Rating: 
Summary: A pretty dumb book
Review: The premise for this book is awesome--turns out "demons" are living at the center of the earth, torturing people and wreaking havoc in secret. It starts out solidly, too--very exciting and darn scary, and when they started talking about the Origins of Satan, I was starting to think it would end up as some kind've Davinci Code-type mind-bender combined with an Aliens-type shoot 'em up.But man, Jeff Long can't deliver on the goods in an enormous way. For one--the Beowulf Circle doesn't do anything. They talk about researching Satan, traveling the world, but Long never actually SHOWS it. They just gather AFTERWARDS, and blabber about it (and it's really clunky, awkward dialogue too). And when they finally come up with a hypothesis to Satan's true identity? Please. Also, I kinda felt like the hadals are still an unknown quantity. Who are they? Where do they come from?? And most importantly, WHY are Satan and his minions so evil??? And I don't mean to ask "why is there evil", but I just don't understand why the hadals are bloodthirsty savages who will torture you to insanity. I won't spoil it for anyone, but a lot of things happen that seem very "out of character" for the hadals. Basically, I stopped being afraid of them, and that's something Long needed to prevent. Human reaction to this stuff? Very unrealistic. I find it hard to believe that people wouldn't be more outraged or driven to wipe them off the face of the earth. If a foreign country tortured and killed millions of Americans the way the Hadals did, they'd be a crater. None of the characters are likeable either--Ike is a twisted, violent loner but not in a cool way, Ali is just dopey (another reviewer mentioned the passage where she is wistfully dreaming about "a place at the table" for the hadals, while simultaneously they're torturing the sh** out of a coupel soldiers. Stupid.) and Branch? Don't expect to see much of him--he disappears for about 300 pages. And the ending? Yawn. There's a lot more, but I don't want to spoil it too much. But I couldn't recommend it to anybody with a brain. Read the first 200 pages if you must as they're pretty entertaining, but chuck it shortly thereafter as it goes completely downhill.
Rating: 
Summary: Congo + Indiana Jones + Esau + Dante's Inferno = The Descent
Review: The book is sort of a mish-mash of ideas from Crichton's Congo, Kerr's Esau, Indiana Jones and Dante's Inferno with an interesting twist. Descent is a fun read if you like a good adventure story with some horror elements thrown in. The story starts with bang and then gradually slows. My main complaint would be the ending which was just lacking. Given the ambitious nature of the story, it would be hard to end easily. All in all, it will make a good read on a long plane or train trip.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic read!
Review: I enjoyed this book immensely! I couldn't put it down. Jeff Long is a great story teller and I would highly recommend this book if you like a fast-paced, well thought out read. Keep in mind that it's not for the squeamish; it contains a fair amount of gore and suspense. I read a couple reviews that rate it poorly because of "gaps in logic", but hey, we're talkin' underground worlds and monsters here - let's not take things to seriously! The reviewers that sell it short should probably be reading non-fiction... If you like dark fantasy/horror books do yourself a favor and don't pass up this chance to explore a long dark road into an imaginative story. Just try not to jump if something big stirs just beyond the reaches of your flashlight...
Rating:
Summary: The Descent by Jeff Long
Review: Easily one the the most enjoyable books I have read. If it were 18 volumns I would read each one. Vividly told-it grabbed you in the beginning and never let go. The thread of thought was never broken so that it was a believeable as well as enjoyable read. Thank you, Mr. Long. Please write more.
Rating:
Summary: Great premise but doesn't deliver.
Review: The premise for this book was truely unique (to me) and I was anxious to see it explored. The set up was good and I liked how various events brough the underwold denizens to our attention - but once the expedition "to the center of the earth" began the book just fell apart for me. There were just too many leaps of logic for me to maintain suspension of disbelief. One glaring example is that the expedition was supplied with caches of bottles of wine, various gourmet foods, batteries, clothes, etc. by pods that were dropped off via drilling through the sea floor and miles of rock precisly into the tunnels where the expedition was travelling. It was never actually expalined how the water on the sea floor (exuding tons of pressure I'm sure)was kept out of the tunnels once the drilling was complete? At one point soldiers are actually transported into the tunnels via a pod drop which left me asking why didn't they just send the expedition in that way??? It was plot devices like these that left me disappointed in The Descent. With a bit more work it could have been great. If you are capable of substaining huge leaps of logic to drive a story forward then you may find this one more satisfactory than I did.
