Rating: 
Summary: Weak plot; horrible, horrible writing...
Review: As reported elsewhere, Martha the Misanthrope, who has a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics but has dropped out to run a fish store, bioengineers a giant sea spider to reduce the human population of the earth. As the spider begins to devastate Newfoundland, there just happens to be a Harvard specialist in arthropods visiting. He falls in love with the local policewoman, but is so shy that she has to do the seducing. Martha's brother, the fisheries officer, falls in love with Martha's clerk, Lisa, but is so shy that she has to do the seducing. After several gruesome deaths, everybody except Martha goes out on a ferry boat to search for the monster. It attacks, in scenes that are too drawn out for their own good, and the Harvard man kills it. Instead of skewering Martha, the group settles on a plan which is almost as immoral as her original idea.The worst part of the book is the dialog. Lisa is attacked by the monster and plucked from the ocean by the plucky fisheries officer. As she revives she says "When I was drowning I had a vision. I saw myself, six years of age, at play in the pine forest by my white and brick colonial house. The pine needles on the forest floor rustled as I walked through them with my sneakers. My parents held my hands. [while she was at play?] My frisky German shepherd dog, Princess, wagged her tail and followed us. It was sort of nice. Then I woke on the boat, feeling awful, and I knew that you had saved me." The narration is no better: "Nathan could see the big black eyes of the spider as they rolled in their sockets and fixed their attention on Brenda [a passenger on the ferry]. A piece of goo flew at her from the creature's drooling mouth and hit her on the arm. It reminded Nathan of warm petroleum jelly, although it had the exact color of lime gelatin. Brenda quickly wiped her arm briskly on the leg of her jeans, trying to dislodge the gruesome material, which stuck to her arm like flypaper." This is not necessarily the worst of the writing. You can open the book almost anywhere and find its equal. It is on the whole, god-awful. Several times I laughed out loud, which sort of diluted whatever suspense the author had managed to create. The authors' notes imply that this was Pickover's first attemnpt at fiction. He seduced Anthony by sending him his non-fiction, then afterword the novel. I can't figure out why Anthony liked it...
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome!
Review: Aweome. Outrageous. Mischievous. Experimental. Odd. Read this adventure and scream! Thrilling, and packed with more arcane facts than "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Where else would you learn how to grow a monster in your bathroom, or that the average person sheds one-and-a-half-pounds of skin a year? Brilliant and funny.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, scary, and absurd
Review: Funny, scary, and absurd -- all at the same time. The authors intend for the book to be jarring and strange, even nuts at times. The characters say odd things in odd ways. Weird events occur. The environment is evanescent, on the threshold of dream. Parts of it are serious, parts parody -- parts defying logic. And this is all good! It makes the book unique in a way that borders on Pynchon and Vonnegut. I enjoyed this book and recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, scary, and absurd
Review: Funny, scary, and absurd -- all at the same time. The authors intend for the book to be jarring and strange, even nuts at times. The characters say odd things in odd ways. Weird events occur. The environment is evanescent, on the threshold of dream. Parts of it are serious, parts parody -- parts defying logic. And this is all good! It makes the book unique in a way that borders on Pynchon and Vonnegut. I enjoyed this book and recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best ocean adventures ever!
Review: I couldn't put down the book, and empathized with the wonderful cast of characters. This is one of the best oceanic adventures you'll ever read, far more compelling than Moby Dick or Jaws. One reader complained that penguins appear in the Northern Hemisphere, but I don't see any mention of that in the softcover edition.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun to read, some twists too simple.
Review: I enjoyed reading the book, I especially like the detatched descriptions of things, allowing the characters to show the only opinion. The ony pitfall I saw was the sudden and under-complicated way in which things changed. Such as then end when Mary decided to modify her mission, when she had always struck me as an excessively stubborn person
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, scary, odd characters, great setting
Review: I enjoyed this book very much for its odd characters and chillingly scary sea creatures. At times, the suspense was very high and the book hard to put down. The New Foundland setting was haunting and beautiful, and I don't think readers will have ever read a book quite like this! It is strange and absurd, biological, mystical, mythical. Hard to describe. You can't go wrong with this book.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, scary, odd characters, great setting
Review: I enjoyed this book very much for its odd characters and chillingly scary sea creatures. At times, the suspense was very high and the book hard to put down. The New Foundland setting was haunting and beautiful, and I don't think readers will have ever read a book quite like this! It is strange and absurd, biological, mystical, mythical. Hard to describe. You can't go wrong with this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: I loved Spider Legs. One of the most imaginative thrillers I have ever read. Complex ideas and quick pace. The best part was the quirky characters, particularly Martha. You wont feel like swimming in the ocean after you read this.
Rating:
Summary: Just plain horrible
Review: I read about 30 pages before I threw it on the floor. This book personifies horror cliches. The ending was horrible. The chracters sucked. The story was VERY predictable. This book is not even a worthy paper weight.
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