Book Description
The Posleen are coming and the models all say the same thing: Without the Panama Canal, the US is doomed to starvation and defeat. Despite being overstretched preparing to defend the US, the military sends everything it has left: A handful of advanced Armored Combat Suits, rejuvenated veterans from the many decades that Panama was a virtual colony and three antiquated warships. Other than that, the Panamanians are on their own. Replete with detailed imagery of the landscape, characters and politics that have made the jungle-infested peninsula a Shangri-La for so many over the years, Yellow Eyes is a hard-hitting look at facing a swarming alien horde with not much more than wits and guts. Fortunately, the Panamanians, and the many veterans that think of it as a second home, have plenty of both.
Customer Reviews:
back to the good stuff.......2007-09-16
Is it just me who finds the whole Posleen series a teeny bit confusing. i mean i like the whole concept, well done the Nazis on the Rhine and all that, but when are we actually going to kick the Posleen's butts, get rid of them off the earth and stop mucking around with the political metaphores. Now that said (and as a european, who other than the ex-Nazis are obviously all left wing tree huggers) i actually enjoyed this one. It's a good story and a good book, thank God Cally was not in it, but unfortunatley she is back in the next one. By the way Amazon, why can't you make it easier to get the information on Boook 1 of X, Book 2 of X stuff presented to those of us who stuggle to follow these things.
Anyway i digress. If you enjoyed the first two Posleen books and the Wactch on the Rhine one, then you will enjoy this one. My hopes for the future are 1) no more Cally, 2) a story that shows either the death of the earth or victory 3) and whichever that the authors remeber that the EU can actually fight and so can the Russian and Chineese, and might despite the lefties make a decent go of it.
Good Book.......2007-09-04
I enjoyed this entry to the Aldenata series, although Watch on the Rhine was better. If you liked the other books in the Aldenata series, get this book you will not be disappointed.
Always remember, "You can get anything on E-Bay"!
Beware the conspiracy.......2007-08-20
Well another rollicking read. The good guys get to kill millions of Posleen, the bad guys are anyone who isn't very politically conservative (somewhere to the left of Franco) and that's that.
One thing, John and friends have slipped over the edge here a bit by dusting off the old world government thing, somehow there is this vast conspiracy of people who want to take over the world and the only way to save them is by killing everyone who isn't a real American or a hard drinking Panamanian, or a computer simulation of a blond who has immense breasts. Real Americans in John's view are a tad conservative, likely live in the mountains of Idaho and are heavily armed at all times.
The Posleen seem to be less effective than before and that is interesting but if you change the place names from any other Posleen book to Panama you will have this book.
As to World Government (The Transies) well anyone who pays attention to the overall effectiveness of governments should not be scared of the UN, etc. and what they might do, because they are about as inept as one can imagine.
That is one reason I have never been too concerned about the black helicopter folks, the main fear of that is they will get lost, crash and maybe hurt an innocent person, as to actually taking something over? Get serious.
John, stick to stories, leave politics alone
Another great addition to the Aldenata series.......2007-08-15
When John Ringo wrote A Hymn Before Battle (Posleen War Series #1) he continued the great tradition of stories of the Mobile Infantry began by Robert Heinlein in Starship Troopers. Ringo brought something new to the party - his experience as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division and his keen sense of how to tell a story that is gripping, entertaining and witty.
When Tom Kratman began working with Ringo in Watch on the Rhine (Posleen War Series #7) he also brought something to the party - a sharp military mind and his own insightful political observations. Working together on Watch on the Rhine they produced one of the best books yet in the Aldenata saga. But, Kratman and Ringo have topped Watch on the Rhine in this novel.
There is the To Be Expected great battle scenes and interesting characters. But in this book they will make you love a ship and feel sorry for the Posleen. What more could you want?
Cultural cross-view makes for a great read.......2007-07-22
I'd been getting a little tired of endless Posleen waves acting like Posleen (though not too badly) until this gem came along in this generally excellent series. (Cally's war seems not to have been repeated, at least!) Things seemed to being starting samo samo, then back plot actions with the "Mad" PDA came into focus along with the native Panamanian defense force leadership, and this one turned into a page turner.
I'm not sure I can rank this as the best of the series, but it's definitely in the top four.
Customer Reviews:
Great Adventure.......2007-08-18
This is a great twist for Dragonmark and non Dragonmark races alike. The four pc's I am running through it are loving it. The new encounter system is great. You don't need to lug around all your monster books, it has everything you need to know in the book itself. From tactics to different scenarios, depending on what the pc's do. This adventure will easily take characters from 5th to 9th. Keeps the pc's rockin with little down time.
LENGTHY BUT VERY GOOD ADVENTURE.......2007-07-30
Eyes of the Lich Queen is a campaign/adventure book designed for the Eberron setting although with a little creativity and work, it can really be dropped into any fantasy campaign of your choosing if you do not play in Eberron. You'll require all of the standard books to play. The adventure is designed for four 5th level characters although five or six may be more reasonable. This is a good ol' fashioned quest adventure with the players seeking an artifact called The Dragon's Eye. The ancient artifact was created during the age of Demons and its said the Eye can give the holder total domination over dragons. The dragons are none to happy about someone finding the artifact that had been considered mere legend. They set out to find the Eye for safekeeping. Meanwhile, the lich queen Vol is dead set on finding the Eye for herself and has set her agents about finding the artifact.
The adventure is plated out over four parts and at 126 pages, is a fairly lengthy adventure, designed to take the player characters from 5th to 9th level by the time the campaign is finished. The journey will take the group over 5,000 miles in their travels although DM's are encouraged to give players a sense of the vast distances they are traveling without bogging them down with random encounters every step of the way. The designers are looking for an epic feel to their adventure, not a tedious one. The players will be drawn into their adventure with the promise of a great treasure, hired by a Silver Dragon named Sur'Kil, who will appear to them in the form of a middle-aged human.
