Rating: 
Summary: How dumb does Cussler think the reading public is?
Review: While Cussler's books are not always up to the same standard, I never thought I'd write a bad review of one of them. But this effort is so bad, it's insulting.Anyone who remembers the old Mission:Impossible TV series will recognize this type of plot, though this particular rendition is so overly-stretched and overly-detailed and overly-populated with cardboard characters that it reads like a schematic. I realize that Cussler must be bored by now and wants to extend his franchise by handing over the reins to other writers, but so far his efforts have failed. While the NUMA series is at least mildly interesting, this debut of the Oregon Files series reads like nonfiction (surprise, surprise), and dull nonfiction at that. The fact that this went straight to paperback should have been a clue, like movies that go direct to video/DVD without ever having been released in theatres. Save your money. This is a dog.
Rating:
Summary: Pathetic!
Review: Too many characters, poorly drawn, indestinguishable from each other, laughable plotting................ Oh, forget it: I've already put in more effort than Cussler did on this book. I'm guessing his only contribution is his name.
Rating: 
Summary: No Dirk Pitt, but a good read
Review: Cussler, the consumate storyteller tells another great one. The story isn't quite up to his Dirk Pitt or Kurt Austin, due to a lack of character development, but for a sunday read it suffices.
Rating: 
Summary: Big disappointment.
Review: Clive Cussler starts a new series featuring mercenary leader Juan Cabrillo in "Golden Buddha." Cabrillo sails the high seas with his group of legionnaires doing jobs for governments, corporations and anyone willing to pay his price. They travel in a state of the art ship disguised as a derelict tramp cargo ship. A terrific premise and promise from one of my favorite writers. However, it is peopled with one-dimensional characters, filled with cliches, trite dialogue and stereotypes. They routinely perform the totally impossible with zero casualties. Just too preposterous---well beyond the limits of my ability to suspend disbelief. Like James Patterson, it appears Mr. Cussler is doing less and less of the actual writing---and phoning in his part. Where is Dirk Pitt when you really need him?
Rating:
Summary: No good - pass on this one
Review: There comes a time when authors "jump the shark." Tom Clancy's was when he began "writing" the Net Force series (which I fondly call Net Farce); John Grisham did it with The King Of Torts; Kathy Reichs latest, Bare Bones, comes close (her rant at the end is out of character for the main character, Tempe Brennan). For Clive Cussler, it's Golden Buddha. Although his name is prominent on the cover, this latest book is co-written with Craig Dirgo, who's written with Cussler before on The Sea Hunters books. In those, you can obviously tell which parts Cussler wrote and which Dirgo wrote - Dirgo's parts did not flow as well and sometimes contained inaccuracies in the facts. He should take a writing class. Golden Buddha is a new series called The Oregon Files, featuring a main character named Juan Cabrillo who is tall, blonde and blue-eyed (much like Kurt Austin in the other spinoff series by Cussler and Paul Kemprecos). He and his crew of the ship Oregon take on "jobs" that most mercenaries wouldn't touch. They all showed up in a previous Dirk Pitt novel , Flood Tide, and I guess Cussler thought it would be a good spinoff. It could've been, but it isn't. First of all, the book is about putting the Dalai Lama back in power in Tibet, which is why a very large golden Buddha must be recovered - there is a secret compartment in it with important information. I wish the Dalai Lama character hadn't been based on a real person - this made the entire story very unrealistic (if it does come true by 2005, the date in the book, I'll eat my hat). A fictional religious leader would have been a better bet. Also, Russian President Putin is named, but the President of the USA is not - he's just called the President. Who says Putin will still be in power in 2005? These inconsistencies drove me nuts. The book reads like a TV movie waiting to be made. There are way too many characters to keep track of (even with the listing of each character's name and function at the beginning of the book) and the writing could have been much better, if Cussler had written more of it. You can tell which parts he wrote versus Dirgo - Cussler's flows beautifully, while Dirgo's is choppy and often contained odd words (the worst was "containerized ship" - as far as I know, they're more commonly known as container ships). Characters use cutesy comments way too much - I don't know anyone in real life who talks like these people. Scenes jumped helter skelter and I began getting confused, so I started skipping parts. The best part of this book was near the beginning when Cabrillo and his crew have to recover the golden Buddha from a party in Macau. That was well done and exciting. I love the Dirk Pitt adventures and the Kurt Austin books, but if the next Oregon Files is "cowritten" with Dirgo, I'll pass.
Rating:
Summary: Disaster!
Review: Can't have been really been written by Cussler. I have read all of his previous books and cannot believe he would publish something this bad with his name on it. Much different pattern for developing a story and plot from his previous books, not just a new set of characters. Even the reader for the audio version is bad in that he over acts when changing characters.
If Clive really wrote this we are in trouble when he brings Dirk back if he doesn't go back to his old format. Maybe Clive has really retired. Too bad -- I hope someone can tell him how he is letting his fans down.
Rating: 
Summary: Golden Buddha? More like copper penny
Review: A long time fan of Cussler's, I waited for this book to come out for three months, and when I started reading it, it seemed pretty good-a heroic rescue from a Cuban prison...then the book simply died.
The long list of characters was hard to keep up with, even with a list of characters in the front of the book.
The story took too long to get going, to the point of sheer boredom. Though he broke from his norma formula for this one, I'm sorry to say it was rather disappointing, though I wasn't too thrilled with his second series, the Numa files when it was first introduced in "Serpent" either. Hopefully his next Oragon Files story will contain the fast paced action we have come to expect of Cussler. Not his best book, but hey, they can't all be A+s can they? I am still looking forward to his next Dirk Pitt novel due out in December-"Trojan Odyssey", and I found "White Death", and "Fire Ice", to be quite enjoyable-his best 2 in the Kurt Austin series.
Chin up, Clive, we still have faith in you!
Rating:
Summary: Why a new series?
Review: I almost never post reviews, but Clive Cussler is my favorite author and I am so disappointed in Golden Buddha, it's not funny. A friend
who used to write book reviews and still gets review copies gave this to me because he knows I love Cussler. Golden Buddha should
have been written as a TV Movie of the Week and Cussler's name taken off of it. I can't believe the so-called 'professional' reviewers
saying this is as good as the Dirk Pitt and Kurt Austin series. Puh-leeze! I am hoping Cussler's newest Dirk Pitt novel, Trojan Odyssey is
tons better than this, or he's lost a loyal fan.
Rating:
Summary: Not As Good As Other Cussler Books
Review: I have reviewed Clive's other books before, so I was looking forward to reading this one. I was sorely disappointed. This book is so riddled with cliches, I groaned with each new one I read. It is definitely not in keeping with Clive's other writings, especially since I could tell from the start that the majority of the book wasn't written by him, but by Dirgo. The only reason this got two stars is because I like Clive and hope his other books live up to the Cussler name. Oh, and Clive, ditch the Oregon Files.
Rating:
Summary: Trying on a new pair of shoes...
Review: We have all become so comfortable with Dirk, Al and now Kurt that maybe we were expecting the comfortable ol' sneaker that seems to always fit just right. This is a new series with a different feel to what Cussler has done in the past. I agree that it kept you moving from scene to scene, but I didn't find myself fighting through a particular long winded and tiresome section in order to get to the good stuff. At times the pace was hectic, but overall, I truly enjoyed this book. This review comes from someone who has read nearly all of Cussler's previous novels, half of Ludlum's and good number of other works. I am looking forward to the next installment of the Oregon Files
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