2012: The Crystal Skull

very good book

A very good book. A little similar in structure to Possession (AS Byatt), in that the story is set in 2007 and about the finding of a crystal skull, the next chapter is set in the 1500's and is about the crystal skull and how it got to where it was found in 2007.A well written story and a good read. For the negatives I would only say that I got a little confused in reading the historical chapters as during the course of the book they span over thirty years whereas the modern story is set over a couple of years.On the whole worth the effort and would recommend.

Why oh why didn't I read the reviews for this BEFORE buying the book? This book is abysmal! The characters are one-dimensional and stir no interest from the reader. I very rarely despise a book so much - there is almost always something good to say but unfortunately here this isn't the case. The reader is treated like an idiot: the plot is jaded and formulaic and the story completely lacks any kind of depth or mystery.The synopsis as described by Amazon is accurate but the book is very poorly written and I hate saying it but the author really lacks the kind of vigor required to tell this kind of story in gripping compelling way. If you are still contemplating buying this book, please please try and find an excerpt online or visit a bookshop so that you can read a few pages and see for yourself just how awful this really is.

I read The Emperor's Spy and loved it, thought it was the best book I'd come across for a long time. This Crystal Skull book was just a pot-boiler, obviously on the Da Vinci Code bandwagon. Not recommended, put me off reading any more Manda Scott.

Truly awful book. I like reading. I love books. I respect them and often pass on new authors I've found to friends and family. I burned the copy I read of this book to make sure no one would have to ever suffer through the drudgery of plot, the pointless jumping between timelines and the wooden characters that created an apathy I had never before experienced.

Manda Scott has a flowing style with a rhythm that captures my imagination and my attention. Her writing is poetic and detailed at the same time; each word bringing more understanding and more images. I enjoyed reading The Crystal Skull tremendously and I know that I will read more of Manda Scott's books. As a matter of fact, I am planning to read as many as possible this year. Manda Scott is a talented writer, who is not afraid of researching the backgrounds of her stories, and totally deserves her success and more.

I read all four books of the Boudica series twice and was looking forward to thsi book coming out. I have to say that i am glad that this is not a series, It was pale in comparison to Boudicca. The only parts where characters came alive was in the medieval timeline. The characters there came alive but the modern characters were utterly lifeless, and the storyline their was poor. In my view if the book had concentrated on the ealrier period and only hinted at the future, it would have been a far better story.The story topic looked as if it would be a rival to the Da Vinci Code and when written by an experienced author I expected more than was produced. I think it is a case of authors having to produce books to satisfy the publishers and catch sales, thus they are not able to give their hearts to the subjects.

I got to page 439 of 524 and gave up. I decided that I wasn't going to waste another hour on this drivel and wasn't even interested in how it ended.Normally I can get along with any kind of fantasy, so long as the story telling is good. But page 1 had me worried when i realised that the book had been published in 2008 and the author said we should (in relation to the Mayans) "take their prediction that the world will end on 21 December 2012 very seriously indeed". As i started the book in May 2013 this got me off on the wrong foot immediately.I then ended up speed reading the first 100 pages, which is more my problem than the authors. I've never understood cavers / pot holers and couldn't bear the thought of wriggling through tiny gaps while under hundreds of feet of earth. So when i realised that the book start with Stella / Kit going into an uncharted cave system - I started speed reading. Plus it irritated me as to how irresponsible they were in not telling anyone where they were going or seemingly taking proper precautions.The book flicks back and forth from present day to the 1500s and, again, I found myself skipping pages more and more. The writing isn't good enough to hold your attention and i found myself niggling over whether, in 1568, they would have really described Christmas as "the holidays".Not a good read, i'm afraid.

Ich hatte schon bei anderen Büchern der Autorin das Gefühl, dass sie etwas sehr vage ist. Man muss ja nicht alles aussprechen, aber manchmal fehlte mir einfach ein Satz zur Klarheit. Und das ist hier nicht anders. Die Idee ist gut, es parallel in 2 verschiedenen Zeiten spielen zu lassen, aber manchmal ist es mir einfach zu fantastisch. Die Charaktere bleiben zu oberflächlich. Und es schien auch ein Zufall zu sein, dass das Buch gleichzeitig mit dem Indiana Jones- Film auf den Markt kam, dazu nimmt sie jedoch im Nachwort Stellung. Es liest sich nicht schlecht, ist aber mit zu vielen Mängeln behaftet. Eigentlich 3.5 Sterne.

I enjoyed reading this book, though many sections didn't make sense. Quotation marks were not included at the beginning of paragraphs that ended with quotation marks, and there were at least three GLARING errors. As stated in the title of my review, sapphire is NOT, as stated by freakin' scientists in the book, blue quartz! Quartz has a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale. Sapphire is blue *corundum*, which has a hardness of 9. Unfortunately, I lost respect for the book when I encountered this error. Secondly, as another reviewer mentioned, there is a scene where a one-armed man holds two torches: one in each hand. Ridiculous. Thirdly, Stella is said to be a descendent of Cedric Owen (he looked like her grandfather and she looked like his grandmother), but Cedric Owen was a virgin with no offspring! Major discrepancy! There were typos and inconsistencies, and I still don't fully understand who the modern day bad guy was. It was unclear. Kit didn't make sense as a character. Did he love Stella? He acted like a jerk through most of the book. Conversations were unclear in terms of who said what. With all the talk about 2012, how did 2007 enter into it? All of that said, I read the book in one day. I enjoyed the author's prose most of the time, except for major errors and lack of clarity.

Although this is fiction inspired by the non-fiction Crystal Skulls books, it's a who-dunnit that kept me guessing up until the very end.

Very informative. Somewhat unbelievable at times, and yet. . . Who knows?Good book, well-written, great photos.

I have just discovered this writer. She really writes well fabout strong and intelligent women. If you haven't read her series on Boudica, you should. 4 books available through Amazon.