Rating: 
Summary: Journey to the gates of Hell
Review: Jeff Long is his imaginative and disturbing novel The Descent, explores the existence of a labrynthine underworld inhabited by horned, gargoyle like, devilish humanoids called Homo Hadalis (hadals). Hadals had through the centuries, lured humans underground to serve as slaves, breeding stock, chattel and food. Through the eyes of his main characters, "Ike" Crockett, Ali von Schaade, and Major Elias Branch we get to experience the unearthing of this nightmarish gateway to Hell. Crockett, an American mountaineer based in the Himalayas, while snowbound in a Tibetan cave accidently stumbles into a cavern system. While exploring, he becomes captured and enslaved by the aforementioned demonic underground denizens. Ali, a nun specializing in linguistics while working in an African leper colony becomes aware of the presence of what seems to a Satanic being within her Kalahari desert base. Major Branch shot down while piloting a helicopter in Bosnia, crashes only to be terrorized by sickly white bodied humanoid forms that have eminated from a burial ground. A preponderence of evidence of the existence of a world miles beneath the surface of the ocean convinces the multi billion dollar Helios corporation to finance a mission to traverse the underworld beneath the Pacific ocean. A team of 150 composed of scientists and mercenaries embark on a 8000 mile underground journey. Led by Ike who subsequently escaped from the hadals and including Ali they commencing their harrowing, dangerous and illuminating trek of discovery. Meanwhile topside a group called the Beowulf group composed of older academic type and clerics meet in an attempt to locate and discover the identity of Satan, who they believe actually exists. The sum total of these machinations is a creative yet overly meandering novel touching on sensitive topics that left this reader fascinated yet somewhat dismayed.
Rating:
Summary: Almost Painful
Review: This book has a great premise, and starts out very promising.
But I got the impression that Long was straining to create an epic that just wasn't there.
He could have made it a fun romp, but he chose to go the "high" road in creating a book that took itself too seriously.
An epic novel can be a true adventure to read, but a novel that thinks it's an epic can be laborious. I couldn't wait for this one too end.
Rating:
Summary: A book I am ashamed to have really loved
Review: While I am not proud to say this, I enjoyed this book more than any I have read in some time, and I am not sure why. Part of the fun, I believe, is to figure out gaps in the plot that are hinted at, but never really filled in. Parts are disturbing in a fun way. He really outdoes Steven King on the old vomit meter. While I could not put it down, I could not escape the feeling that I was reading a really trashy, awful novel. However, the really disturbing and occasionally hilarious bits and pieces more than make up for it. If nothing else, he deserves great credit (especially writing before 9/11) for the hilarious adventures of a Taliban army taking on a Hell that may have been a bit more secular than they expected.
Rating:
Summary: Good start poor finish
Review: First time out with this author.
While I enjoyed the unique story line ... well, as unique as anyone can be in this genre, I have to agree that the plotline was stretched a bit thin.
I think the first hundred pages were spot on. But then things slowly became too involved and wondered about without unity.
I do like that the author can write with some muscle and doesn't make any pretense about writing unabashed horror.
Rating:
Summary: tired, cliched story
Review: I normally would not have read a book with such an overused plot, but I was desparate for some entertainment while on vacation. The book is based on the tired premise that there is an underground race of humanoids (Hadals) that occasionally comes to the surface to capture humans to use as slaves. As usual, the Hadals are extremely strong, brutal, filthy, and ugly. We are supposed to believe that they were once more evolved than humans despite living almost 20 miles below sea level with no light, no food, and getting bombarded with radiation-yeah right. The main character, Ike, is (not surprisingly) a former climber/caver that took tourists on expeditions in the Himalayas. I say this because that is the background of the author, Mr. Long, and it is the only thing that he writes competently about in this book. His clumsy descriptions of evolution, linguistics, warfare, biochemistry, and religion are superficial at best. He does not present the detail and scope of these topics the way Tom Clancy or Michael Crichton do in their works and glosses over important plot points such as the transformation of some humans to Hadal-like form when they go underground or the ability of the Hadals to transfer their mind to others including humans. The story is the usual journey to the center of the Earth-type with a scientific expedition guarded by mercenaries and funded by an evil corporation that wants to colonize and exploit the underworld. There is the typical mercenaries/company betray the scientists and leave them to die. Then the mercenaries get picked apart by the Hadals, then Ike saves the day and rescues his girlfriend. The story is not only formulaic and extremely derivative, but there is also no suspense or intrigue. I managed to finish the book, but only because I am stubborn. This is not a stay-up-all-night-page-turner.
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