Rating: 
Summary: Worth a Read...
Review: Neanderthal is good summer pulp. Every chapter ends with a teaser or a good, old-fashioned cliffhanger that makes you want to read on. John Darnton has written an imaginative and entertaining high adventure story along the lines of Richard Leakey meets Indiana Jones. Purists beware-it's not "Origin of Species." or even "Jurassic Park" Neanderthal has just enough science to make it feel right and just enough creative flourishes to make it feel like fun. Darnton begins intermixing anthropological fact and fiction on the first page and his book quickly evolves into a pounding ride that doesn't let up until the final page. For me i love the idea of ancient tribes and the fact that the tribe doesnt care for [us]lowly cro-magnon types make it all the more enjoyable...
Buy this book if you like the idea of another species usurping the polluting earth-killers we have all evolved into...
Rating: 
Summary: Insipid and Shallow
Review: No Jurassica Park here. Whereas JP inspired me to turn every page quicker than the last, the only thing this inspired me to do was to turn larger clumps of pages after the last. Honestly, I bought this at a used bookstore when I was hoping to find something by Robert Sawyer from the Hominids series because recent buying sprees have kept me from dipping too deeply my pockets! The premise of Neanderthal was good, the beginning was good, everything was moving along fine until they "moved in" with the buggers, and it was lost for me from there. Descriptions of the neanderthals were fairly uninvolved with little depth to the explanation of how they remained unseen and undetected for millions of years, nor why they so openly accepted outsiders into their midst. Basically, I read the first half of the book, then thumbed through the last half reading a page or two here and there, and read the last few chapters. I don't think I missed a thing, unfortunately. I really enjoyed Darnton's The Experiment, but this is one experiment that didn't pay off in the end.
Rating: 
Summary: No Jurassic Park
Review: No Jurassica Park here. Whereas JP inspired me to turn every page quicker than the last, the only thing this inspired me to do was to turn larger clumps of pages after the last. Honestly, I bought this at a used bookstore when I was hoping to find something by Robert Sawyer from the Hominids series because recent buying sprees have kept me from dipping too deeply my pockets! The premise of Neanderthal was good, the beginning was good, everything was moving along fine until they "moved in" with the buggers, and it was lost for me from there. Descriptions of the neanderthals were fairly uninvolved with little depth to the explanation of how they remained unseen and undetected for millions of years, nor why they so openly accepted outsiders into their midst. Basically, I read the first half of the book, then thumbed through the last half reading a page or two here and there, and read the last few chapters. I don't think I missed a thing, unfortunately. I really enjoyed Darnton's The Experiment, but this is one experiment that didn't pay off in the end.
Rating:
Summary: I Disagree--this was a fun book!
Review: The reviews below really (and unfairly I believe) tear apart this book. Was it literature? Gosh NO! Was it based on 100% verifiable facts? Nope. Was it good old-fashioned fun? You BET! John Darnton ISN'T a scientist. Sure he bases a lot on the creative and scientific work of others, however from there he ran with the plot in his OWN direction to write a down-right fun adventure story similar to what we might find in an 'Indiana Jones' movie. I don't want to make it out that this is going to win awards anytime soon...however I felt VERY interested from beginning to end, and the surprise that comes when you figure out what the hominids CAN do that really sets them apart really was an interesting twist. I could see this in my mind's eye being made into a movie easily. I doubt someone will, but I think it'd make a fun flick anyway. So, if you are looking for literature to read, pass over 'Neanderthal'...but if you're looking for adventure 'light' than John Darnton has written the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: EXCITING AND FULL OF ACTION
Review: THIS BOOK IS ONE OF THE BEST AND MOST EXCITING NOVELS I'VE READ.
THE OTHER REVIEWERS HAVE ALREADY DETAILED THE PLOT LINE AND NO DOUBT BORED YOU WITH THEIR CRITICISM - I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK REGULARLY AND IT HAS FAILED TO DISAPPOINT ALL WHO HAVE READ IT. iT'S ONE OF THOSE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT TYPE BOOKS AT THE END. THIS IS WAY BETTER THAN SOME OF THE MICHAEL CHICHTON BOOKS
IT IS DEFINITELY WORTH OWNING AND KEEPING- A GREAT SUMMER READ
Rating: 
Summary: Exciting then Mundane
Review: This book started out quite exciting with the idea of creatures that were of the Ice Age and yet had developed a capability beyond ours RV/ESP. The first 1/3 of this book was very interesting, but once the characters escaped the hominids the first time the book became predictable and mundane, and the ending wasn't well put together as it only was composed of the last few pages. The author wrote a decent book and then obviously didn't put nearly enough time or effort into the ending.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting then Mundane
Review: This book started out quite exciting with the idea of creatures that were of the Ice Age and yet had developed a capability beyond ours RV/ESP. The first 1/3 of this book was very interesting, but once the characters escaped the hominids the first time the book became predictable and mundane, and the ending wasn't well put together as it only was composed of the last few pages. The author wrote a decent book and then obviously didn't put nearly enough time or effort into the ending.
Rating:
Summary: Not Bad for Its Genre
Review: This is a very easily classifiable work. It is the "unknown man-like creature" genre. Such other notable works in this grouping are Congo by Michael Crichton and The Descent by Jeff Long. And, if you are interested in reading a book from this grouping, read The Descent. If you are going to read another, read Congo. If you are bored out of your mind and want a break from life and like this genre, go ahead and pick this up. As far as the genre goes, this book does nothing to really forward it. It has the same type of plot line as the others, and it doesn't really ever vary from it the way that they do. In fact, it never really gets you involved in the story. The adjectives used are uninspired and the characters involved are easy to feel dispassionate about. In the end, you aren't really going to care who lives and who dies. Actually, there are two exceptions to that: Two characters really seem like they deserve to die and one of them does, so I was pretty happy about that. Other than that, though, it doesn't really have too very much to recommend it. It isn't a bad book, per se, but it does nothing to make itself stand out in my mind the way that Congo and The Descent do. Whereas this is simply a novel, Congo is a page-turner, and The Descent is an epic. That book creates a whole new world for you to explore, and when you close the book, you wonder, just for a second, whether it may not be true. Never, at any point, did I worry about a neanderthal while I was reading this. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't very good. It was, above all else, average for the genre, with no exceptional characteristics. Pass on it, unless you love the plot line, and have already read the better ones.
Harkius
Rating:
Summary: beach read,
Review: This is at best a good beach read. Fluff with some substance. Darnton sets out an interesting premise and lay outs some of the science behind it. Unfortunetly there are huge logic leaps and the book often requires a large amount of "suspension of disbelief" to work. It is clearly written in the mode of "Jurrasic Park" or "Congo" with an eye for a movie deal (the book jacket all but screams it) which is fine, but Darnton's scientific expose does not come near Crichton's style. Sufice to say, like Crichton, the characters are there to talk about science, get into "danger" but not much else. Would be a great book for a long flight or a lazt day at the beach.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, Shangrai-La Story
Review: We've seen all those B-rated movies about lost groups of people (usually young and good-looking) who get lost and run upon a place hidden from the outside world for thousands of years. I always asked, "How can they succeed when scientists can't?" At least in this book, the interlopers are scientists who journey into "mist-shrouded" mountains in Asia and discover a world of Neanderthals living peacefully. Of course it's preposterous but that's not the point. The clues leading up to the trip are as good as the trip itsefl. The book serves as a vehicle for teaching the rest of us about this once dominant group that mysteriously disappeared (only they really didn't we now know). It also allows the author to depict a kind of Utopia of the gentle folk. I will not tell the ending but there are several plot twists along the way that will hold the reader's attention.
|
