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Summary: Inmortality: The final journey
Review: I really like this book. Is a 800 pages books plenty of action and full of events that will keep you reading till the end.
Neville had masterfully combined reality and fiction, all the characters are so well defined and real, that you can think twice wheter this a true story or not.
Mirielli and Cat will in differnt time periods be facing the same fears, dangers and tentations. Both get involuntarily involved in this search of Inmortality coded in the Montglane Chess. Lots of people will be looking for it, but just few will have the courage, wisdom and tenacity to not be defeated.
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Summary: Often a tease without every reaching it's potential
Review: After several attempts I've managed to fight my way to the half way point of 'The Eight. At times it's riveting and at others positively dull, I know there has to be more given the rave reviews, but when?This is the first novel (just finished the entire stable of Dan Brown thrillers) in sometime I've used effectively as a cure for insomnia, that can't be a good testimony!
Rating: 
Summary: Worthwhile
Review: I liked this book, though I wasn't sure at first. It took me a little while to warm up to the characters but once I did, the book really took hold and I was very glad I bought it. A good read. I would recommend it.
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Summary: READ IT MORE THAN ONCE!!!
Review: I read this book my senior year in high school and I loved it so much!!! What a story, I have read it again and again... you just have to read it, and you have to appreciate history, there are so many little hidden secrets in this book. It was recommended by the best teacher I have ever had to this day even after four years of college... I loved it!!!!
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Summary: exhilarating
Review: "The Eight" is Katherine Neville's amazing first novel, the story of two women - one in the 1970's, the other in the 1790's - embarking on parallel journeys that will change the course of history. It is nearly everything a book can be, offering adventure, drama, mystery, and romance under a single cover. "The Eight" is a work of philosophy and fantasy and history. It explores the realms of chess, computers, mathematics and music and their intersections. It moves nimbly among various eras and settings, weaving everything together in a story that is compelling and memorable. Although the book is long, the story moves quickly and the length rarely seems onerous. Best of all - and impressive in a book of such intensity - "The Eight" offers plenty of insight into its subject matter, dispensing profound or unusual thoughts at every turn. It is hard to overstate the power and beauty of "The Eight," how luxuriously it reads, how thoroughly it weaves its themes, how deeply it touches one's mind. I read it once about ten years ago (as a teenager) and again just now; although the plot was familiar and I could anticipate more of its twists the second time around, it was still every inch a worthwhile and thought-provoking read.
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Summary: thrilling and historically accurate
Review: The nice aspect of what makes this book great is along with the tension of finding the pieces of the missing ancient chess set, Neville researched the characters in this book well. She merged the plot of the Mirelle character with actual events of the French Revolution to the beginning of the wars between Napoleonic France and the empires of Britain and Russia. One example is Jacque-Louis David's picture of "The Sabine Women". Neville gets to portray Mirelle and Valentine as the women in this picture. Do a search for this picture and you'll see her kneeling and Valentine standing in the center of the picture. I don't know how historically accurate Neville made her story in the Mirelle half of the story but everything I've looked up about some of the French characters in the story are true regarding Napoleon, David, Talleyrand, and Catherine to name a few. If your a person knowledgeable in the French Revolution, you'll be amused at how these historical figures and the real events that occured in their life affected the plot of the story. She sold me half-heartedly on the chess set itself. Without giving away the ending I didn't feel very surprised. But Neville did do a good job to keep its secret interesting and give the reader peaks at the nature of the chess set through the various stories narrated by various characters in the book. One problem in the book was clues about the chess set which weren't clues at all to help with what the chess set was all about and sometimes there was extrameous descriptions about the set that just sounded like babble. This book is worthy for both readers seeking a thrill or looking for the intrigue between mysterious and popular characters.
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Summary: I can't believe I wasted my time on this book!
Review: I had read reviews of this book and was looking forward to a good read. As I was getting close to the end last night I thought, "Surely the author is waiting to the very last to make this book worthwhile." I'm still wondering how and WHY I stuck with it.
What a disappointment and a waste of time. I learned a few interesting things about Algeria, however.
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Summary: A fabalous intrigue!
Review: I have been recommended for months now to read The Eight especially since I really enjoyed The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons both by Dan Brown. This book didn't disappoint at all! With all those characters and the switching back and forth, it wasn't confusing at all ~~ especially since she put the year in front of the paragraphs when she switches gear. It is a fun book ~~ very intriguing and suspenseful! Catherine is approached by a friend to secure pieces of an old chess set for an antique collection, especially since her job was to take her to Algeria. There is a legend buried with this chess set and in her travels, Catherine learns the legend and finds herself in danger. Told not to trust anyone, she had to solve this mystery on her own with little help from anyone. To tie in this story is Mirielle, a novice studying to be a nun at the Montglane Abbey in France in the late 1700s. In the midst of turmoil and unrest, Mirielle is entrusted with making sure that the chess pieces didn't fall into the wrong hands. There were so many men who hunger for the power this ancient chess set could provide them if only they knew the secret behind it. And that begins a fascinating tale of suspense! Mirielle leads a merry chase in Europe and Northern Africa and Catherine is beset by strange circumstances every where she goes. And it's like someone is playing them as chess players ~~ only this is real life and a deadly game, not just a board game! If you like to read mysteries that keep you hopping, this book is it. With a long winter approaching, this book is perfect for those long dark nights. Just to be sure to have your favorite snack handy ~~ you will not want to put this book down! 10-29-03
Rating: 
Summary: Pretentious!
Review: I've tried four times now to get into this book and now give up. I feel like I'm sloughing thru mud. The story and words are so heavy! Waste of my money.
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Summary: Chess, Anyone?
Review: The Eight is a book about Wonder Women on a great adventure. An ahead-of-her-time computer programmer; a champion chess player; a queen; a nun; and a goddess. Underneath, and in a very un-boring way, it's also a story about how math moves the cosmos. Chess only really comes in as the conduit, in the form of an infamous historical chessboard said to have been owned by Charlemagne, possessing the power to literally rock the world so much that the pieces were, by necessity, scattered to its furthest corners. In two stories, two centuries apart, Katherine Neville spins the tale of 18th century, innocent novice Mireille de Remy who puts into danger just about everyone she comes into contact with in her quest to keep the board's pieces hidden. Catherine Velis, a savvy, sexy computer programmer-cum musician, is put into danger by just about everyone around her when she is asked to help reunite them 200 years later. The part of the novel set in the 18th century is studded with the historically famous, mostly from the French Revolution, a Who's Who of the not-so-shadowy elite in the most exclusive drawing rooms. Marat, Tallyrand, Napolean and more all make entertaining and fascinating appearances in the intrigue. The 20th century portion ' early 1970s, to be specific ' as it moves from Manhattan to North Africa and back, is more like Indiana Jones on estrogen, complete with an obnoxious sidekick with an even more obnoxious miniature dog. What Neville does to keep the all the side characters from blurring the reader into confusion is to give each of them a story of their own, an explanation of how they were brought into 'the game.' The 600 or so pages turn easily ' Neville is a gifted writer who holds the reader's attention throughout ' and for the uninitiated, the more esoteric stuff is revealed in a way that piques the reader's interest rather than condescends. I'm not entirely in love with the ending, some aspects of it seem more like anti-climax, but there are no let-downs and overall, The Eight is a very satisfying read.
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