Customer Reviews

The Bourne Legacy

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(54)

 

 

Having read many of Ludlum's novels over the years, and having watched his style deteriorate somewhat as time passed, I had hopes that this new iteration of a Ludlum character would bring with it crisp, incisive writing.

It has not done so. Here are several examples of the sorts of sloppy mistakes that steal the joy of reading this book.

1 - a van Lustbader-invented assassin loads his sniper rifle with "the smallest caliber round it will take." What? Firearms by design and definition require a specific and single caliber of ammunition. Does this guy know nothing? And why in hell would he want the smallest caliber, if indeed there were such a thing? He never explains this weird concept.

2 - He has first-response cops showing up at a crime scene complete with tracking dogs. What? That's something that would be called in later at the discretion of the on-scene commander, rather than something that police officers routinely travel with.

3 - He has the Bourne character checking in with a motel clerk who is watching television. Bourne goes to his room, turns on his own TV, and finds himself featured as a wanted man on all channels. Yet he eats, showers, shaves and rests, never even apparently thinking that the check-in clerk, watching television, might have recognized him and might at that minute be calling out the mountes after him.

Just sloppy work for which there is no excuse. I doubt that even Ludlum himself would have written such drivel. Sorry, but it's very disappointing. Books are way too expensive these days to contain such second-rate crap.

-JT

I purchased this book while on a layover between flights with high hopes. After having read the entire Bourne trilogy I longed for more, like many true afficionados of a memorable character. The only reason I didn't put this book down midway was that it was a choice between soap-operatic plot "twists" or the overpriced airline skymall catalog.

In the original storyline Jason Bourne is a tortured hero, being pushed and pulled by circumstances beyond his control and understanding due to his total lack of memory. He is discovering amazing and frightening skills that he didn't know that he had. Underlying this is a deep fear of what he is becoming along with a horror and guilt of what or who he may have been. His humanity and inner conflict make the character of Jason Bourne believeable. The secondary characters are equally well-developed and three dimensional. The action appeals to genre readers, but it is the character depth and development that causes this series to transcend the genre and appeal to a wider audience.

This is in sharp contrast to Lustbader's creation. It opens up with the "Jason Bourne personality" reasserting himself without thought to the cost or consequence of his actions, leaving his dearest possessions (his family) behind without a twitch. He has become a two-dimensional caricature of the original. Supporting characters that gave a continuity to the story are conveniently dismissed, probably due to the difficulty in making them believable. I mean, Lustbader couldn't even accomplish this with the main character, what would have happened to the supporting cast? He totally ignores age or skill limitations which Ludlum would have included, and relies on a plot cobbled together from recycled action-drama cliches. The result is that this story has more stitchmarks than Frankenstein's monster - and is about as attractive.

Robert Ludlum isn't just spinning in his grave - he's generating electricity. The only resemblence between the two authors is the first letter of their last names. I gave this book one star simply because negative numbers were not an option.

Robert Ludlum was often credited with being the creator of the modern day action/adventure/international conspiracy genre that provides a riveting reading experience and at the same time reinforces the cynicism so prevalent regarding our powerful political institutions. The sales of his novels certainly reached unparalleled heights, with each successive book further embellishing his reputation and delighting his legions of devoted readers. As difficult as it usually is to identify the most memorable character among the many created by a writer as prolific as Ludlum, the adventures and experiences of Jason Bourne in THE BOURNE IDENTITY almost undeniably created a character who universally captivated Ludlum's fans and whose presence seemed to demand that Ludlum return to create a series that would further enlighten his readers about both Bourne's future and his past. Thus, over the next several years THE BOURNE SUPREMACY and THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM formed a powerful trilogy which has led to the character coming to life on film, with the timing of the release of this book roughly coinciding with the movie sequel starring Matt Damon.

Ludlum's fans know that Jason Bourne was the identity created and embellished by the CIA for a legendary undercover CIA operative whose real name was David Webb. Unfortunately, a deep cover operation in which Bourne/Webb was engaged went perilously wrong, and Webb has struggled for years to recover his lost memories and return his life to a semblance of normalcy. He has officially retired from the life of clandestine ops, has a wife and family and is a professor at Georgetown University. However, his deep friendship with his former CIA controller (Alex Conklin, who plays a key role in this story) allows him to maintain contact with his previous world. Suddenly, Webb finds himself the target of an incredibly skilled assassin and after his escape he finds himself at the center of a very complicated plot to frame him for several murders. Thus, cut off from most of his usual resources in the international law enforcement community, he must retreat into deep cover and use all the skills developed during his career as Bourne to stay alive and untangle the web which has been spun by a master at the high stakes game of international political intrigue and terror. The story is fast paced, the action almost non-stop, and the storyline sufficiently convoluted and the misdirection frequent enough to maintain the reader's interest. There are several other interesting characters, and a really dislikable villain, although I cannot go into details without providing spoilers.

