Neil Lane

A Great Adventure, Feb 28 2008

The Hobbit follows the journey of Bilbo Baggins 50 years before his nephew goes one quest for the one ring. Tolkein's first middle earth adventure is written entirely different than his other trilogy. I found it more exciting, adventuress, and a far quicker pace. The narrative is very light. I see this book best served as a childrens story. To be read energetically by parents at bedtime, allowing their children's imaginations to wonder freely to a world different than our own. Highly recommended.

Takes a while to get going., Feb 12 2008

I found this book took me about two hundred pages to finally get into it. I think this time was mostly spent filling in back stories and developing characters. Once this was fulfilled the author picked up the plots pace with a relentless onslought of deaths. I found a major character dying every few chapters. A few times I was downright shocked. However, the more shocked I became the more I enjoyed the novel. I never could predict what would happen next and I never got over the brutality of the west described within the novel. I once wished I was a cowboy. If the west was even remotely like this book describes I never will wish I was a cowboy again.

More of a lesson on global warming, Oct 26 2007

I have read almost every book by Michael Crichton and with every new release I find the book reads less like a thrilling novel and more like an essay on the authors beliefs and theories. This is no exception. I have done many studies on global warming (in my science degree) and found much of the dialogue about the subject interesting in the book. However, I bought this book with the hope of reading an exciting adventure. Sure, there was exciting adventure, but for only half of the book. It was broken up by major discussions on scientific topics. This seriously affected the pacing. Most Michael Crichton books have taken me less than 24 hours to read. This one took me over a week… Read more