Year Zero

Rating:
Summary: TOP TEN LIST
Review: Jeff Long is a rare find...A genuinely talented storyteller with original ideas. I ENJOYED this book from beginning to end. I was incredibly gratified to be so well entertained for the price of a paperback book. I got more out of this book at the halfway point, then most of the books I read all the way through. My wife has never heard me speak out loud so much while reading, ie.,"WHOA!", "HOLY SH...!", "THIS BOOK ROCKS!", etc.. I read only fiction, and I read roughly 100 books per year, ( and yes, I have a life), and am so seldom taken with an author as much as i have been with Jeff Long. "The Ascent", "The Descent", and "Year Zero" are all amazing reads, and all stand completely on their own merits. I saw a few reviews on this site that were less than flattering. Ignore them, for they be brain-dead. They need to go back to reading non-fiction or romance novels or grocery line tabloids. This book has it ALL! It is destined to go on your list of top ten novels. It's on mine.....permanently. When you get half-way through and see that you have 200 pages left, you're going to bow to the god of good reads and give thanks! (too much?) (not possible) ENJOY!

Rating:
Summary: A little different than I expected.....
Review: but still good. The thing about Jeff Long is that he could cut about 150 pages out of every one of his books and they would be perfect. There is a huge drag in the middle that doesn't go anywhere, The Descent was similar, but still a good novel. Although Long does a great job of tying everything together perfectly at the end of every novel.
There is nothing unique about the premise of the story, which is about a plague that eliminates most of mankind. Long tackles some religious themes that make the story very interesting.



Rating:
Summary: Another great winner from Jeff Long
Review: This is a trully great book about the possible end of he world. An archeologist unleashes a 200-year-old plague upon the world when he finds the possible remians of Jesus. His story of travelling the world, watching it end and the coming to the last human stand is amazing. The final confrontation and ending is incredible. The characters are rich and superbly written. Great, great, book.

Rating:
Summary: Uhh..... Well, the cover blurb was exciting!
Review: There's both too much in this book and too little. For a book whose main characters are scientists, and whose main preoccupation is a plague that threatens to make human beings extinct, there are only sidelong references to the science involved. There's not even an attempt to explain how the disease causes its vivid main symptom. But at the same time, there's too much. Besides the plague, there are at least three unrelated developments in cloning: a new species created from the mixing of DNA; the discovery of a frozen Neandertal, whose clone is an infant (convenient, because that part of the story is about raising a very unusual child); and the separate cloning, from blood on first-century relics, of full-grown crucifixion victims who come out as healthy adults with their memories intact -- who, that is, are in effect resurrected (also convenient, since one of them turns out to be Guess Who). It's like the premises of four different bio-medical thrillers stitched together.

I also had trouble believing the main characters. Even for scientists, they seem amazingly unemotional in the face of a disaster that is gradually erasing 99.9 percent of humankind off the map. Ho-hum, just another day at the office. The bad guys are suitably ruthless and cynical, but even the good guys include mad scientists who treat their cloned humans like animals (until one of them goes, "Hey! Maybe we should try TALKING to them"). I give this book 3 stars anyway -- which is probably too generous -- because the writing style is pretty good, there are a few good individual scenes, and although it wasn't a page-turner I did manage to get through it.

Rating:
Summary: Man would my feet be tired
Review: Stuck in a Kashmir prison with a devastating plague sweeping the world, what is a guy going to do? Well walk across half of Asia, through China and Siberia, once you get to the Pacific catch a ride an then where? Well from there its a short jaunt down to Los Alamos. Whew! This was one of the better books that I've read in awhile. Kept me in suspence the whole time, very rare that book does that. Couldn't put down. Maybe not as good as Long's other book Descent, but still Year Zero is an excellent book. The main character is well driven, so well that I could see myself walking those distances and taking those risks right along with him to save my daughter or at least see her one last time. Good read, you'll probably get lost, but don't worry that's a good thing.

Rating:
Summary: Well thought concept . But a drag
Review: The story was very interesting till it got really boring. There was no ending to the story. May be the author wasn't sure how to end it.. May be the author wants to publish Part II Year Zero.. Every possibility for not ending story came into my mind when I finished it FINALLY.

Rating:
Summary: Average
Review: The story was different which was refreshing. However, the book just didn't deliver on the goods. I will probably read The Descent.

Rating:
Summary: ENDING????
Review: I enjoyed parts of this book. Actually I enjoyed pretty much all the book, until the end.....Where was the end???Was my book missing pages? I guess I just like to have closure after reading a 500 page book. I did really enjoy the 100 pages in the middle that dealt with the community of hebrew clones, but with no ending it seemed like a waste of time.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: This is the first and, so far, only book I've read by Jeff Long and I was absolutely amazed by it. I was obsessed with the book...couldn't put it down. There are so many new and interesting ideas going on in this book, but I don't want to talk about any of them and spoil the fun.

It starts out a little bit like an Indiana Jones film with "tomb raiders" getting a little more than they bargained for out of an old religious relic. The book mixes history and religion into the new world of technology and science beautifully...sort of like Indiana Jones meets science fiction.

I want to read it again, but I loaned it to a friend :(

Rating:
Summary: Good......but not great!
Review: The concept is great...but for me the story fizzled out in the second half,and the ending was a little disappointing.