Rating: 
Summary: errors! many, many errors
Review: The author has attempted to write a story with a military backdrop but is obviously entirely ignorant about military practices or protocol. In any novel there must be credibility. The characters have to act consistently and logically according to their own lights to create a plausible reality within the story. Any time the "reality" slips you have to scratch your head and ask, "Where'd that come from". And then work to get back into the story. It's as if you were watching a documentary on U.S. politics and the narrator says, "The President of the United States is Boise, Idaho." Not only is it wrong but it doesn't even make sense. My major complaints with this story are just that, it doesn't make sense and the obvious errors regarding the military and their weapons. A few examples: the author states that the M-16 uses 7.62 rounds. Is there any guy who doesn't know that the M-16 fires .223 (5.56mm) rounds? He claims that a fire team of U.S. Army Rangers just happens to turn out to consist entirely of Negroes. Yeah, right. He has this same Ranger squad fire off multiple claymore mines within a tunnel deep underground while they sit WITHIN the same section of tunnel. He states that the 1st Cavalry Division has a Ranger unit. A quick check on the Web brought me to the 1st Cav's Home page where they list all of their units. The 1st Cav is a heavy-armored division. No Rangers. Hell, there wasn't even regular infantry. Why couldn't the author at least check his facts? I stopped reading at page 399. At this point the author has another military unit expressing grief and remorse over killing some of the 'bad guys' who had minutes before literally ripped apart three of their team members because, get this, the bad guys turned out to be females. I think this author did his research watching JAGG or some other Made-For-TV movies. What kept me going this far through the book though was the promise held out by the first excellent two or three chapters. They were extremely suspenseful and even scary. From there it drops into the implausible and plateaus into the ludicrous. IF you can get past the stupid errors and can stomach the "chick flick" perspective of the story then you might enjoy it. With so many good novels available I'm not investing further time on this one. My advice to the author would be to research what he writes, lose the Politically Correct confusion that taints so much of this book and get another editor. These mistakes shouldn't have gotten through.
Rating: 
Summary: Grabbed me from the start and is not letting go!
Review: I just bought this book and read the first 38 pages and it hooked me from page one and kept me reading! Engrossing! Most novels take forever to get to the point, to hook the reader; this one gets you from the start. If you like intelligent sci-fi horror check out this book. I normally would not buy and read such a thick novel (~580 pp)-- I prefer smaller scifi horror, Michael Crichton, Louis L'Amour, etc. But this book looks to be an exciting read.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!!
Review: First of all, the book should be about a 10 star review, not a four. It is one of the best books I have ever read. The author's ability to take you from one situation to the other is astounding. I have a job that permits me some down time and I have to pry myself from this book to go back to work. I especially like when he gets on a one to one level with a character, such as the butterfly collector. Poor old Ike is getting a bum rap but I believe he will emerge a hero later in the story. I'm not much of a review writer, but as I said this is one of thee best books I have ever read. Relic and Reliquary just got nudged out. The story makes you wonder "what if"........
Hope there is a sequel. One hell of a buy (...)!
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic book. Action packed, fast paced.
Review: If you like a book that combines lost civilizations and exploration DEEP under the earth, along with sociology, theology, a little romance and lots of action, this is it! Best of all, the author details the team's exploration miles deep into the earth so that you feel you are right there experiencing the impenetrable darkness, rushing rivers, and dirt caking your skin. And the flying demon-like creatures that haunt them on their trek under the earth are convincing and well crafted. I hope this autor writes more books like this. Best book I've read in ages and I am a voracious reader of thrillers. Don't miss this book! - N.L
Rating:
Summary: An original tour de force, a craftsman at heightened form.
Review: Mr. Long has created a master work. I predict that this book will be around a long time. Since I am usually a reader of literary (versus commercial) fiction, I can attest that The Descent cannot be placed in any singular niche. It is a combination of science fiction, adventure, mystery, and horror; more surprising, the book feels both literary and commercial because while the pages turn quickly, Mr. Long is a prose craftsman. A cross between Steven King and William Styron. Moreover the author is at the top of his form, utilizing the muscular prose that illuminates his previous novels, The Ascent, Empire of Bones, and Angels of Light; as well as the verisimilitude that sustains his non fiction books, Outlaw and Duel of Eagles. But if I had to pick any one book of Mr. Long's to read, The Descent is a good place to start. It is a ripping good yarn, held together by a memorable and creditable protagonist, horns and all. The rich imagery, romance, and imagination of this novel will make a sure-fire Hollywood blockbuster. Descent is in a class all by it self, a story of New Millenial durability. Would 113 other reviewers (below) have taken the trouble to praise it if it wasn't truly excellent?
