Valhalla Rising

Rating:
Summary: Tried and tested "Dirk Pitt formula" works once again
Review: "Valhalla Rising" starts off like most Cussler novels with a trip to the past to set the tone and plot for the novel. In this book, we are transported back to the early 11th Century and spend times with Vikings who have begun to explore the North American continent 400 years before Columbus. When we are shot back to present day, we soon find Dirk Pitt, Al Giordino, and friends battling an evil CEO determined to control the world's oil supply with the ultimate goal of taking over the United States. Pitt calls on all of the reserves of National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA)to thwart the plan. Cussler shares his vivid imagination with us throughout the book painting numerous word pictures as he introduces us to some absolutely fantastic water craft and villians.

OK, like most Dirk Pitt novels, logic and believability can be "checked at the door". But that's why Cussler continues to be so successful with this formula. Many, many people read novels to ESCAPE from their humdrum world and I'm sure that most Cussler fans fall into that category.

All of the familar characters are present in "Valhalla Rising" and some have larger roles than normal. The same large doses of action, techno-gimmicks, and fantastic cars and ships abound in this book. For those of you who are fans of this series, you'll not be disappointed and will find "Vahalla Rising" as comfortable as your favorite old pair of tennis shoes.

If you're new to the world of Dirk Pitt, you'll either find him totally enchanting (kind of a cross between Indiana Jones and James Bond) or so unbelievable that you'll have difficulty swallowing the fantastic adventure found in each Cussler novel.

Rating:
Summary: Dirk Pitt and company save the world, again!
Review: Being an ardint fan of Mr. Cussler and have read all of Pitt's amazing adventures, I would say this epic tale is near the top of my favorites. However, some of the story seems cloned from other books he has written. The fiendish villain is again beyond the reach of the law, wealthy beyond belief and has some neferous and murderous blackguards as his henchmen. Plenty of narrow escapes, some classy dames in distress, a terrific dogfight over the concrete canyons of New York City that is a memorable classic.
The mix includes the Jules Verne, the CSS Hunley's tactics, some mad Vikings, madcap inventors, classic automobiles from Pitt's/Cussler's fabulous collection, did I mention some lucious gals and Al's wise cracks?
But, please, no more cameo appearences by Cussler. Enough already. And for Pitt not to recall having met Cussler before is being stretched way out there.
Overall, the package was just right, sub plots, twists and turns, nasty bad guys, narrow brushes with horrible death, a lot of history blended into a great adventure tale. And the attempt to bring the ship into NY harbor, well that was written before the terrible 9/11 attack. Check it out.

Rating:
Summary: Dirk is back!
Review: Clive Cussler comes through with yet another fine adventure that provides a great escape.

It all starts when Dirk Pitt, working for NUMA in the South Pacific, notices a fire burning on the horizon. It seems a state of the art cruise ship named 'Emerald Dolphin' is experiencing a major fire. The radios, as well as the sprinkler system, has been sabotaged and the lifeboats have been burned. Dirk must now rescue over 2000 people. This amazing rescue, along with 3 or 4 others in the novel, seem to be somewhat miraculous, but they sure are fun to read. As a multi-billionaire attempts to take over the oil business and eventually the government, Dirk has his work cut out for him.

Dirk, and his long time friend Al Giordino, get together once again in this entertaining and fast-paced story. This well rounded and well researched novel includes tales of the old Vikings and Norsemen. Jules Verne also plays a part in this story. Cussler paints a vivid picture of his disasters and the ensuing action. The threat on Manhattan cut especially close to home. A Dirk Pitt novel that ranks among the best.

Highly recommended for action and thrills.

Rating:
Summary: Pitt Lite
Review: I've read every Dirk Pitt novel out there, and loved most of them. This one just didn't do it for me. The old favorites were there, there was fun history, the villain was evil, the girls were beautiful, and Pitt saved the world, but it fell flat. The question is why?

For one thing, Mr. Cussler seems to have listened to his critics and aged Pitt rapidly, making him less of a superman. Well, while this was a nod to realism, these novels work because they are good campy escapism, and Cussler's awkward explanations of how Dirk is aging just highlight the patent unreality of the plot.

