Reviews

The Descent by Jeff Long

erinbirnel's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? No

3.0

readvin's review against another edition

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4.0

Visste inte vad jag gav mig in på när jag började läsa denna, stundtals tyckte jag att den sög. Sen efter att ha kämpat mig igenom de inledande kapitlen fick jag en känsla för vad det var jag läste.

fantasmariana's review against another edition

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2.0

Gracias al cielo se terminó. Hace tiempo que un libro no se me hacía tan pero tan tedioso.
Si tuviera que calificarlo por originalidad de la trama quizá le daría unas 4 estrellas, sin embargo, la ejecución me pareció terrible.
Es todavía más triste que inicie de forma tan prometedora: con una partida de exploradores perdidos en el Himalaya, que encuentran un cadáver lleno de símbolos arcanos grabados en la piel. Esa primera parte tiene una descripción maravillosa, tétrica, atmosférica, pero muy pronto todo se va al demonio.
Mis expectativas eran muy altas con este libro. Más que ser una obra de horror, me pareció una mezcla de ciencia ficción con teorías de la conspiración tipo código Da Vinci.
Como digo, hay ideas geniales. Pensar que en una civilización subterránea se puede encontrar escondido Satanás, me parece una idea súper creativa y por eso le doy dos estrellas a Jeff Long, pero de resto sus descripciones científicas, construcción de personajes, diálogos e incluso el mismo ritmo de la narración son tediosos.
Aunque hay unos pequeños destellos macabros, no creo que valgan lo suficientemente la pena como para leer todo este libro.
Me siento súper tonta de haber comprado también la segunda parte, "The Deeper", porque honestamente no creo leerla nunca.

nikkixuan's review against another edition

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3.0

ya i don’t know about that…….

renmarshallbrown's review against another edition

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5.0

Incredible. A new favorite.

hoffworld's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

spacepiratequeen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

zoff's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

ofchippo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

the_weirdling's review against another edition

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3.0

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I loved the whole world that Long invented here. The original idea is great and he flushes it out pretty well into a fully formed world that doesn’t seem caricatured, even though it probably should. And that’s pretty awesome. I also liked the first part of the book, where his world is hinted at and then slowly reveled. It teases and then delivers well.

What fell flat for me was the rest of the book. The whole expedition into uncharted territory thing, complete with naive protagonist, the intense and competent outsider with a troubled back story who “knows the lay of the land” because “I’ve been here before”, the greed corporate double crosser who runs the expedition, the mercenary man-at-arms hired to protect them who goes rogue, etc., etc., etc. Its a huge pastiche of worn archetypes and exhausted plot devices that have been too over used. From about midway through the book I was able to predict every turn of plot that was coming for the next 250 pages or so.

Three stars for the great idea, the invention of the hadal world, and the fact that Long’s prose is always good and engaging. Two lost stars for the fact that I’ve read this book in a different setting dozens of times before and seen it’s movie equivalent many more times than that.