Amazon.com
Best known for his Border Trilogy, hailed in the San Francisco Chronicle as "an American classic to stand with the finest literary achievements of the century," Cormac McCarthy has written ten rich and often brutal novels, including the bestselling No Country for Old Men, and The Road. Profoundly dark, told in spare, searing prose, The Road is a post-apocalyptic masterpiece, one of the best books we've read this year, but in case you need a second (and expert) opinion, we asked Dennis Lehane, author of equally rich, occasionally bleak and brutal novels, to read it and give us his take. Read his glowing review below. --Daphne Durham
Guest Reviewer: Dennis Lehane
Dennis Lehane, master of the hard-boiled thriller, generated a cult following with his series about private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, wowed readers with the intense and gut-wrenching Mystic River, blew fans all away with the mind-bending Shutter Island, and switches gears with Coronado, his new collection of gritty short stories (and one play).
Cormac McCarthy sets his new novel, The Road, in a post-apocalyptic blight of gray skies that drizzle ash, a world in which all matter of wildlife is extinct, starvation is not only prevalent but nearly all-encompassing, and marauding bands of cannibals roam the environment with pieces of human flesh stuck between their teeth. If this sounds oppressive and dispiriting, it is. McCarthy may have just set to paper the definitive vision of the world after nuclear war, and in this recent age of relentless saber-rattling by the global powers, it's not much of a leap to feel his vision could be not far off the mark nor, sadly, right around the corner. Stealing across this horrific (and that's the only word for it) landscape are an unnamed man and his emaciated son, a boy probably around the age of ten. It is the love the father feels for his son, a love as deep and acute as his grief, that could surprise readers of McCarthy's previous work. McCarthy's Gnostic impressions of mankind have left very little place for love. In fact that greatest love affair in any of his novels, I would argue, occurs between the Billy Parham and the wolf in The Crossing. But here the love of a desperate father for his sickly son transcends all else. McCarthy has always written about the battle between light and darkness; the darkness usually comprises 99.9% of the world, while any illumination is the weak shaft thrown by a penlight running low on batteries. In The Road, those batteries are almost out--the entire world is, quite literally, dying--so the final affirmation of hope in the novel's closing pages is all the more shocking and maybe all the more enduring as the boy takes all of his father's (and McCarthy's) rage at the hopeless folly of man and lays it down, lifting up, in its place, the oddest of all things: faith. --Dennis Lehane
Book Description
A searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece.
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.
The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,” are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.
Customer Reviews:
A little too much.......2007-09-19
His writing style didn't bother me. I could accommodate the lack of usual punctuation quickly. His jerky narrative ... no problem. It even enhanced the experience a bit. The conversations weren't bad either. How would YOU pass the time in a post-apocalyptic landscape?
However ... I think he could have achieved what he did achieve in about 85 to 100 pages.
Just my opinion.
A must read!!!!.......2007-09-09
What can you say about an author that can say sooo much by not having to spell it all out for us. There isnt any clear explaination for the reason things are the way they are, yet its allows you to just experience their journey with them instead of throught the view point of the narrarator. I love his style. Its genius. When you finsh with at resounding "WOW"; that pretty much sums up your time spent. McCarthy is an artist among authors in American Litature.
WOW.......2007-09-06
McCarthy has often been a bit inaccessible, especially when his western stories mix spanish with english in the most descriptive scenes. The Road is blatantly clear, a short insightful trip into darkness. Brilliantly moody, with only peeks at decent life. It can't get this bad, thank God.
Exceptionally long with repetitive sequences...........2007-08-24
I found ths book well written from the standpoint that you are instantly swept away into McCarthy's futuristic world. It is absolutely wonderful in the description of a world gone mad.
My problem with the book is it never fully explains why they are going cross country and places that would have made sense (the abandoned fall out shelter full of food) are abandoned in this mind numbing attempt to get to a coast that is no different from the hell they have left behind.
Sad & poignant, worth the read, just not a great book for me.
The Road.......2007-08-13
This book really make you think about the way of the world. Totally different perspective than Stephen King's "The Stand".
Book Description
From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s
Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century—1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing awful evildoers (and morons)—in his head—as "The Thunderbolt Kid."
Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality—a life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy. It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and OF his mother, whose job as the home furnishing editor for the same paper left her little time for practicing the domestic arts at home. The many readers of Bill Bryson’s earlier classic, A Walk in the Woods, will greet the reappearance in these pages of the immortal Stephen Katz, seen hijacking literally boxcar loads of beer. He is joined in the Bryson gallery of immortal characters by the demonically clever Willoughby brothers, who apply their scientific skills and can-do attitude to gleefully destructive ends.
Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of his inimitable, pitch-perfect observations, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is as wondrous a book as Bill Bryson has ever written. It will enchant anyone who has ever been young.