The first target is the Temple of Kha'shazul, located in the jungles of Q'barra, and home to various tribes of Lizard Folk. Sur'Kil speaks only of ancient relics to be found within the temple but does not mention the Eye specifically. With the ancient temple is where the players will first hear mention of the Eye and, should they survive the temple, report their findings to Su'Kil. Sur'kil then sends the players on the path of another ancient artifact hunter who sought the Eye. Next up the players go island hopping, encounterin pirates, and eventually finding themselves at the prison fortress of Dreadhold, searching for an old gnome who has important symbols and notes tattooed into his skin that will lead the players to their next clue on the trail of the Dragon's Eye.
Like the other adventure books, Eyes of the Lich Queen presents the locations in full, and in brief overview, with the specifics of each encounter area coming after that. The thing I like most about the book is the sense of wonder and scope of the entire adventure. This isn't just a jungle crawl but a truly epic, world-spanning quest to exotic locations, cities, and yes, dungeon settings as well. There's also a strong sense of intrigue as well. The players are not only pitted against the creatures they encounter along the way, but also against the forces of the Lich Queen Vol and her deadly agents who believe the players may have already located the eye. Of course, it will take a deft DM to really bring this all home to the players and hopefully, yours is one!
There's a lot to do in Eyes of the Lich Queen and it need not be followed in linear fashion...again, a skilled DM can really make this a great time for the players. There are scores of maps in the book! I personally don't play Eberron, but as I said, it's no big deal to drop this into, say, a Forgotten Realms campaign or even one of your own designs. One Beef...I'd have liked to seen this at around $20 rather than $25.
REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON
Since this is soft bound.......2007-06-12
This is a well written adventure with some extremely good ideas on DMing and keeping the story moving. My only real problem with it is the price and the fact it is a soft bound book. If I wanted to overpay for something I would have bought this at a comic book shop.
Very good addition .......2007-06-08
This seems to be one in the latest trend of WoTC adventure products for its various gameworlds. Once again, this is a set of adventures that make up a mini-campaign taking the players through various levels. It uses the latest formatting design from WoTC. That is, having encounters in a separate area, at the end of the chapters, complete with maps. Honestly, it is confusing at first, having to jump back and forth between the non-combat description and the tactical scenarios. It takes maybe two sessions to get the hang of it, in my opinion.
The adventure itself is very intriguing to read, and hopefully this will translate to the gaming table. The encounters are challenging, and the authors seem to have made very tough, and memorable opponents instead of your basic cookie-cutter monsters. There are a few typos and omissions in the text, which unfortunately, bring a good quality product slightly down.
In summary though, well worth purchasing. Plenty of surprises for players, and so far, loads of fun to run.
Best Eberron published adventure.......2007-05-05
So far I would have to say that this is the best published Eberron adventure out there. The first adventure paths starting with Shadows of the Last War were adventures in railroading if you ask me. Eyes of the Lich Queen is much better as Nicolas Logue is at the helm. You might know him since he wrote some great adventures for Dungeon Magazine.
Product Description
The Naval Institute Press is pleased to make available for the first time this cloth edition of a now-classic war memoir that was a best seller in both Japan and the United States during the 1960s. Originally published as a paperback in 1961, it has long been treasured by World War II buffs and professional historians for its insights into the Japanese side of the surface war in the Pacific. The book has been credited with correcting errors in U.S. accounts of various battles and with revealing details of high-level Imperial Japanese Navy strategy meetings. The author, Captain Tameichi Hara, was a survivor of more than one hundred sorties against the Allies and was known throughout Japan as the Unsinkable Captain. Called the workhorses of the navy, Japanese destroyers shouldered the heaviest burden of the surface war and took part in scores of intense sea battles, many of which Captain Hara describes here. In the early days of the war victories were common, but by 1943, the lack of proper maintenance of the destroyers and sufficient supplies, along with Allied development of scientific equipment and superior aircraft, took its toll. On April 7, 1945, during the Japanese navy s last sortie, Captain Hara managed to survive the sinking of his own ship only to witness the demise of the famed Japanese battleship Yamato off Okinawa. A hero to his countrymen, Captain Hara exemplified the best in Japanese surface commanders: highly skilled (he wrote the manual on torpedo warfare), hard driving, and aggressive. Moreover, he maintained a code of honor worthy of his samurai grandfather, and, as readers of this book have come to appreciate, he was as free with praise for American courage and resourcefulness as he was critical of himself and his senior commanders. The book s popularity over the past forty-six years testifies to the author s success at writing an objective account of what happened that provides not only a fascinating eyewitness record of the war, but also an honest and dispassionate assessment of Japan s high command. Captain Hara s sage advice on leadership is as applicable today as it was when written. For readers new to this book and for those who have read and re-read their paperback editions until they have fallen apart, this new hardcover edition assures them a permanent source of reference and enjoyment.
Customer Reviews:
A good view of naval history.......2007-09-10
Excellent view of the naval WWII war in the Pacific from the viewpoint of a knowledgeable Japanese officer who was in many of the battles. Very readable and informative.
Five stars and two thumbs up!.......2007-08-07
I read this book in paperback the summer before I started college in 1972. I still have the old Ballantine paperback in my personal library here in my office - along with many other classic WWII memoirs and histories which were released between the early '60's and '70's - and they remain to this day the backbone of any historians efforts to understand the conflict from a human perspective.
Hara was there. Regardless of the rhetoric,and the apologetics of his stance, it's impossible to argue with the eyewitness accounts he provides, and the detail of his style.
He creates at once a sympathetic and enthralled audience for his side of the story - one which needed telling, and which wasn't available until he committed it to print.
An enduring classic; this one belongs on the shelf of any person who wants to thoroughly understand the Pacific War.
