Eagle Reviews

excellent history lessons on instruments and origens, good "overall" information but the flute building section is a little vague on dimensions but is still worth reading...lookingbear 2002

I work with Native and non Native kids, and am amazed at the information that I found in this book. It contains modern musicians as well as the older, more traditional forms. The descriptions are concise, and exacting. This publication is a must for any enthusiast of Native Americana or ethnic music! Of course, would you expect less from someone as great as Douglas Spotted Eagle?

At first this book bothered me with it's lack of references. Bowman would make an assertion (or state a fact, depending on your views) but not provide a reference for fact checking. Some of the government reports he quotes do not even appear in the bibliography. One example of this is when he refers to "a 1979 government report." Looking in the bibliography, there are no references at all from 1979. My question: "Which report?"

In spite of this recurring problem throughout the book, there are some very important points which he makes. Our country is completely reliant on energy distribution systems that are vulnerable to disruption.

When I finished the book, I felt like he started out with his conclusion (the last 3 or 4 chapters) and then wrote the rest of the book to support it. This didn't work very well, but... the conclusions are important enough that I have a hard time dismissing the book as I was initially ready to do.

This book tells us the public secrets none of us realized until the World Trade Center bombing. Without telling terrorist how to destroy us, the author helps us all to realize that international terrorism is not just an easily ignored horror overseas, but is imminent to us. Our lives, our dreams; the very survival our country may depend on how our leaders deal with the issues in this book. Our country's web of utilities and other services have bound us together, and supported us through decades of hard times. They may now be our downfall

Rosamunde Pilcher is one of those authors, at least for me, who never disappoints with any of her books. Like coming home from a hectic day and changing into a favorite robe and comfortable slippers, Pilcher's books take me away to a serene place filled with wonderful characters and a happy ending. And based on the popularity of her books, I imagine there are many other readers out there who also feel the same way I do.

The Shell Seekers was the first book I read by her many years ago. After gulping down this wonderful family saga, I couldn't wait to read all of her previously published titles and wondered how she had eluded me in the years before I found The Shell Seekers. Now I am saving her latest title and supposedly last book, Winter Solstice, for that proverbial rainy day. And I suspect that once I've read all of Pilcher's books, I'll simply begin to reread them once again.

Victoria Bradshaw at 18 fell hopelessly in love with London playwright Oliver Dobbs. But their romance was short lived and Victoria hasn't heard from him in years. She has finally moved on with her life when suddenly who should appear on her doorstep but Oliver with a young child in tow. As if no time had gone by, Oliver proposes that Victoria and he along with the child take a trip to Scotland. At first the reason for this trip isn't at all clear to Victoria and she is somewhat skeptical. But then Olvier is very convincing and Victoria is eventually willing to go along with his proposal. Once in Scotland, Olivers motives become painfully too clear and while Victoria sees Oliver for what he is, we as readers are also treated to Piclcher's special brand of characters and plot developments.

This was another one of Pilchers satisfying reads and one which I hoped would never end.

This novel is another in a terrific line of Rosamunde Pilcher books. Pilcher is one of my favorite authors because her unique characterizations and modern day Scottish settings are so true to life. In this book, Oliver Dobbs, a snide young egotistical playwright, kidnaps his little toddler son for his own selfish reasons. Then Oliver enlists his old girlfriend, Victoria Bradshaw to help him in his shenanigans, which involve a great amount of Scotch, temper tantrums by Oliver, increasing disgust by Victoria, and the most impressive conflagration since the novel "Rebecca." Pilcher has a way of writing that is comfortable and deft. Reading her novels allows you to enter a unique world, a place I find most satisfying. Thank you Rose of the world.

This is my all-time favorite book. My copy is so worn I have to use a rubber band to keep it together. It is a great story about making the best of things, pretending to be who you are not and ultimately, coming to terms with the truth - and the freedom that that brings! I loved every single character!

This is a great book! It is Cynthia Freeman's first novel and captivates your interest from page one. It never gets boring at all. The book is an impressive character study about a family denying their Jewish heritage to make their way in America in the 1930's. The novel takes you from the 1930's to the 1950's, from New York to Chicago to San Francisco. It can still be found in some public libraries. The publisher should release this book again for a whole new generation of readers to enjoy.

