There were five or six different storylines in here, all of which intersected at some point with one of more of the others. By far my favorite was theThere were five or six different storylines in here, all of which intersected at some point with one of more of the others. By far my favorite was the one about Hod Brackenridge--gold prospector, prizefighter, miner, soldier, entrepreneur. I also liked all the parts about Wilmington, S.C. and the characters from there (Luncefords, Scotts, et al.) All of the action that took place in the West and the Yukon was great. Same with Wilmington and NYC. The military action in Cuba and Philippines I found much less interesting and not much fun to read. So it was kind of annoying every time I was getting really interested in one of the more compelling subplots, suddenly that chapter ends and you're back into the the dreary Philippines campaign for another 50 or 100 pages, or occasionally into one of the other smaller subplots that I found uninteresting, such as the story of Harry Manigault and his work in the early moving picture industry.
So I was between 3 and 4 stars most of the time I was reading this, and around two-thirds of the way through, I decided that I would probably give it 4 stars if this one thing that i really wanted to happen happened, and 3 stars if it didn't. As you can see by my rating, that thing that I wanted to happen did finally happen ... on page 952, the fourth-to-last page of the book.
I read this eagerly at first and then less and less eagerly until I finally just had to throw in the towel about halfway into the second "book." I thiI read this eagerly at first and then less and less eagerly until I finally just had to throw in the towel about halfway into the second "book." I think I read somewhere that this edition of this saga was pared down down from 1500 to 900 pages or something like that. For my money, it needs to be pared down a lot more--maybe to 300 pages or so. It's a good story and good writing, but just insanely repetitive and ponderous and meandering ... very tiresome after a while. I don't know what happens in book 3, but from a quick skim of it, it looks like exactly the same things, just told in yet another voice, which, if that's true, you gotta be kidding me.
My father used to read this book to my brothers and me at bedtime. I'm pretty sure we went through the whole book at least twice, maybe three times.My father used to read this book to my brothers and me at bedtime. I'm pretty sure we went through the whole book at least twice, maybe three times....more
This was fascinating and fun to read ... thrilling to read in many parts. The most interesting parts of this for me were the accounts of past episodesThis was fascinating and fun to read ... thrilling to read in many parts. The most interesting parts of this for me were the accounts of past episodes of sudden warmings and coolings and mass extinctions, etc., that have been discovered by paleoclimatoligists. This book is as much about the past as it is about the future. ...more
Magnificent. Gripping and compelling all the way through, but not only that ... this is one of those stories where you don't realize how masterfully tMagnificent. Gripping and compelling all the way through, but not only that ... this is one of those stories where you don't realize how masterfully the story is being woven together until you're just about finishing it. ...more
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