Rating: 
Summary: A Book By Committee
Review: This book reminds me of a ransom note put together by cutting letters out of a magazine and gluing them on a piece of paper. It's a jumble and even the FBI would have difficulty discerning on whom to pin the blame.All the authors are supposedly pros and like professionals they hit all the correct buttons (plot, characters and action), and this book could have been a good action/thriller, but it missed on nearly all levels. A few years back a few computer programers were claiming that they could program a computer to write a novel, just enter the characters, plot, genre and voila, a novel. I'm sure it would have turned out a lot like this one. I would have simply chalked up the experience to wasting time on a mediocre, albeit readable, novel but the ending was so utterly inconclusive and limp that I put the book down feeling inexcusably cheated. Thence the single star.
Rating:
Summary: art is lacked
Review: This is terrible. Unconvincing characters who speak only in cliches. Forced and boring action. Themeless and unstimulating. It's actually kinda funny, if you like bad writing - I laughed out loud a few times - but truly not worth your time.
Rating: 
Summary: 3 1/2 stars
Review: Though it's an easy way out of writing a critigue, I pretty much have to mirror everything PW has to say about this book. I know if F. Paul Wilson alone would have written this novel it would no doubt have been much better. Not an incredibly solid read with a less than fulfilling ending. The whole concept of the story was good but the 'putting together' was not.
Rating:
Summary: Too many cooks
Review: Upon seeing the names F. Paul Wilson and Kevin J. Anderson together on the book cover I thought for certain I had found a jewel. However, I did not take into account that they were accompanied by two other names. Dual authors can create some of the best fiction (Weis & Hickman, Preston & Child...) because they can often present different points of view and character interaction more realistically than a single author. Yet, after plowing through ARTIFACT, an old cliche came instantly to mind; too many cooks can spoil the soup.
That is exactly what happened here. The story is jerky with sudden spurts through time in whitch (unrealistically) little happens to or with the characters. Many questions are left dangling, character plots left unfinished, but the greatest frustration comes from the fact that the title character (the artifact) is never adequetely explored. It is always hovering in the background, even at the supposed climax of the story.
Even the characters are bland for a supposed "daredevil club". The seemingly central character, Peta, is hollow and essentially meaninglass. One can see that she was supposed to be a strong, independent heroine, yet her every thought, feeling and action is dictated by the men around her.
After the wonder of the Repairman Jack novels, I expected so much more from F. Paul Wilson, and was extremely disappointed by ARTIFACT. While it may be easy to blame the other authors, I believe that none of them took the project too seriously and it shows clearly in the result.
Rating:
Summary: Where is the other half of the book?
Review: Where to begin? As a Kevin J. Anderson reader, I was somewhat intrigued at the premise of the novel. However, I should have sensed danger at the extremely lengthy and confusing front flap. However, I risked it and read the book anyway. The middle of the book is somewhat interesting, but I agree with some of the other reviewers that the plot and timeline were choppy. With two chapters to go, I was moderately doubtful that the book could be tied up neatly. Well, the writers didn't think that was impossible. In fact, as if they were desperately tired of writing, the book simply stops. I cannot express my severe disappointment in the quick and shallow way the end of the book was treated. I half-jokingly suggested to my husband that I take the book back to the store and get half my money back since it was, after all, only half a story. My only comfort I can get from spending time reading this book is that it wasn't too long. Therefore, I didn't waste too much of my life reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Where is the other half of the book?
Review: Where to begin? As a Kevin J. Anderson reader, I was somewhat intrigued at the premise of the novel. However, I should have sensed danger at the extremely lengthy and confusing front flap. However, I risked it and read the book anyway. The middle of the book is somewhat interesting, but I agree with some of the other reviewers that the plot and timeline were choppy. With two chapters to go, I was moderately doubtful that the book could be tied up neatly. Well, the writers didn't think that was impossible. In fact, as if they were desperately tired of writing, the book simply stops. I cannot express my severe disappointment in the quick and shallow way the end of the book was treated. I half-jokingly suggested to my husband that I take the book back to the store and get half my money back since it was, after all, only half a story. My only comfort I can get from spending time reading this book is that it wasn't too long. Therefore, I didn't waste too much of my life reading it.
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