.

Unfortunately, most of the book's promising beginning gets bogged down in typical teen romance scenarios. She and this wolf-boy are obviously meant to be together but she can't accept it, they have miscommunications and never really talk...etc. When they do actually talk, the only thing they have in common is a shared love of bands. I'm really sorry, but liking the same music does not a soulmate make. Erin seems to loose her focus at the end as the plot gets more and more unbelievable.

This is one of those books that, with a proper editor, could be fantastic. I would really love to call this a good first draft and read it again after several more!
1417515
Mitchell is one of the best, most inventive writers I know - I loved Black Swan Green, Cloud Atlas, and Thousand Autumns.

For its first half, Bone Clocks is as good as any of these other books - we inhabit the world of Holly Sykes, a wonderfully realized young woman who over the course of the book grows into a wife and mother. Mitchell is astounding at giving voice to Holly, and to the wonderful characters that surround her - I especially liked the thinly veiled 'Martin Amis' character.

But once the mystical substructure of the novel is brought center stage, the book falls apart. There's pages and pages of mumbo-jumbo that feels faintly silly and ultimately pointless.

A shame, because Holly and her life will stay with me.
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.
3507241
The first 75% of this book was great.  Funny, dramatic, and entertaining.  Typical Stephenson.

But, in the last 25% of the book, the plot just falls apart.  The ending is not coherent with what happened in the first 75% of the book, and even lacks a bit of coherence with itself.  You read entire sub-plots that turn out to have nothing to do with the conclusion of the story, while much of what actually happened to generate the conclusion is never told (and unknown), and is even contradictory to what you read before.

For example (SPOILER ALERT - STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS):

1.  How was the Walmart/Viking witch going to get home after the Walmart raid?  I cannot imagine that they just planned to leave her in the present, but that's what the book would have you believe!

2.  Whatever happened to the Asian family that was recruited from Sam Francisco in 1850?  If they were to play no part in anything to come later in the book, why did I need to spend pages reading about the recruitment of that family?

3.  What did Grianne do that caused the Pentagon?  And why was she spending her time doing *that* when what she really wanted to do was prevent technology, and specifically photography?  Building up the military industrial complex seems to be just the opposite of what she was supposedly trying to do.  And instead of telling us about Grianne's recruitment of someone in 1850 San Francisco, why not tell us about those things?

4.  Since Grianne was cultivating the Fuggars for years, how did they come to oppose her in the present?

5.  How did Tristan learn that Dr. Rudge (who is an advisor to D.O.D.O.) was also connected to the Fuggars?  We learn that he knows in the last 25% of the book, but we never find out how he found out, or why it mattered.

6.  Where did the Fuggar's find their own witch in the present?

7.  If the Fuggar's already have their own ODEC (and/or are already connected to D.O.D.O. via Dr. Rudge), why did the Fuggar's steal and then hide the ATTO, as opposed to allowing D.O.D.O. to retrieve it?
1920500
I downloaded this book for free, otherwise I definitely wouldn't have been sold on it.  It is a Christian book but definitely not preachy.  The conversions are a bit dramatic though- one of them in particular was pretty tough to swallow, unless you can believe people completely change overnight.  Which I tend to not believe, but whatever it's fiction.

This book started off really really great.  I was enjoying the first half immensely with the introduction of the main characters who were so colorful and very fun.  I loved their interactions.  After about the first half, I thought the book stalled a little.  There wasn't much drama going on because by that point the 4 ladies had pretty much shared their stories, and I was just wondering where the book was going.  It finished fairly strong, and I won't give a spoiler but I thought the author did a good thing at the end with resolving some of the problems the characters faced but not by making the problems magically disappear.  I was worried that might happen, but the author kept it "real".

Anyway, I recommend it for free, or maybe $1, but I don't think I'd pay much over maybe $2.  There's just too many decent books in this genre.
2248345
Solid sci-fi thriller, original and entertaining. (semi-spoilers below)

The good: I LOVED the first half. The inch-by-inch revealing of the horrors of what's really going on with Isserley. The writing style. GREAT modern sci-fi.

The bad: The second half. Once all has been revealed, I started noticing things like "is this an anti-beef manifesto?" and "why do I not feel like hearing about Isserley's lust for Vess' fancy fur?" And I started questioning the story, instead of just enjoying it.

If this book stopped at the full reveal, I would have given it five stars.
3398926
The first half of the book is truly magical. You get such a clear picture of the characters, the setting. The set up for Alix and Nicks love story makes you understand exactly why they fall for each other and helps you get through when the second half goes off the rails for a while. Too many big plot twists that aren't really thought through. The main characters become unrecognizable. The heroine needs therapy. The hero becomes a cardboard cut out. Theres also a scene where the heroine wakes up to the hero having sex with her which is gross. But. In the end the early character development and relationships built pull everything together. I stayed up until 2 am on a work day so clearly it was entertaining.
3991561
This book started out amazing! I loved the first 3/4 of it. Strong plot, interesting characters, enough twists and turns to keep you on your feet. However, around the last fourth of the book it became just out-right weird. The sex scenes were more in detail, there was some explicit gore and just some parts that I didn't think should have been added in. However, I did enjoy the book for the most part and would recommend it, as long as the reader goes in a little more prepared than I was.
419552
The first part of this book is fast paced and interesting. It deals with the concept of time travel, the theme of the orphaned hero in a strange land, and prehistorical exploration in the best Auel tradition. A very good  read indeed.
And then, just about half way through, the book suddenly  dies (p. 188 in my edition). Sure, there still is some plot development, but  the fast paced tension that kept me tied to the book the first half, is  gone, replaced by semi-deep thoughts and not really interesting feelings of  the protagonist. I kept on reading, hoping it would be a temporary dip.
It wasn't.
I feel cheated out of what should and could have been a  better book.
4441754
I dove right into this book and was immediately pulled in by the authenticity of the family. Loved the first half and then--where was the editor of this book? It could have been an extraordinary accomplishment but because the second half dragged along--I mean, went on and on, redundant, endless scenes that illuminated nothing, created a real slog in the last half of the book. I repsect the anecdotal ways in which the author presented each scene and yet, couldn't wait for it to end.
1660305
Started out great, got sort of sidetracked in the middle and ran out of steam at the end.
631802
A young lawyer is put in a difficult position which culminates with him going to jail. The story focuses on his attempt to regain his good name and reputation. The first half of this story is fantastic but unfortunately the second half loses the originality and resorts to older themes. Still the book is interesting and fun to read.