Customer Reviews:
We laughed so hard we almost drove off the road........2007-10-07
My husband and I listened to this book on cd while on a long car trip. It was great. We laughed so much, I had to keep turning it off so we didn't crash the car. A must read for anyone who grew up in the mid-west in the 1950's. We didn't and stiil loved it. Bryson has a great delivery and makes it so real. My favorite Bryson book, so far. We gave our copy to a friend and bought another for a co-worker.
reminicent of "The Christmas Story", very enjoyable and funny.......2007-10-03
I read this specifically for the historic recollections of the 50's era, and the fact that the jacket reviews indicated "snort-root-beer-out-your-nose funny". I don't often laugh out loud while reading, and I did several times through this book. It reminds me of a print version of "The Christmas Story" movie, without the BB gun and with a lot more detail. Bryson's command of language is engaging and quite intelligent, the book was an easy read and wasn't boring. This is surprising given Bryson's admission that he wasn't a great student. My only complaint was that I wanted more. I plan to read his other works asap.
Not Bill Bryson's best.......2007-09-24
I am a Bryson fan and have been since his first book. This one is good, mind you -- funny, well written - but NOT as good as his some of his others. I was a tad disappointed, but still think the book is worth buying. So, buy it.
Deserves a Read.......2007-09-09
For a child of the 40s and 50s, this book will serve to recall better times. Bryson gets a little 60s' preachy in spots, but they are not overwhelming. When you put this book down, you are left with a slightly sad feeling that life as experienced in the 50s will not be seen again and that today's kids are missing a lot.
Bill Bryson doesn't disappoint.......2007-09-03
Any book by Bill Bryson is a treat, and this one is no exception. It explains a lot about the origins of his strangely skewed viewpoint, and being of approximately the same vintage, I enjoyed revisiting the 50's with him. Of particular interest to me was the account of his beginning friendship with the unlikely character Stephen Katz (from "A Walk in the Woods"). The only problem I have with Bryson's books is that I have to read them at home. Can't take them with me to read in, for instance, the doctor's office because I laugh so long and so loud that it creates too much of a public spectacle, and consternation in onlookers.
Book Description
To celebrate their 30th anniversary, the band Rush embarked on their R30 world tour in the summer of 2004, playing 57 shows for more than half a million fans. Drummer Neil Peart traveled between shows on motorcycle, logging 21,000 miles through 19 countries on both sides of the Atlantic. Part behind-the-scenes memoir, part existential travelogue, this book chronicles Peart's journey in search of the perfect show, the perfect meal, the perfect road, and an elusive inner satisfaction that comes only with the recognition that the journey itself is the ultimate destination.
Customer Reviews:
Great read for Rush fans.......2007-09-28
Mom, when I grow up I want to be a musician - Well you know son, you can't do both.
I found it fun, informative, entertaining and reflexive. An excellent read for Rush fans that appreciate Neil's way to observe the world, his experiences and reflexions of being in 'the Limelight' while keeping his feet (and wheels) in the ground. He describes his job as "hitting things with sticks - big deal!" but since only mediocre men feel satisfied every day, keeps challenged to give the best show he can give. Fun anecdotes of how the band develops a strange relationship with fans through the years and how they recognize them and see them change, some others on how some fans can get disturbing. In any case, Neil is able to have a life among 'the mortals' and be recognized only occassionally during his motorcycle trips from city to city that he describes in ways that make you want to be in those places or appreciate those in which you've already been.
Good stuff!!!.......2007-09-28
Neil is a great writer. The story is great, just a narrative of a trip? No, Neil takes you there. He paints such a vivid picture, you'll feel like you are riding shotgun! This goes for the whole series. I think for being such a private dude, it's a cool way for the guy to share feelings, thought and philosophies. I don't feel like he was looking for pity, just an outlet. These books just might make a Rush fan out of you too, I warned ya!
Ah yes, another review by me. You're welcome........2007-09-16
Welcome to my wonderful second review ever. I have been practicing 2 to 3 hours a day on my reviewing skills. Drinking some protein shakes and eating lots of free range, organic, dolphin trained, tuna to bulk up.
Sadly, I haven't done any book reviews in my strenuous review regime. So, to get an idea on how to review a book, I read every single review for this book... Right...
I noticed two things. One, I agree with almost every review. The good and the bad. Ignore the stars my fellow reviewers give this book and just read a couple of good reviews and bad reviews and that's basically the book.
The second thing I noticed is something I thought every book reviewer should talk about but that not a single one did.
The book itself.
The books jacket has three very nice pictures on a nice glossy paper. There is also a nice little bit of writing inside the jacket about the book.
The actual cover of the book is of a grayish color with little raised ridges running down it. It also is an exact copy of the jacket itself. Well, if you replace all the colors with the grayish color. Get rid of the pictures. Take away a few lines of text and symbols. And they are EXACTLY the same.
