Excavation

Rating:
Summary: Temples It Could Have Been
Review: Perhaps my expectations for this novel were too high, but I found the formula followed exactly that of "Ice Hunt," a book I found superbly well written. Unfortunately, after reaching the halfway point of "Excavation," I found myself reading to finish, not to enjoy. Same thing: I enjoyed the discoveries, not the fight to get out.

I will point out simply a few things:

·˙˚˙·° Unlike "Ice Hunt," which was well researched and organized, "Excavation" is full of plotholes. In fact, it is the first book I have read where I ever noticed a plothole, and then said to myself, "Another one," several times over, repeatedly.

·˙˚˙·° Poorly thought-out details. One example, without spoilers: Picture yourself and a friend in a dark room, holding the only lantern, which is a (in this case) bright purple UV light, meant to fluoresce certain minerals. Now imagine noticing your friend's face is purple in hue, despite the obvious difficulty in distinguishing the color of flesh in a blacklight environment.

·˙˚˙·° Some of the scientific stuff is already obsolete merely by the way Mr. Rollins writes about it. Paradoxically, in a book with so much unbelievably cool stuff, what is real is treated like science-fiction!

·˙˚˙·° Conveniences. I don't like it when a character suddenly realizes the required item is in their back pocket. I don't like it when this happens five times in one story.

I will not continue, because there is one thing this book has that most stories don't: originality. Although the climax is lacking in many ways, my favorite parts are the discoveries at the beginning and interspersed throughout. Cool stuff in here. And the very last chapter has a twist that blew me away and almost made me forgive everything poor about this book. I just wish Rollins had gotten to it sooner.

Rating:
Summary: Non-stop action that bores
Review: At this point James Rollins' novels have all had a somewhat similar premise which is high octane adventure in an exotic setting. Other Rollins novels have taken place in the Arctic (Ice Hunt&Subterranean), the Saudi desert (Sandstorm), the Amazon river (Amazon), and in this novel Rollins delves into the lush jungles of South America. This type of adventure novel definitely appeals to me and I was looking forward to reading my first Rollins novel. Unfortunately I believe I picked the wrong novel to get started as Excavation is a sub-par novel in many respects.

The plot is messy and all over the map but I'll try to simplify it as much as humanly possible. Deep in the jungles of Peru, a team of student researchers uncover an Incan temple that seems to store many ancient artifacts and riches beyond anyone's imagination. However the temple is not deserted like the researchers previously thought it was. Inside, there are still ancient Incan tribes who will do anything to protect their shrine. The researchers are not the only ones interested in exploring the depths of the temple but also money-hungry monks whose ancestors were Spanish conquistadors who in the past were in a bloody war with the Incas. With these three groups going at it someone is bound to get hurt...

This novel really should have been good as it has an exotic setting, many mysteries and yes tons of action, although it doesn't kick into high gear until halfway through. The first half of this book is very pedestrian, mostly involving scientists theorizing about the artifacts and the lost tribes. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Michael Crichton, to use an obvious example, is able to do this in an entertaining style and his expertise really shines through in his writing. I never got that feeling with Rollins.

Where the book kind of picks off is once Rollins finally gets down to what he does best: writing action. I admit that many scenes were supremely entertaining, especially once he brings us into an underground world of tunnels and mazes filled with menacing creatures. What kind of bothered me however was how much this all felt like a movie script. You can almost hear Rollins begging to the folks in Tinseltown "Come on guys make this into a movie, please?" Maybe Rollins should consider a career as a scriptwriter instead.

Yet even action can get boring after a while and this happens during "Excavation". Despite the non-stop action I found that I didn't want to read the book in anything longer than 10-page increments. There's something wrong with this. Is it Rollins' writing style? Or that his characters are so underdeveloped and stereotypical that we don't give a darn what happens to them? Oh well, I gave Rollins a try and I must say I am very disappointed with what I've read. But I'm not giving up on Rollins just yet since he writes the kind of stuff that I love. I just hope that he's written better novels than this one.


Rating:
Summary: It kept me reading before, during & after my flight
Review: While some people may say that the plot steals something from other books and some others say that there are no plots left unturned in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. In fact, I ran a search on Amazon to find out what else he has written.
You can read some of the other reviews to find out the plot, ending, etc., but, I really enjoyed this fast paced book.
Nuf said....

Rating:
Summary: almost 3 stars
Review: The book was a fun trashy adventure novel to read, but the ending just blew chunks. I couldn't believe it was so corny. That doesn't take away from the rest of the book, there were several engaging characters, and the adventure was certainly there, but if you are looking for substance, well.. find something else. With such a fun story to be brought to a close so poorly just ruined the book for me.

Rating:
Summary: A good, solid book.
Review: The ending was extremely disappointing. If there had been a plausible scientific explanation at the end of the book, I would've given it 4 stars. But, in the last chapter, it seemed like Rollins was out of ideas and fell back on a lame, cop-out ending (it was all the aliens!!!). DUH? What the . . .? It made me SO mad that I had wasted all the time reading the book. I wish I could say it was worthwhile. I definitely do *not* recommend. There are far better adventures out there.