Rating: 
Summary: Please Get Rid of Dirk Off
Review: Cussler has always had some interesting ideas for plots; too bad that the writing is just getting worse and worse. It goes beyond formulaic; it's just plain BAD. Too many parts of this book just made me cringe, and I can't believe that the author spent any more time writing this book than I did reading it. Maybe he just needed some bucks for a new car.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book for first timers
Review: This is the first CC book for me and I thought it was great. Quite exciting and its truely a page-turner. However, the other revies seem to suggest that this is the worst CC book. So now I can't wait to read his other books, especially Raise the Titanic because his previous works must be a lot better or else his loyal fans wouldn't be criticising this book. However, I do agree that CC got carried away with using too much vocabulary. His descriptions gets very wordy at times so its better to have a dictionary handy while you read this book. Well, the conclusion is, for CC fans, this may be a 2-3 star book, for compared to many others books of this genre, this is definitely a 4 star book, if not a 5 star.
Rating: 
Summary: A rollicking jaunt all over the world...
Review: The story starts in the Pacific, off Australia/New Zealand when a luxury liner bursts into flames. Then to the Caribbean with a dastardly plot to destroy a luxury submarine. To the halls of Congress, and the ports of the US, Dirk Pitt is never out of place.I read Dirk Pitt books because they are fun, not to look for things that are wrong or anything. This book, like the others, asks "What if?" What if "20,000 leagues" was based on a real story? What if Vikings really did explore the US? What if there was a super oil that never needed to be changed? In this book, Dirk actually begins to possibly regret the choice that he made a long time ago in not settling down with anyone. He makes comments about getting older, and how age is beginning to affect him. The only thing that is kind of annoying is the fact that there are 2 prologues, which make sense AFTER you finish the book, but it takes until the mid-300s to even get back to them. All in all, this is a good book to relax with, and there are plenty of surprises in store at the end! I can't wait until the next one!
Rating:
Summary: Minuses and Pluses
Review: Clive Cussler is not a very good writer, but he is one [heck] of a story-teller. As to the former: he never met an adjective, adverb or colloquial cliche that he did not try to love to death. He also occasionally has disagreements between subject and verb, other grammatical pecadilloes, and even some misspellings. As to the latter: he knows how to keep a reader on the edge of his seat. As in most of the Dirk Pitt series, this is another visitation to the "Perils of Pauline" genre. Our familiar cast of characters, Pitt, best buddy Al Giordano, Admiral Sandecker and several lovely ladies rush from one life-threatening situation to the next, barely stopping for breath. Even though I knew our protagonists would survive at the end (otherwise there would be no more Dirk Pitt novels), I have to admit that I felt my muscles tensing as each succeeding situation became increasingly dire, wondering how they would get out of THIS one. There is no need to recap the plot here --- they are all formulaic in this series. I will say that I will continue to buy each new Dirk Pitt novel as soon as available --- this despite the minor annoyances of Mr. Cussler's stylistic lapses. Why? Because they are just plain FUN.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Cussler
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed Clive Cusslers latest Dirk Pitt adventure "Valhalla Rising". I think that most people would agree that Cussler uses a basic formula for his books involving history, global threats, ocean adventure and nasty super-villains. The thing that I enjoy about his novels is how he ties all of these themes together at the end. Valhalla starts out by following a group of Vikings in 1035 that first settled in North America. Then he jumps to 1894 to a scene where a sub-marine that is way ahead of its time is sinking ships. Finally he takes us to the present where we find a luxury ship on fire sinking as a result of sabotage. As a reader, I found myself quickly trying to get from chapter to chapter to see how all of these events are related. The villain of this adventure is Curtis Merlin Zale, an oil tycoon with plans of world domination. I found Zale to be kind of bland, even his demise was disappointing. I liked his henchman alot better, Omo Kanai. Kanai was much more nastier and evil. The chapter in which Giordino and Pitt dispose of Kanai was very exciting and satisfying. Dirk Pitt and his supporting cast of characters are all included in this latest novel. I like the chemistry between them, they all play an important part in the development of each adventure. "Vahalla Rising" even has a surprise ending that knocked my socks off. It will be interesting to see how Pitt will deal with this latest development in the future. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for the next Dirk Pitt novel.