Even though Amazon says this book weighs 1.4 lbs. I am going to have to go all out weatherman on this, and say it feels more like solid 1.8 lbs. More if you like reading on your back, holding the book over your head. I don't recommend reading it this way unless you have conditioned yourself for this task.
The font is easy to read but just a size too small for my tastes. But not a deal breaker. I can't help it if I am going blind and bald. It is very fine and precise with no smearing or runs of any sort in my copy. Although, there are some spelling errors here and there.
The paper is sturdy but not too thick. It has an off white, almost aged paper look to it. My hands are so calloused from my review training, that I cannot get a proper feel of the paper. I imagine it has a very slight rough texture to it though.
The book has a very understated musky odor. Only noticeable when I took a good honking sniff at close range. I could see this causing some discomfort to the sinuses if you were reading on your back, with the book over your head, and you passed out from the exertion. You might wake up with that smell in your nose which might be disconcerting.
At the beginning of every chapter is a little quote or joke. They are good sometimes. If you like to read a quick chapter before going to bed every night then you are out of luck with this here book. Unless you are some kind of freak speed reader. The chapters are sometimes quite long but lucky for you, they are broken up into subchapter type things.
Yeah, anyway, football is on and I hear my recliner calling me.
Neil, you "USED" to be my favorite drummer..............2007-09-14
Now your my favorite writer.........
I just finished three of your four books, and have gained alot of inspiration and insight. I'm planning to do a similar journey of my own, on a bike just like yours, with a journal on hand, from Orange County to the tip of Argentina. I'm saving your last book as reading material for the journey. When I finish the book Neil, I'm going to send you a copy. In the meantime, if I ever see you in person, I will simply smile and walk away. Thanks for everything. Love Drew
Fun read, but not mandatory for Rush fans.......2007-08-31
After reading all of Neil Peart's other travel books, I had a pretty good idea what to expect going into this book, and it neither disappointed nor surpassed my expectations. The title did seem to indicate that there would be more hard "Rush content" than his other books, but all told, I would estimate that about 20% of the book talks about the shows themselves, and the rest is devoted to Peart's travels between shows.
First a quick note about the tone of the book itself, since so many other reviews seem to hit on this. As with pretty much everything else he's ever written, Peart makes no bones about the fact that he isn't thrilled interacting with rabid fans. But he's also honest about the fact that he has a hard time talking to people in general, even going so far in this book to say that he thinks Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson are better friends to him than he has been to them. Pretty straightforward stuff. And to be fair, the negative interactions he describes here are with "fans" who can probably best described as nut-jobs. Even after reading this book, I still come away with the feeling that if I was ever to come across Neil, a simple "thanks for all the great music" would probably be met positively enough.
As for the content itself, the behind-the-scenes glimpses are great, as were Neil's views on Alex's legal battles, and his views on the State of Florida in general (no spoilers here, but it was pretty funny stuff). 400+ pages of motorcyle rides does get a bit tedious after a while though, and I found myself wishing that there was more technical info and anecdotes about the various concerts on the 2004 tour.
To an extent, this book does serve as a prelude to the "Snakes and Arrows" album, insofar as Neil describes in a bit more detail the various back-road church signs that inspired his work on that album. But are you missing anything from the album experience if you don't read the book? Probably not.
Overall, this was an enjoyable enough read, as it does provide some insight into the mind behind Rush's lyrics. But I wouldn't consider it as indispensible as "Travelling Music" is to describing the band's history.
Book Description
Bill Bryson meets Bruce Lee in this raucously funny story of one scrawny American's quest to become a kung fu master at China's legendary Shaolin Temple.
Growing up a ninety-pound weakling tormented by bullies in the schoolyards of Kansas, young Matthew Polly dreamed of one day journeying to the Shaolin Temple in China to become the toughest fighter in the world, like Caine in his favorite 1970s TV series, Kung Fu. While in college, Matthew decided the time had come to pursue this quixotic dream before it was too late. Much to the dismay of his parents, he dropped out of Princeton to spend two years training with the legendary sect of monks who invented kung fu and Zen Buddhism.
Expecting to find an isolated citadel populated by supernatural ascetics that he'd seen in countless badly dubbed chop-socky flicks, Matthew instead discovered a tacky tourist trap run by Communist party hacks. But the dedicated monks still trained in the rigorous age-old fighting forms—some even practicing the “iron kung fu” discipline, in which intensive training can make various body parts virtually indestructible (even the crotch). As Matthew grew in his knowledge of China and kung fu skill, he would come to represent the Temple in challenge matches and international competitions, and ultimately the monks would accept their new American initiate as close to one of their own as any Westerner had ever become.
Laced with humor and illuminated by cultural insight, American Shaolin is an unforgettable coming-of-age tale of one young man's journey into the ancient art of kung fu—and a funny and poignant portrait of a rapidly changing China.