Japanese Destroyer Captain...WWII.......2007-06-11
I recently had the oppertunity to read "Japanese Destroyer Captain: Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Midway-The Great Naval Battles as seen Through Japanese Eyes.
Tameichi Hara paints an interesting palet of not just the Naval engagments, but the social and economic upheavels in Japan during the war. The hardships he mentions on the civilian population were horrendous, and the reader soon realizes that the "bitter taste" of war is universal for every nation that finds itself at war.
The Naval battles and discription of those engagements was enough to give the "arm-chair" Admirals and Captains cold chills, however, sometimes I felt that Tameichi Hara was too redundent, and...much more of a tactician than I wanted to read about.
Overall, a very good book, and one worth reading for anyone who has the slightist interest in history, and Naval wafare.
Outlines the life of a Japanese Destroyer Captain in the Pacific conflict 1941-45.......2007-06-11
I first read this book in the early 1970's, on the life of Tameichi Hara and his activities while a destroyer captain during the Pacific conflict in World War Two. I found it a very interesting read, on his life and what led up to his involvement in most of the major actions against the U.S. Pacific fleet, especially in the Solomon Islands. The book is well written and kept me just as entranced the second time as it did the first. It is refreshing to have a Japanese version of the events instead of an American one. Well recommended.
Through Japanese Eyes..........2007-06-10
Growing up, I read as much as I could of the Pacific Theater during World War II. I was disappointed that so much was available from the U.S. side, with very little published on the Japanese side. Of course one reason for that was so many Japanese died during the war. So it was a great pleasure to find this book. Hara fought in almost every major surface engagement during the war, and still lived to tell about it. As another reviewer wrote, Hara gets into some of the technical aspects, notably his work before the war on the "Long Lance" torpedo. This weapon was one of the few systems that was superior to the allies- and was a surprise to them in 1941. It had extremely long range and a large warhead and was used with devestating effect during the night battles around Guadalcanal, many of which Hara was an eyewitness of.
In short, if you are interested in WW2 Naval History, this book is a "must have" for your library.
Book Description
Mike Campbell thoroughly and cleary examines the many eyewitness accounts by U.S. servicemen and natives who saw Amelia Earhart, Fred Noonan and their plane on the island of Saipan after the time the U.S. government declared the Electra to have crashed at sea.
Customer Reviews:
Alex V. Mandel.......2004-02-29
I am interested in Amelia Earhart and her disappearance mystery for 21 years. I have read this book and my impression is very positive.
During decades there were a lot of books, articles etc. written about this subject (Earhart's disappearance), but alas too frequently they were overflooded by rumors, baseless guesses, stretches and speculations without any firm factual support.
The Mike Campbell's book is principally different. It is based on firm first-hand evidence from many independent sources, whose credibility gives no food for doubts - there are former US Soldiers, who really were on the place of events and saw what they saw.
The book is free of guesses and speculations - authors doesn't builds some "versions" or "theories" but just presents the data obtained by them during many years from many independent sources, with extensive details, and the book includes many written reports and official documents.
As result the book gives a very complete and convincing picture about What Happened with Amelia Earhart. The book is written with clear accuracy and respect to facts and to the "subject" of the book - the great heroine of 20th century and US history, whose name alas was already too frequently used for unfair speculations of any sorts. Mike Campbell's book makes an extremely good job for to correct this sad error.
I would highly recommend this book for anybody interested in this great mystery.
Alex V.Mandel
Book Description
At some point during the inhumanly cold Himalayan winter straddling 1965 and 1966, a peculiar collection of box-shaped objects — one sprouting a six-foot, insect-like antenna — plummets nine thousand feet down the sheer flanks of a remote peak. Ripped from its moorings by an avalanche, the jumbled apparatus slides down a funnel-shaped hourglass of hard snow and shoots over a black cliff band, careening a vertical distance six times the height of the Empire State building. The boxes come to rest on the glacier at the mountain's base. One, an olive-drab casing the size of a personal computer, begins to sink. Then, trailing a robotic dogtail of torn wires, it slowly burns through the snow, melting into solid blue glacial ice, eventually disappearing beneath the surface, and never seen again.
No one actually witnessed this event. But as you read these words, nearly four pounds of plutonium — locked in the glacier's dark unknowable heart — are almost certainly moving ever closer to the source of the Ganges River.
Eye at the Top of the World, provides a harrowing present-day account of Takeda’s expedition to solve the mystery of Nanda Devi.
Customer Reviews:
Misleading title; really just a medicore climb journal.......2007-10-08
Quite disappointing. I was expecting a documentary about the CIA missions, instead it is a journal of a modern climb along the same route. Unfortunately, the story is poorly told: the characters could be compelling (they're real people!), but the writing just never develops them as the author just dumps detail on us leaving us with an impression of cardboard cutouts. The story could be compelling (high altitude climbing is tough and tricky), but again, the author choses the wrong details. Combine the poor telling with with poor fact checking by the editor (e.g., Padilla was not a dirty bomb maker, a fact known in 2005 whereas this book's copyright is 2006, etc) and numerous spell-checker induced spelling errors and low quality photo reproductions...
Apparently I wanted Spies in the Himalayas: Secret Missions and Perilous Climbs (Modern War Studies) by M.S. Kohli and Kenneth Conboy. Perhaps you do as well.
Gripping Read; Chilling Historical Event; Modern Day Adventure.......2006-12-21
This book is a rare breed--a story that blends the recounting of a gripping and alarmingly serious historical event with a fascinating 1st person story of personal discovery and adventure. For anyone from history buffs to armchair mountaineers to concerned citizens, this book has something to offer. If anything, I'm surprised that the book hasn't garnered more attention, especially considering that the environmental crisis that may result from the botched CIA mission in the 1960s could become a chillingly deadly and vicious situation for one of the world's most populous nations.
