Customer Reviews

Checkmate (Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I just finished this book last night. It was the first Splinter Cell book I have read.

As other reviewers have commented, the grammatical errors in this book are glaring. I'm really surprised any book would seem so unedited. While some errors formed other words and could have easily slipped past spell check, others were quite butchered. This did not really take much away from the book though. I had to reread some sentences, but usually I would not even notice the error at first, as my brain would figure it out as I went over it. Since I picked the book up at a discount supermarket, I wasn't expecting a masterpiece though.

As far as how Checkmate compares to other books in the series, I don't know since I have not read them. But I have played the Splinter Cell games. The slow paced sneak around genre greatly appeals to me. This book read like it could come from a game. I thought it was true to the vision of Third Echelon and Sam Fisher, and what I would expect. The story was farfetched with plot twists, deception, and number of places visited by Sam, but that is how the games are played out. If you are looking for a work of brilliant espionage, turn elsewhere. It reads like a corny video game and is predictable.

My biggest grip is with the author's description of technology. I have a good grasp of most things technical, and it appears this author doesn't. One part describes a character trying to `defeat' a spreading virus in the computer system. I read the segment out loud to my room mate and we both had a good laugh over it. It is just completely `Hollywoodized' and not true to reality. Some depictions are wordy and hard to follow. This is a work of fiction, and I wouldn't expect it to be technical document, but I thought the author did a fairly poor job in this regard.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I found the story intriguing, more to see how the characters would react to events than the overall plot itself. I think I liked the book more for the characters from the Splinter Cell series I have grown to love rather than the book itself. I probably would not read it again, but I would recommend it to people who are interested in Splinter Cell, but not as an introduction to the series (I did notice a complete lack of character development, as others have noted as well. This did not both me since I have seen the development of these characters already).

Enjoyable read, but not a classic in any sense.

I've enjoyed the first two books in this series and I love the games but I'm sad to say that this book was terrible. The story never really captivated me for a moment and there were far too many scene changes. Additionally there was an INCREDIBLE amount of errors that plague this book. One moment you'll actually be getting into a scenario and then you'll get caught up on sentence after sentence because they're so full of errors, and I mean blatant ones! Examples: He pinned his sight on back for head. I certainly owed him am apology.
Even if the story were intriguing, which it wasn't (rather dry actually), it's literally impossible to immerse yourself in it.

So, I don't normally review products, but I feel that this book is worth a review.. I have played the Splinter Cell games and have now read all three SC books by David Michaels.. Wy thr bok wastn edittted, I doont now.. But the grammatical errors really took away from the flow and the feeling that you were reading of some elite secret force.. In other words, it killed the "coolness" of the book and also the enjoyment of reading it..

As far as how this book measured up with the first two (minus the editing problem), I would say it is enjoyable at best, but nothing close to the first two.. There was fairly little advancement of Sam's personal life, Sarah only being mentioned twice.. It was almost as if DM was forced to write this book in a week and brainwashed about the first two books..

I have looked forward to the publishing of SC 2 and 3.. I hope there is a SC 4. However, I hope and would really like it if the thought and work that was put into SC 1 and 2, was also used in the writing of SC 4..

-JJ

Against my better judgment, I picked up a paperback copy of this book. A $10 paperback copy, at that. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I tried to read through the extremely numerous spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors that permeated the first few chapters, but after about page 100, I gave up. Combine that with the extremely boring, mundane, blow-by-blow, or more aptly, muscle movement-by-muscle movement account of every move made by the main character (I about drowned in empty-brained testosterone), and I tossed it. Although I had considered going back to the store where I purchased it and requesting my money back. I decided the book had already wasted enough of my time.

I only read halfway through Checkmate and had come across TWO DOZEN errors in grammar and spelling. I had to put the book down for a few weeks because it annoyed me so much! I can't believe that in this day and age this book would pass a spellcheck with no problems. The book claims to be printed in the United States of America, but I don't think it's just coincidence some of these sentences sound like a chinaman proofread this book. Here's what I mean:

Some grammar issues:
p40 "To his right he heard a the muffled chugging of a marine engine."
p44 "...he might be able wait out the security sweep."
p68 "...and a spiked soft rubber ball roughly the size of marble."
p190 "Inside he found storage closet lined with empty shelves."

A few misspellings:
(same page as a grammatical error) p68 "...the sabot breakes away, leaving only the Cottonball."
p77 "If it became necessary, the man's disapperance wouldn't immediately raise an alarm."

Spellcheck didn't catch these?!? Was this book penned on a legal pad before being immediately and haphazardly typed up? In many places periods, commas, and words were even left out entirely! I have lost interest in this book, hardcore.

Narration. Not only are there so many errors of all kinds, but the narration is way off from the first two books in the Splinter Cell series. Splinter Cell's self-titled and Operation Barracuda series were well written and had a first person narration. At first, the first person style was kind of annoying, but then it stood out more and made the books what they are: good. You got to feel like you were inside Sam Fisher's head, just as if you were controlling his every move while playing the video games. It was a good way to tackle a video game such as Splinter Cell and make it into a good book. Checkmate drops the first person narration and goes for the third person. Why? No clue. Is it broken? Nope! So don't fix it!

So, what about the actual storyline and plot? In all accounts, the story could have been topnotch. A lot of elements were there to potentially make this one shine. However, even that wasn't done right!

For the facts I discussed above, I give this book one single star because Amazon won't allow a rating of zero. If I were Tom Clancy, I would be embarrassed and ashamed that a book like this had my name all over it.

I must have gotten a newer version as I did not notice the spelling and grammar errors. This book's story is what I have come to expect from the splinter cell series. If you've play through the games then you'll like this book.

I enjoyed all the Splinter Cell books so far, however this book was very disappointing in terms of grammar and spelling errors. I'm only on chapter 11 and it seems as if the author lost the time line in the book. To me it seems he just wrote the book and never re-read it or had one to many drinks while writing this book. I would give it a 5 star but with the grammar errors were just to much from a person who writes so much.I hope the next book coming out in Nov. 2007 Will be much better.

Written in the Tom Clancey style and, while intriguing, there were numerous typos, double words, missing words, etc. Fairly disappointing from that perspective.

With a new author in line, alot of people were nervous about this book. But it met and exceeded all my expectations.

The author has said in interviews he is a former Navy man and you can see it in his writing. He seems very well versed in the military tactics he has Sam using. There was a change of scenery in Sam's personal life that added an interesting new aspect to the character.

Unlike the last two novels, this novel is in third person. However, we often get to hear Sam's internal dialogue so we are still getting the world according to Sam Fisher.

Big ups to David Michaels on a job well done. I am hopeful there will be more novels to come.

1. In previous reviews it was mentioned that Raymond Benson was the "David Michaels" for this novel, which is not true. The current author's real name is unknown.

2. As to the typos and grammar, the author was only given 2 1/2 months to complete this novel! I'd love to see you put one this large out in that short a period without errors. Basically the author didn't have sufficient time to proof read it.

3. I blame the short deadline by the publishers for the lack of proper proof reading, perhaps they were under pressure to release it within a short time frame. In my opinion, it would have been better served to delay it and correct the errors, but in spite of all this the novel still comes across with the excitement and depth that we fans of the series love.

4. All-in-all this novel is well worth reading, in spite of the many errors!