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Title: The Eight by Katherine Neville ISBN: 0-345-36623-9 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 14 January, 1990 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.24 (229 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Interesting ideas, leaden writing
Comment: A rush of historical figures and locales, several attractive/sexy characters, and a convoluted tie-in to chess and mathematics can't lift this novel beyond mediocrity. The problem is the leaden amateurish writing. Instead of carrying you along, the plot line's gyrations and the bland writing push you into exhaustion.
Rating: 4
Summary: plots within plots, tales within tales
Comment: Author Katherine Neville tells two stories here, one the tale of orphans in a 1790 French convent and the other the tale of a computer expert at a large accounting firm. Both stories are character rich and intricately plotted. Separated by two centuries but connected by similar circumstances and goals, Mireille de Remy and Catherine Velis each finds her way to Algeria as she attempts to gather the pieces of the legendary chess set of Charlemagne and command the action of a real-life Game being played by opposing sides who will stop at nothing, including murder, to win.
This is a satisfying thriller with the added dimension of a historical mystery. You will learn a lot about the Freemasons, the number eight, Algeria and chess, and you will also get embellished introductions to many historical figures of the time, including Catherine the Great, Robespierre, Talleyrand, Napoleon, Benedict Arnold, Marat and Jacques-Louis David.
I thought the heroines were both admirable, which is tricky in this genre. You want them to be intelligent but somehow sympathetic while they remain clueless for the longest time. And here I DO mean the longest time -- six hundred pages is too long for even an engaging thriller, though I would read other books by this author.
Rating: 5
Summary: Neville spins an incredible plot.....
Comment: I loved "The Eight". That comment alone causes readers who appreciate fiction writing for the writing caliber, as opposed to the plot, to groan aloud. "The Eight" is an oversized (500+ pages) novel, a first time effort for author Katherine Neville, whose later works are far less popular. "The Eight" on the other hand, is much beloved and widely read.
Neville's prose is typical of first time authors. Characterization can be thin, dialogue can be unrealistic, the romance altogether too passionate to be believable. What distinguishes this work, and what has given the book its cult following is the plot, the plot, the plot, the PLOT!
The premise takes two parallel events, in two different timeframes (the '70's and the late 18th century) and weaves the stories together. Both are quests for the mystical Montglane chess set, an Indian relic, once a gift to Charlemagne. Neville's got an imagination that knows no bounds, and she draws dozens of historical figures into the plot mix, both in this century and that. Catherine the Great plays a role, as does modern-day despot Muhammar Khaddafi. The Montglane chess set, like Tolkien's "The One Ring", has mystical powers, and must be prevented, by an innocent, from falling into the hands of those who represent evil and anarchy.
Part fairy tale, part romance, part historical fiction, part suspense novel, "The Eight" is unforgettable for its complexity and the peek into the mind of a great storyteller. You won't soon forget it!
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Title: Angels & Demons by Dan Brown ISBN: 0671027360 Publisher: Pocket Star Pub. Date: 26 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Deception Point by Dan Brown ISBN: 0671027387 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 26 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Digital Fortress : A Thriller by Dan Brown ISBN: 0312263120 Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin Pub. Date: 05 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Magic Circle by Katherine Neville ISBN: 0345423135 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 30 January, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Holy Blood, Holy Grail by MICHAEL BAIGENT, RICHARD LEIGH, HENRY LINCOLN ISBN: 0440136482 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 15 January, 1983 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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