Read the book, you won't be disappointed!
An Eye At The Top Of The World wins 2007 HIMALAYAN LITERATURE AWARD........2006-10-23
An Eye At The Top Of The World has jointly received the first prize from the 2007 Kekoo Naoroji Memorial Himalayan Literature Award.
The Himalayan Club, based in New Delhi, awards the Kekoo Naoroji Award in association with Naoroji family and Godrej Industries for the best book on mountains of Himalaya published during a year.
JURY VERDICT:
"Well written with crisp authority on both scientific and mountaineering matters Peter Takeda`s AN EYE AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD is a survey of secret climbing expeditions to Uttarakhand in the 1960`s crafted with considerable skill. It combines in an expedition narrative the details of earlier clandestine climbs where American and Indian operatives placed and lost on Nanda Devi a nuclear powered spying device and replaced it with another (later recovered) on Nanda Kot. Radical in its concept, Takeda tracks down convincingly the planning and execution of this startling CIA operation, and has written a mountaineering thriller into the bargain. For years rumours have floated around the mountaineering fraternity and it is fascinating to have a good many of them confirmed though their sequence may have been mixed up. Despite being written for a lay American readership and from an American point of view, this a sensitive enquiry and the author`s feelings for the Nanda Devi region come across as both intimate and real. Bound to be controversial, the book`s sober tone guarantees its uncomfortable disclosures and their presumed fallout on the environment will find a lasting audience. The jury is unanimous in according joint first place to this compelling story."
Book Description
A re-creation of the American Revolution from the British point of view --and a dramatically different picture of the birth of our nation.
Using firsthand accounts--journals, letters from British officers in the field, reports from colonial governors in the colonies--Michael Pearson has provided a contemporary report of the Revolution as the British witnessed it. Seen from this perspective, some of the major events of the war are given startling interpretations: for example, the British considered their defeat at Bunker Hill nothing more than a minor setback, especially in light of their capture of New York and Philadelphia. Only at the very end of the conflict did they realize that the Yankees had lost the battles but won the war. From the Boston Tea Party to that day in 1785 when the first U.S. ambassador presented his credentials to a grudging George III, here is the full account of "those damned rebels" who somehow managed to found a new nation.
Customer Reviews:
Another Great Book on the American Revolution!.......2006-12-22
"Those Damned Rebels" is another well researched, well written and compelling book on the American Revolution. While presenting the Revolutionary War from a British perspective, it succeeds admirably in stripping away some of the distortions and myths surrounding both sides.
The book also presents a realistic picture of the world's greatest power at the time attempting to put down a revolt for the understandable reason that British leaders believed that if they failed, their whole empire would collapse. There is thus a great deal in this history that resonates deeply today as Americans struggle with the future of their military involvement in Iraq.
Two aspects of this book are particularly noteworthy. The first is the tremendous resistance among the British themselves to military involvement against the North American colonies, a resistance that undermined the King's political and military commitment to quelling the American revolution. Centered in Parliament and supported by parts of the British media, such resistance provided "those damned rebels" with a great deal of political and moral support.
A second aspect is the key role played in the American victory in 1782 by allies - especially France, Spain and Holland. All provided troops, weapons and equipment and expanded the American revolt into a world war. It was a war the British had problems sustaining.
According to author Michael Pearson, it was the threatened involvement of Russia in support of the Americans that finally broke British resistance to a settlement with the revolutionaries.
This is a tremendously good read and suitable for either student or scholar of the American Revolutionary War. But there is also a great deal in America's first long war that rings true today as Americans struggle in another long war to quell a revolt in Iraq.
Well written, exciting even!.......2005-11-21
A very readable book. Contemporary events and characters in England, the colonies, and Europe are presented in a way which enables the reader to see how their interaction affects the war. Important characters are well developed, and the battles are described in just enough detail that they remain exciting.
A major flaw is the lack of readable maps. ( I nearly wore out my atlas.) Most of the reproductions of original maps are virtually illegible, and a good portion of each map is obsured by the book binding.
Couldn't put it down.......2003-07-01
I'm not a history buff. But having taken my son on a trip around Revolutionary War sites in Vermont and New York, I became interested in knowing more about the fascinating characters I was just learning about. This book is not only quite readable, its focus, clearly different from the "same old same old" that we get in the States, made that long war much easier to understand.
I was truly amazed to learn what the people on both sides had to deal with day in and day out. Entire battles, for instance, could be won or lost depending on the direction of the wind or whether illness had swept through the camps in the previous week.
I was also able to see Britain as a country very much like this one is now: powerful, with much of its considerable wealth (for those times) concentrated in the hands of a few, with a government paying only lip service, to a great extent, to the ideals by which it is supposed to be governing.
If you read this book only for enlightenment as to how we are now following in the footsteps of that once-great world power, it's worth it. (The similarities between the two Georges are fascinating.) But to learn, also, how very courageous as well as how very human the Patriots were is both comforting and awe-inspiring.
A Very Good Historical Account.......2003-02-06
`Those Damned Rebels' was originally published in 1972 in hardback and later re-released in paperback in 2000. I am glad that DaCapo Press decided to re-publish this title, as it's one of the better one-volume accounts of the American Revolution that I have read for some time. As the sub title indicates this book is mainly the war as seen though British eyes but after reading the book I think it's without any particular bias.
The author uses numerous first-hand accounts and reports from the participants to reconstruct the events as they appeared to the soldiers, sailors, commanders and politicians at that time. This is so well done that the narrative never bogs down or becomes boring. The story is told in such a fluid and informative manner that it literally sweeps you into the history of the monumental events of this period.
