Tom

After reading many rough reviews, specifically about the ending, I didn't even get this book until months after reading #2. (and oh yeah, because #2 was just a repeat of #1)

Well, surprisingly, I thought the ending was fine. So many reviews spoke poorly of it's ending that perhaps I was expecting the worst. Well, it wasn't that bad. However, the overall book was. It really wasn't about a revolution, or how governments are build. It was just about one person, and her life. How can someone help her enemies, and hate her best friends?...ridiculous. And too many characters spend too much time in a drug educed high.

If you have read the first book (really good) and just need to read the series, go for it. It's not a total waste of time. Just don't expect the same quality. You'll be disappointed.

I heard about this book after watching the 60 Minutes special a couple weeks ago. I wanted to learn more details, but you know, turns out the 60 minutes special was pretty complete. Sure the book had more details, but not a whole lot more.

Also note that you only learn about what the author experienced. He doesn't explain what the others did. Clearly he did not interview all those involved to write a complete timeline. Maybe if I knew that going in, I would not have bought this book at all.

Lastly, I wish he didn't ask us to donate money. This is a major pet peeve of mine. I think people forget that we (non-military) pay the entire military budget out of our taxes. And there are many, many worthy charities that exist.

First off, the book's length is ok, it's just that nothing happens! and there isn't enough suspense to carry you through the long plodding plot. I have read all of the Correy books, and they have been great. The Lion had me on the edge of my "seat" due to it's great action and suspense. But this one is a real dud.

Trust me, you could listen to the first hour or 2, as the plot develops, catch a about 1 hour of action in the middle, and then skip to the last couple hours and not miss a thing. Well, as some others have said, you would miss about 5000 wise cracks. That's about 1000 for each of the characters. Does everyone have to be a wise a$$? Ridiculous! Even Kate gets in on the games. I'm no writer, but if I wanted my main character to stand out, I wouldn't surround him with 4 more copies of himself.

So what is the other 16 hours about? You too can become a Yemen expert. Well, I suspect not in the true sense, but in the "Yemen is just a breading ground for corruption and deceit."

I did give it 1 more star than I normally would because John is still John, and he's a fun character to read. A a thumb's up for Scott Brink, he was great as usual!

If you, like me, love to read books where everyday people get thrown into extra-ordinary situations, and have to first come to an understanding that something paranormal (I don't mean ghosts) is going on, then this book is for you. For me, the discovery part is what I love. Most books of this genre wrap up the discovery 1/4 of the way through the book. But with 14, it takes over 1/2 of the book before things start to reveal themselves, and even more before becoming fully understandable.

Clines has set such a high bar, I'm almost afraid to read any of his other books.

I just finished book 10, and this is by far the best of the series. Some of the earlier books, although they have a good story, the characters are not so great. Honestly, I was sick of hearing Harry say "I wanted to do the bad thing", when you know he would always end up doing the good thing. Predictable and just not good writing.

But this book, wow. Great story, you cared about the people, especially Ivy.

If you are getting tired of this series, please listen to this one, it will get you hooked again!

I think book one of this trilogy is one of my favorite books. Book 2 is a great followup, as it shifts focus onto different characters. Book 3, well, stinks. Not only does it lack excitement (too chatty as another has reviewed), but it was a complete sell out. Even when inside the thoughts of the enemy, we hear pardoning to us terians. "They are better than us...I'm sure we'll loose before long", blah, blah, blah. Come on, if our evil enemies respect us, do we really have a book?

Also, much of the chattiness was about inter-cultural relations between earthling? Do I buy a sci-fi book to read about? No.

If you gotta see how the trilogy ends, save your $$ and look it up on Wikipedia.

I am at a loss with this book. Never before could my rating have ranged anywhere from 1 to 5.
First off, after reading the write-up, I thought this was going to be sort of a post-apocalyptic book, telling us how they built a civilization on a ravaged planet. NOPE! chapter 2 begins with "Ten years later". Ok, I can't blame the writers for not doing what I thought.
But then, out of the next 6 hrs, there is about 1 hour covering life on the planet Hellhole. Too much background!!!
Then, the last 2/3rds of the book, it starts to get real good, as they focus on Hellhole. In fact, I couldn't stop listening. But, as other have said...this book as no ending. Book 1 of any trilogy has an ending! yes, there are loose ends, but that is not the case here. It builds and builds, and then just ends. Didn't we all learn in Writing 101 that all books need a climax and a resolution? As others have suggested, wait until part 2 is out if you don't want to be left hanging.

This book was super easy to listen to, and in fact, you'll really want to keep listening way past your bed time :) On this factor alone, I would recommend it for one of your credits.

However, as far as a great novel, it's a bit too simplistic. While there was some good fiction here, it's single story line makes its great for kids, but adults may want more.

What was here family thinking? What about her best friend? And does every incident have to be so perilous?

A real interesting thriller set around a sci-fi scene. I really like these kind of books...everyday people discover something that would be unlikely, or impossible to us. Then we see how they deal with it.

OK, these characters are a bit over the top, but it still works.

OK, it's vulgar at times, but it still works.

I really liked how this book evolved..slowly revealing different truths.

If some raw cursing doesn't offend you, you won't be disappointed.

It's been about 1 month since I've listened to this book, and still, if one of my kids says "the moon" in normal conversation, I think of this book, and get a chill.

Most books of this length can get tedious, and as I was listening, occasionally I wished it would move on. But once I was finished, I saw the need for Koontz to take his time with each character.

And not only was this a great story, but it was very well read.

It is a top 5 Koontz book.