Ryan Simmons

I have always been a bit leery of hypnotherapy, assuming it was mumbo-jumbo of some sort. But a good friend swears by it, so when I saw this audiobook I thought I'd give it a try. I am so glad I did! I have been listening for three weeks now, and my emotional eating habits are gone. Seriously, gone. I would never have believed it possible.

To wit: I took my family to our favorite burger-and-shakes restaurant for dinner (one of my biggest weaknesses is eating out) and when I realized I wasn't actually hungry, I decided not to order anything. Instead I sat and talked to my family while they ate and didn't feel regret, resentment, deprivation--in fact, it didn't even feel like I was using willpower at all! Trust me, this has never been my experience in my entire life. I stopped eating a root beer float tonight after a couple of bites when I realized that I wasn't enjoying it. I'm making healthier food choices all day long, I'm not eating from boredom or stress or to reward myself. It's really a miracle.

I don't write reviews often, but I have found so much success with this audiobook that I need to share my experience. Thanks, Anne!!

I can handle a "realistic" ending, as some have called it. My big beef with this book is that it was boring! Slow moving, with too many characters introduced that went nowhere, and nothing happening for hours and hours and hours. There was no intrigue, there was no suspense, there was no drama. There was nothing keeping my attention, and I kept waiting for the story to start, which it finally did about 1.5 hours before the end. That was the first time I was actually interested in the book.

I've read every book of Grisham's (except Playing for Pizza) and I have to say that this was the biggest disappointment of the lot, just because I know he's capable of better. I loved "The Innocent Man" and hope that he can channel his legal thriller aspirations to the true crime genre instead.

If you are expecting a Da Vinci Code-type of mystery, with secret societies and conspiracies reaching into the upper levels of the US government, this is not that book. I think whoever wrote the synopsis of the book was trying to cash in on DaVinci Code furor, and really misrepresented this book. Any reference to the Freemasons could have been removed and the book would have not been the less for it.

That being said, it was a good book. It was suspenseful, entertaining, full of charcters that I was interested in, and it kept me guessing the whole time. The first half of the book had relatively little foul language, but he made it up in the end, when the author seemed to run out of creativity for word choice and anyone who was emotional used the "f" word to express themselves.

The political arena is where this author shines, and I especially liked the view of the most powerful man in the world when he now has no power. Super interesting to me.

I liked this author's previous books (not the 10th Justice so much, but the others) and will keep listening to his future books, but I thought you ought to know that this isn't the book they want you to think it is. (Hey, is there some kind of conspiracy at work here?)

I like a good fantasy book, but ever since I read Harry Potter, I've started expecting a lot out of young adult fiction, and this one just didn't hit the mark. The plot was straightforward and not too complex, but the real lack was in character development. Very simple, one-note characters that never felt alive to me. Artemis, for example, is supposed to be 12 years old, but you wouldn't know it except that the author throws in lines here and there like "I shouldn't be drinking this because I'm a minor". I can believe that a child genius is planning this big plot, but I have a hard time believing that this genius is a child.

If you want a good example of a power-hungry, ambitious, greedy, self-absorbed child genius in a fantasy world, try "The Bartimaeus Trilogy" - while Nathaniel is not so much a genius, he is definitely a more believable child than Artemis. And the supporting characters are more developed, there is more humor, the plot is more complex, in short, a better book. I'll still give the next Artemis Fowl book a try, I just hope it reaches it's potential.