Great to start with but then loses substance towards the end.
342483
Great book in the beginning since it did a nice job in defining cloud shapes but the end of the book starts to get weird.  A book about clouds and weather turned into a book about animal shapes and legends.
50649
I would love to give this story a high rating as it had some very interesting premises and characters,  Unfortunately, about halfway through, it lost most of what was making it compelling and became rather predictable.  I would love to see a rewrite of this with different avenues explored.
235422
While the novel starts off in a promising way and the writer can entertain, satirize and provide insights into the way young college students understand and question literature and philosophy, ultimately there is no there, there. The substance slowly starts to fade away and rushes to a pointless end as if the writer lost interest and ability to work out the material.
3837551
This books starts off wonderfully.  The characters are approachable and you begin to care about them quickly.  The landscape is sketched very well, and you feel like you really can picture the orchard and home where the action takes place.  A heartbreaking nightmare plays out in a way that will make every parent take pause.  All is going well, and you are excited that you have found a wonderful book that will take you on a great ride.

But then... it just gets weird.  Then unbelievable.  I guess the author was trying to use mysticism and voodoo and magic to make broader points about, well, something, but it just didn't work for me.  Too much of the book is just strange and lacks credibility.  I don't want to give too much away, but I just cannot believe that someone as strong and thoughtful as the main character would ever let herself fall into what happens, let alone stay there.  Nor do I believe that her family or friends would let it happen.  Or that her faithful employees would just... leave.  It just is asking too much for the reader to go there.  In reality, her family and friends and workers would rally around her and protect her... not abandon her.

I feel sad that the book wasn't better and that I didn't like it more.  Parts of it - the beginning, the parts of the story describing Minna's childhood in Haiti - were fantastic.  If the author had just focused on telling the story of the powerful main character, and her family, and her home, and the journey they all take together through her tragedies and illness, this would have been a great book.  Through in her very different aide, and leave out the weird mystical stuff, and you'd have a really great book.  But instead... meh.  A missed opportunity by the author in my opinion.
891779
It started off really well, and got ridiculous as the plot line progressed. By the end I think the writer had reached the quota of words and came up short on the ending
2033695
The book started out great.  Not so good at the end but I am sure that is a very personal impression.
4592343
I loved the beginning sections of this book; the author Chris Dolley certainly has a gift for words, humor and self-deprecation to keep one grinning ear to ear. However, after our hero succeeds in moving animals and family from one country to another, the dramatic comedy took another turn and it almost lost me. I wasn't able to finished the book in its entirety, (without reading ahead to the end of each chapter). The other plotline was stolen identity and could have made a very good story but it got bogged down into too many details for me to maintain an interest.  But the first section (trip to France) was truly a feast of words and adventures with I truly enjoyed.
4478045
It started our very good but 2 or 3 chapters in I started losing interest.  It got good again for a few chapters but the ending was a big let down.
It got to the point ecerything was explained then just stopped.
3194558
The first half of the book was great. It was filled with good explanations and advice. Towards the end, it got a bit boring and felt like the authors were just grasping for ideas. Also, the fact that they kept referring to themselves in third person ("the authors") was a bit awkward.
4215276
this book started off splendidly and it was one of the greatest books I had ever read, but then , it just gets really repetitive and boring...if this book was maybe 100 pages shorter it would be great, but it is too long  for a book with no plot and interest is eventually lost...
3368956
The book gets off to a slow start, then picks up and is a good ride most of the way through. In the last part of the book, there is too much foreshadowing of the ending, so by the time you get there, there is no big reveal. The bulk of the book is well written and entertaining. It was worth the time and money, but I was disappointed at the ending.
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.
1638066
First Half is Very Interesting but the second half becomes kind of repetitive and boring.

Worth a buy for even the first half.
1210375
Started out amazing, then about 2/3 in the writing and plot got a bit lazy and things started to not make sense.  Overall very well done but with a lackluster ending.
1391704
The premise is clever and the writing is excellent. It started off keeping my attention, but became a little boring at parts where I started to skim through.
1876872
I thought the premise of the book was quite interesting.  It held my attention throughout the book, but I it did get a little much by the end.  The author did a great job developing the main character at the beginning.  He seemed like a real person.  But as it progressed the situation got more and more ridiculous.  I wish writers wouldn't compromise their main character for the sake of super action.
3062636
I really enjoyed this book until I hit the last 100 or so pages, from which point it turned into quite a different book and really dragged. Until the final chapters this book was beautifully written, the characters well drawn and sympathetically portrayed and the plot moved at a great pace. Moreover, Kingsolver made great use of historic material to tell a really interesting story.

However, I feel that the book jumped the shark at about page 400 and never recovered; from this point forward the story didn't really ring true and I feel that the quality of the writing went downhill. Without spoiling the plot, I agreed completely with the points Kingsolver was making, but feel that she was laying it on too thick - yes, very bad things happened to people with real or imagined links to Communists in the US during the late 40s and 1950s, but there didn't seem to be any pressing need for the book to take the turn it did, especially to such an extent.

In short, I thought that The Lacuna was well worth reading, but could have been a much stronger book.