Bart Seesing

Well. My expectations were very high, as its predecessor was (is) one of my favorites for the last decade. It was a tough read. Because the main character, the underdog that rose to fame in book one, became a very unlikeable character. After the first thirty pages of book two, I started to hate him. And it took a hundred pages more before his journey of slef-discovery and self-repair started. It took a while before I got there.

And it was an amusing read after all. Made me dust off my Prince collection, amongst other things. But not as brilliant as Player One. And maybe I should accept that that would be an expectation that was impossible to fulfill.

Not his best work, but close. Nothing beats Anubis' Gates, imho.

Ik volgde Lonneke al als blogger, en haar eigen stijl is ook terug te vinden in het boek. Voor iedereen die hoopt dat het leven anders kan.

Yes, the story caught me enough to keep on reading. But somehow the plot for me lacked the depth and sophistication of The Anubis Gates, which I still consider his masterpiece.

I try to look at it from the perspective of the time it was written. Which gets harder with every year that passes. I like the combination of strategy and the individual perspective. Like others said: there is a lot of stereotypoing, unfortunately. If not, I would have earned 5 stars with me.

If you like a light read, do not pick up this book.... It might, it will, it should disturb you.

We have come at a time where very few survivors are still around to tell their story. Meanwhile, it seems far enough away so that we can look at situations from the perspective of both parties involved. Flanagan's writing makes the horrors of the WW2 POW camps come closer than you might feel comfortable with. I put down the book regularly while reading, but I always picke it back up again. This book definitely deserved the Man Booker Prize, in my humble opinion

Being a Wilbur Smith fan for over 20 years, I highly anticipated the latest novel in the Ancient Egypt series. The return of Taita, one of the most annoying book characters that I ever came across. Vain, arrogant, but still central in some of the best adventure novels ever written (in my humble opinion).

However, I found this latest novel disappointing. I remember reading somewhere that Wilbur Smith is now assisted in writing his novels by others, and it starts to show. Taita is a mere shadow of the vile character that he was in earlier books from the series (River God, a master piece...) and the plot is stretched thin over too many pages. All of a sudden, the book ends and the main story is not finished yet. I have the awkward feeling that we will see an Ancient Egypt part #6 or even part #7 in due course to finish the plot, but I am not sure that you can count me in on that one.

That said, it is still a nice read, and a well written adventure story. But it lacks some of the enchantment that drew me deep into the eearlier novels. Times change, and not always for the better.

Have I been waiting for this one.... I just love the writing style of the Century trilogy, where ordinary people in different parts of the world are part of the big events happening, showing their emotions, dilemmas and decisions. So I knew that I would start reading this one as soon as I got my hands on it.

And I was not disappointed. As good as its predecessors. A masterpiece, which I just could not put down. And it touched me more even then part 1 and 2, because Edge of Eternity covers events that happened during my lifetime. Fortunately I had a 10 hour transatlantic flight the day after I started reading, so it became an Edge of Eternity marathon. And now I am sad. Because it is a trilogy, and therefore completed. I might start rereading the whole trilogy.

This book is not for the paranoid and the people who believe in every conspiracy theory, it will drive you nuts. It was a good and entertaining read but I've seen better ones (-1*), however it is good enough that I am immediately starting the next in series, The Fifth Assassin... Just to see what happens next!

I finished reading this book in two days. What to say?vIt grabbed me, and I could not put it down. Sometimes scary, sometimes funny, sometimes puzzling, but always making you want to turn to the next page/chapter until there is no more. Even the fact that I sometimes found the main character to be rather arrogant did not put me off this time (but then, I also like Taita from the Wilbur Smith novels....).

A thriller, yes! A spy novel, certainly! I'd recommend it to anyone!

Part autobiography, part description of the wonderful world of AFOLs (Adult Fans of Lego). I'd rather have either one of these, the combination was a bit tough to get through for me. But it did re-awaken my interest in the Magic Bricks, so it served its purpose....

Good, but not brilliant.

In my opinion, this book has two layers. The characters remain rather flat, I've seen some more comments on that. But the underlying movement the book describes, the gradual decline of privacy and personal space, gives me the creeps. In this, the author captures the current developments very well.

So 5 stars for the story, and 1 star deducted for the characters.