Amazonia

Rating:
Summary: Tongue-In- Cheek
Review: If he just wouldn't have created a 100 foot long caiman. The swarm of giant locusts, the enormous anaconda, even the jumping land piranhas stretched the envelope of reality, but with a little imagination they were till plausible. Unfortunately, a cousin of the alligator 33 yards long tainted this otherwise exciting and inventive thriller.

James Rollins took the often used theme of a disease caused by man's intrusion into the natural order which then threatens to destroy civilization, and reconfigured that storyline in a new way so it makes sense and entertains at the same time. Once you answer the question that naturally arises, "Is this book for real?" and accept that much of the story is tongue-in-cheek, you should have a great time letting your imagination use Rollin's descriptions to thrill and entertain you. Then even a 100 foot long caiman will make sense.

Rating:
Summary: Stretching the Envelope
Review: If he just wouldn't have created a 100 foot-long caiman. The swarm of giant locusts, the enormous anaconda, even the jumping land piranhas stretched the envelope of reality, but with a little imagination they were still plausible. Unfortunately, a cousin of the alligator 33 yards long tainted this otherwise exciting and inventive thriller.

James Rollins took the often used theme of a disease caused by man's intrusion into the natural order which threatens to destroy civilization, and reconfigured that storyline in a new way so it makes sense and entertains at the same time. Once you answer the question that naturally arises, "Is this for real?"and accept that much of the story is tongue-in-cheek, you should have a great time letting your imagination use Rollin's descriptions to thrill and entertain you. Then, even a 100 foot long caiman will make sense.

Rating:
Summary: Ya...Right???
Review: One word describes this book:

ri·dic·u·lous- Deserving or inspiring ridicule; absurd, preposterous, or silly.

In all fairness to the author this is the first book of his that I have read and perhaps I should have investigated more into his writing style. This book reads like a silly Hollywood movie. Most disappointing is that the story line and conceptuality of this book was very good but Rollins wears the reader down with absurd coincidences, unlimited resources and unbelievable creatures. Had he been more realistic in these areas this would have been an absorbing read.

Rating:
Summary: Rollins does it again!
Review: Buckle up and prepare for a great time reading "Amazonia". James Rollins, author of other great action novels such as, "Subterranean" and "Excavation", has done it again with "Amazonia". This novel grabs you right from the start and before you know it, you're 50 pages into it.

The plot revolves around the search for a hidden Amazon tribe that may hold the secret to cellular regeneration. Numerous sub-plots also exist in this novel. A son looks for his father who disappeared years before while searching for the secret tribe. Evil representatives of a pharmaceutical firm attempt to find the secret tribe and their herbal medicines for their own profitable gain - and will stop at nothing to succeed. And the secret to healing a devastating plaque that is sweeping the U.S. is somewhere in the Amazon jungle.

Rollins does a great job keeping all of the "potboilers" simmering throughout the book. The action is fierce and frenetic throughout. You should also prepare yourself for your squeamish moments as Rollins describes some grisly situations involving the search for the tribe. The Army Rangers sent to protect the expedition seem to get killed out faster than the crew men in the red shirts from the old Star Trek program. Behind these gory demises are some fantastic creatures, notably man-eating frogs, mutated piranhas, giant locusts, and hundred-foot caiman. OK, so you have to suspend your powers of disbelief a little!

Some memorable characters abound in this novel. Nathan Rand, the sympathetic son who still hopes to find his father. Manny and his pet jaguar, Tor-Tor, who aid in the search for the tribe and Professor Kouwe, a spiritualist, linguist, and healer who provides guidance to the group and young Nathan.

If you're a fan of any of the Preston/Child or Matthew Reilly novels, then "Amazonia" is for you. It's an extremely quick-reading book that's hard to put down!

Rating:
Summary: Runs out of steam big time
Review: I have liked other Rollins' novels and this one was enjoyable for the first couple of hundred pages but it just went on way too long with too much plot repetitions. Not a worthwhile read and it may be time for me to give up on Rollins.

