Rating: 
Summary: BECAUSE THERE ARE ONLY 5 STARS!
Review: LINCLOL & CHILD ARE THE BEST WRITERS OF THIER GENRE, PERIOD!
Rating:
Summary: "The Ice Limit" is a chilling adventure!
Review: In reading some of the other reviews of this book, it seems that there's little "gray" in the feelings people have about it.
They either find it great fun and adventure or useless tripe. I choose to align with the first group!"The Ice Limit" is a novel set along the lines of what fans of Preston and Child have come to expect...good characterization, great gadgets, and "off-the-wall" plots. They certainly cover all three bases in this book! The 400+ pages in this novel seem to fly by due to solid writing and some rather short chapters. When the world's 7th richest man decides that he wants to add to his eclectic collection of world's "greatest and biggest", the reader is set forth on an adventure of grand proportions. What he seeks is a red meteorite weighing in at 250,000 tons. Money becomes no object in this billionaire's quest, so he hires the best experts and scientists and biggest ship that money can buy. Greed is the motivating factor for most of these people, except for archi-geologist Sam McFarlane who wants to study the meteorite for science's sake and Ship Captain Sally Britton, both of whom are seeking to put troubled pasts behind them. Weather and the Chilean Navy play big roles in the success and/or failure of this venture. Without giving away too much of the plot, let me suffice to say that there are twists and turns every few pages with an ending that certainly leaves the door open for a sequel. For those of you who like the novels of Cussler, Crichton, James Rollins, Robert Darnton, or a good "Indiana Jones-type yarn", you won't go wrong with "The Ice Limit". While perhaps not as good as the authors' eariler hits, "Relic" and "Reliquary", this book stands on it's own merits and would make a great motion picture.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant, scary, page-turning..... ? *worried*
Review: I'm a big fan of these authors, I've read everything they have. So naturally, when I heard about this one coming I was really eager to get into it.
Apart from the plot itself, which is really quite amazing as a concept, the book was really disappointing. That's why I was so surprised to read the latest reviews here, from other fans who are saying it's brilliant? Get past the basic premise of moving a rock, and.... well, there's not much left really. Some vaguely interesting characters, some really technical engineering feats (after all, it is a SODDING big rock) and that about wraps it up.
It was just really really disappointing...
Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful!
Review: This book is one long suspenseful ride that may have you biting your nails. We have a group trying to extract a meteor from one of the most brutal parts of the globe. Even with a virtually unlimited budget, they need to cope with a renegade navy destroyer, impossibly rough seas, terrible storms, and the "mysterious" meteor that defies all known scientific properties. The meteor weighs several times more than any known element on Earth and gives off deadly electrical currents at times for no apparent reason. You wonder just how the giant rock can be moved, much less lifted, and brought to a ship. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The ending seemed to pave the way for a sequel. The authors already had done a sequel to a previous work (Relic), so I am sure one is on the way. I definitely will buy it as soon as it is out.
Rating:
Summary: The Ice Limit Rocked My World
Review: I have read every Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child book to date. The Ice Limit did not dissapoint one bit. A chilling story of what one, very wealthy, man will do to retrieve an object that would turn the scientific world on its head. The Ice Limit does and excellent in every aspect from character development to intense, hot action/suspence. I love the last 1/3 of the story, where the gamesmanship between good and evil, greed and common sence, between so many players drives you to the bone chilling end. Even more, the story dosent end and your directed to their website where the story continues in real life detail. Thrilling! A must read!
Rating: 
Summary: Decent story with horrible ending.
Review: Preston and Child have written some great books with a typial formula= Some rich person gets together a team of all the leading experts to go on some great expedition with tragic results usually involving a good character who does a 180 and becomes the antagonist. The same applies here, except the ending seems really rushed and leaves too many unanswered questions, with somewhat of a cliffhanger. My advise is to read the book and skip the very last chapter.
Rating:
Summary: Great, good, bad, than this
Review: It opens up iwth a bang, iwas thinking Yes! Another Jurrasic park. But sadly this is just another sad story of an author paying too much attention to the little things and not worring about the plot. They don't even find out what the meteorite really is, they just did it up, a few people die, and get chased at the end by the evil people. Then they loose the meteorite. All the action is poorly done, i had to read through it a few times to really get the just what the aurthors were saying. The action is so random also, its sad and feels like reading a 5 years olds book. Although some of it can keep you reading, its not worth it in the end. The end is such a let down also, WORSE than FF: the spirit within ending. This book is horrible and only should be read if their is nothing else left ot read. (but you could find other things better to do with your time)
Rating:
Summary: Chilling Epic Tragedy
Review: This is the authors' best yet. Those reviewers who note that Preston and Child merely stay true to their usual adventure formula are only half right. The elements remain the same, but they turn their own style on its ear. Where P&C usually write epic melodrama, The Ice Limit is an epic tragedy. A billionaire with delusions of grandeur is after a hitherto undiscovered prize: a mammoth meteorite on an island off the coast of Peru. Everyone on the crew he hires for the dangerous expedition to seize it has something to prove: the meteorite expert wants desperately to prove he has found an intergalactic rock, the captain of the ship wants to prove herself to her colleagues after losing a former vessel, the head of the firm engineering the rock's transport to the States wants to prove there is still no feat beyond his incomparable skills...and a mad Peruvian sea captain wants to prove his continued worth by stopping them all from succeeding. The suspense is superior, the action gripping. The characters are quite likeable and complex, and living through the harrowing experiences they share is emotionally wrenching. Some previous reviewers have noted that this book virtually demands a sequel. I couldn't agree more. But don't let that deter you from this stand-alone action-adventure epic. It's simply fantastic.
Rating: 
Summary: To the Authors: Bad science is worse than none at all.
Review: Admittedly, the book is not intended as a scientific text, but only as a page-turner on a long flight. Even so, I expect that such books, if they are purportedly based on science, ought to at least try to get it right. Here, no such effort is apparent. The narrative regarding the meteorite is so skewed as to make a knowledgeable reader wonder whether the authors ever read anything on coesite, other than to see how to spell it correctly. Where's the crater? Etc., Ad nauseam. When a book starts that badly it's at least even money it won't improve. It didn't here. The plot is murky. The characters are stereotypically incredible. The ending is disingenuous, openly begging for a sequel, which we can only hope will be better researched and better crafted. Save your money.
Rating:
Summary: How could this happen?
Review: I have always been a great fan of this duo. However, something was certainly missing in this book. I liked the start, but it just began to crumble. In all the other novels by these two authors, there is a great scientific explanation at the end. But this one had nothing of the sort. I kept hoping that they would explain the mystery of the asteroid. The asteroid never even makes it back to the lab. I did not understand the jerk that was always trying to hinder the Americans from retrieving the asteroid for study. It seems as if Preston and Child could not come up with a scientific explanation for the asteroid so they created a character that would make it impossible to ever study the asteroid. An easy way out, but certainly disappointing for me because I'm accustomed to good and fascinating explanations. I still can't wait for the next novel because I love their earlier work. Hopefully this will be the only weak novel this duo will ever write.
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