Just finishen golden Buddha. Fantastic, all new characters and technology. Will Dirk and Al and Kurt and Joe ever join this new bunch? :D

I smell a SUPER NOVEL:
just think; The brash courage of Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino, the cunning of Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala, and the ice-in-the-veins cool of Juan Cabrillo...

It's a match made in (literary) heaven...

I'm still reading it!!
I should be done by May though becase testing is coming up.
I'm usually pretty fast with them so I can read the books when i'm done.

Glad you guys like the book I read it a while ago and have said to most members how nice a fresh the novel is a good series coming up!!
It is nice to see clive branching out into this new set, don't get me wrong Pitts excellent but Juan is a different twist where Kurt follows Pitt very well.

Mike if Cusslser himself can appear in many of the books, and Pitt show up in the Austun books. Why not all three in one of them.
I agree this new crew does have some very interesting crew. And the ship captin is really some thing. I hope that a follow up book comes out soon.

I really enjoyed Golden Buddha. I just finished reading Trojan Odyssey, and I can't help but wonder what's in store for Pitt.
I once read in an interview that it takes more time to do research for a Dirk Pitt novel than it does for Kurt Austin novels.
Given the outcome of Trojan Odyssey, one has to wonder if there will be anymore Pitt books or if we'll just see him make appearences in the other series.

I have it, but i'm still reading Golden buddha but that's next.

Just finished the Golden Buddha myself. Various parts were fun, but other parts in the build up dragged on a little too long for me. But I definitely Cabrillo and his crew make a great team!

Went back to reread the Oregon episode in Flood Tide (15-19).

Clive Cussler mentions at the end of his letter to the readers in Golden Buddha "...who knows, maybe sometime they'll cross paths with Dirk Pitt again..."
Hope their paths cross in the next book. t:

To me it was never as good as any Dirk Pitt book but I still liked it. It wasn't one that had me sitting on the edge of my seat that much.

B) I just finished GB and thought it was a good read. Plenty of action, and a good enough plot. My only gripe is to large a cast. It was hard trying to remember who was where, and what they're part in the scam was. Oter than that, I enjoyed it.

For me it would be the best novel if all(Dirk, Al, Joe, Kurt) characters would appear in the same book. I hope for that event. :)

I think CC thinks about it! I belive once a book appears with all our hereos.

I enjoyed it it was cool

OK... I finally finished Golden Buddha, and my opinion is that it was TERRIBLE.

ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE.

The "ensemble" cast was WAY too large - that made it difficult to follow the action. I had to continually flip back to the "cast of characters" in front of the book to figure out who was what for where. I know Flood Tide pretty well, so I remember the main characters of the Corporation, but WAYYYYY too many people to follow.

MY SECOND GRIPE:

The writing was amateurish. It was NOT up to the usual CC standard. It appeared to be ghostwritten by someone and then touched up by CC in places. Each sub-chapter is VERY short and it rapidly became annoying.

There was a lot of useless dialogue and not a whole lot of description of the locales, the action, memorable character descriptions, and a detailed account of what was happening. I missed CC's normally rich descriptions. Who wants to read what appears to be a court transcript???

EXAMPLE:

"Go down to the Magic Shop and get ready" said Max Hanley.
"Yes, you need to do that right away." said Juan Cabrillo.
"Thank you sir, I think I will." said the Expendable Crewman.
"This chair is sure comfortable, isn't it?" said Max Hanley.
"Sure. I had them imported from a custom Italian chair manufacturers especially for the Oregon." said Juan Cabrillo.
etc, etc, etc...

YAAAWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNNN...

The plot was contrived and other than the <SPOILER ALERT> actual heist of the statue(s), much of the book tested my suspension of disbelief to the extreme. I was particularly irritated about the setup of the <SPOILER ALERT> two motorcyclists and the passing references to the Cabrillo's fake leg, the Oregon I, and Max Hanley suddenly disclosing that he knew about the Buddha double-cross all along, but refused to reveal it because it was a "need to know" basis. WTF?

Juan Cabrillo being able to just waltz in and negotiate with President Putin tested my credibility as well. "Hi, I'm Juan. Sign here please. Thank you." I thought he was supposed to be incognito???

It sounded like PLOT HOLE REPAIR 101 out of a bad TV series.