USA
I find the praise for this book contained in many of these reviews to be absolutely inexplicable. I don't care whether it was historically accurate--Arthur is a legend, after all. I actually like sex and violence, so I have no problem with that. What I don't like are cardboard characters, lame story-lines, hackneyed plots. To me it doesn't matter whether Whyte knows how swords were made in late Roman Britain. What matters is that he should convince me that he knows. He fails utterly.

This is a hodgepodge of lame action sequences and a tedious Horatio Alger story--the veteran protagonist conveniently discovers whatever he needs buried somewhere whenever he needs it...mixed with a bit of weird survivalist myth which presumably foreshadows the dark ages to come. The central love relationship of the book is so simplistic and poorly imagined as to be insulting to the reader.

What kind of writing are this books fans used to reading? Weekly World News? I'm not saying that this couldn't make decent entertainment for early teens, but compared to solid and entertaining Arthurian stuff like Bradley's Mists of Avalon or Attanasio's series or Gillian Bradshaw's series? Or several others?

In no way does Whyte breathe life into the characters or the era which he so thinly imagines. About the only thing you can say good about this book is that you can get through it in a few hours, typical of books with such poor derivative prose and hackneyed story lines. A good thing it's a quick read--about the only thing about Arthur that's even hinted at in this book is the ORE which may be used to make Excalibur.

Great suggestion that because Whyte skips magic--funny since magic always seemed kind of important in Arthur legends--this should be treated as historical fiction. Big deal. He's just as pathetic in comparison to great historical fiction like Patrick O'Brien, Dorothy Dunnett, or Alfred Duggan as he is in comparison to great or even just decent fantasy writers(Duggan actually did a much more sophisticated and thoroughly imagined real-historical-Arthur novel).

If you are over 13 and/or read a book a month, you should stay away from this shlock.

I picked this up looking for a good summer read, and hoping to catch on to a new series. The premise looked promising,as well, and I will read anything with Romans in it.

Well, while the premise is great, I felt I was reading 500 pages of story setup, with characters who sounded more like 20th century intellectuals than the people of the place and times.

Story segments that could have been suspenseful where revealed over way to many Dinner conversations. My Dinner with Britanicus in Londinium would have been a better title.

Still, the setup is fascinating enough that I will give the series another chance and get the sequel. Maybe the setup will be worth it. For now, I am just happy I borrowed this one, rather than bought it.

This is a wonderful novel that satisfied both my interest in history and Arthurian legend. At first one would not expect the back story of Camelot (or Camulod) to be as intriguing as tales of the knights of the Round Table. However, this tale of life in Britain during the fall of Rome, and it's believable cast of wonderful characters, sets a solid base for the future rise of the heroes Uther and Arthur.

I was excited to find such realism in setting and the feelings of the characters. Whyte does an excellent job describing both the excitement and monotony in everyday life of soldiers, women, peasants and noblemen in the Middle Ages. This realism, which allows the reader to not only become drawn in but relate to the characters in ways that does not often happen in fantasy novels, makes the whole adventure of the book seem much more, not less, legendary.

This book came to me highly recommended, and I recommend it in turn. Read this book before others in the series if you are serious about continuity. One warning, though: after reading this you may find you are unable to stop reading this series until you have reached the last book.

I really enjoyed reading this book! It was so hard to put it down once you got going. You really find out a lot about Marilyn's life that no one has ever talked or written about before. I've liked Marilyn since I was about 13 or 14 and now I'm 26. I've always been interested in her life and now I feel like I finally know what it was like. This book really covers everything, from birth to death. To really find out what happened to Marilyn, READ THIS BOOK!

Donald Spoto must have done a lot of hard work to uncover all this information about Marilyn. In this extensive biography (the best I've read) we learn things that maybe we'd never heard about before.

And, by interviewing people close to Marilyn such as Milton H. Greene and Inez Nelson (?), by reading papers from Marilyn to Lee/Paula Strasberg, Pat Newcomb, and others influential in her life, DS gives us further insight into the life of this beautiful but misunderstood immortal screen goddess.