The author covers all the main highlights of this war, from Bunker Hill to the surrender at Yorktown but he also supplies information on many of the smaller battles and skirmishes throughout this war. Nor does the author exclude events in Britain and Europe and the ramifications of battles won and lost in America on those seats of power that were involved in this conflict from afar.
The story moves from the battlefields of America to the Kings Court and Parliament in England and into the Courts of France, Spain, Russia and Holland. The events are told in manner that gives the reader a feeling of "authentic immediacy of an eye witness".
In over 402 pages of narrative (hardback version) the story told gives the reader a full account on the birth of the United States of America. The only gripe I have with this book (the 1972 edition) was the standard of the maps. In this edition they were taken from original maps of the time which I suppose fits in with the author's intention but are pretty useless to the modern reader to track events.
Overall I found this to be an easy to read book and I am sure that most people who enjoy this period of history will have a great time reading this account.
Excellent.......2002-07-14
It's too bad this book is listed as out of print but it's worth the effort to hunt it down. It gives an interesting account on the Revolutionary War from the eyes of the English. Too often Americans are only exposed to our perspective of the battle but in this struggle (like the rest of life) there are at least two sides to each story.
Great book.
Average customer rating:
- A spellbinder
- Sharp, smart, well written!
- I see why this book is on all the lists of the best suspense novels
- My Favorite
- Love the book and movie
|
Eye of the Needle
Ken Follett
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
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Suspense
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Follett, Ken
| ( F )
| Authors, A-Z
| Mystery & Thrillers
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Paperback
| Follett, Ken
| ( F )
| Authors, A-Z
| Mystery & Thrillers
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General
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ASIN: 006074815X
Release Date: 2004-11-23 |
Book Description
One enemy spy knows the secret to the Allies' greatest deception, a brilliant aristocrat and ruthless assassin -- code name: "The Needle" -- who holds the key to ultimate Nazi victory.
Only one person stands in his way: a lonely Englishwoman on an isolated island, who is beginning to love the killer who has mysteriously entered her life.
All will come to a terrifying conclusion in Ken Follett's unsurpassed and unforgettable masterwork of suspense, intrigue, and the dangerous machinations of the human heart.
This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
Customer Reviews:
A spellbinder.......2007-08-28
Ken Follett is among the best at writing thrillers that hook you and never let you go.
In interviews, he acknowledged that "Eye of the Needle" was his breakthrough novel. It surely deserves all the praise it has received.
In 1940, the The Abwehr, (German Intelligence), has planted their finest agent in Great Britain---code name "The Needle." Using the name Henry Faber, he works as a railway clerk and attempts to be invisible.
Using his bicycle for transportation, he observes all the war preparations and anything that would be helpful for the German bombers.
As the war progresses, Faber continues his adroit undercover work---radioing the info back to The Fatherland.
Meanwhile the Allies are utilizing a disinformation campaign designed to convince the Germans that the European Invasion (D-Day) will take place at Pas de Calais. Ships and tanks that are merely rubber and timber, barracks that were a movie set, etc. were utilized to persuade the enemy that Patton had a huge Army ready to invade.
Double agents that MI5 had turned churned out radio reports furthering the deception.
If the Germans learn of the great ruse, thousands could be lost. The Needle chances upon the phony barracks and tanks and knows this info must be delivered in person to the Fuhrer.
However, he has to eliminate some Allied soldiers who spot him as he leaves the fake army base. Their discovery leads to cat and mouse chase.
His escape via U-Boat 505 off the North Sea coast is hampered by a violent squall grounding all sea and air transportation. Faber is shipwrecked on a remote rock island with four inhabitants. There he must perpetuate his counterfeit persona until the weather clears.
Meanwhile, MI5 is closing in while working on the scant clues Faber leaves in his wake. They too are hampered by the weather.
The novel moves at a measured pace that heightens the suspense with each turn of the page. Faber is great villain whose cunning keeps him a step ahead MI5. The crew from MI5 are dogged in their pursuit and thorough in the procedural methodology. It is a remarkable match up.
Using an economical cast, all the characters are fully fleshed out. You know everyone quite well.
While the last 48 hours before the weather clears are intensely gripping, the entire narrative is mesmerizing and attention grabbing. This is a breathtaking "what if" take on an important slice of history.
Since we all know how WWII turned out, the outcome may never be in doubt...but how MI5 closes the trap is a superb ride.
Sharp, smart, well written!.......2007-08-16
Intriguing and breath-taking as Ken Follett is, a great thriller, with a very charismatic and well outlined woman character, and a realistic spy whose personality unfolds as the plot proceeds. A must read.
I see why this book is on all the lists of the best suspense novels.......2007-08-05
I can certainly see why this book is on all lists of the best suspense/thrillers ever written. The pacing is amazing. and the characters are flawed and believable.
My Favorite.......2007-07-30
I have never read a better book I could not put it down. Ken Follet has a great way of pulling you in.
Love the book and movie.......2007-07-20
Ken Follett can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. This is a terrific book and I urge you to check out the movie with Donald Sutherland.
Book Description
Luke Skywalker expected trouble when he volunteered to follow Princess Leia on her mission to the planet Circarpous. But he discovered that hidden on the planet was the Kaiburr crystal, a mysterious gem that would give the one who possessed it such powers over the Force that he would be all but invincible. In the wrong hands, the crystal could be deadly. So Luke had to find this treasure and find it fast....
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
A fairly decent story, with your expected heroes stuck on a squalid, muddy planet, with quite a few problems. Vader, of course, is hovering. A bit darker than the adventure stories of the 3 movie books. You learn that there is more than one trick that the funky lightsabre device can perform, amidst all the squalid violence and hunting for mind altering artifacts.
I nice change of pace.......2007-08-29
This book was written before Ep. 5 and 6 so it has a different feel to it then the other books. After reading many of the others it has a different and interesting feel to it considering many elements that we now know about certain characters in the star wars universe where not known at the time this book was written.
