Second Skin

Rating:
Summary: Grab a burger at the local fast food, money better spent.
Review: Absolutely one of the WORST Books I've ever had the displeasure of reading. Kept plugging away at it in hopes that something would change.... ANYTHING!!! What A Crock...... A little Sci-Fi never hurt anyone, a little supernatural can be tolerated but this thing is a mass of Kung Fu, ESP, and Ghostbusters all wrapped up in one....

Rating:
Summary: OK action novel with absurd philosophical pretensions
Review: Eric's a bit like Kevin Kline's Fish Called Wanda, "Don't call me stupid" character. He's desperate to impress us by showing he's read some Nietzsche, and can spell both his and Goethe's names (probably better than I can), but someone needs to remind him that the central message of Buddhism is not 'every man for himself'. He does, for example, just get deconstruction wrong, and tries to portray a nun as a seriously devout believer who has no concept of an afterlife. He tries to give his standard action novel (with formula use of seedy sexual background, plus some eastern mysticism thrown in) the pretence of profundity: difficult when, poor soul, he can't actually conceive of anything more impressive than having a lot of money and being able to punch out, spiritually or physically, any comers. Think of Simon the sorcerer trying to buy a slice of the Holy Spirit. Even his 'enlightened' characters are as driven by materialism as the bad guys, they just aren't (quite) so arbitrarily bloodthirsty. Oh, and they do stupid things, despite purported intelligence.
 
If, however, you can ignore the deep contradictions, just enjoy the vibe of the trash spirituality/philosophy and take the ride of standard thriller characters and violence, sure, Lustbader will take you along.

Rating:
Summary: Will leave you breathless.
Review: Outstanding. Lustbader excels himslef with this, the sixth of the Nicholas Linnear novels. I have followed his work since the release of "The Ninja" and haven't been able to put his books down.

Second Skin takes Nicholas on a journey which will almost see him lose his entire corporate empire, to almost losing his re-found childhood love, to discovering the other secrets within him as a result of him being Tanjian. In typical Lustbader fashion, the story switches from the past to the present providing the necessary historical content that brings him to the point in his life that we read about as we progress through the book.

The great thing about Second Skin also is that it fills in many of the gaps that were left in "Kaisho" and "The Floating City"

If you enjoyed those two, you will be embraced by Second Skin.

My most sincere congratulations to Mr Lustbader on magnificent book. I have alreasy read it 3 times. I only hope and pray there is a seventh Linnear novel.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: This is one of the best books I've ever read

Rating:
Summary: Anticlimatic
Review: This is the sixth and final installment of Lustbader's saga of Nick Linnear. On the plus side it does clear up all the loose ends that were left hanging in the previous five volumes. However the main problem is the final battle scene. After five books, each over 500 pages long, the final battle between Nick and his ultimate antagonist only last a page and a half! I felt that Lustbader was working his way up to a real no holds barred fight but just sort of sizzled in the end. An overall great series and overall a good ending if you discount the brevity of the final fight.

Rating:
Summary: Anticlimatic
Review: This is the sixth and final installment of Lustbader's saga of Nick Linnear. On the plus side it does clear up all the loose ends that were left hanging in the previous five volumes. However the main problem is the final battle scene. After five books, each over 500 pages long, the final battle between Nick and his ultimate antagonist only last a page and a half! I felt that Lustbader was working his way up to a real no holds barred fight but just sort of sizzled in the end. An overall great series and overall a good ending if you discount the brevity of the final fight.