Book Description
Read, Observe, Apply, and Discover with Rathus's text! The hands-on approach of Spencer A. Rathus's chronologically organized CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE: VOYAGES IN DEVELOPMENT, Second Edition augments your goal of helping students understand the link between developmental theories and research and their application to everyday life. By utilizing the proven PQ4R (Preview, Question, Read, Reflect, Review, Recite) pedagogical approach and interspersing personal and humorous stories, Rathus makes reading and studying an enjoyable process of discovery. As students proceed through each chapter, they can observe the principles of development in action by viewing video footage of children at play and in experimental situations as found on the "Observing Children and Adolescents" CD-ROM (included with Rathus' text). Screen grabs from the video, plus coordinating exercises, help students understand and apply what they learn to their current lives and future careers.
Customer Reviews:
Used this book for Nursing course in human development.......2006-03-10
Great texkbook. Easy to read and understand. Excellent information
Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development.......2005-09-26
I am really enjoying this book. It has a smooth transition from infancy to adolescence. Each chapter focuses on several areas pertaining to a specific age group and each subject is divided into subtitles. The flow of the book makes it easy to find exactly what you are looking for very quickly.
Book Description
Some say the line between good and evil is narrower than we imagine -- a divide as subtle as a mirror, and perhaps just as deep. To peer into its black, reflective glass is to know the dark potential we each possess, and we cross that obsidian boundary at our peril . . . into a world where we no longer recognize who we are or what we believed ourselves capable of.
In the late twenty-fourth century, decades after the fall of the once-mighty Terran Empire, the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance dominates the worlds that, in another reality, made up the United Federation of Planets. Humanity and its former subject races are now bound together by their shared oppression, slaves to their cruel and brutal conquerors. But a downtrodden few have found the courage and the strength of will to act. Inspired by visitors from another continuum to fight for their freedom, they have rekindled hope . . . and rediscovered an ancient truth: that every revolution begins with a vision.
Star Trek: VOYAGER ® A rebel ship commanded by a former slave named Chakotay attempts to evade pursuit in the Badlands . . . only to encounter a strange ship that was catapulted seventy thousand light-years across the galaxy. On board the craft are two aliens, one of whom has the potential to completely alter the balance of power within the Alliance. But as both sides of the struggle race to get to the stranger first, treachery throws all schemes into a tailspin.
Star Trek: NEW FRONTIER ® Following the Terran Empire's collapse, its longtime rival, the Romulan Star Empire, has absorbed many of the fringe civilizations spread across that part of the galaxy. One of the Romulans' slaves is M'k'nzy of Calhoun, a savage and unpredictable Xenexian who dreams of death . . . and who learns the value of freedom from the unlikeliest of teachers, a Romulan named Soleta.
Star Trek: DEEP SPACE NINE ® One fallen dictator's struggle to regain her power and her position leads to the discovery of a bold rebel plan for a decisive military strike against the Alliance. But while Kira Nerys navigates the dangerous road of politics, sex, and military intrigue that she believes will lead her back to reclaiming the Intendancy, cracks form in the rebel leadership, leading to a showdown that will change the course of the Mirror Universe.
Customer Reviews:
A trio of stories--two out of three are good. .......2007-08-31
This book contains three stories about the alternate universe first encountered in the original series and continued in Deep Space Nine. I enjoyed the first of these stories (dealing with characters from Star Trek: Voyager) and the third (dealing with characters from Deep Space Nine). The middle one was about the Romulans and I think all the characters in there were new, at least to me.
I was disappointed in that we didn't see a conclusion to the ending of empires towards which Spock was working in the first of the Mirro Universe books.
When did Star Trek become so raunchy?.......2007-08-13
After waiting for over a year for a new Deep Space Nine story, I was excited to see this book on the shelf (especially since it looks like Pocketbooks is never going to release "Fearful Symmetry"). I realize that in the "mirror universe" stories (which they've done to death, by the way) the characters are all very different from the characters we as fans know. But I found nothing respectable in the characters in this book, which has always been what drew me to Star Trek... I care about the characters. I read the stories because I want to know how things turn out for the characters. But I kept reading these stories waiting for them to get better... they didn't. These stories are weak, and that's being charitable.
And the language - I thought Star Trek was about ADVANCED people in Starfleet: healthier, better educated, less crime, etc. If these characters are so well-educated, then why can't they express themselves without such trashy language? I'm not talking about the typical four letter words that are used to express frustration or anger that one could reasonably expect, I'm talking about gutter language. And graphic depictions of extreme violence, torture, and sex that left me feeling like I'd just watched a couple of hours of FX on TV. I've never seen that in the Star Trek franchise before. I hope the editors at Simon and Schuster don't think they were updating Star Trek to make it more hip and modern, because this was just awful. And the worst part is that two of the three authors have written some very good Star Trek stories in the past. I don't know what happened, but this book was definitely a MISS! (That's a few hours of my life I wish I had back.)