Rating:
Summary: Popcorn novel with slightly tangy flavor
Review: This book was not exactly one that I'd recommend for everyone. It is definitely of the Crichton school of writing- take scientific issue, explore it, have people meet grisly demises, rinse, repeat - and unfortunately, not past the seventh grade in this particular school. Rollins does an excellent job with the setup and puts his heroes into big trees and throws plenty of rocks at them. However, when you surround your heroes with lots of expendable Special Units forces, I'm going to be able to pick who lives and who gets eaten by piranha frogs fairly quickly.

Take a look if it is on paperback and you need a good book to get you through that plane ride.

Rating:
Summary: My first by Rollins
Review: "Amazonia" was my first read by Rollins, but he will be another auto-buy author for me. I won't summarize the plot again, as other reviewers have, but this book clips along at amazing speed. I was never bored with the team's adventure. The heroes are likable, the villains perfectly evil. I was recommended this book due to my love for Preston/Child. Any fan of theirs would be happy reading "Amazonia".

Rating:
Summary: Implausible Waters
Review: Any successful fiction - especially science fiction (or in the case of "Amazonia" "bioscience-fiction) - must have a kernel of fact around which the story is spun. Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park", "Prey", and "Timeline" are good examples of plausible, if improbable, science effectively used as the basis for high-adrenalin entertainment. In a slightly different venue, Dan Brown ("The Da Vinci Code", "Angels and Demons") is a master of taking historical fact and wrapping compelling fiction around it.

Unfortunately, James Rollins' "Amazonia" shares none of these characteristics. In a needlessly long and overdramatic epic the hero, Nathan Rand, glumly plods through an totally unrealistic Amazon/jungle in search of his father lost four years before. The search is revived after a member of Rand's father's party, former CIA-agent Gerald Clark, emerges from the jungle barely alive and horribly diseased. It turns out that whatever Clark contracted in the jungle is highly contagious, and a dangerous plague is rapidly spreading across the Americas. So the race is on, not only to find clues to the senior Rand's disappearance, but also to find the magical cure for the dreaded plague. This is the Amazon/ of Hollywood in which Anaconda's are 40-feet long and Piranhas frantically eat all in their paths. It is a jungle of flora and fauna impossibly dangerous where chances for survival are distantly remote. Worst, Rollins succumbs to the popular politically correct convention wisdom: the source of all evil is drug companies and the military while the secrets to life and happiness are all merely waiting for discovery in the dense Amazonian forests - assuming of course the evil capitalists don't destroy it first.

Rollins characters are as thin as the plot; the dialogue painfully melodramatic and clichéd. ("Nathan Rand's gaze was as hard as the Rangers', but there was a glint of something more. A vein of icy determination.") Bottom line: with an unbelievable plot, bland and stereotyped characters, non-descriptive prose, and a tidy and predictable Hollywood ending, this one is better left off that list for this summer's relaxed beach reading.

Rating:
Summary: Great adventure fare!
Review: I haven't read James Rollins's work, however, after reading Amazonia, I am a new fan. I love the adventure/scientific/apocolyptic genre of novel, and this one fit the bill. The plot was coherent and well written. The characters, though slightly stereotypical, were believable. Nate and Kelly were a good romantic duo, and Tor-Tor was the coolest cat/main character I've seen in a while. I loved the description of the jungle and of the animals. I also appreciated the obvious research that Rollins did to write about the Amazon. Though I felt the end was kind of weak and hastily thrown together, it did not dull my enjoyment of the total work. This one would have been great at the beach!

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic first book by new author.
Review: I picked up this book by chance and let me tell you guys from the first page I was hooked I read this book from cover to cover in just one day. Action from the first page and it did not let up. I will not go into detail because it would take to long,but I felt for every character that had been killed or injured and I was so glad that Tor-Tor the black Jaguar hooked up with the leader of the black female Jaguar, and at the end when she planted the new seed I felt that a whole new chapter was going to start in this new Amazon forest. Read this book if you like non-stop kick action with also a little romance on the side you will be glad that you did.