Brad Meltzer: The Book Of Fate

[HermioneWeasley]

This book is just out, and i'm considering buying/reading it. has anyone read it or the author's other books? would you recommend them to me?

thanks!

 

[Wintergreen]

Who is the author?

 

[HermioneWeasley]

brad meltzer

 

[SFG75]

Just checked this one out from the library today. Being a conspiracy buff, the plot appeals to me. I have yet to read a page, but I have done some homework on it by reading the reviews on Amazon, quite a few of which, are very negative.

You can find the reviews and a general synopsis of the book here.


Scathing review #1:

This book had a good premise that soon went bad .
it is bloated and gets to over 500 pages with boring filler.
I found Wes to be whiny and frankly his character drove me nuts. His self pity and lack of action got very tedious.
It can get back to the library fast enough.

Scathing rerview #2:

I read it in 2 days and it kept my interest. In thinking about it afterwards neither the premise or the execution made any sense. The whole issue concerning Jefferson and the Code was never part of the story. Characters were introduced and never followed through.

I can not day that I did not enjoy it. But I think I can attribute most of my enjoyment to the fact that I was on pain killers for most of the read. In reading the other reviews I realized I had the same criticisms.

LOL-The painkiller comment is a hoot.

Scathing review #3

Previous Meltzer books were good reads. This one sucks. Don't waste your money buying a book that has no business anywhere near the bestsellers list. Even one of those formulaic books from Patterson and whoever would be a better use of your time and money.

"This one sucks" is an intelligent and methodical statement. I'm amazed by the profound insight. If he keeps it up, I might have to e-mail him to ask him to keep it more succinct.

Scathing review #4:

The Book of Fate has so many holes it is difficult to point to them all. From Wes, the main characters disfiguring involvement in an assassination attempt on a future president to the "three", a group of law enforcement officers who pull off evil escapades far beyond belief.

The whole story is a house of cards. One damnably idiotic silly plot strain stacked upon another and bringing it to a point in the end that is almost laughable. I wonder if Meltzer sketched out the story before starting on this book, or if he just had some idea and it built momentum as he wrote. Either way, its a disaster. I cant think of an author actually penning out the ideas for this book and saying "hmmmmm, this is a good idea."

Opinion is in the eye of the beholder. I will take these reviews under advisement, but I will read it tonight to see if I agree.

 

[SFG75]

I finished the book last night and here are my thoughts on the critics I quoted in my previous post.

This book had a good premise that soon went bad .
it is bloated and gets to over 500 pages with boring filler.
I found Wes to be whiny and frankly his character drove me nuts. His self pity and lack of action got very tedious.
It can get back to the library fast enough.

I agree that Wes was a wuss. He gets the crap kicked out of him whenever there is a physical altercation. the only reason why he even

Spoiler

disposes of the evil agent is due to the girl and Nico's intervention. If it weren't for them, he would've been beaten to a pulp. I take that back, he was beaten to a pulp in the end.

Earlier,

Spoiler

he also got bulldozed by Boyle who put him through a glass table.

I disagree that it was 500 pages of boring filler, I paid attention, though not rapt attention. I thought it improved markedly as a number of characters met at one place and there was confusion as to who was responsible for what in regards to planning the meeting and tailing who, not to mention who worked for what.

I read it in 2 days and it kept my interest. In thinking about it afterwards neither the premise or the execution made any sense. The whole issue concerning Jefferson and the Code was never part of the story. Characters were introduced and never followed through.

I can not day that I did not enjoy it. But I think I can attribute most of my enjoyment to the fact that I was on pain killers for most of the read. In reading the other reviews I realized I had the same criticisms.

This second criticism does have merit in that other than explaining why Manning wrote the symbols that he did on the crossword puzzle, the conspiracy element had nothing to do with the book. Jefferson was sparsely mentioned and how the masons were involved never really was explained.

The other items posted generally have no merit. I believe th plot is a stretch, though then again, most conspiracy plots usually are IMHO. I did enjoy the book, I give it two stars out of five.

 

[chiangmaifalcon]

Book of Fate

I just finished reading novel Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer. It was okay but not great, in my opinion. I preferred The Zero Game. This one had codes and symbols sort of like The DaVinci Code or the National Treasure movies, which to tell you the truth I am sort of sick of.