Terran Rebellion.......2007-07-15
Barely compatible with the "Dark Passions" duo, Obsidian Alliances was nevertheless as well formulated as its Part 1, Glass Empires.
It would seem that the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance and the Terran Rebellion are doomed to years of fighting, until one exterminates the other (or unless our heroic universe steps in). Mirror characters of DS9 and VOY are almost all as sharp as the ones we're used to except focussed on way different and desperate goals.
Never really connected with NF, but it did add to the completeness of the work.
Here's hoping that the violent Alliance also falls (their cooperation is tenuous at best anyway).
Not too keen on the larger font print. 3.5 stars.
FANTASTIC.......2007-05-16
This was better than the first in the Mirror Series.
Partially because I love the DS9 and New Frontiers Characters but doubly so as I do not care for the Voyager crew and loved that story as well!
Mirror Universe / Obsidian Alliances.......2007-05-14
Nice job on the alternate universe books. A fast-paced read and very well done.
Book Description
Once the Sith order teemed with followers. But their rivalries divided them in endless battles for supremacy. Until one dark lord at last united the Sith in the quest to enslave the galaxy–and exterminate the Jedi. Yet it would fall to another, far more powerful than the entire Brotherhood of Darkness, to ultimately realize the full potential of the Sith, and wield the awesome power of the dark side as never before.
Since childhood, Dessel has known only the abuse of his hateful father and the dangerous, soul-crushing labor of a cortosis miner. Deep in the tunnels of the desolate planet Apatros, endlessly excavating the rare mineral valued throughout the galaxy, Dessel dreams of the day he can escape–a day he fears may never come. But when a high-stakes card game ends in deadly violence, Dessel suddenly finds himself a wanted man.
On the run from vengeful Republic forces, Dessel vanishes into the ranks of the Sith army, and ships out to join the bloody war against the Republic and its Jedi champions. There, Dessel’s brutality, cunning, and exceptional command of the Force swiftly win him renown as a warrior. But in the eyes of his watchful masters, he is destined for a far greater role in the ultimate Sith plan for the galaxy–if he can prove himself truly worthy.
As an acolyte in the Sith academy, studying the secrets and skills of the dark side at the feet of its greatest masters, Dessel embraces his new Sith identity: Bane. However the true test is yet to come. In order to gain acceptance into the Brotherhood of Darkness one must fully surrender to the dark side through a trial by fire that Bane, for all his unquenchable fury and lust for power, may not be strong enough to endure . . . especially since deception, treachery, and murder run rampant among the Sith disciples, and utter ruthlessness alone is the key to survival. Only by defying the most sacred traditions, rejecting all he has been taught, and drawing upon the long-forgotten wisdom of the very first Sith can Bane hope to triumph–and forge from the ashes of that which he must destroy a new era of absolute dark power.
Customer Reviews:
Great story, new perspectives.......2007-10-04
This was the first book or storyline I've read that includes characters and ideas from such an old time period.
I loved it. I do appreciate good literature, character and plot development, but this book was more of a dark revenge kind of book, and the action was great. I loved reading about how powerful Bane was and about the rest of the ancient Sith order.
Highly recommended.
Insight into the workings of the Sith..........2007-08-18
This is an excellent insight into the basis of the dark side. Very well written, moves along, and very enjoyable. Hard to believe that this author isn't an established novelist. The descriptions are excellent and the style gives you a sense that your in the mind of someone that is undergoing transformation. I'm not sure why that 1 star reviewer is so bent out of shape with the violence. He mentions Vader as a likeable "antihero". I distinctly remember in one of the movies Anakin slaughtering mercilessly the younglings or toddler/child jedi off camera. In the fictional SW world, the sith are evil, and that's what evil does. All and all a worthwhile read and definitely not a waste of time.
o so thats how it goes.......2007-07-27
this book is great for hardcore star wars fans. it sheads new light on the Darth title and is a great read.
Two there should be; no more no less.......2007-07-11
Wow. This book was outstanding! I found myself not being able to read through the pages quickly enough nor being able to stop, so much so that I finished it in two days.
Considering this takes place some 1000 years before the events of A New Hope, I was a bit apprehensive being that there would be nothing but entirely fresh new characters and none of the staples of the movies (Han, Luke, Obi Wan, etc, etc), but THIS is what I was expecting Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader to be.
This book sheds alot of light on the Sith. Not their beginnings entirely, but how they were before they were wiped about a milennia prior to the movies we know and love. A time when the sith were about as abundant as the Jedi.
Darth Bane starts from meager and quite tragic beginnings, but that's what usually makes for the most interesting villains, isn't it? Of course, Bane can be a villain OR a hero depending on how you're looking at it.
Lots of insight to the Sith is provided in this book. What makes them tick, basically. Of course we know from our exposure to the Sith in the films that they're fueled by power for power's sake, Karpyshyn really takes a deeper look at it.