Early Star Wars.......2007-08-07
Right up front the reader needs to understand that Mr. Foster's book was published less than a year after the release of the original Star Wars film. George Lucas had not even written the script for The Empire Strikes Back, so Mr. Foster had no clear idea of what the future held for our cast of characters. Now we are way on down the road and we all know what happened, so we are operating at a distinct advantage. Please keep this in mind as you read the book, and I would suggest reading it. It's a good tale.
Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are extremely close friends and hold important positions in the Rebel Alliance. Leia is embarking on a mission to Circarpous to enlist the support of the Rebel underground in the battle against the Empire. Luke agrees to go along with her. They run into problems when the craft is forced to crashland in the swamplands of Mimban, a strange planet with mining colonies controlled by Imperial forces. In their efforts to find a way off of the planet, they run into Halla, an old woman who has a connection with the Force. She offers to help them if they will first join her in a quest to find the Kaiburr crystal, a mysterious gem reputed to give the holder invincibility through the force. This of course piques Luke's interest, so they join forces with Halla and travel across Mimban searching for the Temple of Pomojema.
The quest is not an easy one. First they must find a way to get out of the clutches of the Imperial bureaucrats who run the mining colonies. Two Yuzzem named Hin and Kee help them escape their initial difficulties and then go along for the rest of the quest. The Yuzzem are huge, covered with hair, and have a snout. They are also extremely useful in a fight. This merry band of companions sets off to find the temple and crystal, but they run into problems with an indigenous civilization called the Coway. Luke barely survives a major duel with the best Coway warrior when things take a dramatic turn for the worse. Darth Vader turns up on the planet and wants to take Luke and Leia back to meet the Emperor. Luke struggles with him and does amazingly well. So the book ends successfully for our heroes.
I had two primary reservations about the book, and they are really the result of the author's lack of future information concerning the Star Wars saga. First, clearly the idea of Luke and Leia being siblings has not been brought up yet. They are strongly attracted to each other with Luke having the typical thoughts a young man would have when he is in close contact with a beautiful princess. Second, Luke fights Vader much better than any of us would have thought possible. He is extremely close to defeating Vader and actually does manage to get him out of the picture long enough for escape to be possible. Imagine the changes in the saga if Luke had actually killed Lord Vader this early in the story, and George Lucas had said OK. Where would we be now?
the sequel that would never be.......2007-05-22
Alan Dean Foster was the ghost writer of the original Star Wars movie's novelization, which came out long before the movie. After the movie's release, Foster was contracted by Lucas to write an original novel that might be the basis of a possible sequel to Star Wars. But at the time Harrison Ford's return was uncertain, so Lucas told the author to not write in Han Solo. Apparently if Lucas was going to use Foster's novel, he would put some explaination in the movie, because there wasn't one here. Foster used a discarded premise for Star Wars - a crystal that amplified the use of the Force.
I am rating this book based on the fact that I read it after the completion of the original trilogy, and there are a lot more problems with it than the absence of Han and Chewie. Sure, a lot of these can't be blamed on the author because he had no foreknowledge of the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. But today the novel is what it is, not what it was at the time of it's original release. Unlike some reviewers, I can't enjoy this as an independent book because it is not - it has the title of Star Wars so I can only consider it as a Star Wars product.
The book greatly contradicts the established continuity and themes of the complete movie saga. Lucas didn't use the crystal idea because he didn't want to solidify and quantify the Force - he wanted it to be portrayed by the invisible energy field that it is. And Empire is presented as the first time Luke personally confronts Vader, and this encounter would not have been ignored if Lucas didn't want to ignore it. And Leia attacks Vader with a lighsaber? Yeah right. And Luke's physical arousal by Leia - ew.
But one thing I remember even contradicts the original film. It annoyed me that out of the two characters of Luke and Leia, it is much more likely that Luke would be the one that can't swim instead of Leia. Where did Luke learn how to swim growing up on a desert planet?!
Overall, this is not that bad of a story on it's own, which is why it has 2-stars instead of only 1. But this book is way out of place in the Star Wars universe, so don't bother with this book. I highly recommend the following 5-star novels that are extremely relevant to the film series:
Cloak of Deception (Star Wars)
Shadow Hunter (Star Wars: Darth Maul)
Labyrinth of Evil (Star Wars, Episode III Prequel Novel)
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (Star Wars)
Shadows of the Empire (Star Wars)
The dawn of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.......2007-05-01
Alan Dean Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye is the grandparent of all Star Wars Expanded Universe stories. Foster wrote this novel shortly after the theatrical release of Star Wars in 1977, and it was published right as George Lucas sat down to begin his script for a movie sequel named The Empire Strikes Back. Taking this timing into account, it's important to note that Foster didn't have much to go on as far as the overall Star Wars story. The characters were fairly archetypal in Star Wars (later renamed to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) and it wasn't until Empire that they were more fully fleshed out.
Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, along with their faithful droid sidekicks R2-D2 and C-3PO, are traveling to the planet Circarpous for a critical meeting with local Rebel sympathizers. Unfortunately, mechanical troubles force a crash landing on the uncharted swamp planet of Mimban. The four are stranded on Mimban days from civilization and must quickly find a way off the planet to make their original rendezvous. Their efforts are considerably complicated when they learn of an Imperial presence in the five mining communities of Mimban. It is in the first of these communities that they encounter the mysterious old woman Halla, who tells them of the legendary Force artifact, the Kaiburr crystal.
The story clips along at a fast pace and is quite readable. I was struck by how Foster's writing has changed between this book and his 2002 Attack of the Clones prequel, The Approaching Storm. In the latter Foster allots generous amounts of prose to description and sequences with very little action; by comparison, Splinter of the Mind's Eye races along from action sequence to action sequence.
