The Eight

This book has been a blast! There is mystical intrigue, historical perspective, scientific application and modern day issues all combined in an entertaining, coherent story. Even after 20+ hours, I was sad to see it end.

This was a fantastic story--it made me want to get in the car to drive (since I only listen to audio books while I'm driving). The story is complex, but if you pay attention, it all makes sense. In fact the degree of complexity shows just how amazing the author is to have conceived such a story. Puzzles, romance, far off lands, you got it. If you liked the Da Vinci code, you will probably like this.

Do not let the negative reviews sway you away from this entertaining novel. The voice work done by the narrator is above par, giving a multi-layered performance with a large group of characters.

The novel itself is history, thriller, spy and quite a few other genres. If you are planning a long trip or just laying on a beach, this is the perfect novel to laze away hours enjoyably.

The sequel, The Fire, is a somewhat less novel, but should be listened to if not to revisit some old friends.

I have read this book twice and I don't read books over. It is one of the best books. The tension that is built over the story is amazing. It's just an amazing book. I can't say enough.

A fabulous story, worth listening to and well read.

Wow! After reading the previous reviews, I was hesitant to select this book, but I am so glad I did! The book is beautifully written and the narration is great. I loved the historical references to different time periods and countries. A very enjoyable listen!

I have read this book multiple times which made it a lot easier for me to follow the changes in time and the overall plot.

Previous reviewers panned the narrator, but I thought she did a good job. There were a lot of accents and personalities in the book and I think she did a good job keeping the accents straight and understandable.

This story was very enjoyable, switching back and forth between the distant past and the near past. While there were elements of the story that were very far fetched, I still enjoyed the story and the characters. I also enjoyed the idea of the story being a chess game, it made me think about chess again and that was quite unexpected.

This book was my all time favorite book I read it twice, 14yrs ago, and was thrilled when I found it on Audio. If you have read this book DO NOT WASTE YOUR CREDITS. I have gotten other books that I have read and loved, Dune, Talisman and enjoyed them. But this audio does not do the book justice, the narartor was just not up to the task of translating the complexity of this book. Oh and the 2nd review..The sequel "The Fire" same nararator...same waste of credits,and waste of time. I can't believe I listened to the whole audio, kept waitting for it to redeem it self and sadly it never did...I expected so much more

This is actually the first book I've met that would really have been helped by being abridged. I think they would have removed a great deal of the chess stuff and it would have ended up being a better story for it. As it ended up, it could have been any items so all the endless chess storyline was really not necessary to the story and incredibly boring to people who don't like chess.