274 of 304 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Can't believe I kept reading..., December 3, 2010
This review is from: Crescent Dawn (Dirk Pitt Adventure) (Hardcover)
I'm as guilty as anyone in keeping the Dirk Pitt series alive (I haven't read much of Mr. Cussler's other series), because I keep coming back, like a battered wife or an abused Black Lab loyally slinking back to its master. Maybe it's because I don't know any better. Or maybe it's because I'm hooked ("Clive, I can't quit you!"). But most likely it's because Sahara, Dragon, Cyclops, and even Raise the Titanic! were books that made a junior-high me love to read. And now that I write books of my own for a living, I guess I owe a debt to those writers like Mr. Cussler who made me want to do what they did. While adoring athletes my whole life never got me into the big leagues, my love and loyalty for writers as far ranging as Cussler and Camus and Margaret Wise Brown DID get me somewhere...So that's probably why I read this book.
All of that being said, Crescent Dawn is just awful. I mean, it is one of the worst books I've ever read. And that is the only reason I'm taking the time to write my first-ever book review here on Amazon. The book's plot, or the setup at least, isn't any worse or different than others have ever been. It takes an ancient occurrence, crosses it with something that could've happened a century ago, and then lets the mess those two eras started play out in the very near future of Dirk Pitt and his ever-growing gang. I actually looked forward to learning something about the Ottoman Empire, a subject I need to beef up on. And I thought that by tying such a divergent historical happenstance in with our world's current state of religious zealotry and terrorism, this book might be less far-fetched than most Cussler novels (let me set the record straight -- I have never minded anything far-fetched that he comes up with...if you want to strand a mummified Lincoln in the desert, go for it...if you want to send us to the moon, I'm game...if you want to introduce Dirk's children in order to keep the franchise fresh, no problems). But none of that mattered. The dreadful writing just didn't allow a promising premise to be realized.
The introduction of another Dirk has been a problem with Cussler's recent novels. You see, I've not been too keen on many of them since Shock Wave (that one, with its tragedy and its allusions to "Moon River" just killed me, though...one of Cussler's best). So, despite complaints here and there, I kept on reading.
But when Cussler's son Dirk started showing up as co-author, I noticed a sharp decline in the quality of the writing. And this poor writing reaches a new low with Crescent Dawn.
The lazy use of adverbs is worse than ever -- they're loosely tossed liberally around and the book dramatically suffers from this tragically tragic tragedy.
Word choices are equally lazy and uninspired.
Descriptions are forced and generic and, like someone said in another review on here, sound like something ripped from an eighth grader's composition notebook.
This is some of the worst writing I've EVER read, and I used to teach writing and now edit writing, so believe me, I've read some really crappy stuff. But this is right up there with the crappiest mine eyes have yet seen. This review is already WAY too long as it is, but if needed I can dig through the book and find specific examples.
I don't know if the problem is that Mr. Cussler just doesn't care anymore (he should care, as he has many fans who love him, myself included), or if his writing skills have devolved this badly (like an aging ballplayer who hangs on for one season too many and embarrasses himself by stumbling and fumbling and breaking down for all to see). I hope neither is the case.
I suspect it has to do with his son doing most of the writing. I think Dirk comes to the publishing world from some unrelated field (I believe I read it was stockbroking or banking or maybe some other loot-related career...piracy on the high seas, perhaps?), so I'm sure he doesn't have a strong foundation in the creative arts or in general composition. These could be remedied by taking an intro to writing course at his local community college, one of the many online schools that I've heard have popped up in recent years, or even asking someone he knows (or myself...Dirk, give me a ring!) to show him some writing fundamentals and give him some good, solid constructive criticism before he sends his manuscripts off to be loosed out into the world.
Because writing takes practice. And it's hard work. He has a proven formula to guide his books and a strong cast of characters already provided for him. And Dirk has the millenia past of our history-rich earth to give him plots and settings and twists and turns. He just needs to learn to write. I'd just hate to see a favorite series of mine continue to get worse because of poor and lazy composition, something that could easily be remedied.
So, Mr. Cussler, I'll keep coming back to your books when they're released every year or two. And I'll read them. And I'll hope beyond hope that the next one will return to the way it used to be. And I'll hope even more that you DO care about the quality of such a beloved literary gem and that it's not just about the money.
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40 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Cussler and son drowned by prior success, December 11, 2010
This review is from: Crescent Dawn (Dirk Pitt Adventure) (Hardcover)
This book is what happens after a successful author spends years cashing in on a successful formula, runs out of ideas and (possibly abetted by the publisher) cannot even be bothered to do a decent job of editing.
As an example of bad editing, consider that one character is in her twenties but has a mother aged 94.
Other reviews will tell you plenty of things that are wrong with this book. I'll just add one more. With two main characters called Dirk, it would help to have something like a nickname to distinguish between references to the two characters.
Frankly, if the senior Cussler wants to continue the franchise with his son successfully established as an author, he needs to tell his publisher to back off and he needs to slow down. He should spend a year or two working on the next book with his son and teaching him the craft properly.
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