Rating: 
Summary: Will the authors Armageddon to the point already?
Review: Book #11 in the long winded Left Behind series, is another example of poor writing, and slipshod plot.
Writing mistakes are abound in this installment. I can't help but wonder if LaHaye and Jenkins actually took time to run their story through a spell and grammar checker... In the last 50 pages of the book, Chloe gives a big speech and the entire speech is encapsulated in a series of open quotes. What? ...Where to begin? The story starts 6 years into the great Tribulation. Only one more year to go before the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ. When we last left our heroes, the force had spread out. Buck, George, Chloe and company in a bunker in San Diego. Steele and Mac rescuing Chang from Babylon capital suffering under the judgment of God... Death permeates in Armageddon. Chloe gets a "close shave"... The story ends in a cliffhanger, as to who really dies in the end between... Yet, why worry, since everyone will be around in book 12 for the curtain call. That's of course the authors don't milk this puppy dry with a book 13. As for the villains in this story, are they really villainous? Carpathia seems to act more like a mincing housewife than the Antichrist. The way he acts in the story, I expect him to be dressed in all black twirling a pencil thin mustache while laughing maniacally. He's not really scary and I'd be surprised if he struck any fear into the average reader of this series. This is the end of the world so to speak. Satan has free reign over us. He's suppose to strike mortal fear into our hearts. You'd think one of the authors would portray the man like he should be portrayed. He needs to be more ruthless than Hitler, and more bloodthirsty than Stalin. Any mention of Carpathia's evil deeds are really glossed over in this series. I think the story would have been more robust if LaHaye or Jenkins painted a truer picture of Tribulation life, than the cartoon they are presenting us with. I cringe at the thought of book 12. We're talking the appearance of Jesus Christ here. If the authors can't write a decent villain, what makes them think they'll be able to write a decent hero? ... Recommendation is "They All Fall Down".
Rating:
Summary: Yes, Virginia, It's All About The Money
Review: The more you read these books, the more you come to know that the LaJenkins Twins really don't have an idea what they are doing - nor do they have any real writing skills. Hm. Think about this for a moment - the series was originally going to be 7 or 8 books. Well, something interesting happened - they became bestsellers! So, what do our heroes do? They stretch out the series to somewhere around a dozen books to cash in! How spiritual of them! And it really shows. The padding on this book is unbelievable. There are over 390 pages here, but about 300 of them are pure fluff - you can almost hear the words squeak as Jenkins ssttrreeettcchhheesssss out the story to fill time (LaHaye didn't write a word of this, despite his name on the top of the masthead). He often repeats whole paragraphs verbatim! Astonishing. But, nothing really happens in this book until you hit page 250. I kept looking at the clock, wondering how long it was going to take until some real writing appeared. You have to dig deep to find it, though, becuase there isn't much there. The characters are so one-dimensional. This is book number 11, and we still don't know how these people operate, except for trite little passages that really don't let us in. Some reviewers compare the LaJenkins Twins to Clancey, but I think that's only in terms of sales, because the writing is certainly not up to Clancey's standards. Very thin and amateurish. I guess the Christian community is used to this kind of simple-minded henpecking (which, sadly, says more about the standards of Christian readers than it does about the writers, who would be laughed out of a real publisher's office with material like this). How sad. Well, the curtain has finally been pulled back, and the king stands revealed as a hollow man. Maybe there was nothing in this series after all; just fluff, smoke, and mirrors. One big, polished 500-pager could have done the job these 11 books have attempted. But then, the LaJenkins Twins and their publishers would have missed out on all that money. Which is what, in the end, this little fan dance is really all about, isn't it?
Rating:
Summary: Poor writing. Poor plot. A frustrating experience.
Review: I'm disappointed when amateur editing skills can pick out grossly erroneous grammatical errors and immature technique in such an acclaimed series (as an example, note the excessive use of prepositional phrases in their writing --EVERYWHERE!!). "Armageddon" continues the trend. The authors are clearly less interested in writing tight prose than they are in simply blathering ill-conceived words onto paper in order to extend a money-making series. One wonders if they've hired inexperienced (and inexpensive!) ghost writers. They've had 12 books to develop characters and have failed: characters are shallow and unbelievable. Plot conveniences are introduced at will, negating any lingering character or plot legitimacy. (As an exercise in futility, try with all your might to justify Chloe's actions at the beginning of Armageddon.) The series began with great promise, and one hoped it would provide both quality Christian entertainment *and* a channel for Christian witness. Instead it is neither; the series has spiraled into a product that leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. I'm genuinely concerned whether authors LaHaye and Jenkins are primarily interested in padding their wallets. Armageddon continues the "Left Behind" commercial slide into overt literary mediocrity.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing, somebody make them stop
Review: The series that started out with such a compelling story has eroded badly with the last three or four volumes, and "Armageddon" (volume 11) continues the downward spiral. Characters with story lines that span multiple volumes suddenly make ridiculous decisions that end their lives, but miraculously, a new and previously unknown character emerges from nowhere with a perfect set of highly specialized skills to replace them. Please give me a break. The plot moves forward in fits and jerks (one chapter actually begins with something like "Five months later..."). I was intrigued with the authors' interpretation of the End Times as the series begun, so I will grudgingly follow this through to its conclusion -- as long as the rumors are true that the next volume is truly the last.
Rating: 
Summary: Manipulation through fear.
Review: I can't recommend this book to any serious scholar, only to those who may wish to include it with scary stories around a campfire to terrorize the kids. The people I care for look forward to a world full of life and promise, not death and destruction. These myths are perpetuated by a highly superstitious and dangerous mind-set...one I pray will never have access to nuclear armament in our military. They seem too anxious to "end it all" and "be saved". Love life, love our earth, and see God's wonders here and now. Don't buy into this scenario of mass destruction. It's a horrible MYTH.
Rating:
Summary: Leave this WAY behind
Review: Each time a book in this series has come out lately, I have renewed hope that it will grab me. The last 50 pages or so did get me, but generally this was a disappointment. The story lines are very forced. The characters do completely illogical and irrational things and then are surprised when something goes wrong. With another 50 pages tacked on, this could have been the last book. Easily. I can't even imagine what they are going to cover in the last book! There'll be a bunch of reunions, no doubt, but not enough content to fill a 300-400 page book.
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Cliff-Hanger Yet...
Review: Jenkins and LaHaye have done it again. I can't wait for Book 12 to come out next year.
Rating:
Summary: READ AND BELIEVE
Review: A GREAT BOOK FOR ALL TO READ AND ENJOY.
Rating:
Summary: This Series Only Worsens
Review: I don't know why I keep reading these books. The first two in the series were actually interesting. The ensuing books in the series have only gotten worse as time wears on.
What a HUGE disappointment. My cat could write a better book.
The Seven Years of the Tribulation is such an awesome topic! These two clowns have managed to complete adulterate it. Tim Lahaye is such a disappointment.
I'd give this book no stars if I could.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent continuation big cliffhanger
Review: I read the whole book in less than 10 hours. It is surprising and very well written. The cliffhanger left me awed. I haven't yet read some of the other series like 'conquest of paradise' but I hear they also are good. The Left Behind audio dramas are also very impressive. This book covers almost the entire sinal year of the tribulation. Only one original member of the Tribulation force is left alive now with the Glorious Appearing only hours away. Book 12 the final book in the series, not yet named is due in the Spring of 2004
| 
