Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: NEVER FAILS TO PLEASE Review: How can I say it. These guys are Brain Candy to the Nth degree. I have read everything these guys have ever written and I think this is one of the best to date. I loved the adventure, mixed with the technical explainations. These guys, have a formula that works and are smart not to ruin a good thing by staying on the mark. These guys always have a story where you have to read on to see what the hell the mystery is, then how will they solve it. Listen people this book is great, what more can I tell you. Unless you find traveling down to the tip of South America, digging up a meteor weighing as much as 5 Efial Towers, that harnesses a power that can't be explained, while being chased down by a rouge sea captain armed with a destroyer, against the back drop of the Antartic Ocean's black icy waters BORING. If that is the case then Shock treatment must also be boring to you.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Four Thousand Tons of Fun! Review: The Ice Limit. Journey to southern Chile with Effective Engineering Solutions as they take on the daunting task of recovering the world's largest meteorite. Throw in a Greedy billionaire, a crazy disgraced Chilean captain and a Indiana Jones like Geologist and you get the most expensive secretive and sophisticated salvage mission ever mounted! This is an excellent thriller that reads like a great action/SCI-FI movie. It is a fast paced novel, even though it deals with a four thousand ton meteorite. This book is scary and unpredictable with great character development. This was one of the few books I could not put down. I finished reading in only four days.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: This one melts the ice! Review: A great book. It is like the other books these two have written but it is the best of all of them. I loved the ending. This would make a great movie. I hope there is a sequel to this one coming in the future it would be at the top of my list. Would have gotten higher rating but once again it is "the biggest rain storm in 50 years" that sets up the ending. A very fast read.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Excellent characters Review: Unlike many thrillers, the characters are compelling and interesting. In many ways, I enjoyed the range of characters as much as the plot itself. The most notable character is Eli Glinn, the extremely focused and cool president of Effective Engineering Solutions, Inc.. I think writers may like to study this book just to see how the pace keeps the reader in perpetual suspense and how the interplay of characters drives the plot. The setting (Cape Horn) is also used to great benefit. Excellent reading. I will be buying other books by these authors.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Great Storytelling Review: the ice limit had one of the most interesting plots around...i'll be honest, every time someone talks about something of epic proportions, bigger and better (in this case the meteor), i am interested!i loved the whole story trying to figure out the danger the meteor presented and the project to get it home...its just a great story EXCEPT....yes, there is ONE flaw...this book ranked as one of my all time favorites until the cheesy ending which i wont give away and deprive you all of a great novel...this should never have been written, it was downright ludicrous..the earthquakes from the meteor were cool i guess, but the plant like thing it did? come on, Preston and Child are better than that
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: A worthwhile read, but not their best Review: With Preston/Child books, there seem to be three levels of excellence: Amazing (Relic, Riptide), Almost-Amazing (Mount Dragon, Thunderhead), and Reliquary (Reliquary). I would place this one, The Ice Limit, in that middle level. It has ALMOST everything one of their books should have. The characters are on par with the rest of their books (except for Relic, which surpasses all), the technical details are amazing, and the pace is perfect. But the only part that disappionted me whatsoever were the plot twists. I did not find them to be as astounding or nerve-wracking as Relic and Riptide. But aside from that, this is another fine example of Preston & Child's amazing partnership.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Adventure/Intrigue Review: I've read several books by these two co-authors before and have liked all their stories. The one thing I'm finding lately though is their weak endings, it's like their trying to make a ending to finish a book publishing deadline. Having a rather poor climax for what has been a real page turner for 99.9% of the book but I know I'll be on the watch for any other subsequent novels these dual authors come out with. I hope they can improve their endings though.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Cool as ice, and no limit to the entertainment. Review: This is one of the best, most informative, and most READABLE books I've come across in a while since Phil Nutman's Wet Work. And I like some of the trivia information provided as well, most especially quoted by the character Rachel Amira who said that the brain uses more calories in a minute thinking than the body does jogging. I am ready to agree with that, come to think of it - no wonder high school brains are so slim! Good characters, esp the ever - ready Eli Glinn, the determined Palmer Lloyd, the protagonist MacFarlane, Captain Britton, and of course, Dr Brambell and Rachel. Okay, include the incorruptible Vallenar. And what kind of a name is Rolvaag? This is a great work, and to quote a passage in the early pages, here it is: I can't wait for the movie.
Rating: ![3 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-3-0.gif) Summary: A poor man's "Sphere" Review: A giant meteorite is discovered, and a wealthy collector wishes to possess it. A marvel of engineering and deceiving politics is planned in order to bring it to the United States. An unanticipated psycho sea captain and the mysterious structure of the meteorite itself poses the greatest danger.This book is filled with predictable and boring characters, from the rebel hero who thinks outside the box, to the rich eccentric man who causes a lot of trouble. It also is plagued with a plot that just doesn't unfold quickly enough. Don't get me wrong, it is a somewhat interesting read though. The planning of the meteorite lifting, the engineering team, and the final sea chase is worth the price of the book, but that's about it. This book is very reminiscent of Michael Crichton's Sphere, but comes no where close to that level of excitement. It lacks the suspense and the action level that a book like this should have. A classic example is the ship they take to pick up the meteorite. The writer spends more time describing the internals of the ship, then of the dramatic ship chase at the end (sorry about spoiling that). It's not a great read, but not a bad read either.
Rating: ![2 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-2-0.gif) Summary: A very mediocre book from normally fantastic authors Review: I've just completed 'The Ice Limit', which is the 6th book by Preston and Child tht I've read. It's a good thing this wasn't my first book, or I probably wouldn't have read their other 5. The fact is that these guys can write good dialog, and they can keep the narrative crisp and interesting enough. Mixing these elements with a good storyline usually means that these guys are some of the best authors working today (the comparison to Michael Crichton is well deserved, especially in 'Relic' and 'Mount Dragon'). However, this story is just too boring. There is only the smallest hint of a mystery (what exactly is this meteorite all about?) and you have the standard 'bad guy that makes sure he does what he can to screw things up for the protagonists'. You even have some romance thrown in between McFarlane and Rachael Amira, which was very forced and contrived, in my opinion. And, yes, the ending is a surprise. But the problem with it is that the surprise occurs literally in the last line of the book. Now, if the authors would have taken the surprise ending and had that take place in the middle of the book, and then fleshed out this theme, I'd probably be boosting my rating to 5 stars. However, they don't. Instead, you're left with a bunch of guys hauling a rock around, and a bad guy trying to stop them. It's just not a compelling story line. From the authors of such fantastic novels as 'Relic', 'Riptide' and 'Thunderhead' I really expected something better. However, I will say this. If they write a sequel to 'The Ice Limit' that fleshes out their surprise ending, it will definitely be a book worth reading.
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