This is the first book that I have read by Eric Van Lustbader, so I cannot compare it to his previous work. Fortunately, he did not choose to attempt to imitate Ludlum's style (this fact might disappoint some readers), but rather chose to continue the Ludlum and BOURNE LEGACY by adopting the trademark Ludlum techniques which I have previously described but utilizing his own methodology to tell the story. Much of Jason Bourne's backstory in the jungles of Vietnam is cleverly interwoven as an essential element of this tale, I hope that some day it will be revealed how much of this was created by Ludlum before his death and how much was this author's invention. ( Many of Ludlum's fans remain curious regarding his role in the creation of THE JANSON DIRECTIVE and THE TRISTAN BETRAYAL, the two novels completed by others after his death.) This book is also much more philosophical in tone than most of Ludlum's work, but that factor is essential to the story.

I highly recommend this book despite one meaningful flaw and one personal dislike. My dislike is the descriptions of torture and violence, which while infrequent were a little brutal for me. More importantly, there were a few instances where the escapes were a little too miraculous and the feats of physical prowess were unbelievable rather than improbable. All authors in this genre walk the fine line of implausibility veering into impossibility, and in some cases I thought this author wrote his characters into situations which left him without any believable methods of achieving the objectives of his narrative. I want to emphasize that despite these criticisms this is a pageturner with the type of palpable tension which epitomizes the Ludlum style. I was fortunate enough to discover Robert Ludlum when THE SCARLATTI INHERITANCE was first published, and read every subsequent book immediately upon publication (except THE ROAD TO GANDOLFO, originally published under a pseudonym) and enjoyed them all tremendously. Not only will this book provide enjoyment to Ludlum fans, but clearly if it achieves commercial success THE BOURNE LEGACY will include a further sequel. The conclusion of this story and the new addition to the cast of characters certainly foreshadow such a development.

One final recommendation for Ludlum fans - as you may be aware Ludlum was a fan of the writer Gayle Lynds and she was his coauthor for three of his last books. While the plots were not as complex as the books for which he was the sole author, this collaboration allowed him to increase his productivity in the years preceding his death. While these stories never achieved the success of his other work, they alerted me to the work of Lynds, and I strongly recommend two of her works which I have read. The initial volume (which definitely should be read first) is MASQUERADE (review 3/4/2004) and the sequel is THE COIL (review 3/16/2004).To date these have not achieved the success which they deserve in my estimation, but they are definitely Ludlumesque in plotting and complexity, although with much greater character development.

Tucker Andersen

I am a fan of both Robert Ludlum and Eric Lustbader. Having said that, both do have one thing in common: they are either really "on" or really "off". In the case of The Bourne Legacy, Eric Lustbader I am sorrowful to say, is "off". It may have been that he was attempting to copy Ludlum's "workman" style of writing and in so doing lost his own voice. Whatever the case, THe Bourne Legacy did not do it for me.

In the original Bourne trilogy, Jason Bourne is a powerful and in control figure even in the face of insurmountable odds. Though the character is confused about his past and how it connects to his present and future, he still decides strongly and takes action. In Legacy, Lustbader draws him as a bumbling, two dimensional character barely able to hold his own and disconnected from his feelings, while occasionally catapulting his abilities to superhuman levels. This left me unable to suspend my disbelief and find a "place" for Jason Bourne in my psyche. Bourne seems plastic to me in this book as do the other characters and I never really empathyze enough with them to care about them.

I suspect that Lustbader works best in his own worlds and should possibly stay away from "playing" in another writers sandbox.

Whatever the case, I am sad to say that I had a really hard time finishing this novel. It left me empty and dissappointed. I will of course give Eric Van Lustbader another read as some of his books have been brilliant, but I will avoid any more of his Bourne novels and re-read the old Ludlum classics.

If you're new to the Bourne universe then you MUST go back and read the series in order first (and no, having seen the movie doesn't count, since it has nothing WHATSOEVER to do with the series.) If you're an old Ludlum hand, then you want to know how this compares to the originals. The bottom line is that Lustbader is no Ludlum, but since Ludlum's own work was somewhat variable, LEGACY falls about halfway along spectrum.

On the positive side, Lustbader's plotting is quite good and this one is right up there with the best Ludlum. On the other hand, the writing is wooden at times and full of cliches, the torture scenes are disturbingly graphic (well beyond anything Ludlum ever wrote), and the suspension of disbelief required is (at least for me) problematic.

Lustbader gives the character Khan apparently greater powers than even Bourne (whose abilities already strain the limits of credulity) and even if one accepts the usual Ludlum conspiracy motivation zeitgeist, in this book there are a lot of loose ends, unbelievable coincidences, miraculous recoveries and escapes, unrealistic details both technical and political, and lack of back-story motivation for the villain that leave one somewhat unfulfilled. It is also a little too 'cinematic' for my tastes, with much of the book obviously written to lay the groundwork for a future film (distinct car chase, fight and explosion scenes that are more Bruckheimer than Ludlum.)

