Customer Reviews

The Crystal Skull

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Like James Rollins and some of the earlier Preston/Child books, Miss Scott's "Crystal Skull" stars scientists who discover an artifact from the past that has the power to radically alter our modern-day lives. Unlike those other authors' books, this book doesn't posess taut pacing, riveting action, or interesting characters. Everything is done without a whiff of tension. The languid pacing of this archaeological-thriller totally mutes the otherwise rich possibilities that the subject could acheive.

I don't recommend this book.

As a wedding gift, Kitt brings his new wife Stella to a cave where he believes Cedric Owen's legendary crystal skull is located. But when they find the skull, their lives are endangered. Someone is willing to kill to get his hands on it. And supposedly the skull has a curse on it. Can Stella uncover the truth behind the skull and get the skull to its resting place before time runs out?

The narrative jumps back and forth in time from Cedric Owen's time and destiny involving the crystal skull to Stella and her search for the truth and her own destiny. While some of the adventure surrounding the mystery of the skull was exciting and fun; unfortunately, this book didn't live up to the hype. The characters were all one-dimensional. And we are expected to believe that the pull of the crystal skull, though extremely valuable, evokes an emotional response in everyone who sees it. There is little to no explanation of how the skulls came to be, what they are really for, and how they are supposed to affect the supposed end of the world. This story had great promise for an archeological thriller. Instead, it was dull and disappointing.

I usually don't post negative reviews, as I don't usually finish books that I don't enjoy. But I actually finished this one, hoping there would be some resolution. I'm sorry to say that even the ending was an anti-climactic whimper.

A rather average book. The author's reach exceeded her grasp in choosing a subject matter and the whole thing read like a made-for-scifi-channel film treatment that takes itself seriously but just doesn't have the budget to see the vision through.

The book would have been better if the plot and characters were completely made up. Basing it around the Mayan 2012 "end of the world" legends and the inclusion of a cameo role for Nostradamus only made it feel cheap. Also, it is stressed several times through the book how accurate the Mayan calendar was and how it foretells the end times being a cataclysm on the winter Solstice 2012. And yet, the action of the "modern times" sections of the book is placed in 2007 at a different time of the year. The reasoning behind the 5 1/2 year discrepancy is never said.

I actually listened to this on Audiobook. Thank goodness I didn't waste my precious reading time on it. That said, I stayed interested and some of the story did make me curious about skulls, Mayan calendars, and Nostradamus.

It felt like the author was trying too hard to create tension and that she wasn't particularly good at it. Parts of the story were confusing and felt like they needed some explanation. Other parts were just bad editing. I was rather disappointed when a one armed man picked up two torches, one in each hand. Really?

If you are willing to overlook all of the problems and deal with having poor or absent explanations, then you might enjoy this.

This was an enjoyable read, I'd even say a great read...up until the last three chapters. At that point, the logic, the reasoning, and the painstaking tying/weaving of two story lines separated by 450 years that had marked the first 343 pages abruptly ended to be replaced by a hasty and incomplete conclusion (I think authors/publishers have become brainwashed by too many series titles and have forgotten the necessity of a well-executed closing sequence). That said, the book still makes it onto my recommended read list because Ms. Scott has succeeded better than most at tying past to present to future, creating a plausible end-times scenario based on the current political/economic climate, and manages to take us into beautiful locales in New Spain and Great Britain in the process. In fact, if she had not succeeded so well up until the end of the book, my expectations would not have been high enough to be disappointed in the conclusion.

The story revolves around two main characters, both appointed by destiny (the gods?) to play a pivotal role in saving the human race from precipitating their own self-destruction. One, Cedric Owen, physician and scientist, lived during the time of Bloody Mary, Elizabeth I, Catherine de Medici, Nostradamus, the Mayas (?), and the exploration of South America. I wouldn't bother looking too deeply into the "factual" basis of this book, but just enjoy it for what it is. Cedric has inherited a blue skull stone that has passed through his family for generations and has been given a quest to 1) learn how to use the stone, 2) learn where and when the stone needs to be used, and 3) safeguard this information and the stone so that it can only be, and will be, retrieved by the correct person 450 or so years into the future. His quest is fraught with danger, most originating from the church, who believes his stone is a work of the devil and his science is sacrilegious, from nature, or from those who wish to use the heart-stone's power for themselves.

