By: Whitley Strieber Publisher: Tor Books Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Tor Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 320 Publication Date: September 18, 2007 Release Date: September 18, 2007
December 21, 2012, may be one of the most watched dates in history. Every 26,000 years, Earth lines up with the exact center of our galaxy. At 11:11 on December 21, 2012, this event happens again, and the ancient Maya calculated that it would mark the end, not only of this age, but of human consciousness as we know it.
But what will actually happen? The end of the world? A new age for mankind? Nothing? The last time this happened, Cro-Magnon man suddenly began creating great art in the caves of southern France, which to this day remains one of the most inexplicable changes in human history.
Now Whitley Strieber explores 2012 in a towering work of fiction that will astound readers with its truly new insights and a riveting roller-coaster ride of a story. A mysterious alien presence unexpectedly bursts out of sacred sites all over the world and begins to rip human souls from their bodies, plunging the world into chaos it has never before known.
Courage meets cowardice, loyalty meets betrayal as an entire world struggles to survive this incredible end-all war. Heroes emerge, villains reveal themselves, and in the end something completely new and unexpected happens that at once lifts the fictional characters into a new life, and sounds a haunting real-world warning for the future.
Not bad...Not great. As a professional archaeologist, I am always drawn to semi-historical fiction novels and science finction that uses archaeology as a backdrop. 2012 proved to be a somewhat entertaining read, but it could have been a lot better. I don't concern myself with historical innacuracies so much since this is supposed to be a FUN read, not science. And, it was somewhat fun switching between realities (dimensions) and trying to keep up with what was going on in all three worlds. So, in that sense, it was a decent read.
The problem I had with the book is that the the sentance construction was poor and I often had to go back and re-read a sentance and try to figure out what the author was getting at. That was a fairly small annoyance, but worth noting. There were also a number of inconsistencies in the book and a number of concepts that simply weren't well explained or solved. For instance, there was a repeated mention of the melting of the ice caps and consequent environmental issues on the world with two-moons, basically changing it forever, yet in the end there was no mention of how this would be addressed? And, there was no discussion of how that world became what it did in the end.
Again, if you are a quick reader and have a day or two to spend. This book will keep you entertained.
Poorly written I started this book with the hope that it would be a great read. I have always been a fan of science fiction and as such, I have read many, many books by authors both famous and obscure. However, Whitley just isn't a very good writer, technically speaking. I know... he's written lots of books. One could only hope that, by this time, he would have improved. Doesn't this guy use an editor or have someone critique his work before he publishes it?
It's not really the general premise of the book that is hard to deal with. It's his sentence structure and pacing, as well as the awkward dialogue between characters. He tends to 'jump' to the good parts like an over-excited kid, and the character development suffers for it. One also gets the feeling that he is trying to write a screenplay instead of a book, making odd generalizations at times that seem like the author is hoping that, through some other process (a movie, perhaps), that someone else will flesh out the story for him. A book by Greg Bear called 'The Forge of God' is a book that succeeds in portraying imminent disaster while also having good characters and a plot line that proceeds in a linear way. Read this book if you have not.
I'm only six chapters in to this book and I think I have to put it down. I love the subject matter, but it's just too poorly written. If you want another book about the stealing of souls or subject matter pertaining to this general topic, try 'The Reality Dysfunction' by Peter Hamilton. Alistair Reynolds is also a great author and writer. Sorry, Mr. Streiber. You lost me on this one. Especially when you had to mention the anal probe. It could be that he's secretly gay... what better way to obfuscate about that issue than to get 'probed' all the time. Whoa!!
Could have been good, but wasn't. This book started off with strong concepts, interesting characters, and some great action scenes. I was prepared to be Wowed. Unfortunately, "2012" devolved into a lot of weak storytelling from there, mostly brought on by one particularly stupid hero, laughable bad guys, and a weird sort of schizophrenia. I don't mean the multiple story lines through the various universes in the novel. I had no trouble following who was what or where, but too many of the characters began acting out of character or making dumb choices, and time and again there were reversals of fortune that I think were supposed to be shocking but really just read like the author didn't know what else to do except to throw in another surprise, unsupported bit of mystical hocus pocus.
It got so bad that I couldn't even force myself to read the final twenty pages, not even that close to finding out what was going to happen in the end. I would have rated this book a single star except that it started off so strongly.
Not recommended.
Riveting Story if you ignore the artificial sweetener Frankly, I could hardly put this book down, because I wanted to see how the author managed to bring everything together (the trans-dimensional "Perils of Pauline") for 3 distinct parallel Earths, each with its own impending crisis. There is nothing particularly new in the concept of intelligent reptilian beings who use humans as a food source. I first read such a tale by Edgar Rice Burroughs, a pulp fiction magazine writer of the early 1900's who invented Tarzan.
The first half of the book is particularly riveting. It is a composite of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and various other Sci-Fi channel "mysterious alien invasion" movies and mini-series. The only thing missing is Will Robinson and the Robot from Lost in Space!
What bothered me most was 2 things: 1.the maudlin sentimentality regarding the family of the 2 major human characters, Martin and Wylie/Wilie. Some pages oozed with artificial sweetener as the author threw in a bit of hip grinding married sex (yes, married people have sex. So what? I didn't buy this book to read about THAT!). There were also numerous scenes of gushing love between the parents and their children. (I love my family too, but again I didn't buy this book to read about THAT!).
2. The ultimate fate of the parallel Earth invaded by Reptilians. SPOILER: As a result of all the horrors that occurred to humanity, the author wants us to believe that human beings developed spontaneous psychic powers of telepathy, the ability to repair melted furniture and appliances with a casual touch, the lose of all "bad" people and "bad" impulses and the END OF DEATH. In detail, one little girl's body was found dead, but she miraculous was resurrected, so I guess the New Age point the author was getting across is that people on this parallel earth will be equal to Jesus Christ after 2012. I guess all it takes to become spiritually enlightened is to be chased around in the dark by mechanical spiders and other Reptilian bogeyman devices?
Hmmmm....now I realize that being invaded by Reptilians who suck out the soul is a rather unpleasant experience, but just what in heck would cause the author to proclaim that from such experience comes a "new humanity" with the powers of the X MEN?!? I've met people who survived being in a Nazi concentration camp, and they (at best) developed a spiritual sense of faith in God and forgiveness for others, but no ability to read minds, transport teddy bears with their mind, etc. The end of this book reminded me so much of the Celestine Prophecy, where for some inexplicable reason at one point (having read the prophecy) everyone starts to glow with light, the pixies come out from hiding and everyone lives happily ever after. OK, fine (roll of the eyes).
Whitley (author), sometimes you have a great idea, and then you just take it to extremes. I can see how this may make a great movie, but leave out all the corn syryp and New Age crap at the end, or it just might not work.
Would I recommend buying this book? NO! Check it out of the library. If I could turn back time, I wouldn't buy it. I enjoyed the read only to feel (at the end) that I wasted my time. It's like watching a CSI episode on TV, and at the end everyone develops angel wings and starts singing Amazing Grace and flies off into the clouds together. You'd think, WTF? That's my reaction to the way the author brought this all together.
Horrible I promise I have no idea what these good reviews are about. I'm baffled.
I read a lot. Don't watch much T.V. This is the worst book I have ever read. The plot stinks. The writing stinks. The dialogue stinks. The characters are all ridiculous. The twists are uninteresting, unbelievable, really just dumb. This reads like a 15 year old wrote it.
It was so bad, it embarrassed me.
This was the first and last time I pick up a book by this author. I'll stick to the guys who actually have talent, Like King, Koontz, Ketchum, etc...
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