And since when did CC depart from fictional political figures (like Soviet President Georgi Antonov) to start using real-life people? That will date the book quickly (not that I will ever read it again) and make it even more tired than it already is.

This book is NOT WORTH IT! DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK! I *knew* I should have stuck to DP novels and not departed from them, but I thought I would give the "alternate series" books a shot.

I think I will go re-read SAHARA again to cleanse my memory of this abominable book. yike:

I thought it was absolutely brilliant, Loved it, loved it, loved it!!!!

Quite different from the Pitt and Austin novels, very fresh and exciting!

I CANNOT wait for Sacred Stone th:

That would be cool if the Corporation had a run in or joint mission with our favorite NUMA heroes. Golden Buddha was a very good buck, definetly one of Dr. Cussler's best.

Having just recieved this book in hardcover(signed) I must read it again next and add my 2 cents worth.

Since I have given the Numa Files a second chance I thought I would do it with this one as well.Gets me ready for Sacred Stone next month. w:

Don't you think that was a liitle HARSH,
I enjoed it and I liked everything about it,
I see we have different takes on that book.
I think that you just went over it with a microscope a little too much.

Just my opinion :unsure:

I enjoyed golden buddha, was not the greatest book. i think some people have high expections. i thought that the kurt austin series took a while to take off. i hope that like the austin series the adventures of the corporation continue to get better.

I really enjoyed Golden Buddha. I thought it was a great change of pace from a Dirk Pitt or Kurt Austin novel. The characters are so different it's truly refreshing. I like all of Clive's books, but have always felt that The Numa Files were to much like a Dirk Pitt novel. Same formula only with the names changed. Just thought GB was a nice change of pace.

Cheers beer:

I enjoyed the book. I didn't anaylize it on a comparative basis with other Cussler stuff. It reminded me of reading an episode from "Mission Impossible" - just a light read.

It was not a Dirk Pitt novel nor even a Curt Austin adventure.

I think that if one considers the "volume" of work comming out of the Cussler camp in recent times - it is obvious that quality control is a secondary consideration.

I just bought it. Have to read it after i have finished my current project.

I thought GB had to many ppl in the story it took me a longer to finish than the other CC books but i will going to read the next one to see how it goes det: :wacko:

I approached Golden Buddha warily (one should always do so...you never know when they'll bite) I was on the list to buy Einstein Papers way back when, and my initial response to the book was not unlike what some of you are saying about Golden Buddha. But to be fair, I reread Einstein Papers and while it wasn't great, it was Cusslerish in more than a few ways (agent John Taft collects vintage motorcycles) and I liked it a lot more the second time.

GB is very definitely Craig Dirgo's book-you can tell both from the meter of the story telling and the plot complexities. That is not necessarily a bad thing. I would actually like to see more of his work unfettered from Cussler's universe.

I tried to read GB an got right up to the party scene before running out steam. There were just too damn many characters, and the whole well-oiled machine was just too much to push through. Seriously, how can so many people, no matter how efficient and driven they are, get along without any kind of tension whatsoever. Comparisons to Mission Impossible are completely accurate, but again, this was not necessarily a bad thing, but I just couldn't get through it. I just didn't care whether they succeeded or not.
But I always like reading Cussler's stuff, even the extended universe, and I just wouldn't feel right letting one go. So I went to the library and got the audio book (unabridged) and let someone else read it to me.
The great thing about this is that you can't get bogged down. The guy just keeps on reading, and before you know it, they're past that godawful party and back to high seas action and military adventure. And, once you get past that, it's actually pretty interesting. I won't rate this with the best Dirk Pitt...or even the worst Pitt, but it's better than some stuff I've wasted my time on. I'll even read...er...listen to... Sacred Stone.

Seeing as I'm old now, and my attention span is getting shorter, and I have a 45 ride to work and from work, I have been listening to it on audio (the unabridged version) instead of reading it. I agree it has a lot of characters to wade through, but I like it. I'm none too thrilled with some of the characters (ie Talbot), but it holds my attention. So much that this morning on my way to work I was waiting at a red light listening and didn't notice the lady behind me was about to hit me. Fortunately no damage to me or my car! :blink:

Yes, I was being quite harsh. I intended it to be - I am an AVID fan of the DP books, this was my first venture into the non-DP books, and I was extremely disappointed.