We also learn the truth about her death. No, Marilyn was not killed by the Kennedys. (Both Bobby and John had alibis, and the information DS presents show no reason why they would want to assassinate her anyway.) And from what DS says, Marilyn was planning to remarry Joe DiMaggio and to her friends it didn't seem that she was planning to kill herself.

His hypothesis is that her suicide may have been accidental, after being fed all those barbituates by different people through all the years, and Dr. Ralph Greenson and her housekeeper, Eunice Murray, may have had a hand in it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learned so much from it!

In this bio, Marilyn finally egts the treatment she deserves, no as the sex goddess but as a human being. Spoto uses hundreds of interviews and uses it in the bio. Often it was pretty touching and heartbreaking. Poor Marilyn, if only she ever had the chance to be happy. You can see how trained Spoto is in using his craft in writting for this biography, at times it is rally poetic making the buio almost sound fictional like a novel, and novels are great. All and all the bio paints a loominous and intimate portrait of one of Hollywoods most precious actresses. Highly recommended.

Jack Whyte achieves a mildly unsatisfying semi-closure in The Eagle's Brood. In an apparent attempt to tidy up the landscape before Arthur's arrival, he manages to kill off most of the characters from the first three books, including a sexually perverted Uther. At least, I hope Uther is dead. On the positive side, The Eagle's Brood is fast-paced and entertaining, and it promises more of the same in subsequent books. However, Whyte is beginning to demonstrate that he is assuredly not Mary Stewart, Parke Godwin, Stephen Lawhead, or Bernard Cornwell. If he wishes to join such august company, he needs to do a better job with continuity and cut down on the sordid sex and violence. The Arthurian legend is a more than adequate vehicle to propel a good writer like Whyte in to a truly exceptional author. So, Jack, get with it! Let's see a compelling and exciting transition to the life of Arthur. And please, no psychological baggage!

This book (#3) in the series is a good tie in from the Roman occupation of Britian and the establishment of all characters that lead the factions to gain control of it. The fictional story examines the origins of Camelot, Merlyn and eventually Arthur. It does it with a realism without magic and sorcery that makes the story possible. A very good series and a good book.

However, one big problem does prevent it from deserving a 5 star rating.

The problem has to do with the ending and Merlyn's "illness" which causes the ending to seem somewhat... intangible? Merlyn's "illness" causes him and the reader to miss out on alot of important and major happenings that we learn later. Fans and readers of this series (I have read the first 3 books, including "Eagles Brood") may feel disoriented by a sudden lack of knowledge of what is going on in the world of Camulod, especially concerning Uther. Up until the point of the "illness", the main character of the stories/series has always been a vocal point of major events. Simply put, the reader feels left out, not knowing what to believe or think.

I believe that what happened with Merlyn's "illness" hurt the story in a way that could have been avoided. I also felt bothered by Merlyn's apparent lack of faith in this cousin and best friend, Uther. I feel that Uther was innocent of the crime stated on the book's back cover.

Fortunately, the author's next book "Uther" is looking to cast away these problems by focusing on the events that took place away from Merlyn's eyes. That book should definitely be read WITH "Eagles Brood" for the whole story.

All said, this is still a good book and a great series. I'm certainly looking forward to new books in the series. The author has a way of making the story feel very real. Immersion

This could have been a much better book. So much good raw material and fascinating history, as noted by other reviewers. But, also as noted by other reviewers, his plotlines are often too implausible. I can suspend belief to a certain degree, but all too often Follett comes up with plot turns that are so implausible that it spoils the story. Follet can do better than this.