Also, either I'm getting pickier or Cussler's dialouge is getting worse. Some of the sections in here just made me wince. The descriptions and action, though, were very good.

My other gripe was the tacked on ending which Cussler uses heavy handed foreshadowing to telegraph throughout the book. Let's just say that instead of letting Dirk come to grips with the choices he has made about life priorities we have a stork ex machina ending.

In short, this followed the pattern of the previous Pitt books, but it lacks a lot of the fun.

If you're a regular Pitt fan, you will find some fun in the familiar characters (the new ones though are cardboard).

If you have never read Cussler: Do Not Begin With This One! Try "Treasure" or "Deep Six".

Rating:
Summary: same loveable cast of characters, weak writing
Review: Okay, I admit that I've read every single Dirk Pitt novel, but remember, they've been around for years. There are two possibilities: 1)I was too young to notice that his writing his horrible or 2)his writing has gotten worse. I'm not trying to take a cheap shot because the plot follows the same hallowed formula as always and does it well: ancient mystery, major international intrigue replete with lots of really bad guys, and our heroes meet beautiful women and solve the mystery with some sea salvage operations in the middle. When Cussler sticks to descriptions of technical stuff, he's quite good, but his dialogue is so bad that it can make you wince. Plus, he telegraphs everything with an incredible overuse of adverbs and adjectives ("he said grimly, she said seductively") -- come on Clive, as a writer you must have studied the famous Hemingway dictum to "show, not tell." In short, I loved the plot, I still get a kick out of Dirk even in his older age, I love the reappearance of the old cast of characters like Perlmutter and Hiram Yaeger and Al, but Mr. Cussler needs to clean up his prose and avoid the pat endings (the thing with Dirk's kids was almost sickening). I hate to complain because I've read the whole series, but this time the writing quality really bothered me to the point of interfering with my enjoyement of the book. And the author's ego (forgot the cameos, they were okay the first five times, but it's getting old) seems more noticeable in this book. I'd recommend this one for old fans only. Makes me want to reread Raise the Titantic to see if the old ones really were better.

Rating:
Summary: Cussler Rises to the Occassion!
Review: Raising Valhalla is a great summer read. The faithful followers of Clive Cussler will find the book to be truly outstanding. Raising Valhalla is a classic Cussler story of good versus evil, with the usual predecessor event (in this case there are two seemingly unrelated such events -- the Vikings and Captain Nemo) setting the stage for an eventual tie-in to the main story. As would be expected, Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino again fight tremendous odds and calmly face down death repeatedly as they battle a demented, megalomaniac business man. Unlike some of the plots (and antagonists against whom Dirk and Al have done battle) in previous works, the underlying premise in Raising Valhalla does not push the envelope of ones imagination. The story is within the realm of believability. This is simply a very good novel filled with all of the action, suspense, and frequent plot twists that have become Cussler's trademark. In addition, after all of the action has been concluded, there is still a major surprise to be had in the last few pages. All-in-all, this book was a great read and very difficult to put down.

Rating:
Summary: Deep-Six this one
Review: The beginning sequences of ancient norsemen and a 19th century mystery sub seemed interesting, and I was hoping they would tie together later. Unfortunately, the ideas were never really picked up again, and it seemed as if they were thrown in at the end of the book to "tie" everything together.
Dirk Pitt (the superhero NUMA research engineer) has numerous poorly written escapes from death. He doesn't just get attacked by an old biplane while flying over NYC. He doesn't just get attacked by an old biplane while flying a planeload of children over NYC. He gets attacked by an old biplane while flying a planeload of disabled children over NYC. The story quickly degrades from here, if that is at all possible, into one about an Evil MegaOilCorp out to dominate the USA (and secretly paying off over 100 Congressmen&women/govt agents), as well as numerous ridiculous nautical-themed terrorist attacks.
I payed $0.27 for the book at a thrift shop, and can plainly see why. Deep-six this one.