The quality of writing was definitely not up to the usual CC standard - it came across as a bad movie script recited by someone amping on speed.

*IF* I try the new Oregon Files book I think I will go get it from the library.

Didn't try to go over it with a microscope - I just wanted to convey the depth of my disappointment in the Golden Buddha.

To paraphrase CC from ICEBERG: "...He hurled the dismally-written book into the trash with the speed of a racehorse with an arrow embedded in its rectum!"

Just finished GB and i must say that it was great book. I'm inpatiently waiting when the next Oregon-book comes available.

th: Great stuff, Sapper!!!

Well... can't say I didn't warn you all!

:P

GB S U C K S.

Any one of you can have my copy for FREE.

I disagree and would like to see your book go to a good home ;)

cracking up here! :lol:

I liked Golden Buddha. It was much better than Serpent (which was the first of the NUMA files series).

MrKABC are you a movie critic???

I always seem to enjoy more what the critics detest.

Now I am starting reading the book. Hope it's a good one. Your opinions let me hope!

if you have to give points, how many would you give for it? 10 os the best.

cheers, ralf

Loved it. The beginning with the Cuban breakout was an instant hook, had me turning the pages... I actually stayed in for a night to finish it when it came out. Just got a signed hardcover of it too. Truth be known I liked Sacred Stone better!

I too went back and re-read Cabrillo's cameo in Flood Tide... the line Juan delivers cracked me up when I re-read it....... 'I've already given you enough information about the Oregon to write a book on her." .... self fulfilling prophecy? :)

Will it take a third Oregon Files book to create a category on the subject? four? when? when?

I'd give it a 10 th:

that let me hope! I can't wait

I have a question:

Are the members of the books from the Oregon NUMA members like Dirk, Kurt and Co.? Or are the Oregon books anyhing different?

I think in Flood Tide: Juan Cabrillo appears. Can anyone tell me what excatly happenend or what was the Job of the Cabrillo team?

thank you for answering!

greetings, ralf

Reaphy:

Cabrillo was hired by Sandecker and the President in Flood Tide to help out Dirk and Al. He was contracted because his ship was very inconspicuos and looked like a rust bucket... yet it had state of the art communications, engines, sensors, and armorment. His mission was to get Dirk and Al close enough to the liner United States to examine the hull with their mini sub. A NUMA ship wouldn't have sufficed in a Chinese port because the villians had already connected Pitt to NUMA and the 'discovery' in the lake so they used the ship Juan had...the Oregon.. which was registered in Iran... pretty much the last country anyone would link to the US govt. I'm not sure if you read Flood Tide so I am deliberately avoiding any obvious 'spoilers'... it's a great read though if you haven't devoured it and Juan's cameo is really cool!


as for the series as a whole. No they're not much like Cussler's normal characters but they're great in their own right. They're not oceanogrophers or affiliated with any countries government. Their adventures do base themselves off the high seas initially and their world is centered in their ship... but the plots aren't usually maritime oriented at all. To use Cussler's own words... they're more like 'mercenaries with a conscience' ... ie they can be bought but they only take on ethically good missions!

@JamieNYY

thank you for your good answer! it helps me a lot! cheers, ralf

LOL... uhhh... no, I am not a movie critic.

I know what you mean though, about liking movies that the critics hate! I also fall into the category as well.

The reason I savaged the book so badly here on the forum is that I was supremely disappointed in the lame-ness of the writing, and of the plot. I didn't care about the Dali Lama and Tibet, and couldn't understand why the Corporation would either. Who would hire them to bring the Dali Lama back to Tibet - what strategic difference would it make? Who cares?

The writing, IMHO, was atrocious. I simply had too much trouble following the ensemble cast of characters, and positively hated the Dean Koontz-style of simply typing a bunch of dialogue without any other descriptive text. It seemed like I was reading a bad screenplay. I won't write another parody, simply scroll up to see the last one I wrote. This was NOT Cussler writing, he is far superior in delivery of dialogue.

The disgustingly contrived plot was the final nail in the coffin. Story not going the way you like? No problem. Simply say "Juan Cabrillo knew this all along and set it up" and away you go! Problem solved. (motorcycle man with real Buddha)

I *wanted* to like this book. The Corporation's debut in "Flood Tide" was very entertaining and well done. Unfortunately, the execution of this book was pathetic and destroyed the premise.