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greensin's review against another edition
5.0
Great book, very exciting. Had a lot of great facts,loved it.
elodie2711's review against another edition
5.0
Awesome. I think that word sums it up.
What more can I say except that it was an amazing story? If you're a fan of Atlantis, just read the book. Being a fan of the Stargate franchise, I found a couple of references there, although I don't know if M. Stel Pavlou intended to put them here or not (like the zero point energy, which reminded me of the zero point module in Stargate, to name one).
I'm not a native english speaker, and so I must admit, I had some difficulties understanding all the technical words, because there are a lot of it. You feel when you read the book that the author just had to spend an incredible amount of time researching and exploring all kinds of fields.
I've heard there will be a Decipher 2, and I just have one thing to say. BRING IT ON!!
What more can I say except that it was an amazing story? If you're a fan of Atlantis, just read the book. Being a fan of the Stargate franchise, I found a couple of references there, although I don't know if M. Stel Pavlou intended to put them here or not (like the zero point energy, which reminded me of the zero point module in Stargate, to name one).
I'm not a native english speaker, and so I must admit, I had some difficulties understanding all the technical words, because there are a lot of it. You feel when you read the book that the author just had to spend an incredible amount of time researching and exploring all kinds of fields.
I've heard there will be a Decipher 2, and I just have one thing to say. BRING IT ON!!
badfalcon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I don't even know where to begin with writing a review for this - it was utterly batshit and I fucking loved it! :D
jennifermreads's review against another edition
2.0
Loved the adventure potential in the blurb. But the book ended up having way too much science for this gal who "majored in nouns."
All-in-all: Best for science nuts.
All-in-all: Best for science nuts.
tabithar's review against another edition
1.0
This book started out well and was fast paced. However, the few weeks span it was covering in book time felt like forever. It had enough spots in which the plot slowed that I could not force myself to continue. I think this is the first book I have been unable to make myself finish.
weaselweader's review against another edition
2.0
“Instinctively she jumped back from the wall as the approaching light entirely engulfed her section of the tunnel”
Guess what I think of any author who presumes to write a science-based tech-thriller but allows the characters to dodge an incoming hazard propagating at the speed of light?
Much like James Rollins’ over-wrought efforts, Pavlou dumps everything into DECIPHER but the kitchen sink – the discovery of Atlantis; pyramids; technological civilizations that pre-date our own by thousands of years and out-strip our technology and knowledge of the universe by orders of magnitude; linguistics; translation of previously undiscovered written languages; the large scale preparation of obscure crystalline versions of carbon; disruption of all of earth’s physical systems by gravity waves created by cyclical solar storms; prediction of the arrival of those disruptions to the very day … and more. From the opening pages, DECIPHER not only starts over the top and never comes to the surface of sensible reality, it attempts to out-do itself with progressively more grandiose (and dare I say, ridiculous) action and events.
It seems such a shame because I was still willing to award two stars on the basis of the author’s side bar essays on science that was real and made sense. His description of historical language groupings, for example, was fascinating. Fiction is allowed to stretch credibility, to be sure, but DECIPHER was out of control and beyond the pale!
Not recommended.
Paul Weiss
Guess what I think of any author who presumes to write a science-based tech-thriller but allows the characters to dodge an incoming hazard propagating at the speed of light?
Much like James Rollins’ over-wrought efforts, Pavlou dumps everything into DECIPHER but the kitchen sink – the discovery of Atlantis; pyramids; technological civilizations that pre-date our own by thousands of years and out-strip our technology and knowledge of the universe by orders of magnitude; linguistics; translation of previously undiscovered written languages; the large scale preparation of obscure crystalline versions of carbon; disruption of all of earth’s physical systems by gravity waves created by cyclical solar storms; prediction of the arrival of those disruptions to the very day … and more. From the opening pages, DECIPHER not only starts over the top and never comes to the surface of sensible reality, it attempts to out-do itself with progressively more grandiose (and dare I say, ridiculous) action and events.
It seems such a shame because I was still willing to award two stars on the basis of the author’s side bar essays on science that was real and made sense. His description of historical language groupings, for example, was fascinating. Fiction is allowed to stretch credibility, to be sure, but DECIPHER was out of control and beyond the pale!
Not recommended.
Paul Weiss
zoey222's review against another edition
4.0
A book best consumed in large quaffs while the evening is young and your wits are about you. Pavlou has some truly fascinating information to share, but it can easily put tired eyes to sleep, and it's very difficult to jump back into the wordy narrative. Once you are along for the ride, it's engrossing and intriguing the entire time.
It's as if The Davinci Code, Indiana Jones, and National Treasure had a baby.
This book could use some thinning out of tautologies and redundancy. But it's an obvious side effect of the granularity this stories uses to impress.
If you are willing to put effort and time into this book, it's definitely worth a read.
It's as if The Davinci Code, Indiana Jones, and National Treasure had a baby.
This book could use some thinning out of tautologies and redundancy. But it's an obvious side effect of the granularity this stories uses to impress.
If you are willing to put effort and time into this book, it's definitely worth a read.
pjmurphy3's review against another edition
4.0
There is a strong combination of literacy, mythology, archaeology, geology, physics, mathematics and many other types of Sciences bleed into a urban fantasy Syfy high-stakes action adventure book. It did take some time to acclimate into the story because there was a lot of the hard Sciences pushed in the first 200 Pages or so. So I would recommend being prepared for that before you get into this book. It does take some time to actually get into the action of the story and with the DM out of characters that are listed it does seem that it is hard to track who is who. Once you to get into the main story though it does pick up and does become a better read for those to enjoy those kind of books. I do like the combination of finding the the Lost land of Atlantis and interconnecting it with the ancient human developments from around the world while also tying in the end of the world 2012 mythology oh, so for those reasons it did make it a better read.