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Thursday, July 05, 2007

Sandstorm

Rollins, James. Sandstorm. Last week when I was at Walmart, I noticed that all of the checkout lines were long and were not moving very fast, so I picked up a paperback to read as I waited. At first a rollicking adventure of the Indiana Jones sort seemed possible (there is even a character named Omaha Dunn); however, none of the humor, the tongue-in-cheek, the playful elements of Indiana Jones appear in this novel that takes itself seriously in the midst of the absurd.


The main characters have some combination of the following traits: brilliant, beautiful, handsome, wealthy beyond measure, physically gifted with extraordinary reflexes, speed, and/or stamina, have a tragic past... well, you get the idea. Any interesting plot element seems borrowed and any other plot element requires much more than a "willing suspension of disbelief.


It is fast-paced and there is action; the purpose of the action, unfortunately, appears to be to add to the book length and has little suspense or sense of purpose.


Fiction. Action, adventure. 2004. 569 pages.

7 comments:

  1. Why, Jen, you sound as if you didn't like it! (grin) Seriously, it is depressing what can get out in stores these days. Who is the guilty publisher?

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  2. As bad as it sounds...you actually read the whole thing?

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  3. I bet you finished it in the line. Those lines are sooooooooo long.

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  4. Jill - I think what I didn't like was that it took itself so seriously when it was so ridiculous. Since you asked, I checked on the publisher whose initials are h c.

    Sam - I did. After a certain point, I wanted to know what other absurdities could take place and the end topped it all!! A funnel of glass in the desert led to a huge lake under the sands with a ship waiting to take them to a glass city with bodies from the Queen of Sheba's citizens encased in areas of glass. Wahhhhh!

    Heather - :) Not quite, but I was in line for over 30 minutes, so I got well into the book by the time my turn to check out arrived!

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  5. That was a long line to get you invested in the book! Ah well, hopefully the next time you visit Walmart the lines will be shorter or they'll have a better selection of books :)

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  6. iliana - I may start taking my own book in with me!

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  7. You're tough, Jenclair, tougher and more patient than I'll ever be. I don't think I could have made it through the plot that you described. :-)

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