Excavation

Rating:
Summary: about as good as getting your teeth pulled
Review: i really didn't like this novel, this tries to mix cheap indiana jones style adventure, a romance novel, and a sci-fi book all into one and fails. If you really want a good book grab The Relic by Douglas Preston.

Rating:
Summary: Horrible (not Horror) Story
Review: What a ridiculous book! Preston Douglas you ought to be ashamed to have a positive comment on the front jacket of Excavation. This book does not compare to any of your excellent stories - either real or fiction. Readers - don't waste your time or money on this one.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Entertaining
Review: This is not the type of book I uaually read, but when heavy rain kept me indoors for two week this summer I was desperate. I picked up this novel and I was immediately hooked. It was a really great book! It grabs you from the start and dosen't let you down and the story is very well told. However, be warned it is a little weird, it starts off normal, but then... Overall I was impressed by this book, and I'll probably be reading his first book and keeping an eye out for any new ones.

Rating:
Summary: Where's the next book?!? I want it NOW!
Review: If you want adventure, suspense, and some good scares, check out James Rollins book Excavation. I could literally not put it down and read into the wee hours of the morning to finish it. The same goes with his first book Subterranean. So where's the third book? I'll be first in line to grab a copy.

Rating:
Summary: Preposterous Premise + Unbelievable Characters = Bad Fiction
Review: When I bought this book I wasn't expecting much, since it went straight to paperback and wasn't a "best seller." All I expected was a half-hearted attempt at the blend of fiction and science that Crichton excelled at, something for me to read on the airplane. Well, I ended up not even able to bring myself to dignify it by finishing it. It was THAT bad. Never mind that the characters are shallow and one-dimensional, the premise (most important "in my book") was simply ludicrous. A metal that responds to thought? A sinister, secret order of the Catholic Church descended from the Inquisition that employs scientists to recreate Christ with that same metal? What a joke! Even the suspense are no more than cliched stuff that others (eg., Crichton, Kerr, and Darnton) had beaten us to death with on numerous occasions.

And with all those booby-trapped rooms and creatures, I can't help but get the feeling that James Rollins (ie. Jim Czajkowski) perhaps played one too many AD&D games.

Rating:
Summary: Originality?
Review: This was one really bad book. It pained me to read adventure book cliche after cliche. Mr. Rollins must be a big fan of Indiana Jones, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Congo, as well as a host of other books and movies, as this book had plenty of ideas borrowed from them.

My recommendation... Skip this piece of pop literature garbage and get a classic adventure novel instead. You'll be much happier.

Rating:
Summary: Hot and Cold
Review: This was the first book I have read by this author and can not compare it to the other. I CAN say that the Indiana Jones type booby traps and hidden caverns were interesting and suspenceful. The naratives in between and the lack of depth of the characters failed to pique my interest. Which means I found it easy to put down and hard to get back into, especially due to extremely long chapters that had no "good" spot to leave off on. I can say that the more that I read, the more I enjoyed it. I learned about the ancient indians and some lore, etc. of the period. Giving this book three stars was due to the fact that I have read MUCH better books of suspence by authors Lincoln and Childs and feel that this one does not deserve to be in their ranks. I beleive that if this book was read all in one sitting it would have been a much better novel. If you enjoy the writings of the above mentioned authors, and the action packed suspence of Indiana Jones and the Lost Arc, then you may want to check this one out. The underground scenes were very discriptive and easily pictured....it has "coming to a theater near you" written all over it!!!! All and all not too bad of a read.

Rating:
Summary: Distill the essence of bad, bad movies.. then try to read it
Review: Ouch. I can't help but feel this book should be punished in some way. I picked it due to an intriguing description and cover, and hoped to be in for some good, old-fashioned adventuring. What I ended up with was a book so poorly written as to be unignorable... you can't even just not-think your way through this one, it forces its badness into your skull with a small golden dagger. I will give the author what credit I can: he would make an excellent screenwriter. This book can't shake it's inherent movieness, it cries out for a film version. The dialogue is snappy and the visuals would be stunning on-screen, and I get the distinct impression it was written with just that in mind. Its plot is just coherent enough to make an action/adventure movie, the sort where you don't think too hard, you just relax and watch. That, however, does not play well in book form. When read, the characters (all but one) are painfully two-dimensional stereotypes and the plot is so full of holes, omissions, contradictions and bizarre leaps of logic that it simply falls apart, leaving the reader clutching his or her head in pain and wondering why. The author's vocabulary is good and his prose is better than some, but the story and characters are simply not very good. I can imagine the characters reciting their lines with quiet embarassment written on their faces... And the part of the book where our heroine feigns seduction on a novice monk in order to get information was so reprehensible that it made me want to vomit. It's best when writing, I think, not to make the reader feel as though he's accidentally put his hand in something unspeakably horrible and squishy. I can't help but think that scene speaks volumes about the author. The whole scene felt like the literary equivalent of two first cousins getting married... you're disgusted, and at the same time, embarassed for them.

There are positives I should say... the premise is undeniably creative, and seems to be quite well-researched. I tried to like it, I really did, but by the end it seemed clear that the book simply suffered from a lack of real care. Rarely was any emotion conveyed, as the characters and situations were so cliched that you didn't really have to *read* it to know what was going to happen... There was no apparent message or theme, it was just... there. The author shows potential as far as concepts are concerned, but everything else was just unrealised.

Rating:
Summary: Good but not great
Review: This is not as good as the first book "Subterranean" in this book, Rollins seems to rely on the same formula as he used in the first. At one point, he very nearly pulled a section out of "Subterranean" and recycled it. "Excavation" is a good book, but I it felt at times like I was rereading "Subterranean."

I just finished an interesting thriller/adventure I highly recommend: "A Tourist in the Yucatan"

Rating:
Summary: A Non-stop, Fun Read
Review: Don't know if my last review of this book was posted, so here it goes. Had a great time with this book. I am rarely captivated by a book. A book needs to have a good and well thought out storyline for me to be interested. This is the case with "Excavation". If Rollins other book is sopposed to be better, than I must get that one, as well.

I don't know what to say about anyone that rates this book below three stars. The comparison to Indiana Jones is suspect. The only comparison is the Archeaology part, but it stops there. None of the character's are anything like Indy...he is in a class by himself.

If you are interested in adventure, this book is it. There is also much mystery, a bit of romance, as well. Don't let any negative review steer you away...this book is terrific.

bbarr