Sandstorm

DNF at 64%. Unabridged audio

After reading a later book in the series, I decided to start at the beginning. I am /so/ glad I didn’t pick this one up first.

I made it over half way through. I kept thinking I could finish. But there are another 5-1/2 hours left.

I didn’t feel any connection with any of the characters. The plot was nicely complex with lots of action scenes. But everything seemed to drag on longer than it needed to.

So, I will move on to the second in this series with a hope that there will be rapid improvements to the level I enjoyed in the first one I read.

I started this series with the second book. I had picked it up for two reasons: 1) it sounded interesting and 2) the main character shares my son's name. I enjoyed it so much that I sought out the rest of the Sigma Force books.

Sandstorm is the first of the Sigma Force novels. I was disappointed at first when I discovered that Grayson Pierce was not even a minor character, however, I quickly warmed to Painter Crowe. The story is that of a lost city in Oman. The action was consistent and the history interesting. As with all the books of this sort, there were an obscene number of "well, isn't that convenient" circumstances.

The scenery was amazing. You'd think that endless sands would become boring, but Rollins kept the land alive and show more moving. Each location was described with enough detail to allow me to form complete pictures in my head. The characters were realistic and vivid for the most part. Clay bothered me. He seemed very on-again-off-again, but he wasn't exactly a main player.

I've enjoyed everything I've read by this author (including the fantasy he writes under the name of James Clemens) and would recommend this book without hesitation. In fact, I've already gotten several family members interested in it. If you like well planned and fleshed out history-mysteries, you'll enjoy this book as well. show less

Sandstorm marks the introduction to James Rollins' Sigma Force series and after finishing this today, I'll definitely be reading the others.

A slick action adventure, Sandstorm begins in London, at the British Museum, seconds before a mysterious explosion erupts through an exhibit, and the action doesn't let up from there.

Cleverly weaving an introduction to the main cast of characters within the first four chapters, while never letting the pace slacken, Sandstorm whips along to the (literally) earth shattering finale.

A clever mix of scientific fact and adrenalin-fuelled fiction, this story packs a punch.

Part of me hated parts of this, archaeology with explosives is not good, but it was a light fast-paced thriller that I found a lot of fun to read. However some things should have been left out, particularly the two guys in love with one woman sub-plot, please let that go, it's getting to tired cliche at this stage and it added almost nothing to the story. Let your main character deal with his other issues, first.
Our heroes discover that an explosion in the London Gallery was caused by possible Ancient technology and it might be able to cause huge other damage. Cue a sponsored by wealthy patron and government chase to prevent bad guys from getting and abusing the tech.
Nothing earth-shattering in the plot, and some of the characters show more blurred into almost one at times (cull your cast people) and several seemed to be there to just provide people to be saved, but overall it read like the last Indiana Jones movie meets James Bond. show less

James Rollins is one of my favorite authors and I know the one thing that he truly knows how to do is write a story that that leaves the reader breathless and wanting more. This one did all that but it also had the reader turning page after page, after page after page....699 of them. I loved the story...loved the characters...both good ones and even a few of the bad ones. The history and some of the science was even fascinating...but... I didn't think it was ever going to end. Way too much technical stuff that the average person will have no clue what he's talking about. This excellent story could have been well told in half the time and print. Anyone that loves, history, adventure, and is interested in the technical stuff will show more absolutely love this book. show less

While writing this, I'm still hesitating: give the book three stars, or should it be four?
For the latter plead reading spead, the joy the book gave me, the way it kept me entangled and curious for what more there was to come.
For three stars plead that the characters were quite predictable, as was the story (it never really surprised me) and the fact that, despite it was a big book, the story was quite straight forward. Okay, there were many characters, but the lines were straight and good to follow, without any special effort. Reading from the blurp,I had expected more a story like a Tom Clancy writes.

Since the story, what the book itself tells me and how, weighs always more than the fact if I speedread it or not, I have decided by now show more for three stars.
Nevertheless: it was a nice quick read, in an unusual setting and therefor I like it. I might even go look for another book by this author. show less

A novel which combines science and technology with an archaeological mystery and overlays that with a spy thriller which ends up as a pretty decent action-adventure yarn.

When what appears to be an accident at the British Museum destroys most of the Arabian collection owned by Lady Kara Kensington, her childhood friend and curator of the exhibition, Safia al-Maaz, makes a discovery that will send them on an expedition to Oman looking for the ancient city of Ubar. Putting together a team that will unite Safia with her former fiancé, Omaha Dunn, Kara is forced to accept Painter Crowe and his partner as members of the group. Crowe is an agent of Sigma Force, a secret US Government agency that combines special ops training with scientific show more knowledge to form an elite cadre of personnel that can handle any situation. They set off to discover where the discovered clue will lead them. Unfortunately for them there are also other interested parties that want to reach the same destination and they'll stop at nothing to get there. Mother Nature also wants to make her presence felt as well with the combination of a giant sandstorm and high pressure system to create a megastorm. Who's going to live through to the end and what will they find when they get there?

This book at times reads like an Indiana Jones film with bits of a Dan Brown plot thrown in for good measure but the end result is not bad. The action is plentiful but not really gripping in a kind of will they/won't they survive type of thing. The main characters are well written and you do care when they are up against it but the secondary characters just seem to be along for the ride or used to provide info-dumps on the science involved. I will at least read the next in the series at some point. show less