Customer Reviews

Artifact

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This is terrible. Unconvincing characters who speak only in cliches. Forced and boring action. Themeless and unstimulating. It's actually kinda funny, if you like bad writing - I laughed out loud a few times - but truly not worth your time.

This book reminds me of a ransom note put together by cutting letters out of a magazine and gluing them on a piece of paper. It's a jumble and even the FBI would have difficulty discerning on whom to pin the blame.

All the authors are supposedly pros and like professionals they hit all the correct buttons (plot, characters and action), and this book could have been a good action/thriller, but it missed on nearly all levels. A few years back a few computer programers were claiming that they could program a computer to write a novel, just enter the characters, plot, genre and voila, a novel. I'm sure it would have turned out a lot like this one.

I would have simply chalked up the experience to wasting time on a mediocre, albeit readable, novel but the ending was so utterly inconclusive and limp that I put the book down feeling inexcusably cheated. Thence the single star.

Being a fan of 3 of the 4 authors I had hoped for something more. Very choppy flow and an overall simplistic plot lead to a very week read. The ending is one of the worst I've come across in some time and leaves you completely unfulfilled.

Don't let the names on the cover fool you, I imagine had they not been involved this manuscript never would have seen publication.

Save your $$$ or spend it on better books.

I'm no pro, but I can say this, this book was a fun read from beginning to end! I don't often read "adventure" type novels, and had a hard time putting this one down. Who am I to argue with Clive Cussler.

Unlike many other reviewers, I knew none of the writer's and came to the book with no preconceived notions, other than a good recommendation from a friend.

I am looking forward to the next adventure!

After reading some of the reviews here, I think we must not be reading the same book. I agree with the quote from Clive Cussler on the book's jacket, "A page-turner with enough spellbinding intrigue to last until the authors' next tale." The story was fast; the characters and settings were
fascinating. The authors hooked me and didn't let me go until the end. I don't know what more someone could look for in a thriller.

There are certain things I demand of my summer reading. I want it to take me places I haven't been before, introduce me to characters whose adventures I want to hear more of, and, last but not least, blow stuff up real good.

Artifact does all this, and then some. Written by four excellent authors (Janet Berliner, F. Paul Wilson, Matthew Costello and Kevin J. Anderson), it has the distinct feel of something that they all enjoyed writing. It's that kind of fast-paced fun, complete with a tough heroine, exotic locales, and an impromptu course in what to do if you get too close to a shark while scuba diving for pieces of an alien gizmo. (Hey, you never know)

Artifact doesn't have a traditional slam-bang ending, which might confuse folks who are looking for something a little more Spielbergian, but the ending it does have satisfies and makes more character sense than any special effects extravaganza would have. That being said, there's still plenty of room for a sequel, and I definitely wouldn't mind learning what the Daredevil's Club does next.

There are certain things I demand of my summer reading. I want it to take me places I haven't been before, introduce me to characters whose adventures I want to hear more of, and, last but not least, blow stuff up real good.

Artifact does all this, and then some. Written by four excellent authors, it has the distinct feel of something that they all enjoyed writing. It's that kind of fast-paced fun, complete with a tough heroine, exotic locales, and an impromptu course in what to do if you get too close to a shark while scuba diving for pieces of an alien gizmo. (Hey, you never know)

Artifact doesn't have a traditional slam-bang ending, which might confuse folks who are looking for something a little more Spielbergian, but the ending it does have satisfies and makes more character sense than any special effects extravaganza would have. That being said, there's still plenty of room for a sequel, and I definitely wouldn't mind learning what the Daredevil's Club does next.

There are certain things I demand of my summer reading. I want it to take me places I haven't been before, introduce me to characters whose adventures I want to hear more of, and, last but not least, blow stuff up real good.

Artifact does all this, and then some. Written by four excellent authors, it has the distinct feel of something that they all enjoyed writing. It's that kind of fast-paced fun, complete with a tough heroine, exotic locales, and an impromptu course in what to do if you get too close to a shark while scuba diving for pieces of an alien gizmo. (Hey, you never know)

Artifact doesn't have a traditional slam-bang ending, which might confuse folks who are looking for something a little more Spielbergian, but the ending it does have satisfies and makes more character sense than any special effects extravaganza would have. That being said, there's still plenty of room for a sequel, and I definitely wouldn't mind learning what the Daredevil's Club does next.

Where to begin? As a Kevin J. Anderson reader, I was somewhat intrigued at the premise of the novel. However, I should have sensed danger at the extremely lengthy and confusing front flap. However, I risked it and read the book anyway. The middle of the book is somewhat interesting, but I agree with some of the other reviewers that the plot and timeline were choppy. With two chapters to go, I was moderately doubtful that the book could be tied up neatly. Well, the writers didn't think that was impossible. In fact, as if they were desperately tired of writing, the book simply stops. I cannot express my severe disappointment in the quick and shallow way the end of the book was treated. I half-jokingly suggested to my husband that I take the book back to the store and get half my money back since it was, after all, only half a story. My only comfort I can get from spending time reading this book is that it wasn't too long. Therefore, I didn't waste too much of my life reading it.

Though it's an easy way out of writing a critigue, I pretty much have to mirror everything PW has to say about this book. I know if F. Paul Wilson alone would have written this novel it would no doubt have been much better. Not an incredibly solid read with a less than fulfilling ending. The whole concept of the story was good but the 'putting together' was not.