Rating: 
Summary: What happened Clive?
Review: The early Clive Cussler/Dirk Pitt novels were fun and exciting. I enjoyed them. Valhalla Rising was BORING. Why does Clive Cussler have to become a character in his own book. He must have an ego the size of the Grand Canyon. This was the most disappointing Cussler novel to date. This book could be labelled "SOS". Same old stuff. It's as though he put a template over one of the older novels, added some new characters and changed the plot a little. I'm tired of Dirk Pitt. I'm tired of Clive Cussler. The back cover of the book shows Cussler with all the antique cars he owns. Who cares?
Rating: 
Summary: Meh. (from a non-Cussler-reader)
Review: I'd like to give it 2 1/2 stars, actually. It's not as bad as 2, but it sure doesn't rate 3.Not bad, I guess, for an adventure novel. The prose is fairly ham-fisted, though--if you're looking for a well-*written* novel, you won't want to read this one. I didn't much care for the author's cameo (it seemed more like a piece of fantasy-fulfillment than a legitimate plot/character device), but those who read a lot of Cussler might enjoy it. It's an interesting story with some pretty clever ideas driving the plot, but the characters really aren't much more than cardboard cutouts.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Cussler-Good Narrator-Audio book
Review: My Wife and I were happy that there is finally a new narrator for the Audio Book. We have read all of Clive Cussler's books and also listened to a couple on tape. We did not care for the way Michael Pritchard read Cussler's previous works. He read in a monotone and all the characters sounded the same. We think Scott Brink did a respectable job, and we enjoyed this audio book. Over the years we have listened to many narrators of different books. While Scott Brink is not at the top, he is a great improvement over Michael Prichard and I hope he narrates the next book.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe good for pre or young teens
Review: I took this book as a "talking book" on CD on a road trip. I really wanted it to be good because we had an 8 hour drive through the desert. Got to the last CD, and just could not take it anymore. Ejected the CD and never did finish it. Trite and Hardy Boys-ish.
Rating:
Summary: Dirk Pitt in another solid adventure
Review: A strong effort by Cussler. The author needs to stop putting himself into his novels, in my opinion. He's a good enough writer to find a way to get Dirk and Al out of jams. This is, however, a real return to the strong story telling that got me started 15 years ago on Dirk Pitt. Great evil characters work their way into the story and I found myself hanging on to the end. Cussler uses a great descriptive style and allows himself a bit of flight of fancy, but brings home a wonderfully chilling finish to his novel again. I like that he doesn't feel the need to go over the top in describing the technology, but doesn't also treat the reader like a techno-dummy. I hope that Clive will keep Pitt going for many novels to come! If you like suspense and plot, this is great stuff. Cussler does it again.
Rating: 
Summary: A Must Read!
Review: A GREAT read for fans of Jules Verne, mystery, suspense and thrillers.
Rating:
Summary: Valhalla rose to the challenge!
Review: Another Clive Cussler success! Plenty of action, a little romance, and a lot of adventure! This one would have to rate along side Inca Gold, and Floodtide as my favorite Cussler novels. As per his successful formula, Dirk Pitt again gets himself into trouble by helping to save a damsel in distress, and he gets more than his money's worth, and so do we. I particularly enjoyed the aerial battle scene above New York City. He obviously wrote the novel pre-9/11.
My only negative comment, is that you get the feeling he retired his major character(Dirk Pitt/Personna of Cussler himself) with this novel. Too bad, cause a lot of older guys, like myself really warmed up to Dirk, and Al, and loved reading of them getting themselves into, and out of perils. I look forward to reading his next novel Fire Ice, but will miss Dirk, and Al.
Rating:
Summary: The "Princess Bride" of modern literature...well, not quite
Review: Hey, but it's close. Clive Cussler manages to get a lot of different stuff crammed into however many pages and 99.9% of it is entertaining...
However, I think it surely must be illegal or at least immoral for an author to write about himself using his actual name...
Not too gory, but if you're the sort who goes on regular sea cruises, you might want to give it a miss.
All in all, a pretty good read.
Rating:
Summary: Good Cussler...wrong narrator
Review: This comment refers only to the audiotaped version of this book.Where is Micheal Pritchard??? Scott Brick cannot possibly portray our hero, Dirk Pitt, with any conviction. I hope enough fans will feel as I do and will make their feelings known. I have all the Dirk Pitt tapes and find it hard to listen to the new yuppy voice. What a dissappointment. Read the book. Forget the taped version.
Rating:
Summary: A major improvement from recent Dirk Pitt's adventures
Review: Improvement? What improvement???
To hormone-charged adolescent, Dirk Pitt is the ultimate G-Guy.
To critics, Cussler has put Pitt on the ultimate pedestal from
which there is no meaningful challenge left.
Fortunately, all these has changed in Valhalla Rising. But to begin at the beginning, should a book review consider the
merits of the book on its own, or should it be considered in the
light of the previous books in the same series. This is a tough
question, and it would not be fair to be dogmatic either way.
A more meaningful way would be to try to achieve a balance of
both. Clive Cussler's formula of integrating historical events into
significant impact into the present day is a good formula. A
sense of being something more than "just a modern-day anomaly"
is introduced, the anomaly being a big baddy waiting to be
taken down. New readers would get a sense of being shown just
a glimpse of something which is part of a very much larger picture. While Cussler repeated that formula in Valhalla Rising, this time
incorporating Norsemen ventures into Northern America in the 11th
century, followed by a "Captain Nemo and the Nautilus" in the 19th century. In his previous adventures, historical events seldom have gone beyond mere historical significance awaiting discovery into scientific significance, but this time it did. There was a shift in the villains through the history of Dirk Pitt adventures from political foes (internal and external) to corporate megalomaniacs. The only problem about this is if they are part of a series, surely these evil corporate overlord-wanna-be would have stumbled over each other in infiltrating the government and staking their claims. But to make the story interesting, it could not of course be allowed to happen, and hence the sense of continuity in Dirk Pitt's adventures is never established. Thus has been the problem with recent Pitt's stories that one wonder why I said this book has major improvement. Well, the improvement lies in the characterisation. Dirk Pitt has descended from superman into a more normal fellow.
He gets tired, he no longer can beat Mike Tyson single-handedly, and he makes deductive (not intuitive) mistakes, he no longer try
to bed attractive women, but shows certain loyalty to his long-time friend Congresswoman Loren Smith. And also, towards the
end of the book, his age showed with a definite stamp. Another major change is villains are no longer all-pervasive and completely shielded by anonymity, private armies and more layers of defences than Bin-Laden. There was no final assault on the
ultimate fortress. More time was also given to the supporting characters, besides the usual suspects. Of course, it was disappointing to see how easily the baddies could take out the normal cops, Cussler should make them more than cannon fodder. Nonetheless, more return to realism, less glamour and more brainwork put into writing novels by Cussler is a welcome move. Authors get to get megalomaniac over their heroes, like Tom Clancy's. It might be good for them to change to new characters and story lines to develop new perspectives, and when they return to their old characters, they bring refreshing innovations.
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