Rating:
Summary: Another in the Great Dirk Pitt adventures.
Review: While investigating a horrific example of sabotage on the new cruise liner, the 'Emerald Dolphin', Dirk Pitt is once again drawn into a chain of events that has him rescuing the crew of a shipping disaster worse than Titanic, aerial dogfights, sinking submarines, beautiful women and two lost legends of Captain Nemo and a missing Viking expedition. The book is action packed, with Pitt overcoming the near impossible to solve the case and to help his friends. Cussler's fantastic writing ability shines through once again, with his detailed descriptions of all things mechanical (e.g. ships, cars, planes, etc) to his geographical and diving expertise. Characterisation is perfect and it's great to see it reflected that Dirk and friends are aging unlike a lot of other 'heroes' of novels who tend not to. The two prologues of the novel are also very well written and could have possibly been two separate novels in themselves if expanded upon. I found myself becoming a bit 'overwhelmed' with the novel towards the third part due to the fact that I was bombarded with near impossible action sequence after another. Although all sequences are fantastic. Another sequence I'm sure every reader will find amusing, is the certain cameo appearance of someone I wont name as it'll spoil the fun. The ending also doesn't have any bearing on the current storyline, so here's hoping another Dirk Pitt adventure is coming along soon. Overall, another fantastic Pitt novel from Cussler. One of the best action, adventure writers out there. RECOMMENDED!!!
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: rewriting cosmology
Review: No doubting the popularity of Clive and Dirk, judging by some 150 reviews here. I find this page turner enjoyable, if you don't have expectations of anything other than formula writing on a cartoon level. BUT one major, comical, error Clive makes appears in the first pages, where he describes a cavern being hollowed out twenty BILLION years ago. As the latest [2002] Hubble derived estimations of the age of the universe are 12-14 billion years, and the solar system is generally acknowledged to be less than five billion years old, this is rather a howler. Unless Clive knows something we don't.
Rating:
Summary: They just didn't care or where's the editor, Clive?
Review: My wife and son love Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt adventures for their fun,campy premises and prose. Yes, there is a lot of fun in this book and some imagination. How about a plane dogfight in Midtown Manhattan (pre-911), tales about the Vikings, and Captain Nemo?
Now here's the problems:
1. Clive Cussler hasn't met an adjective or adverb he doesn't love. Too corny, too bombastic, too "too." I think he's too much in love with his writing. Tell the story, Clive, you don't have to explain every emotion.
2. In an action scene, must the author make each character describe a dilemma without variation? I got it the first time how it seemed impossible technologically to open the hatch to rescue the submarine. But it's repeated at least four times. Yikes!
4. I listened to the unabridged tapes. As my wife points out, when reading a book, you can breeze through repetitions and fluff. Not so when you have a narrator that makes every man sound like a self-satisfied and boring narcissist.
5. Nobody has sex! But golly, do we know how each woman (or girl) was breathing heavily, the color of her hair and eyes, how much she is attracted to Dirk. The reading public does not need another fully depicted sex scene, but at least one adult has got to have sex. And it's no fair saying that Al loves all kinds of gals.
6. Having Clive appear in each novel does not equal Alfred Hitchcock's self-effacing appearance in many of his movies. Clive does more than that, helping out in some nifty fashion. It comes across as smug, phonily humble, and self-congratulatory.
7. I will spoil one unbelievable line, declared by one of the heroes, when it appears that the enemy has foiled them again. It went something like this: They caught us like infants wetting our diapers! Eeow!
8. My wife discovered in the book that the villian's name is rarely spelled the same. Thank goodness he dies in the end so we don't have to worry any longer about that. Mr. Cussler can be a good writer. I am objecting to his sloppiness: too many adverbs and adjectives, stupid similes, redundancies, and poor editing. On the belated TV show, MST-3000, at the end of one really trashy sci-fi movie, in which one could see the zippers on the costumes of the monsters, the robots and the host point out the artlessness of the moviemakers, by breaking into the song, "They Just Didn't Care?" Mr. Cussler and his publisher and editor, I wish you could just reach a little higher and care a little more. Good writing is rewriting. Sometimes you have to throw out the wet-diapered infant.
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.
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