Basically, this is one man's journey to the peak of his power and how, by sheer force of will and cunning, he changes the outcome of a war and the future of his kind. The events of this book pave the way to the Sith we loved to hate in the star wars films.
Betrayal, murder, revenge, war. He should have a sith name more like Darth Bada$$ =) I can't wait until the sequel comes out. Maybe we'll even get a whole series of Sith based books and get to see how Palpatine starts his rise in the order of the Sith.
Can't recommend this one highly enough, especially after reading the somewhat disappointing Star Wars Allegiance.
The rise of Darth Bane..........2007-07-10
Darth Bane: Path of Destruction takes a different - and refreshing - approach to storytelling in the Star Wars universe. Most novels follow the heroic exploits of well-known and loved Star Wars heroes - Luke, Han, Leia, Lando, etc. This novel details the rise of one of the founders of the modern Sith order, where there are only two, a master and an apprentice. Darth Bane is a character hinted at to a limited degree in the expanded universe material. In this novel, his rise to power over the Sith order and control of it's future is laid out, events which affect the Sith up until the time of the movies, where there remain only a master and an apprentice.
The novel is, as one would expect, darker than other Star Wars novels. It vividly depicts the harsh and ruthless philosophy of the Sith, where innocents suffer and the powerful rule by brute force, as well as cunning and trickery.
Darth Banes life starts out mundane, but by the end of the novel the destiny of the Sith is forever changed. His transformation into THE Dark Lord of the Sith is complete and his apprentice is found, leaving the door open for future novels.
It was quite interesting to read a novel that had a darker theme than most Star Wars novels. And it was refreshing to read about characters from the expanded universe that I've enjoyed for years now. Exar Kun and Naga Sadow (both Kevin J. Anderson creations, I believe), among others, are mentioned in the novel. Planets and familiar locations for the comics and video games are mentioned, too. Given the amount of expanded universe material involved - from comics to books to games - the novel does a great job of tying the previously hinted at material together and fleshing out, so to speak, the character of Darth Bane.
If you like Star Wars novels and are looking for a storyline with a darker tone to it, then don't pass up this novel. There are Jedi and heroes of the light side in the novel, but they take a backseat to the main story of the rise of Darth Bane, the founder of the modern Sith order.
Book Description
On March 8, 1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen set sail from China. Its mission was "to proceed all the way to the ends of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas" and unite the whole world in Confucian harmony.
When it returned in October 1423, the emperor had fallen, leaving China in political and economic chaos. The great ships were left to rot at their moorings and the records of their journeys were destroyed. Lost in China's long, self-imposed isolation that followed was the knowledge that Chinese ships had reached America seventy years before Columbus and had circumnavigated the globe a century before Magellan. Also concealed was how the Chinese colonized America before the Europeans and transplanted in America and other countries the principal economic crops that have fed and clothed the world.
Unveiling incontrovertible evidence of these astonishing voyages, 1421 rewrites our understanding of history. Our knowledge of world exploration as it has been commonly accepted for centuries must now be reconceived due to this landmark work of historical investigation.
Customer Reviews:
1421 .......2007-09-29
1421 is a book that should be required reading from high school to the board room.
Interesting, hard to put down, true?.......2007-09-23
I found the book fascinating and easy to read. While the claims made by the author are stunning, he presents a plausible case for their authenticity. If true, the thesis of 1421 turns history upside down. If even partly true, the book sheds light on a part of history often ignored by American schools, 15th century China. I personally find it hard to digest all the claims made by Menzies, however, some of the evidence is tremendously compelling. As a history teacher I will be reading other articles and books related to this topic to gain a more comprehensive view from all sides of the issue.
Little research, lots of conjecture.......2007-09-20
This is a terrible book that is supposed to be based on credible research but which is mainly filled with guessing and conjecture. The book revolves around a map that could describe, with proper stretching, changing of markings and such, the New World, reminding me of the "science" that is the translation of Nostradamus' prophecies. Menzies links any unexplained artifacts around the world that may date to the early 1400s to this particular expedition, and repeatedly discounts without argument other logical explanations that would likely have created these artifacts.
The likelihood of this story being true is further degraded by fact that the Chinese, a civilization known for keeping detailed records of its history, have never, before or after the publication of this book, attempted to claim any role in the discovery of the Americas.
Placed in the fiction section I would give it two stars. Promoted as a serious piece of research and historical fact, it deserves zero.
