Rating: 
Summary: So much potential...
Review: I would have given this book 5 stars except for how the ending turned out. I am really impressed with the author's creative skills and how she can weave a plot together. Overall, it seemed very interesting and plausible.I thought the greatest weakness was the ending. With so many possibilities, it seems like such a mild conclusion. I sense that possibly there will be a sequel and that this is not the last we have heard of Cat. Maybe that is why the ending is the way it is. Sort of like the ending to the first Lord of the Rings books. It just leads to something bigger and better. One question that I kept coming to at the end was "Why?".
Why was everything so important and all the sudden it wasn't?
It seems this book is more about the pursuit than actually getting it. Lots of things in life are like that. I guess I just wanted a bigger ending, that's all.
Rating: 
Summary: Starts strong then peters out...
Review: I had high hopes for this book when I started reading it for my book club. It became silly and improbable very quickly, and then moved along to being predictable. This is not the "female Umberto Eco" that one reviewer claimed I'd be reading. Leave this one on the shelf.
Rating: 
Summary: Even better the second time around!
Review: I have just finished reading this book for the second time. I decided to read it again when I read that Ms. Neville was writing a sequel, because I remember loving it so much the first time I read it.
So....I read it again and loved it again. I have to admit that I don't play chess, and I spent a lot of time asking my husband the math major and chess player what things meant and how they connected...but even if I didn't have him handy, I would have enjoyed this book. Well, enjoyed is such a mild description..I love this book, I can't wait to read the sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: I laughed until I cried ...
Review: Oh wait, Katherine Neville wasn't TRYING to be funny? Even better! How do I hate this book? Let me count the ways ... We're lucky that each male character has a unique name, because otherwise we wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Ms Neville has given us a generic "man" that we're apparently stuck with. There really ARE ways to reveal character traits .. but you won't learn any of them by reading this book. The actions are ridiculous and unbelievable. At one point, two characters are between a car that is being shot at, and a balcony where a concealed shooter is standing. What do they do? Stand there and look around, of course! Look at the car awhile, look at the balcony awhile. No hurry. In time, they figure there might be some danger, so they hop into the car. The first thing they then do? Why, they go out for a good steak. Wouldn't you? I laughed so hard I couldn't read any further for some time ... Unfortunately I had to finish, because it was a Book Club choice. Oy vey!
Rating:
Summary: A great, fun read...
Review: I have a question...why do the previous reviews from "A reader" and "Robert Beveridge" criticize the book for a) not being similar to Umberto Eco and b) not having the sophistication of prose to be considered a good book? All I can say to these two is "Hey, if you two are such an expert on what makes a great book, why is Katherine Neville the one with a published novel that has sold millions of copies?"...And why does everyone think that liking an Umberto Eco book makes them a sophisticated reader? I bet half these people havent even read, or at least made it past page 30 of an Eco book... Anyway, about THE EIGHT. A great, exciting read, full of characters that you end up really caring about. The two plots that are intertwined, one in the past and one in the present, are both interesting enough that I never minded when the timeline shifted. Not the greatest book ever written, but definitely worth the read if you like adventure
Rating:
Summary: I love it!
Review: I am a sucker for this kind of thing: vast conspiracies over a long period of time; secret histories that make everything tie together. This is well done!
Rating:
Summary: this book is terrible
Review: if you want to read a book that's actually intelligently written, and not sophomorically bad...try foucault's pendulum (eco) or the name of the rose (eco) instead. the development and depth of this book is of kindergarten-level quality, at best. but if you are dull, you'll love this book!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely not in the same league as Eco et al.
Review: Katherine Neville, The Eight (Ballantine, 1988) This novel has achieved almost cult status in some circles, and many people consider it one of the best adventure novels ever written. It's a useful way to separate folks you know into two categories: those who are more interested in plot, and those who are more interested in writing. The plot is pretty darn good, when it comes right down to it. The novel takes place in two parallel times, the first being 1972 and the second the years during and after the French Revolution. Both plot lines center around the search for a mystical chess set and attempts to discover the human counterparts to various pieces (the hero and villain in each time line are the Black and White Queens, respectively; very nice little twist, that). The board, once complete, will supposedly impart unlimited power to he who possesses it, and thus leaders from Marat and Catherine the Great to Muammar Khaddafi run throughout the book, looking to get their hands on it. The pace is quick, the action almost nonstop (the present-day time line is quicker-paced and much more compelling, but the past ain't all that bad). The writing, on the other hand, is almost painful in places. Neville descends in to the realm of cliché at least once per chapter, at times more than once per page. Clumsy attempts at foreshadowing (you know the type: "but I never thought, when I woke up in the morning, that this day would change my life forever!") are more commonplace here than in a whole shelf of novels by Bulwer-Lytton. It's possible that Ms. Neville took the nineteenth-century definition of "romance novel" a tad too seriously for being a twentieth-century writer. And this is certainly an unique experience in that regard; a classic nineteenth-century romance novel written, all too often, like a Harlequin circa 1985. All in all, it is a fun little book requiring great suspension of disbelief. I'd have given it another star if part of my suspension of disbelief didn't have to be in the author's writing ability.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible
Review: I must entirely disagree with most reviews of this book as I found it to have one of the most incongruous plots I've ever had occasion to come across. To compare this novel to the "Name of the Rose" is an insult to Umberto Eco. Neville has trite prose, and extremely poor character development. I'm surprised I actually had the patience to finish this book...in hindsight, I wish I hadn't. Do yourself a favor, and read "The Name of the Rose" if you'd like to read a great novel.
Rating:
Summary: It takes a long time to read the book, but
Review: it's worth every minute. Exciting, complicated and compelling, this is a great read! I'm glad I took the time.
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