Perhaps my biggest regret is that, in what I assume is a deliberate move to make the series his own, Lustbader starts off by discarding the previously integral Conklin and Panov, and very publicly burning the Bourne/Webb secret identity. In the real world, after the events depicted in this book Webb would never again be able to walk out of his house without being followed by the press, let alone get involved in undercover skullduggery. This book, then, would only appear to make sense if Lustbader is intending to take the future series off in a different direction.

All in all, however, I give LEGACY four stars, and I will read the next one. I'm glad that the series is being picked up by a name writer as with Flemming's Bond series (instead of the unfortunate, ghosted, "completed by" or "together with" sequels such as the Gayle Lind stuf.) I only hope that in future novels Lustbader will continue with the good plotting while staying away from the gratuitous violence and implausibilities displayed in this one. Bottom line: the new kid shows promise [grin].

Ive been a fan of Lustbader since i read the Ninja series a long time ago, and ive been a fan of Ludlum longer so i thought this amalgamation had serious potential.

Unfortunately its flawed from the outset, it appears that Lustbader hasnt read the original novels properly. From day one the Bourne novels have been about 2 people - David/Jason and Marie, from book 2 Panov and Conklin were given a major part of the storyline so to ignore marie and kill panov and conklin was a major disapointment to me.

The story itslef is also deeply flawed, bits from previous novels are ignored, and some parts are ridiculous. David Webb buying and registering a gun in his own name ?????? In the other books its made clear he has a stash of weapons available to him at home, and that he knows how to get a "clean" weapon etc.

I for one was so looking forward to this book, and i felt the series had potential to continue, however i suggest that should the Ludlum family decide to allow another book they DONT use Lustbader and they ignore the happenings in this poor book and allow the interesting characters developed by RL to shine.

In case you havent already guessed i would not reccommend this novel to any true Bourne fan.

I have come to expect a lot from the Bourne series - impressed by the restraint, consistency, attention to detail, continuity and directness of style. Lustbader could not be farther from this "legacy."

Stuffed to overflowing with useless, flowery, adverb-laden descriptions bringing little or nothing to a story full of embarrassing holes and continuity flaws, this book could have been a quarter of its length and it STILL would have been boring and childish in its construction.

I am not want to be so brutal in a review, in fact, I don't usually review a book unless I have a compelling reason. In this case the reason is Lustbader's disappointing level of respect for the notable body of work that proceeded.

I wish I had the time back that I devoted to this mess of a story.

Unfortunately I'll have to re-read this book to confirm the following statement, but based on the first pass I feel confident saying there is not a single sentence of this book that was not ridiculously over-thought. It was exhausting. Characters couldnt just walk across a room and answer the phone, instead we had to delve into the religious and sociological issues their inner child wrestled with regarding transcontinental communication and its impact on modern religious beliefs. This was a verbal beating from word one. I really wanted to see how the story ended so I had to put up with it, but I finally began skipping entire paragraphs (missing nothing) to maintain my fragile sanity.

The Bourne Identity was the first Ludlum book in my library. Since reading it many, many years ago, I have read all of his works. Through it all, the three novels that make up Ludlum's Bourne trilogy were my favorites from all of his novels. At the same time, I had not read anything from Eric van Lustbader. Thus I had to decide whether to pass on the Bourne Legacy (and simply let the Bourne character die with Ludlum, leaving nothing but fond memories for me) or take a chance on a new author (who could potentially ruin the Bourne character). All things considered, I can honestly say that I am glad that I took the time to read the Bourne Legacy. The book, however, is clearly far from spectacular. The characters are more transparent and stereotyped and the storyline is far less complex and more predictable than those in the Bourne trilogy under Ludlum. To his credit, Lustbader does keep the reader tuning the pages with frequent action sequences (although some stretch reality a bit too far). He also creates a plausible storyline that plays on the current geopolitical landscape and the war on terror. All-in-all, your view of this book will likely depend on your history with the Bourne character. Bourne lovers may find this to be disappointing. Readers who are new to the character may very well be happy with this entry in the spy-thriller genre.

This book, while a good read, was seriously lacking the thought and finesse that Ludlum had for the Bourne novels. The way that Jason Bourne is portrayed in this book is not consistent with the previous books. The timeline, that is where this book is starting off from is hard to determine, is it after the Bourne Ultimatum, or between that and the Supremacy?

Also, I thought that bringing back Bourne's dead son Joshua did not add anything to the book at all. The author could have just made him another villain that Bourne killed in the end and it would have made for a much better story.

It is this readers hope that if the author writes another novel based on the Bourne character that he will be more faithful to Ludlum's style and portrayal of the Bourne character.