Some elements of this story don't jive very well with the various Star Wars stories that came later. Luke has a disturbing passion for Leia, but of course, since the two actually have a full-on kiss in The Empire Strikes Back, this can be excused. The Kaiburr crystal, which is central to the main plot, also seems a little off. It affords its users the ability to focus and enhance their Force powers. The later films and novels tend more toward the Force as an internally-driven, self-powered ability (midichlorians aside), and the crystal feels rather like a fantasy creation.
One more interesting element to mention is the final confrontation between Luke, Leia, and Darth Vader: it simply cannot be reconciled well with the films. To my mind, the Vader/Luke duel in Empire is definitively their first face-to-face meeting. In this book, Luke is overly confident and seems to be getting the upper hand over Vader without too much difficulty. Heck, even Leia uses a lightsaber and scores a direct hit on Vader's mask! Vader finally seems to take control of the fight (after losing a hand to Luke!), when we are given the sudden climax of Vader simply falling into a hole as he walks towards Luke. It is a truly bizarre way to end the duel. One note I did very much like is Vader telling Leia "I have been guilty of overconfidence before. I will not be guilty again." This was written twenty-eight years before Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and yet Foster inadvertently manages to perfectly raise the specter of Anakin's fate on Mustafar.
Halla is never very well rounded, and it is unclear why Luke is so excited to invite her to join the Rebellion. The Imperial adversaries are entertaining enough, and the local cultures of Mimban are mildly interesting. The story has a pulp feel in line with the original influences Lucas cites for the films, such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.
Overall, the book is an entertaining read and essential for its place in Star Wars lore, even if many stories since have more successfully tied into the overall saga.
Book Description
Every year, 1,000 fresh potential pilots undergo the intensive, six-month, 58-flight, $2 million-a-head fighter pilot basic training, where they are pushed to the extreme limits, propelled by the desire to earn their place in a warrior subculture. From the investigative
science and medical writer, Peter A. Aleshire, comes Eye of the Viper, an intriguing book about the making of an F-16 fighter pilot.
Blending intense human drama with a wealth of information about the world's most expensive, deadly, high-tech Air Force, the book follows a batch of fresh new recruits at Luke Air Force Base, the world's largest fighter wing and the single most important source of fighter pilots that have made the American Air Force virtually unchallenged in the skies, as they experience the exhaustive six-month training process. Get an insider's look at how these rookies face mental and physical demands, exhilaration and failure, joy and pain, sweat and tears while they are transformed into stealthy, fierce, American fighting machines. Each recruit is eager to climb into the jets they love at a moment's notice and fly halfway around the world to drop laser-guided bombs down any smokestack the president specifies. However, only a few select individuals have what it takes to be dubbed "protectors of national security." The stakes are high and only a few will succeed.
Historian and writer
Peter Aleshire is a senior lecturer in the Department
of American Studies at Arizona State University West. He is contributing
editor at Phoenix Magazine and writes frequently for a variety of
magazines. He has written four history books about the Apache Wars in the
Southwest, including The Fox and the Whirlwind, Reaping the Whirlwind,
Warrior Woman, and Cochise. He spent 18 years as a science, medical and
investigative reporter at various newspapers before taking up teaching,
freelancing and writing in 1991. He has published hundreds of articles in
national and regional magazines, which have won numerous awards.
Customer Reviews:
my image of fighter pilots so shattered now. .......2006-03-27
I didn't buy this book. I started reading it one day out of boredom and it belongs to my son who was also very disappointed in the reading. I couldn't even finish it. All the talk about the instructors being angry about having to be stuck teaching "punks" while they are missing out on "their war" and how they are just so "gung ho to kill the enemy" was nauseating. Of course, we want our troops to be WILLING to kill the enemy. Those that are gung ho to kill have some serious mental health issues. The instructors came across as at best very mean-spirited and awful men and at worst sadistic. I guess I've always believed that pilots were atleast as professional acting as the enlisted men and women who I have so much respect and admiration for. Some of the instructor pilots described in this book make me wonder if they wouldn't sale their daughters to get ahead in their careers and I don't admire that quality in people at all. Like as if "spending 15 hours a day at the squadron" so that they could finish off each day by hanging out at the bar to "bond" abandoning their family in the process and ending up divorced is perfectly respectable. If I had been one of those students, I'm afraid I would have gotten kicked out for telling the instructors to take their particular brand of humor and shove it up their collective A$$es. My high-school son dreams of becoming a fighter pilot one day and if he does, I hope he will be the kind of man my Dad was who retired from the Army rather than ever emulate those instructors who obviously don't understand that being arrogant is not an admirable trait and that it means they think they are better and more important than they really are. True heros don't need to be arrogant, they are willing to kill because they love their country not because they get off on the thrill of it, and they don't hang out at bars instead of going home to their wives and kids who need them too.
LOVED IT!.......2005-12-30
I don't care what KQ or Mrs.KQ had to say..this book was fantastic! I'm going to have to agree with the gentleman down below...KQ quit your whining....for god sakes man your a fighter pilot!!...act like one!...:)
Language.......2005-11-20
The author puts indecent language in every page (that I have read so.) Normal readers will the gratuitous filth unpleasnt.
Otherwise, the stories interest me.
Overall, a good book........2005-10-25
From reading the reviews already here, it looks as if there is a rift between the readers. Hopefully I can clear some of the confusion up.
I am not a fighter pilot and have never been in a fighter jet. Like most guys, I think they are extremely cool. One of my most vivid memories of being a child was seeing an F-15 demonstration at the Keesler Air Force Base open house in about 1978. I will never forget the shock of seeing a huge chunk of metal stand on end what seemed like a few feet above the runway, hit the afterburners, and disappear into the sky. So although I am not a fighter jock, I do admire the machines and the people who fly them.