1421.......2007-09-15
Absolutely fascinating read. Winds, current, stars, latitude, longitude, ship design, historical maps all play a part in the supposition that the Chinese were the first to discover the western hemisphere and to have had the most efficient trading empire in their own hemisphere years before the Italian, Portuguese, Spaish and English captains made their historic voyages. The author makes a believable statement that the Chinese got to the western hemisphere first. His suppositions and conclusions come after careful and complicated studies which at times cause the reader to take a jump of faith. Now looking at Latin American pottery, Inuit faces, etc., you see Chinese eyes, art designs and wonder. And the crossing of fruits, vegetables, trees, flowers, horses, etc. between east and west is amazing and convincing. The book highly recommended.
lost history.......2007-09-06
Gavin has spent years chaseing leads that suggest america was populated by chinese peoples.With Mertz and Vinning as backup not to mention Hendon Harris Gaven has pin pointed the physical landmarks through his journeys.As a best seller it is a long and fast read.
Book Description
From one of the most celebrated travel writers at work today—a vibrantly observant, witty, utterly captivating account of a lifetime’s worth of travel between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
Part memoir, part travelogue, all passionate appreciation, Tales from the Torrid Zone begins in Iririki, Alexander Frater’s birthplace. On this tiny island in the South Seas republic of Vanuatu, his grandfather, a Presbyterian missionary from Scotland, converted the inhabitants, his father ran the hospital and his mother built its first schoolhouse in their front garden. And it was on Iririki where, on the eve of his sixth birthday, Frater fell victim to “le coup de bamboo . . . a mild form of tropical madness for which, luckily, there is no cure,” and which has compelled him, again and again, to return to the “seeding, breeding, buzzing, barking, fluttering, squawking, germinating, growing” deep tropics.
His travels take him to nearly all of the eighty-eight countries encompassed by this remarkable, steamy swath of the world. He delves deeply into the history and politics of each nation he visits, and into the lives of the inhabitants, and of the flora and fauna. He is, at once, tourist, explorer and adventurer, as fascinated with—and fascinating about—the quotidian as he is with the extraordinary. But certainly, he does not lack for the extraordinary: dining with the Queen of Tonga in a leper colony; making his way across tropical Africa—and two civil wars—in a forty-four-year-old flying boat; delivering a new church bell to a remote Oceanian island.
From Fiji to Laos, Mexico to Peru, Senegal to Uganda, Taiwan to Indonesia, Frater gives us a richly described, wonderfully anecdotal, endlessly surprising picture of this diverse, feverish, languorously beautiful world—as much a state of mind as it is a geographical phenomenon.
Customer Reviews:
Didn't like .......2007-05-26
Somehow this book simply didn't appeal to me. It meanders all over the place, with no dates so you're often left to guess the chronology. Occasional reminiscences about bygone missionaries, their wives, church bells and so on. Not a travel book by any means. Although to be fair, the parts about flying boats and tropical diseases were quite interesting. If you are interested in the South Pacific, I'd reccomend as light fare "The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific" by J. Maarten Troost and the best I've ever read "The Fatal Impact: The Invasion of the South Pacific, 1767-1840"
Wandering through the tropics.......2007-05-07
My first reaction to Frater's "Tales" was mildly negative. He offers digressions within digressions, often jump cutting from place to place with only the mildest narrative logic. After a while, though, I adjusted to the pace and style and became thoroughly engrossed with his account of a life-long passion for the tropics. The book is filled with interesting detail, and thoughtful musings on a wide variety of subjects. I would love to travel with Frater, and reading this book is the next best thing.
Deep Tropics.......2007-04-27
The ellipical structure of the anecdotes will either enchant you or drive you batty trying to figure out when and where he is at any given moment. If you like Paul Theroux's travel books you may like this. It is more ephemeral, but in the end there is a linear tale with somewhat of an arc. I really enjoyed this book and hope to read more by him. You will want to visit most of the places when you put down the book. Just bring mosquito repellent and a wry sense of humor.
So Many Fascinating Stories ... But When Did They Happen?.......2007-04-10
The structure of Frater's book is built around his birth to a missionary family in the South Pacific, the love of the tropics that never left him despite many years in rainy England, and his purchase of a new bell for the church founded by his grandfather. A long time travel writer for a British newspaper, Frater has many good stories to tell, and they surface in this book in strange ways; a moment in, say, Fiji, wil remind him of a previous moment, in Mozambique for example, which will remind him of yet another story. Although this is certainly a change from itinerary-based travel writing, I would have liked to at least have footnotes saying when exactly a set of events took place. I often had to re-read paragraphs and sections after I realized that he was in Vanuatu, reminiscing about someplace like Burma.
