Excellent story line...Written with boredom...
342710
This book had a very good plot and story line.  The author's quest for telling the life of many people was very different but intriguing.  Three stars because the way it was written was boring or not exciting.  It also  made you feel as if you knew the secondary characters better than the main  characters.  All in all it doesn't keep you turning the pages, but if you  like stories that are set on the trail, it's a good book to read.
1316284
A good story but tedious to read.  I think the tedium comes as a result of some editorial errors, but the thorough constant rehashing of the main character's deep seated guilt contributed to it.  I wasn't even half way through the book when I was wishing it would just end.  I did not look forward to reading the rest of the book but I did out of curiosity because the story line was good.  By the time I finished I felt relieved.

I have not relegated the author to the "Never Read Again" category but next time I will try to be certain that it will be much shorter.
4622361
The story line is great. The plot has many interesting twists before revealing the true criminals. Every time I thought I figured out who the bad guy was, something happened to prove me wrong.

The love story is in the background is touched on just enough to keep the focus on the story line.  The tension between them made me root for the two, hoping they would become lovers.

The author seems to want to prove he knows how the global banking system works and that he has the knowledge to write the story based on a realistic global system, but I think he goes overboard and I skipped many pages of this banking "education."  Also, some of the major characters ramble on and on about their views on religion, history and wealth, which support the character's motives.  However, this was very boring to me and I also skipped many pages because of the rambling.

Overall, I liked the story line; the adventures, the challenges and the thrills kept me reading.  I hope in the future, the author will give me just enough info on the extraneous backgrounds that support the story line so that I will not have to skip pages.
4639575
The story line was great, I thoroughly enjoyed it...right up until it a complete 360 and turned into a murder mystery book. The writer shows promise, but needs to give his characters a little more "character". At first I was turned off because the main character seemed shallow and selfish. Once I got over that, I really liked the story, until the end of course.
1270513
This is the sixth Thorne book I've read in this series and I probably won't read another one for awhile. I find I get tired of continuing characters in a book series when they get near or at double digit figures. In Billingham's case, DI Tom Thorne is such a depressing character that I get tired of his constant dwellings on his purposefully meaningless life. His girlfriend Louise is just as depressing as he is so the dysfunctional relationship goes on and on in this book. It takes up much too much story time in this dark tome. Boring.

What makes this a five star review is that the author writes quite well and has forged a murderer, Marcus Brooks,that really makes the book work. I wound up rooting for the killer over the cops. His story is very well written....a story that stays with you.

I find for me that trilogies work best. I quit reading Bosch, Delaware and Cross, etc.....I just lost interest in their similar plots, thoughts, injuries (that should be crippling for life), escapes from serial killers and whatever. The characters grow boring and stale, the bland un-stylish writing becoming more like a one week writing spree looking for a paycheck.

The only happy (somewhat) person in this book is friend Hendricks who is part of the plot but not really there in a way in this book.

This is a dark, depressing book with very fine story within the story.
2966258
Ok so I figured I might as well re-read the story and re-do my review, one that I hope is clearer about my meaning and hopefully with less grammatical errors or spelling mistakes... Hopefully...

If I could give it another half a star, I would...

Hugh Howey's "The Walk up Nameless Ridge" is at its core, a survival story about one man's journey to conquer the impossible.

The Writing: How it was written from the perspective of actual English.
4 Stars...

Short Answer: I am dyslexic and this story was hard to read

Long Answer: The writing was excellent like always but a little too `literary fiction' for my taste. I had to re-read quite a few bits of it before it sunk in meaning that I almost started to lose interest.

The Story Telling: How the story was told from the perspective of imagination.
5 Stars...

Short Answer: Once again, Hugh painted as a very pretty mental picture.

Long Answer: Hugh has a way of painting the world he sees so that everyone else can see it too; it is one of his skills that keep me a huge Hugh Howey fan. I have no complaints on his story telling skills.

The Story Told: The Story actually being told from the perspective of personal Interest.
1 Star...

Short Answer: I don't like Lone Survival Stories about one mans ego...

Long Answer: Although told brilliantly, nothing could take away from the fact that I didn't find the story all that interesting. Hugh kept me reading, which, considering the subject was boring to me is another testament to Hugh's skill at story telling.

In closing: My final remarks.

I would recommend this story to anyone who is a fan of the genre as they should enjoy it, I may have not but that's because it is not my thing.

  - J.W.J

OLD REVIEW: 3 Stars.

I know right... 3 stars! Well, I will explain it like this, the story, one of a man's struggle to climb the largest known mountain in his galaxy (Consider this SciFi but with out the Sci...), was well written, well enough written that I read the whole thing...

Now it looses two stars not for the authors skills in writing or telling a story (As on both points I was still drawn to read the whole thing even though I don't like the lone survivor style stories) but simply because it was not my style of story and so it looses two stars in my opinion...

But you get that...

Thanks Hugh!

