Customer Reviews

Raising The Past

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was impressed by the quality of the physical book, but not by the quality of the intellectual material within its pages. The plot seemed to be laid out as a bad screenplay, the dialogue was stilted, and the characters were shallow. These defects could have been corrected through the judicious use of a good editor. A good copy editor would have helped, too, because the grammar is atrocious. Now, I'm not an effete intellectual, I am an rpg gamer, a voracious fantasy and science fiction fan, but most of all a reader. As a reader, I can't recommend this book.

Based on the 5-star reviews and the premise about excavating a woolly mammoth, I went ahead and purchased this book, hoping it would really be a great adventure yarn -- especially since it was recommended by James Rollins. As I read the book, however, the story for me devolved into a comic-bookish sci-fi story complete with opposing sets of aliens! I believe the author was a comic book writer and I think this is very evident. I did enjoy the setup for the story and the first parts about the mammoth excavation. And the story does have a lot of action but I really can't recommend it.

Another thing that was distracting to me was the numerous typos in the text. This book was published by a new publishing house (Breakneck Books) and this could be the reason for the errors.

Last summer I went and volunteered for some time with a scientist who had led one of the expeditions to Siberia to recover a frozen mammoth. Their intent was to see if the DNA of the animal was still intact enough to enable a clone to be built (grown, developed, whatever). While the meat was still 'fresh' the DNA was destroyed so no clone.

This was enough, however to tempt me into this book. And his story of the digging up of the animal is very well told. His comments on digging in Russia are exactly right, you can't take the animal or even sample tissue out of Russia, etc.)

This story is, of course is science fiction (which I like) so he has expanded the story to move the mammoth to Canada. And then built a story around an alien artifact. This part was a lot like Arthur C. Clarke's 1948 story, 'The Sentinel.' which later became a novel and a movie under the name '2001: A Space Odyssey.' That is, an artifact burried where it can't be found is finally found and used to send a signal to an advanced species.

The rest comes down to the tone of the story, the writing, the characters. Not, I'm afraid going to make it to the all time best, but a damn file read.

Breakneck publishers needs to hire competent readers before they publish a novel. I haven't read a book with so many blatant errors in decades. It was reminiscent of a high school english paper.

I started this book last night at 7 pm, read throughout the night with about 3 hours of total sleep. Finished at 9 am this morning. What a great ride!! I just want to know if there will be a continuation of this story in another book. The epilogue leads one to believe that there might be..... "The Aeros had been called to Earth." One can only hope!!

This book was a very enjoyable read. It was fast paced with interesting well defined characters and a ton of action. I thought that I was going to be reading a book about the excavation of a frozen mammoth but I was pleasantly surprised that there was so much more. The story moves quickly from one action packed sequence to the next. I was really looking forward to learning more about the mammoth they discovered but that was not to be. The story in this book moves like a rocket ship on steroids.

I read at night before going to bed and I found myself going to bed earlier and earlier so that I could spend more time reading this book. At 295 pages, unfortunately the ride was over way too soon. Great book. If you love a fast paced adventure you'll love this book.

I thoroghly enjoyed this book. When I read James Rollins' blurb I couldn't help but wonder what a mammoth frozen in ice had to do with the future of all mankind, so I bought it. I wasn't disappointed in the least. Raising the Past is very fast paced and engaging; it kept me up past my bedtime several nights in a row. I just purchased Robinson's other book, The Didymus Contingency, and I expect to be just as pleased with it. I look forward to more books from this author.

Frank Ferris, a Waldenbooks assistant manager, 10/01/2006
Robinson does it again
Raising the past is the best book Robinson has written so far.I couldn't put it down until I was done and wanted to read it again. Great book!

While the other reviewers were correct about the grammar in this book, I really would not have cared about the grammar if this turned out to be a good book. Instead, I think it was a quickly put together poorly developed story with shallow characters. The logic the characters use to make decisions is silly. I wish I could have liked this book as I was anxious to read it.

I love the authors who recommended this book, so I was so excited when I got it, but I have to agree with some of the other reviewers: the grammar was so awful, it was distracting. The book itself could have used a strong hand in editing it. The plot was thin, the dialogue was unrealistic and stilted, and the characters were flat. I was intrigued by the thought of the mammoth and the excavation, but that was hardly a part of the book. For those looking for fascinating creatures and ancient or scientific discoveries, try Steve Alten or James Rollins. This books reads like a high schooler's screenplay, light on the plot and without realistic dialogue. I saw this author has another book out, and I love the cover, but after recalling this one, I can't in good faith make the purchase.