The Eight by Katherine Neville is a dazzlingly complex novel about the search for the legendary and mysterious Charlemange chess set called The Montglane Service reputed to give the owner untold power...the power to end Kings. There are two stories that run parallel to each other...that of Catherine Velis, New York, 1972, a computer expert working in a male dominated law firm who is sent to Algeria to consult for OPEC and Mireille de Remy, France, 1970, a novice of the Montglane Abbey who has been given a secret mission by the Abbess to conceal a number of the chess pieces of the service. Those who are in the hunt to acquire the chess service and the power it contains are said to be in The Game.

Neville pulls into the story a very broad spectrum of ideas and philosophies...from the meaning of the zodiac, planets and elements to mathematics of the Fibonacci numbers and infinity to the significance and history of cultures and religious customs. Additional themes were absolute power or dictatorship versus freedom of choice or democracy...that the many can be more powerful than the one. I think it would take an entire essay to examine all the different themes within the novel. The Eight is a very long novel at just under 600 pages of small type on paperback format. It took me many sessions to read and I often had to set the book down to ponder clues and events. The book is about fifty-fifty the story of Catherine Velis versus Mireille de Remy. At the beginning of each chapter there is a quote or abstract about chess and/or life that represents the meaning of each chapter.

In the book chess is defined as the ultimate game of strategy. Katherine Neville 'strategically' wrote and divided the plot of The Eight as a chess game. There are layers within layers of meaning about some of the ideas presented in the story...and games within games. There are very clever, intricate plot threads that eventually come back to their beginning (deliberate of Neville emphasizing infinity, eight, opposite yet parallel). The storyline at times was wildly dramatic although I found this appealing and often very imaginative, which kept me interested in reading the voluminous amount of pages.

I had a handful of issues with the novel. One aspect that never made sense to me was why Valentine was given a chess piece to protect though she was the youngest, most immature, impressionable and vulnerable novice and not even central to the storyline. A woman named Catherine Grand was mentioned as the one who started The Game in the historical storyline but it was never clarified how or why and it did not make sense to me.

The Eight is an amazing accomplishment of a novel. If you want an engrossing, complex, fascinating read look no further.

http://myobsessionwithbooks.blogspot.... ( )

Excellent book, very well written, especially the French revolution era. ( )

No way I’d ever be able to summarize this chunkster, so off to Amazon we go:

“When two young women in France of 1790 discover the Montglane Chess Service in Montglane Abbey, they recognize its mystic ability to provide anyone playing it with unlimited power and desperately scatter its pieces around the world. But in 1972, computer expert Catherine “Cat” Velis is hired to recover the chess pieces–and is caught up in a nefarious, globe-spanning conspiracy.”

Yeah, sounds good, right? That’s what I hoped. Apparently people do like this book. I was not one of them.

Let me first say that this is a genre that I don’t like. I didn’t like The Da Vinci Code, although I will be honest, I liked it better than this. The book is centered around chess, a game I don’t even understand. The reviews assured me that would be okay. The book also seems full of math and science, my two least favorite subjects, although I certainly recognize their importance. Now, throw in a convoluted plot that I couldn’t keep track of, 64 characters, none of whom I liked and most of whom seemed like coincidental famous people name-dropping, a journey that is supposed to seem threatening and dangerous but never made sense to me, some mediocre writing, and a couple of unbelievable love stories, and you’ve got this book.

I knew I’d had enough when the author suggested that a blue velvet cloth survived for 1000 years. Let me tell you why this bothers me. We have no evidence for velvet even existing before the 14th century and quite simply, fabric hardly ever survives this long unless in special preserved circumstances. Somehow, I’m doubting that this velvet cloth was buried in a water-logged, oxygen free environment for most of its existence, and there’s no way such old fabric could survive in the open air without serious preservation, let alone be passed around from country to country for two hundred years. Nitpicky, maybe, but blatantly wrong details like that just throw me out of a book completely.

This book was just not for me. I finished it because I have the sequel for review. It clearly is meant for someone else, probably someone who likes thrillers, chess, and science and also does not particularly know much about history or archaeology. If that’s you, you should try this book out. It’s certainly not me. I can’t recommend this book.

If you liked The Eight, I want to know, so I can link to you. I hate posting a negative review without counterbalancing it.

http://chikune.com/blog/?p=652 ( )

While I could tell the author had done her homework and was truly interested in her subject, I found The Eight lacking on too many levels to be more than just an okay read. Unfortunately, since this book was probably way ahead of its time when it was originally written, there now exist just too many books of this same premise - find the secret code in the (insert your favorite object here) - that do the job with more suspense and/or more realism. The Eight just doesn't quite reach the bar. ( )

"The Eight" is a big, multi layered book that is part historical novel, part adventure thriller. The story centers around the Montglane Service, the legendary chess set that belonged to Charlemagne. Across the centuries, power hungry people search for the pieces and the mystery they guard. Fortunately, a knowledge of, or an interest in, chess is not essential to the enjoyment of this book. Most of the technicalities are easily explained and do not hinder the story. The only criticism I could really make of " The Eight" is the dialogue. It is incredibly clunky, to the point where it is often unintentionally amusing. Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. ( )