Amazon.com
Zecharia Sitchen's The 12th Planet is the starting point on a quest that spans six books and 20 years worth of ancient aliens, genetic manipulation, and scrutiny of linguistic minutiae. If we trust Sitchen's translation abilities, we must be prepared for the imminent return of an alien race who created us some 300,0x00 years ago. The 12th Planet is perhaps the best written of Sitchin's Earth Chronicles series; full of example after example of ancient Sumerian passages, astronomical observations, archaeological finds, and technological coincidences supporting his theories. The price we pay for all this evidence is a bit of a dry read at times, but the ideas Sitchin proposes are more than scintillating enough to make up for the overtly scholastic tone of his text. --Brian Patterson
Book Description
Over the years, startling evidence has been unearthed, challenging established notions of the origins of Earth and life on it, and suggests the existence of a superior race of beings who once inhabited our world. The product of thirty years of intensive research, The 12th Planet is the first book in Zecharia Sitchin's prophetic Earth Chronicles series -- a revolutionary body of work that offers indisputable documentary proof of humanity's extraterrestrial forefathers. Travellers from the stars, they arrived eons ago, and planted the genetic seed that would ultimately blossom into a remarkable species...called Man.
Customer Reviews:
Ignorance isn't bliss!!.......2007-09-19
I can't understand why people put some much negative engery into someone else's work such as a legend as Dr. Sitchin. As much as time they spent writing their negative reviews they could have perhaps written their own book. Anyways......it has been a true pleasure studying the works of Dr. Sitchin a true "Einstein" in our midst. Please see youtubedotcom for more on this "magnificent" scientist.
-Drah Cenedive
The 12th Planet.......2007-09-13
An enlightening look at how mankind came to be on this planet while explaining why a missing link cannot found. It molds together the ideas of creation as explained in religious manuscripts and theories of evolution into a feasible chain of events.
Bringing Forth An Unknown.......2007-06-29
I have to thank Sitchen for writing this book because it was an incentive for me to research and validate what I read. I have enjoyed all of his books.
I can say that almost of the information he has given can be validated if one has the desire to know.
Sitchen introduced me to Ninhursag, the chief geneticist and the co-creator of the human body as we know it today. I did not say she created the mind or the spirit that inhabits the body. I just write she co-created the human body as we know it today.
Bettye Johnson, author, Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls
The 12th Planet.......2007-03-09
This book was the start of a different thought process for me and Mr Sitchin "I THANK YOU SO MUCH" What a change in my life since I 1st read this book in 2002 and since I have read everything Sitchin and I must say I believe in what he writes.
An Interesting Theory..........2007-02-07
This book is interesting. The theory makes some sense, and I would like to see the material cited as "proof" backing up the theory.
A lot of the "pictures" are just drawings, which leaves room for questioning their authenticity. Being the skeptical believer I am, I really wish I had access to more reliable information that would confirm some of the things this book claims. It held my attention enough that I not only finished it, but also started to read the second book "The Stairway to Heaven" (which lost my attention after the first 20 or so pages... I'll get back to it at some point).
I do have to say, though, that towards the end I was a little turned off, mostly by the fact that:
- the book claims the 12th planet approaches Earth every 3,600 years
- the book uses its own interpretation of ancient texts to support its claim and says that ancient people described the periods when the planet approached Earth as times when the climate would go crazy due to the gravitational pull caused by this huge planet's proximity to Earth
- the book says the planet was near us at about 3,800 BC
- if the planet had come by us at about 3,800 BC, the actual last time the planet was near Earth was at about 200 BC, a time when such incredible event would have been clearly recorded by people, who had already developed pretty modern languages, and kept records of everything
- I never read anything from approximately 200 BC saying there were huge climatic changes on earth, big earthquakes, tsunamis, volcano eruptions, etc. around that time...
Another event that didn't make sense was that the writer tells the "gods" decided to let humanity perish by orbiting the planet in their spaceships while Earth was flooded by the deluge. The writer goes on to say that the aliens (gods) were crying in desperation in their ships because it was so horrible that earth was being destroyed and they regretted not saving men, and that they were starving in the ships because the food they brought wasn't enough.
Well, while the author says everything mentioned on the paragraph above, he also says that the 12th planet was near Earth when this happened. If they were starving and desperate, why didn't they just fly back to their planet? They could have come back in another 3,600 Earth-years (which, by the way, were just the same as one of their years) to check out how we were doing if they missed us too much.
On the other hand, it would make sense that such a messed up race (humans) would have come from such a messed up family of aliens. But, then again, we may just be making god to our own image, as usual...
All in all, it's an interesting theory for an interesting subject, definitely worth reading if you don't expect it to reveal all the secrets of the universe.
Books:
- The Road Not Taken and Other Poems (Dover Thrift Editions)
- The Road to Disunion: Volume I: Secessionists at Bay, 1776-1854 (Road to Disunion Vol. 1)
- The Road to Disunion, Volume II: Secessionists Triumphant 1854-1861
- The Sandman Book of Dreams
- The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero
- The Seven Hills of Rome: A Geological Tour of the Eternal City
- The Shape of Space (Pure and Applied Mathematics)
- The Spirit Stone: The Silver Wyrm, Book Two (The Silver Wyrm)
- The Spoils of War (The Damned, Book 3)
- The Star: A Story to Help Young Children Understand Foster Care
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