This book was, overall, pretty good. The writing was decent and it covered some of the technical aspects of flight in a way that the average reader could understand them at some basic level. What this book was not:
1. A technically detailed (i.e. Tom Clancy) showcase for F-16s
2. A minute by minute account of training.
3. A full picture of fighter pilots or their training.
I can understand Mr. Quattlebaum's disappointment with this book. But you have to understand that a writer can only do so much and still have broad appeal to non-fighter pilot types. It would be this way with any highly skilled or technical profession. Whether you are a stock broker, brain surgeon, computer programmer, or hacker, a book that the average person will pick up and read (and more importantly, pay for) is not going to do you justice. I would suggest that Mr. Quattlebaum write his own book on the true F-16 pilot training experience. Yes, I would buy that one too...so you have one sure sale and I suspect that many, many people would be interested in this topic from a trainer's point of view!
The book lightly follows a group of F-16 pilot trainees through training at Luke AFB. Right up front the author acknowledges that because of a variety of writing, editing, and marketing constraints he was not able to produce the book he really wanted to. He also admitted that the story lines may be skewed, compressed, rearranged and otherwise tweaked to make the book readable and not be too long for casual reading. It is the nature of the business. That said, I think he did a very good job at giving the reader a taste of what the pilots are expected to do, the pressure that is on them to get it right, and the concerns that the trainers have during the process.
I do agree that for my personal taste, a little too much space was given to the various "entertainment" aspects such as the parties. I don't think that detracted from the book but I think it shoved out room for some of the more play by play flight action which I would have found more satisfying.
After reading this book, I did not feel that I had a whole lot of knowledge about fighter training. It was more like the "Space Camp" version of the space program. You get a taste. A reader interested in the technical, tactical, and emotional aspects of being a fighter pilot will probably continue their reading with more in-depth books on the same subject.
Overall a decent book.
M@
It missed the point.......2005-10-20
Reading this book is like watching Iron Eagle or Top Gun, I think we are a little over the 80s, this book is intended for people that definitively likes that hollywood accuracy to depict stories.
I guess this wasn't what I was looking, maybe it's a good book for someone who doesn't know much about the military. For my part I was looking to track the path of the F-16 Pilot training and many other details. I'm a very avid fan of the viper and I have been fortunate to see vipers from 4 different countries.
All have to say that I am still looking for such book. I'm really not very interested in knowing too much about partying and rituals. And being myself in the military I know that it's a very small part of the whole picture.
Average customer rating:
- A Canadian Reader
- Outstanding, a truly informative book
- To Hollywood or bust
|
A Lifetime in the Eye of the Storm
Andre Vanchau
Manufacturer: American Book Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Vietnam War
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Vietnam
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1930586558 |
Book Description
History is colored by the nation that is recording it. In America, the Vietnam War was chronicled in the newspapers and on television. The heart breaking stories we heard were always about the war from the American viewpoint. When we are able to view historical events from perspectives other than our own, we begin to understand that the important thing isn't winning or losing, but learning and understanding. Hiep lived her life, from earliest childhood, at the center of the war. This is her story of love and loss, triumph and tragedy. It is the story of all women who have lived through a war, with only their steadfast love, hope and faith in God to give them the strength to go on living.
Customer Reviews:
A Canadian Reader.......2002-04-24
A Lifetime In the Eye of the Storm is a moving account of the Ngo Dinh family's determination to live and work for the freedom of their beloved country. As a woman, I am not often drawn to read books about war; however, this book is different. Although it is obviously about war, what caught my interest was the author's excellent portrayal of human emotions and the struggles of the people caught up in the long years of war in Viet Nam. At times, I was moved to tears by the tremendous losses suffered, but then I was encouraged by the steadfast faith and tenacious desire to survive and carry on with hope for the future.
Outstanding, a truly informative book.......2002-04-02
A Lifetime in the Eye of the Storm provides a rare and rich view of the Ngo Dinh family. Often maligned in the American press, which worked to bring down the government of South Viet Nam, the Ngo Dinh family worked to better their country and help out their fellow freedom loving citizens.
It was quite touching that Ngo Dinh Diem cared greatly for the ethnic minority groups in Viet Nam that are being persecuted by the current communist dictators in Viet Nam.
The book details the betrayal of Ngo Dinh Diem and his brothers by both the Americans and the corrupt Vietnamese who were interested in their own power and agenda.
A great biography of an amazing family.
To Hollywood or bust.......2002-01-06
I was surprised to learn from the publisher's blurb that this book was the story of "all (Vietnamese)women who have lived through a war". I would not have thought that President Ngo Dinh Diem's sister was a typical example of a woman in wartime Vietnam? In many ways she was surely the power behind the throne, since she was a major channel for anyone seeking to influence the President and, as such, well protected, until the fall of Saigon,from many of the disasters that that suffering country experienced.
The book itself is a disappointment. Its overblown romantic style and the numerous non-native speaker faults of syntax and vocabulary make it a dull and rather frustrating read. Hanoi translators write better English.
One has the feeling that Mr Chau has been too much influenced by the pulp fiction about "Indochine" so popular in France at the turn of the 20th century. Unfortunately not only is this book an uneasy amalgam of history and fiction but a good deal of the history also seems to owe more to Mr. Chau's imgaination than the historical facts.
Books:
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
- Air Force One: The Final Mission
- Alexander the Great: The Brief Life and Towering Exploits of History's Greatest Conqueror--As Told By His Original Biographers
- And I Haven't Had a Bad Day Since: From the Streets of Harlem to the Halls of Congress
- Architectural Graphic Standards, Tenth Edition (Book only)
- Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions (Picture Puffin Books)
- Azerbaijan Diary: A Rogue Reporter's Adventures in an Oil-Rich, War-Torn, Post-Soviet Republic
- Barragan: Space and Shadow, Walls and Colour
Books Index
Books Home
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