Quick Edit: If you think this is unfair then so be it, it's just my opinion!
1771122
This story starts out great and has the makings for a really really great story, but somewhere about 1/3 of the way through it starts to get confusing.  You start to wonder what is going on as there is a lot of jumping back and forth in the same paragraphs to so many different places and happenings.  It almost seems as if the author was rushed or something and just started throwing words and paragraphs on a page to finish the book.  When I finished it I found that I had no real feelings for the characters in the book; they were much too one dimensional with not enough life for me to care what happened to them.  Also some of the authors chronological references did not fit, such as a 50 year old man who served in Viet-Nam!?  Unless he was about, at the oldest, 15 years old when he joined then it doesn't add up.  Perhaps the author started this book many years ago and forgot to update things he had written.  I am giving this book two stars, one for the great effort I know the author went to to write it and one star for the story line.  However I do not want to discourage anyone from reading this book as, overall it is still worth reading, it just needed a bit more work in some areas.
1109676
2.5 stars, maybe. My experience reading was "okay... yawn... I might quit.. OH WAIT...never mind... boring boring... oh wait... never mind... meh... meh... is it over? Oh well maybe I'll... nah"

For the most part it was a snooze, suffering from a confused plot. It did pick up at parts and catch my Attention but it was always short lived. ONe word summary: unsatisfied. Everything about this book is unsatisfying... even as you read it you feel unsatisfied by the events happening, as if you're not getting the full experience of the event or some line or comment or detail was lost, but not in the "left out for suspense" kind of way.

By the end I was just finishing it to finish it and knew there was no way I would continue with the series.
1273781
It was a very interesting story line, and that fact spurred me to keep reading until I completed the book.

On the other hand, the writing was very choppy.  There were inconsistencies and unbelievable scenes.

The thoughts and dialogue of the two characters who had feelings for each other, as they worked their way towards a romantic involvement, were so hokey, they were a real turn-off.

Was it worth taking the time to get to the end?  Put it this way:  I will not pick up another Slaughter Creek Novel....
2257335
I absolutely love the author's writing style, but I couldn't even finish the book. It got tedious to read, both plot-wise and writing style-wise. It got monotonous. He often duplicated words so often that I got bored with his writing. It was great at the beginning, though.
192768
I really enjoyed the characters and the story line of this book. So the reason behind my low scoring is the end, I absolutely despise when an author gets bored/ lazy /uninspired. If you are going to charge for your work at least finish it, I was enjoying the characters and I was looking for some resolution in certain plot lines and then it very abruptly ended. Several times I flipped through the end disbelieving that an author would end the book in that matter. Check my reviews I almost never review and that's how badly the author abruptly ended this. Disappointed.
2400401
The story line is great and engaging enough to keep you reading however the writing leaves something to be desired.  If you simply want to distract yourself with a good story and a quick read it's enjoyable.
4900107
Great story line and highly creative idea. Too drawn out and lengthy at least for the middle third of the novel. Quite many characters of smaller significance and not contributing that much to the story. Would have worked wonders as a short story. Perhaps this is how it started? Would potentially also make a compelling movie or even stage script. Some awesome one and two liners.
1503448
The plot line would make for a great short story.  Interesting locale with pertinent historical references added.  However, it is a sad time when I start counting the words in one sentence! I got up to 82 words!!!  In one sentence.  The stilted language was so distracting that I gave up.  It is obvious there she had no editor, as even a grammar school teacher would have red-penned the life out of it.  Give us more of the well formulated characters and less pretentious wording.
3739178
The plot was good. However, it really dragged on with way too much useless information. The characters were lifeless despite all the descriptions. I found myself skimming which I rarely do & so bored that I hardly cared to pick up where I'd left off each time. The same story could have been told in almost half the pages. I only continued to read for the supposed "twist" at the end which was not a "twist" at all but an unexpected paragraph that really meant nothing. Had potential but fell way short, Sorry.
589412
this author could write an excellent novel if she would learn to streamline her novel.  it was so wordy that I began to skim the book, only because I wanted to know if he really killed those girls and why.  there is so much stream of consciousness in this book that does nothing to further the plot that I became really bored.  I fear she needed filler as it was weak on plot.  technically it was well written with very few mistakes.
3667404
Tanya Huff has such excellent writing potential for she has a way of weaving a web around you and drawing you in as a reader, but she lacks in many, many areas. Let me begin, Wizard of the Grove, starts out with a long, drawn out history when she easily could've summed things up for us, instead of writing nearly 150 pages of boringness. I know she meant this to be helpful, but I just found it quite unnecessary. We then go into a story that lacks a backbone. Crystal, our main character, is all powerful and all knowing. It's like she's a God or something with absolutely no weaknesses, and that doesn't make a believable character to begin with. The main thing that got to me was the ending. If Tanya Huff ever reads this, then I'm going to say it bluntly, IT STUNK!!!!! I won't reveal what happens, but know that is at least one sentence with a couple of words. Now, onto the second half of the book. Crystal is all alone in the world, save for her friend, Lord Death, who has totally mixed up feelings for Crystal. That's what the entire book is really about. How he and Crystal end up together. In all reality, this book just wasn't necessary. It was boring and just an excuse for Huff to continue the series.