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A review by matosapa
Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
2.0
After reading the widely varying reviews about this book, I ventured into the series with concern. Unfortunately, that concern was justified.
Compared to their Pendergast/earlier works, this series is, at times, simple, unsurprising, and awkward to read. The writing is decent but the characters are flat and underwhelming. Wading through the cliches to get to the meat of the story is at times difficult and (so far) barely worth the effort.
At this point in time, I've read the first two books and the writing has not improved. Gideon is a one-trick pony (social manipulation) and is usually making shit up as he goes - to the detriment of innocent civilians around him and the interest of the story. Apparently, his main super-power involves falling into and out of ridiculous sex-based relationships with the first attractive woman he meets - whatever the situation or circumstances. It's painful to read, embarrassing, and completely throws me out of the disbelief state I worked to achieve when starting the book.
Don't get me wrong, I am a _huge_ fan of their earlier work (but not of their individual efforts, blecch) but this stuff reads like fan-lit you'd find online.
Why do I continue with the series??? I'm too anal to skip ahead to Beyond the Ice Limit (the sequel to Ice Limit - my favorite book of theirs). However, I am now dreading that moment because they will have to step up their writing game a lot to match the levels of Ice Limit.
Compared to their Pendergast/earlier works, this series is, at times, simple, unsurprising, and awkward to read. The writing is decent but the characters are flat and underwhelming. Wading through the cliches to get to the meat of the story is at times difficult and (so far) barely worth the effort.
At this point in time, I've read the first two books and the writing has not improved. Gideon is a one-trick pony (social manipulation) and is usually making shit up as he goes - to the detriment of innocent civilians around him and the interest of the story. Apparently, his main super-power involves falling into and out of ridiculous sex-based relationships with the first attractive woman he meets - whatever the situation or circumstances. It's painful to read, embarrassing, and completely throws me out of the disbelief state I worked to achieve when starting the book.
Don't get me wrong, I am a _huge_ fan of their earlier work (but not of their individual efforts, blecch) but this stuff reads like fan-lit you'd find online.
Why do I continue with the series??? I'm too anal to skip ahead to Beyond the Ice Limit (the sequel to Ice Limit - my favorite book of theirs). However, I am now dreading that moment because they will have to step up their writing game a lot to match the levels of Ice Limit.