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Summary: Gave me nightmares!
Review: Where is all the reviews? This is one of the best ever! Gave me nightmares and I NEVER have nightmares.GET THIS BOOK! YOU WILL THANK ME!
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Summary: It's not what you think
Review: In Jeff Long's book you think you're going down an oft-traveled path until you suddenly realize the book has taken a scary turn and plunged you into a universe that could only exist in a fertile imagination. Eerie, creepy, and utimately very fulfilling.
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Summary: Intriguing!
Review: I'm only through the first few chapters, but I can't tell you enough how great this book is. Read this one and you won't regret it. Well written and researched, interesting, and creepy.
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Summary: OH MY GOD GET THIS BOOK! UNBELIEVABLE!
Review: Jeff Long where have you been? Your book should revive the soft horror and fantasy market of the '90's! Just Great! I urge ANYONE TO GET AHOLD OF THIS ONE! You WON't Be Disappointed! Trust me! GET IT AND SHIVER THROUGH THE SUMMER!
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Summary: Wow! Hooked from page one!
Review: Sprinkle bits of The Exorcist with Jules Verne's Journey To The Center of the Earth and you have The Descent. Couldn't put it down! If Hollywood doesn't make this into a movie, there is no hope for Hollywood!
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Summary: Interesting conception, good plot, terrible writing
Review: The basic premise of the novel is quite entertaining, and the plot itself is pretty good. Unfortunately, the writing is pure schlock (within the first 10 pages, he manages to describe one of his main characters as a "lone wolf"), and there is absolutely zero character development. Major, life-altering events are passed over in a single sentence (as when, for example, a primary character recovers from devastating burns and injuries, covered in less than a paragraph, with no mention of any psychological impact that the trauma may have had on him). If a first-rate writer had been given the assignment of writing this book, and had been handed the same plot outline, he would have written 2,000 pages or more; Long manages to wrap the book up in around 400 pages, because he simply isn't interested in developing characters or setting up scenes-- he spends all of his effort simply advancing the plot in a simple, linear fashion. If you're looking for a quick read on an airplane, The Descent is fine; however, there's no way it deserves the 5 star rating it currently has on amazon.com. It's pure horror/adventure schlock.
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Summary: Great underground adventure :-)
Review: I loved the roller-coster feel of this book and the eerie, almost alien landscapes. Along the same lines I also loved Subterranean by James Rollins. Both these books blended a 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' with a modern thriller twist. Check them both out!
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Summary: A wonderful, literary page-turner
Review: Actually, Kirkus Reviews has gotten a number of the facts wrong, and offers a very confusing summary of the plot with several inaccuracies. This is a terrific book for anyone that likes language, metaphysics, science fiction, action-adventure, reincarnation theory, and on and on... What's even better is it's well written! I am a librarian and will be recommending it to a wide variety of our library patrons. This was good, intelligent fun.
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Summary: Incredible read, unlike anything I've seen
Review: Normally I don't go for this kind of book but a friend recommended it so... By the end of the first chapter I was 100% hooked, and it only got better from there. The author has created a whole different world that seems completely possible and compatible with our own, and the way the effects of its discovery play out are absolutely ingenious. Great characters, great story, I just couldn't stop reading. And the publisher's set up a pretty cool web site, too.
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Summary: Well-written horror, creepy and fascinating
Review: I started reading this book at 10:00 at night, and could not put it down until I finished - at 6:00 AM the next morning! Extremely well written, Long draws you into a dark underworld, which changes everyone who enters in. He describes with disturbing psychological realism the attraction of suffering, submission, and pain. The most fascinating characters are those humans who adapt to living among the hadals, Ike, who almost becomes human again and Isaac, who never does. There are certainly many gruesome scenes in the book, but they are appropriate to the context. The intertwined mystery, the search for Satan, is extremely well-done, and comes to an unexpected and surprising conclusion. All in all, a fascinating and disturbing novel.
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