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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
Well, this was the second book of the year and I must say I was dissapointed. The only good think about the book was the Amber itself. The theme. Like many, I was (and remain) intrigued by the mystery of the Amber Room, but even that premise could not get me through this tedious, poorly-written "thriller." Everything in the book didn't felt right.
From the beginning, the personages, the plot and the end... well the end was the cherry on the top of a bad cake. Anti-climax. I like historic novels but this revisionist history at the end didn't bought me...After one year of reading it I still remember some parts and I must say I won't be buying more books by Steven Perry unless I read an excerpet before.
About the Amber Room. Amber the nectar of the gods... Originally it was given by Frederick William of Prussia to Peter the Great (Russia) to celebrate an alliance against Sweden. Peter's daughter, Empress Elizabeth perfect it in the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, the Amber Room was a true wonder. The wall panels were made of amber, pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle. During World War II, German soldiers made off with the panels and the decorative items inside (also made of amber). They have never been discovered, and their disappearance remains one of the great mysteries of the war.
Rachael Cutler is a judge in Atlanta, Georgia and her father, Karol Borya, was originally part of a Soviet group trying to find the Amber Room and other antiquities stolen by the Nazi's during the war. When her father dies under suspicious circumstances, he leaves her clues about the location of the Amber Room. Two unsavory characters are also involved in the search. Suzanne Danzer and Christian Knoll are "Acquisitors" who work for entrepreneurs who belong to a group called Retrievers of Lost Antiquities. The nine men who make up this group accumulate stolen treasures (with the help of their Acquisitors) for their private collections. Rachael and her ex-husband, Paul, take off for Germany to follow leads left by Borya. Unfortunately, Knoll and Danzer are following close behind, leaving many dead bodies in their wake.
The characters... I think the author don't like womans.. or met one. They're all bitches. The only difference between the "heroine" and the "villianess" is which side of the law they happen to be on. Also, the heroine acts in ways which are unbelieveably stupid. For example, she suspects foul play in the death of her father and believes the Amber Room has something to do with it. In the next minute, she tells a total stranger everything he could ever want to know about the Amber Room, and worse yet, goes off with this total stranger in the middle of Europe to an abandoned mine in the mountains without telling anyone her whereabouts? And this woman is a Judge?!?!
Right... The husband (or ex) does almost the same thing, showing every single letter related to the Amber Room to some random woman he's known for about 5 minutes. For a lawyer if he acts this way he must lose every case...
And the villians? The villians are a shade or two slightly more interesting than the main protagonists, but their actions are too stupid to be believed. They want to find the Amber Room, right? They find the only two living people in the world who might know its whereabouts and what do they do almost immediately? That's right, kill them! Of course! That makes perfect sense. Or, you know, they might've maybe held them and tortured them for information. Just a little suggestion.
In the end if you like your book like Da Vinci Code then by all means... Buy it. If you like your books with more character depth and plot then stay way...
From the beginning, the personages, the plot and the end... well the end was the cherry on the top of a bad cake. Anti-climax. I like historic novels but this revisionist history at the end didn't bought me...After one year of reading it I still remember some parts and I must say I won't be buying more books by Steven Perry unless I read an excerpet before.
About the Amber Room. Amber the nectar of the gods... Originally it was given by Frederick William of Prussia to Peter the Great (Russia) to celebrate an alliance against Sweden. Peter's daughter, Empress Elizabeth perfect it in the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, the Amber Room was a true wonder. The wall panels were made of amber, pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle. During World War II, German soldiers made off with the panels and the decorative items inside (also made of amber). They have never been discovered, and their disappearance remains one of the great mysteries of the war.
Rachael Cutler is a judge in Atlanta, Georgia and her father, Karol Borya, was originally part of a Soviet group trying to find the Amber Room and other antiquities stolen by the Nazi's during the war. When her father dies under suspicious circumstances, he leaves her clues about the location of the Amber Room. Two unsavory characters are also involved in the search. Suzanne Danzer and Christian Knoll are "Acquisitors" who work for entrepreneurs who belong to a group called Retrievers of Lost Antiquities. The nine men who make up this group accumulate stolen treasures (with the help of their Acquisitors) for their private collections. Rachael and her ex-husband, Paul, take off for Germany to follow leads left by Borya. Unfortunately, Knoll and Danzer are following close behind, leaving many dead bodies in their wake.
The characters... I think the author don't like womans.. or met one. They're all bitches. The only difference between the "heroine" and the "villianess" is which side of the law they happen to be on. Also, the heroine acts in ways which are unbelieveably stupid. For example, she suspects foul play in the death of her father and believes the Amber Room has something to do with it. In the next minute, she tells a total stranger everything he could ever want to know about the Amber Room, and worse yet, goes off with this total stranger in the middle of Europe to an abandoned mine in the mountains without telling anyone her whereabouts? And this woman is a Judge?!?!
Right... The husband (or ex) does almost the same thing, showing every single letter related to the Amber Room to some random woman he's known for about 5 minutes. For a lawyer if he acts this way he must lose every case...
And the villians? The villians are a shade or two slightly more interesting than the main protagonists, but their actions are too stupid to be believed. They want to find the Amber Room, right? They find the only two living people in the world who might know its whereabouts and what do they do almost immediately? That's right, kill them! Of course! That makes perfect sense. Or, you know, they might've maybe held them and tortured them for information. Just a little suggestion.
In the end if you like your book like Da Vinci Code then by all means... Buy it. If you like your books with more character depth and plot then stay way...
At the beginning this book was a tad confusing. So many characters from different parts of the world. Once I understood the characters I couldn’t put this book down. Highly recommend to anyone that enjoys historical fiction.
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I had read other novels by the author and was intrigued by the subject of the Amber room but for some reason I found this book to be slow for at least the first 1/2. I'm not sure if I just wasn't in the mood for this type of book when I started or what. I suspected it was Berry's first novel and maybe that is a factor as well.
I would probably give it more of a 2.5/5 star rating.
I would probably give it more of a 2.5/5 star rating.
background material was awesome. the characters acted completely without reason. what kind of parents ditch their kids a week after their beloved grandfather dies to go to Germany for no clear reason? Dumb dumb dumb
I am fascinated with treasure hunts and stolen artwork. The AMBER ROOM is an exciting romp across the US and Europe in search of the infamous Amber Room (originally designed in Germany and given to Russia). It disappeared after WWII, and so many theories on what happened to it abound. Berry creates lots of suspense and twists and turns on the quest to find the stolen art.
Eh. The Amber Room is a fascinating story (I can easily understand any obsession with it). But read a non-fiction instead. The true story is more engaging than this mediocre beach-y read.
Best part about this was that I'd never heard of the Amber room and it was very cool to go look it up and find out it?s a true bit of folk lore.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Lots of history, some action sequences. Wasn't a huge fan of many of the characters, and a few timeline issues bugged me for most of the book. Not nearly the same caliber as Dan Brown's books.