Rating: 
Summary: Amazing.
Review: This book was the strangest thing I have ever read. Hands down. And I've read some weird stuff. That said, I slogged through the first 100 pages not understanding what was going on. After another 100, I was having fun - I still didnt know what was going on, but I was warming to it. By the end I was absolutely hooked. I dont know why, its not really well written, its not really deep or philosophical. Its a fun read, and will keep you wondering about stuff until you're sick of it. But then you'll pick it back up and keep reading because you want to know what ridiculousness happens next. Not for close minded folk. That said, this book will always have a place of honor on my bookshelf.
Rating: 
Summary: a mess
Review: Some inventive concepts, trapped in the 70's, did NOT age well. I slogged through it, felt like I was not rewarded in the end. A lot of the reviews I have read say things like, "if you don't like this book, you are not well read [or smart]." I think those things are said to justify liking what is essentially a mess of a book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest bad novels of all time
Review: Bad writing, unbelievable characters, disjointed and disorganized plots that somehow come together to form a wonderful story. The three volumes that comprise the Illuminatus Trilogy are like taking a no spending limit trip through the parinoid's candy store!I read the Illuminatus when I was in my 20's and it frightened me because I thought might all be true. I reread in my 30's and was depressed because I realized that it wasn't. I've just read it again at 50 and now know that even though every word is fiction, every word is also true. Our lives are subject to the whims of people for whom we are no more real or important than unbelievable characters in a bad novel -- but it's OK as long as we remember how to have a good time while we're on their ride. The Illuminatus Trilogy is a must read that belongs on everyone's desert island list.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting
Review: This book is interesting, and often funny and witty. However, it is somewhat painful to get through and it drags a lot. There are many many books that I would have rather read with my time. The Crying of Lot 49, or any other book by Pynchton would be a much better substitute.
Rating: 
Summary: Can't seem to get started on it
Review: Perhaps it picks up later, but I'm finding the book extremely dull through page 60. Has it aged past its time, I wonder?
Rating: 
Summary: MINDF@*kingly good
Review: this is one of the greats of science fiction, postmodernist experimentalism, and free-thought. if you didnt like this book your brain is either stuck in "too linear thinking", you are not erudite enough and miss a lot of what is going on, or more likely you are just plain stupid. i also reccommend Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
Rating:
Summary: A book to indoctrinate your kids with!
Review: If you appreciate that James Joyce is an important author, especially 'finnegans wake' you'll have a good foundation for the Illuminatus trilogy. The prose is deep and at times feels like wading hip deep through swamp land. This, though, is done on purpose. It isn't un-readable like 'Finnegans Wake', its very readable but its not written in easy to read pop style for dummies. This book is not written for dummies. Average Joe won't appreciate it. Sorry. Illuminatus is a manifesto, a bible for some. Filled with sex, drugs and other offensive things. Illuminatus will be enjoyed by people who make it their business, nay their duty, to think outside the conventional box. This book lets you into a wild, crazy, upside-down world of intrigue, adventure sex drugs and rock and roll that is only partly a work of fiction. Its up to you though to guess which bits. The ultimate meesage of this book is think for yourself. Even this review might be lying to you.
Rating:
Summary: Sorry.....
Review: I never took acid so I just don't get it. I so wanted to enjoy this book. Plowing thru the intentionally poor prose and grammer. Trying to laugh at the witty, inside jokes. The story held me for about the first 400 pages, ... The last half of Leviathan was absolutely brutal with the worst run on sentences and longest paragraphs I have ever seen.
I was so disappointed in the ending. ...
Whatever....
Rating:
Summary: Disregard the haters
Review: Don't listen to the haters on this one. Basically all the revues denouncing this book so far are by people who have their heads stuck so far up pop-culture's exterior that they are inable to judge useful literature from non-useful(albei entertaining) literature. The Illuminatis Trilogy is useful literature. It will change you. Be prepared. One thing that the critics always complain about is plot. These people are missing the whole point: that the plot isn't the point of the story in the first place. It's not where you end up, it's how you get there. Read this book with a closed mind and you'll hate it. Read this book with an open mind and you will find a new you.
Rating:
Summary: Doppler Effect at Mindwarping Speed
Review: Is this trilogy a fantasy, a treatise, a cosmic romp, or the stream of consciousness meanderings of two madmen? I think yes.
Wilson and Shea, in their only collaboration, have a great time weaving conspiracies, numerology, science, pseudoscience, practically everything else they can get their minds around. The writing is lively, outrageous, and funny, but the details and cross references of ideas means that one should take the time to read these books when there are few distractions. Do not, however, use these books as a basis for Sunday school lessons or self-improvement exercises. The 23 enigma is given full play here, so be on guard. Once let loose, it will overwrite your neurolinguistic programming and established paradigms. (I loaned a friend my first set of these books for him to read while he was traveling in Europe. As he was reading in the books a scene where the characters visit the statue of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, he decided to do the same. When he returned to his room, the second and third books were missing. Nothing else was taken including the first volume.)
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