Reviews

Decipher by Stel Pavlou

greensin's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Great book, very exciting. Had a lot of great facts,loved it.

elodie2711's review against another edition

Go to review page

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!!

martha_me's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? No

1.0

badfalcon's review

Go to review page

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

Go to review page

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.

poinssetia's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

Me llamo la atención el nombre y el tema que trata, pero la historia en si no es nada de lo que esperaba. Para mí la Atlántida se relaciona con la sabiduría y lo mítico, poco de lo que hay en el libro, aunque si hay mucho de lo científico, lo que resulta aburridor solamente agrega extensión al libro.

La historia en si es monótona y sin mayor interés que el de saber cómo logran descifrar todo y salar el mundo, tanto detalle científico, histórico y mitológico me pareció innecesario y que además le quitaba interés al problema central aunque se relacione con este.

La personalidad de los personajes no es llamativa y no tienen nada con lo que me pudiera identificar, por lo que al final no me importaba lo que pasara con ellos, además de que no parecían evolucionar emocionalmente a la par de los acontecimientos que viven.

Me parece que la historia podría funcionar mejor en un medio audiovisual, porque como literatura es aburridora y demasiado extensa para contar una historia sin giros narrativos de la que la se espera todo lo que pasa al final, y que no tiene un argumento que despierte emociones ni convence con la forma en que se desarrollan los eventos narrados.

tabithar's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Go to review page

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

dgmalcolm's review against another edition

Go to review page

1.0

One of the worst books I've ever read. Simply awful.

zoey222's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.