This incredible story has many parallelisms with Follett's "Eye of the Needle" novel. Instead of WWII this story takes place in the pre WWI era. England and Russia are in desperate need for a treaty in preparation of Germany's attack. A well known Russian anarchists has been sent to England to assassinate the negotiating Russian Prince hence destroying any faith between the two countries and to fulfill his quest of war against the Russian oppressed. "The Man from St. Petersburg" is more than a book filled with suspense, lust and lies-Follett makes the reader experience the hardships of Russian socialism and the glamour and prestige of the English monarchy. What is so interesting was at face value the two seem very distant, only to find out they share the same pain and turmoil. The author captures the reader with several twists of fate within the personal pasts of the anarchist's lover and now wife of a British Earl. The story leaves this reader full of questions about the hypocracy of British monarchy. It fully explains why distorting the truth to preserve one's pride of class and reputation can have devastating repercussions. This is a good read, a typical Follett masterpiece, regardless of its mirror image of "The Needle", "The Man From St. Petersburg" truely has its own identity.

another follett win! what a great story. i highly recommend the book. if you haven't read follett before, this is a good place to start and one of his better books.

I'm not at all familiar with Siddons' other work, but was recommended this book by a fellow literary enthusiast. I was remarking how great a book Hell House by Richard Matheson was, & it was suggested that I read The House Next Door.

While well written, the book is incredibly dry, boring & extremely contrived. It's clearly a feeble attempt at a "scary" novel by someone unaccustomed to the genre. Again, Siddons is obviously a great writer in terms of style/skill, but this novel was bad. The two stars are merely given as a nod to her ability as a writer, rather than the story itself.

I have no idea why Stephen King would have such great things to say about this book, as it is certainly not in league with even his worst effort. The only people I imagine would be pleased with this book are those that do not typically read horror/supernatural tales, but are in an "adventurous" mood.

The callow lives of a complacent couple get shaken up when the house next door goes bad. As haunted house stories go, this is not particularly scary and compares unfavorably with "The Haunting of Hill House" and "The Shining." The book's most notable feature is its portrayal of a bland suburban couple who manage to be offensive and banal at the same time. Are there really people like this? At the end, I wondered if Siddons deliberately created two unlikable people to create a sense of ambivalence in the reader about the effect of the house on their little sheltered lives.

By the last page, I was simultaneously rooting for the House Next Door and for the book to end.

I enjoyed this novel, and disagree with the reviewer who stated that it isn't spooky or scary and doesn't deliver at the end. I actual continue to see the last scene in my mind, over and over. That is the mark of a good ending.

Are there problems with the book? Yes. Some of the situations seem dated, and maybe not as shocking to me if I had read it in high school. BUT, the way she used the frame of the book to tell three separate stories which do tie together at the end was very good and allowed for a different kind of character development. We see the main characters change as they see events next door.

I read this book right after Shirley Jackson's masterpiece of haunted house books, The Haunting of Hill House. While Jackson's book is better, I think Siddons holds up well in comparison. I especially liked the idea of a MODERN haunted house. Nice touch.

All and all a good, if not difficult, read.

As an avid Higgins reader, I was mostly pleased with this book. Higgins returns to World War II, a topic he knows fairly well, and centers the story on twin brothers--aviators for England and Germany--and other assorted characters.

I was put off, however, by the "Bubi" Hartmann character. Higgins knows, or ought to, that Erich Hartmann was Germany's leading Luftwaffe ace, and not the individual portrayed in this book. The real "Bubi" Hartmann, now deceased, would have had nothing to do with Himmler or the SD, and I had a difficult time reading the novel each time Higgins' "Hartmann" showed up.

In addition, wasn't there a "Kelso" in an earlier Higgins novel? Finally, the close approximation to the tale of how "Harry cum Max" met his end--flying an Arado toward war's end--to the way in which another character in an earlier novel died--flying an Arado toward war's end--was off-putting. At least one was shot down by a Spitfire, whilst the other fell to the guns of a Mosquito.

Despite these quibbles, I liked Higgins' return to WWII. I'll look for more.

While by no means spectacular, this book had an interesting--yet cliche--plot. The twin brothers, son of an American WWI fighter pilot and German nurse, both are trained in their youth to become great dogfighters. After their American father's death their mother returns to her German estate with one of the sons. The plot develops as the two sons encounter each other on opposite sides in WWII. The audio tapes were ok to listen to, my complaint being that the sole reader tried to modulate his voice for different characters, but was noticably inconsistent, making it difficult on occasion to know who was talking.

Enjoyed the story, and the characterizations were terrific.