chadsan's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
1.75
The end of the book was the only thing that saved this horrible book. Berry did a bit better with character development from the disaster that is The Templar Legacy, but not much.
clayjd's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
bmcwilliams76's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.25
fudgeelizabeth9's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-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? Yes
4.75
eluse9's review against another edition
4.0
Similar to the first but better plotting and characters.
devorit's review against another edition
3.0
There’s some fun stuff here, and the ending was worth it, but the sheer number of twists and turns became more tedious than fun for a while. Still, I like the characters and plan to read more in the series.
liedje_165's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
weaselweader's review against another edition
3.0
Not compelling, but certainly entertaining.
The world is a poorer place for the sad and never satisfactorily explained disappearance of the Ptolemy's amazing library at Alexandria. With the possible exception of the current collections of the Library of Congress or the Vatican, the Alexandria Library was probably the greatest accumulation of the world's knowledge in history. And it's all gone. But Steve Berry has cleverly parlayed that germ of an idea, the missing library, into The Alexandria Link, an entertaining if somewhat overwrought geo-political potboiler. The scion of the Alexandria Library, a sadly reduced but still priceless collection of scrolls, papyri and documents rescued from the original library, hidden in the Sinai desert and carefully guarded by a small group of guardians and librarians for over two thousand years is the subject of a winner-take-all, no-holds-barred search by the American, Israeli and Saudi governments as well as a shadowy right wing cabal of the world's wealthiest industrialists known as The Order of the Golden Fleece.
Thrillers like this need their heroes and Steve Berry has chosen to give centre stage to two returning characters, Cotton Malone, recently retired from the US Department of Justice and his ex-wife, Pam Malone. Admittedly, the notion of the good guys chasing around the world getting ever closer to their goal by solving impossibly obtuse archeological puzzles is getting somewhat stale as the reading public has been inundated with an endless string of Da Vinci Code copy-cats! The jury was in and out of the room on any number of occasions as I read through book but ultimately the verdict is that Berry pulled it off ... but just barely!
The basic premise of the entire story was, to give full credit to Berry, quite ingenious and thought-provoking. The proof of an inaccurate translation of certain passages of the Old Testament from Old Hebrew through Greek and Latin to modern English rests in the Alexandria Library under the stewardship of The Guardians. If the accurate translation surfaces, the tensions between the Islamic, Jewish and Christian faiths would erupt in such a fashion as to possibly set a spark to a tinder pile that could well ignite World War III.
The Alexandria Link, unfortunately, is a hit and miss affair that never rises to the level of a truly compelling page-turner but, when you get to the last page, I think most readers would agree that it qualifies as enjoyable reading. First prize for characterization goes to Danny Daniels, the president of the USA, who unabashedly styles himself as "the leader of the free world" and is eminently comfortable with the awesome power his position embodies. In spite of that he somehow remains a very human, compassionate and even humorous character.
Paul Weiss
The world is a poorer place for the sad and never satisfactorily explained disappearance of the Ptolemy's amazing library at Alexandria. With the possible exception of the current collections of the Library of Congress or the Vatican, the Alexandria Library was probably the greatest accumulation of the world's knowledge in history. And it's all gone. But Steve Berry has cleverly parlayed that germ of an idea, the missing library, into The Alexandria Link, an entertaining if somewhat overwrought geo-political potboiler. The scion of the Alexandria Library, a sadly reduced but still priceless collection of scrolls, papyri and documents rescued from the original library, hidden in the Sinai desert and carefully guarded by a small group of guardians and librarians for over two thousand years is the subject of a winner-take-all, no-holds-barred search by the American, Israeli and Saudi governments as well as a shadowy right wing cabal of the world's wealthiest industrialists known as The Order of the Golden Fleece.
Thrillers like this need their heroes and Steve Berry has chosen to give centre stage to two returning characters, Cotton Malone, recently retired from the US Department of Justice and his ex-wife, Pam Malone. Admittedly, the notion of the good guys chasing around the world getting ever closer to their goal by solving impossibly obtuse archeological puzzles is getting somewhat stale as the reading public has been inundated with an endless string of Da Vinci Code copy-cats! The jury was in and out of the room on any number of occasions as I read through book but ultimately the verdict is that Berry pulled it off ... but just barely!
The basic premise of the entire story was, to give full credit to Berry, quite ingenious and thought-provoking. The proof of an inaccurate translation of certain passages of the Old Testament from Old Hebrew through Greek and Latin to modern English rests in the Alexandria Library under the stewardship of The Guardians. If the accurate translation surfaces, the tensions between the Islamic, Jewish and Christian faiths would erupt in such a fashion as to possibly set a spark to a tinder pile that could well ignite World War III.
The Alexandria Link, unfortunately, is a hit and miss affair that never rises to the level of a truly compelling page-turner but, when you get to the last page, I think most readers would agree that it qualifies as enjoyable reading. First prize for characterization goes to Danny Daniels, the president of the USA, who unabashedly styles himself as "the leader of the free world" and is eminently comfortable with the awesome power his position embodies. In spite of that he somehow remains a very human, compassionate and even humorous character.
Paul Weiss
planetarypan's review against another edition
3.0
"The Alexandria Link" is the second in the Cotton Malone series, and it starts off right where the first one left off -- in Cotton's bookshop with his ex-wife on the doorstep.
It wasn't really the mystery in this story that kept the pace. Yes, Cotton and his ex are off to find the Library of Alexandria, or rather, what was saved from the Library prior to all its various sackings and burnings at the hands of people who, frankly, didn't have a healthy respect for knowledge. But I digress.
The main force in the story is all the various twists and turns. You have NO idea who to trust and only a basic idea of who NOT to trust. And it does not congeal until the very end.
I'm not going to say I read this in a day, but I definitely wanted to spend more time with it than I had. It could have been a little faster paced, and I am not sure that the payoff delivered, but it was still a pleasant read.
If you like thrillers with an air of conspiracy theory in them, it is definitely worthwhile. If you think stuff like that is lame, avoid it.
It wasn't really the mystery in this story that kept the pace. Yes, Cotton and his ex are off to find the Library of Alexandria, or rather, what was saved from the Library prior to all its various sackings and burnings at the hands of people who, frankly, didn't have a healthy respect for knowledge. But I digress.
The main force in the story is all the various twists and turns. You have NO idea who to trust and only a basic idea of who NOT to trust. And it does not congeal until the very end.
I'm not going to say I read this in a day, but I definitely wanted to spend more time with it than I had. It could have been a little faster paced, and I am not sure that the payoff delivered, but it was still a pleasant read.
If you like thrillers with an air of conspiracy theory in them, it is definitely worthwhile. If you think stuff like that is lame, avoid it.