The Descent

Rating:
Summary: well two and a half stars actually
Review: I really wanted to give this book a three or four star review ... I really did. The general plot is so intriguing that if some one casually told it to you, you'd be hooked and you'd probably run off and buy the book. Then whats the problem? well all the glaring inconsistencies, plot holes and just general waste of pages describing utter [...]. more on that later.
whats good then? The hadals, they are an excellent creation and there is a fair bit of detail in the book to describe them. but I, as a reader, wanted more detail , I wanted more ideas to come out from the hadal arc in the story line, but instead jeff long wastes his time with a romantic escapade with an amorous nun and ike. Ike , a character that could have been used for so much more , is utterly wasted in an akward romantic subplot.
the underground hadal world the writer describes fill the reader with awe, its rich in detail when ever the author choses to describe it , which unfortunately isn't often enough.
so where does this book go wrong? in all the smaller details. The broad stokes to the world jeff long creates are well defined but everthing else is in shambles after the 5th chapter.
**spoilers**
The whole former disgraced politician who tries to destroy the (underground) world story line is a complete waste of paper.
jeff long never does explain certian things, like how certian people mutate into hadal like bone structure and why others dont . And why does that army guy who gets in contact with methane gas from the underground start mutating even when he hasnt been underground?
also the whole being able to hear future radio waves underground is not explained at all and it feels like a gimmicky plot shock.
and whats with the hadals being able to transfer their memories to other beings after they're dead? it felt really tacked inorder for the book to have a sequel. there are plenty more glitches but I'll leave it at that.
jeff long should have stuck with the hadal primarily .. he should have treated the ike storyline better. satans history should have been described in more constructed fashion. Instead of creating too large a world (like wasting time describing the political situation above ground) he should have just kept to the underground & the expedition. The book starts of really well ... lulls and gets up occasionally .. but finally dies as an unstatisfactory read. It took me a long time to decide what I really thought of this book. like I said I really wanted to give this book 4 stars... but when I thought about the story some more ... well it pretty much fell apart from there.... 2 1/2 stars ... worth a read for some of the ideas it has ... almost great fiction ... almost ...

Rating:
Summary: A knuckle-crunching rollercoaster to hell
Review: Never heard of Jeff Long before and came across this book by accident. Boy,am I pleased I bought it.

At last, an intelligent action thriller / sc-fi epic yarn that made me sit up late and worry my wife.

I won't spoil it by telling you the story but if you have reached this page to jog your purchase decision - don't think: JUST BUY IT.

Long really knows his facts especially on ancient cultures and philological beliefs. He also knows how to wind the tension up to breaking point and deliver on a warped and twisted storyline, the action, the atmosphere and the original characters (a melted man, a Nun and a psychotic night-dweller: and these are just the good guys!!!). No one has entertained me more since China Meiville's 'Perdillo Street Station'.

...

Rating:
Summary: Great Read, Interesting Concept
Review: Mr. Long has written an exciting book here. The premise is that there are human like beings that have lived under the surface of the earth for longer than man's recorded history. They have come up to the surface on occasion and become the stuff of human legend. Now, we have discovered the sub planet and everyone has something they want from it. There's a corporation that wants to exploit it, a group that feels that it harbors Satan, and the military want do dominate it for military reasons, of course.

This new/old world is vividly developed by Mr. Long. Mr. Long reminds me a bit of Crichton without quite as much explanation of science. I know a book is well written, when as I'm reading I can visualize what the scene must look like. Mr. Long has done just that. In addition, the characters seem believable with a little suspension of disbelief. The human characters do seem to not be real people but more of a distillation of certain traits that Mr. Long what's to bring out.

Great book if you enjoy, adventure, or sci-fi.

Rating:
Summary: LOOKING OVER YOUR SHOULDER
Review: WOW - I was totally sucked into the subplanet and the world of the Hadals. It got me so good that when I went outside at night I ran back in as quick as I could! The notion of Satan as a real flesh and blood person among us was a wild idea that made the story very interesting. The description of the subplanet was awesome in its detail and the Hadals were terrifying - I would recommend this book to a reader who wants a thrill and a chill...

Rating:
Summary: Descent into Greatness
Review: Long's "The Descent" is one of the best thrillers I've read - not a thriller per se, but just plain thrilling. Spelunking, mountain climbing, and science all collide as Long explores long-held myths about the underworld and what it contains. Not to be missed - especially if you like butterfly-related tragedies.

Rating:
Summary: Wild pulp fiction!
Review: Okay, it sounds ridiculous, and it is. A real version of Satan and his demons in a middle-earth kingdom? But Long manages to pull it off anyway. A fun page turner, guys. This sucker is as in-your-face as Harry Shannon's badass "Night of the Beast," and a wild and intense reading experience. If you can suspend disbelief for a few hours, it's a blast. And the other reader is right about it making one heck of a movie....!

Rating:
Summary: An "Other World" book at it's best
Review: I love being sucked into new worlds created by great authors, and this is one of them. This is the first Jeff Long book I have read, and I will be reading Year Zero soon.
Long's underground world and underground society are very well described in this book. The subterranean journey far beneath even the ocean floors is fantastic, scary, and interesting. The psychological changes the parties go through is true to form. He even had me looking over my shoulder for the Hadals.
I won't give anything away, but there are some very startling moments in this book that just blew me away and kept me reading through the night.
With a Himalayan mountain guide who goes into the abyss and returns scarred in every way, a beautiful nun teetering on the brink of faith, a group of Philosophers who begin to gather more frequently across the globe in search of Satan himself, an evil corporate head and his fiendish step son, a fanatical mercenary, an Army pilot who falls from grace through disfiguration, and of course the Hadals (underground tribes) all seeking their own prize from the sub planet, Mr. Long has brought a novel to us that you will be unable to put down until you finish it.
I highly recommend this book as an "all-nighter".