The other character is Stella Cody, newlywed, avid caver, and academic astrologer, who has married a man and befriended two others whose goal in life is to find the blue skull which has been missing for 450 years. Needless to say, she finds the stone. Her quest then becomes to stay alive long enough to find out what she needs to do with the stone and to do it, in order to revive an, uhmm, mythical creature who will somehow keep the human race from destroying the planet.

Really, the heart of the story is human relationships and emotions. The lust for power, the strength of friendship, the crippling effect of jealousy, the bitterness of loss, and the blindness of preconception all play pivotal roles in the story and are reflected and enhanced by the sentient crystal skull. I recommend this book to those who enjoy adventure stories, light suspense/mystery enthusiasts, and those who can enjoy Armageddon theories that have nothing to do with the rapture.

Considering all of the research that purportedly went into the writing of this book, it's unfortunate that astrological research was not included. In the astrological wheel that was printed (early in the voyage), it's glaring that there was no Part of Fortune indicated (especially when it was discussed so prominently in the text and was the very reason the chart was drawn). Also, Chiron is indicated within said wheel, but it wasn't discovered until 1977 (and this horoscope was supposedly cast in the 1500s). It's unfortunate that neither the author nor the publishing house's editor thought to look at the astrological aspect of editing.

As a Si Fi/Fantasy reader for years, one with a sense of humor, I have been reading some f the the 2012 as end of times novels with the same " tongue in cheek" that I read al the Y2K blather during that "End of Times" and find The Crystal Skull to be entertaining, fairly historically relevant and interesting but brief.

The writer uses her obvious intelligence in writing and its' nice to read a book not needing to feel I should have a red pencil in my hand to edit the thing. Ms Scott has hired a good editor and proof readers so we who have paid for her work don't need to get frustrated with poor writing and miserable sentence structure.

The plot is worked in backstory/ modern day flips that aren't confusing, as some of these can be. I felt Ms Scott handled this sometimes tricky writing technique well.

However, the actual basis for the story is weak in parts and there were some areas that needed more to make it catch hold of the reader. As an action book, there wasn't that much action, as a romantic fantasy there wasn't that much romance and as historic fiction, there were just bits of actual history. All handled well, but all needed fleshing out. It's a fairly thin book, coming in at about 350 pages and I think another 75 pages of action, romance and history would have made me feel more about the characters, the story and the history of the time.

This was A book I was not thrilled with, but just enjoyed mildly. As it was, I started another book of similar plot when I was half way thru this one. You might say it didn't grab hold and keep my attention as some books can do.

For some reason, I expected this to be a series and was surprised when there wasn't one..It could have bade a nice pair of books or even trilogy in the Nora Roberts but more intelligent style quite nicely.There were obvious characters who could have been drawn much more finely to make a good series out of this.

Ah well, they didn't ask me.

Not a mediocre book, but not outstanding-I bought this on a discount table at my local bookstore for $3.00 and would have paid $10.00 and not felt cheated..should I send the author $7.00? I see the cover price is $25.00 and it's just coming out in paperback for about $9.00.

If you enjoy this type of fantasy, it's worth the read....especially if you can pick it up for 3 bucks

While most of the book is entertaining, the ending is an absolute dud. I was expecting a much better written ending than the one given. Also, what does the 12.21.12 on the back have to do with June 2007 which is when the book ends?

Very informative. Somewhat unbelievable at times, and yet. . . Who knows?

Good book, well-written, great photos.

This was an extremely disappointing end of the world story. The author attempted 2 storylines separated by several centuries. The past history was a bit more engaging, but remained unsatisfying (why did Own need to hide the skull and hope someone woudl figure it out). The present day story ended with a big nothing. Here's the problem with these types of plots: you're presented with the concept of an ancient civilized race disconnected from our own history that was intelligent enough to know something could destroy the planet, they knew when it would happen, that it would happen again at some future date, they create highly technical devices to prevent this that even dumbasses like us could do this and then they go and do 2 things. #1 They die off without leaving a trace of their former presence and #2, they pin future hopes on individuals keeping this whole idea a secret. There was no point in anything that happened. There's also an undercurrent of superior noble savages who drink reindeer piss as better able to save planet Earth from destruction.