Rating:
Summary: Compelling, entertaining, believable
Review: It takes a lot to entertain me. I read TimeLine and found it a little lightweight. The Descent however is just outstanding. The story is superb. I have often toyed with writing a book, however I do not believe I could possibly have dreamed up such a complex and entertaining storyline. If you like light science fiction then the Descent is for you. Bordering on the fantasy it will keep you up at night reading.
Rating:
Summary: Knocked my socks off!
Review: A real page turner. By the middle of the book I was disappointed that it was going to end, regardless of the outcome. It is necessary to suspend logic at times, but well worth the adventure. Not for younger readers, but if you like things that go bump in the dark, you'll love this book.
Rating:
Summary: Page Turning Thrillers Don't Get Any Better Than This
Review: This is simply the most fun I've had reading in years. While you may find a few flaws here and there, the pace is so fast and the plot twists, ideas, and charachters are too intriguing for you to worry about it. And like all great page turners, it has a tremendous story, one that could link several ancient myths together. And what myths! He also manages to cover war in Eastern Europe, demons, spelunking, ancient civilizations and their religions, greedy bad guys, mountaineering, torture, and high tech weapons. Let's be clear: this is not Crime and Punishment. This gets my 5 stars the way a good Bond movie gets two thumbs up. Great fun from cover to cover.Yowzaa!
Rating: 
Summary: It¿s good but¿hhhmmagm!
Review: This book is fantastic, even though there's so much wrong with it. I want to hate it, but it's just too good for that, and I want to love it, but those failings prevent that from happening. There are major lapses in temporality and pace - it is a quarter of the book before you really care about anyone, and the agonisingly slow build-up of the first hundred pages, hinting at the terrible possibility of an underground civilisation populated by monsters, is offset by the five pages in which suddenly the world discovers and everything changes, almost like Long got bored of the introduction and decided to finish it quick. It then leaps to 'three years later', bypassing a hell of a lot of background, and hits the ground running, so before you get a handle on things, you're thrust into the thick of it. There are so many facets of plot that before long you forget who people are and what motivates them, and there are some terrible inconsistencies in the writing - in the first chapter, for example, a group divides in two and agrees to meet up in an hour's time - one guy comes back in 'less than an hour', shines his torch around a chamber, then goes to look for the others and finds a chemical candle activated 'more than three hours [ago], less than six', and suddenly 'he had been hunting [them] for over nine hours now', which just makes no sense whatsoever. There are also a number of questions posed that never get answered, implausible moments (C.C. Cooper's annoyingly-unsupportive wife, a nun who doesn't believe in Satan but condones sex-before-marriage, the ability to stare at the horizon over an underground ocean when, let's face it, it's going to be kind of dark down there, and a helicopter-pilot who seems much more adept as an infantryman than most) and, true to form, many sections are rushed and rounded-up far too quickly to satisfy. So those are the negatives. The positives are that Long manages to create an engrossing story once the book reaches its second section, 'The Mission', by which time you care deeply about two of the characters and are fascinated by the vividly-painted and populated subterranean world into which they descend. Indeed, he manages to evoke comparisons with H.P.Lovecraft's descent into the hellish chambers of 'At The Mountains of Madness', and the tension and claustrophobia of the 'subplanet' is expertly balanced against the growing character dynamics of the relationship between Ike and Ali. He manages to inspire in us the same curiosity about fellow traveller Ike and the tunnelled world as felt by the characters, and as such your empathetic immersion into the book is masterful. In conclusion, 'Descent' is an inspired yet flawed read, and though I wouldn't normally forgive such shortcomings in a novel, there's something about this one which allows me to break a rule of a lifetime. I would recommend this to anyone into sci-fi, horror, adventure, thrillers, even fantasy, because it blends aspects of all of them into its narration, and offers some interesting asides about the nature of civilisation, humanity and religion. Even if the poor writing does put you off, I would bet that few people can find it in themselves to truly hold that against this novel, and so four stars, because though I can't love it, I can't hate it either.
Rating:
Summary: sos - to jeff long or the publisher of the descent
Review: This is some kind of S.O.S. message. I'm trying to reach the publishers by this mail. I'm living in germany, I'm a writer and I really think THE DESCENT is a fine book. I read it in english and waited for it to be translated, so that my friend could read it too. Finally the translation was made and that's why I'm writing. They made a mess out of Jeffs Longs's novel. They shortened it, taking out passages to fit the novel in a kind of suspense-horror-novel-without-depth. It's a shame. And if there is someone out there who's checking the licenses, please do something and make some trouble for the german publisher. No writer has do endure this stripping. If you need more informations what they cut out and what they changed contact me under my e-mail-adress.
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