Rating:
Summary: Both Good and Bad
Review: The book overall like its subject matter is both good and bad. It tries to explain the historical Satan as coming from a race of gargoyle like beings that inhabit underground passages that extend almost to the bowls of the Earth. The beings appear to be pure evil with only the purpose of killing, eating and enslaving surface dwellers.

An expedition is formed to explore the underground region and try to unravel the secrets of these beings. The expedition is made up of a band of scientists, a nun, an escaped POW from the beings, and a bunch of military mercenaries. The book is intriguing in that you want to learn the secrets of these beings and if they are really led by "Satan." All through the expedition, interesting things are found and there are some really compelling pages of plot (though they are scattered in various parts of the book). On top of all this there is a renegade in the group looking for a way to destroy all underground life.

Now the bad points. Firstly, the book was incredibly slow-moving and written in a style where I kept forgetting who the characters were. I am claustrophobic and just thinking how far the travelers were underground constantly bothered me. It is never explained how they get air. Also, they are dropped supply containers from the surface. I was never really clear how they could be transported from the surface to where the travelers were supposed to be. I truly did not understand how some of the "mutants" became the way they were and could not actually picture how they looked. The main mutant is named Ike and he is supposedly pretty repulsive looking with glyphs and tattoos over all his body. You can not understand why the main female character, who is also a nun, would be attracted to him physically. Some of their physical interactions left me very uncomfortable.

This is one book with good points and bad points that you can't really help read to the end because even though it is a difficult read, you definitely want to find out what will happen in the end.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: This was one of my all time favorite books. Jeff Long begins the story in the middle of nowhere leaving lots of juicy unaswered questions for some time which keeps you turning pages. THe intricate story weaved among the characters that builds upon traditional religous Heaven and Hell beliefs was incredible. I couldnt put this book down I burned through it so fast. I was, however, dissapointed with the abruptness of the ending as I had become part of the expedition at the end and was left salivating for more story...

This is a 5 star read. I am utterly disappointed that the rest of Jeff Long's books are out of print (except Year Zero which was also an amazing page turner). Apparently he has one scheduled to come out in April, 2004...

Rating:
Summary: The Descent
Review: Hard to believe that a thriller this long could feel rushed or perfunctory at times, but it does. Still, what is presented is pretty gripping--though if ever a book got better as it went along, this one is it.

I found the opening sections of the book to be the most routine. The book jumps around the globe three times to establish that something--some terrible race of beings--is dwelling in the dark beneath our very feet. Beneath everyone's feet, that is...it doesn't matter where you are. The first encounter, taking place in underground tunnels, is a great stage-setter, but the sequence in Bosnia where creatures are detected routing around in a mass grave, plus the scene at the South African leper colony where the afflicted are allowing some of their number to be given up to something called "the Older Than Old", do not have the same impact. The novel feels like it is going to be composed of little tidbits, little morsels that resort to hints and gratuitous gore to keep running the same mysterious riff about unseen demons we've always subliminally acknowledged, preying on us from underground.

But then, the book starts to establish a flow. At least those chunked early bits do introduce us to the two main characters, Ali and Ike. What follows is a bit of a shock, in terms of the overall tenor of the story--the whole world learns that there is some kind of weird hell under Earth's crust, and somebody better get down there, fast, to make peace, or get them before they get us. The secret snatches of spelunkers by shadowy beings, the unsubstantiated reports of these creatures emerging from the depths...all that cloak-and-dagger stuff dissolves in a few chapters. The world learns it's US versus THEM.

"They" are called the hadals. And a group of scientists/historians on the surface conduct extensive research all over the globe to try and discover if the leader of these hadals is actually the living embodiment of what's known as Satan. Meanwhile, another team, this one made up of scientists and military personnel, heads underground to see what's what. Special guide for this mission is Ike, snatched by the hadal in 1988 (at the beginning of the book), enslaved and transformed into something perhaps more hadal than human, and hopefully trustworthy once free of his hadal masters.

The underground trek takes place throughout tunnels that are below the Pacific Ocean, reaching at least 8,000 fathoms. This part of the story picks up momentum, and unleashes new surprises, with every chapter. Watch for: ambushes, disease, mutiny, starvation, betrayal, phantom radio messages from the future, oceans under oceans, remains of lost hadal cities, river travel, strange flora and fauna, a secret bio-weapon smuggled down, team disintegration, a secret corporate agenda,and, of course, battle with the hadals. It's quite a trip; the underground sequences are the meat of the book.

Less gripping, but still intriguing, are the scenes from the surface, as scientists discover that this so-called Satan they wish to confront may not be sitting on some throne deep down in some cave somewhere; discoveries about the hadal's mental powers--mind-transference and reincarnation come into play, here--mean that Satan may be a lot closer than was thought. Satan could be among them, when he chooses.

This hints at the continual shocks offered by the story. If the book has a major flaw, it is hinted at in the early, "chunked" portions. Characterization shapes up fairly decently, but chapters of the book do sometimes feel like they float out on their own. What I mean is, what happens to Ali while underground in, let's say, chapter twelve, may be quite heart-rending, but by the next chapter we see her, there is no emphasis on how she has been affected by what happened. The book is always simply marching on--not such a bad thing in a thriller trying to set a fast pace, but at the expense of characters reacting to anything that didn't occur half an hour before. The book is only concerned with the Here and Now, in the extreme.

But, overall, it was quite marvellous at times. Perfect for fans of Michael Crichton's book Congo, or even the film Aliens, though I feel it does cover some of the same ground, and run some of the same tricks.