The Footprints of God by Greg Iles Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Footprints of God
Book Review: This was one of the worst books I have ever read,
Summary: 1 Stars
This is about as bad as a novel can get. It has some promise towards the beginning. As the protagonists start to flee from a legion of hit men, it is easy to get lost in the chase. But this engrossing bit is only contained in the first hundred and fifty or so pages.
Quickly it devolves into a very, very stupid evangelical science fiction thriller that is ludicrous and stifling. If you have any self-respect you might heed my words here. This book is painful. The characters never rise above a pathetic two-dimensionality. The "evil-doers" (to quote our most notorious evangelical) are as typical as you will ever come across. In fact, the all consuming world dominating ego of the villain cast against the comic book qualities of our hero's comes across as ghastly here. It might take you seven hours to churn through these pages. Those seven hours will feel like you are watching an old He-Man marathon or the worst of Saturday morning TV cartoons.
What really got to me is that Iles did not flesh out a place or setting. I could not imagine where these characters were. The whole book was all action and no substance. People here on this review page are giving five stars and saying that it is a great fictional quantum theory book. If they think that, they dont know anything about physics.
This book heavily reminded me of another book, 'Darwin's Radio' by Greg Bear I think. Although I would not say that it was a whole lot better than this atrocity, 'Darwin's Radio' does have a more engaging and fascinating look at the same sort of phenomena occurring in this book.
Book Review: This Book Was Terrible!
Summary: 1 Stars
This book was so poor, I am not even going to waste my time on a full review. The short of it is that the novel is sci-fi-ish, about a super computer that has mapped the human brain and can "think" on its own. The team behind the creation of the supercomputer, called Trinity, splinter; each man wanting to use it to their own plan. The main character, David, tries to get outside help and is marked for death himself.
Then, the novel splits off onto this weird tangent where David begins seeing life through the eyes of Jesus Christ. The novel goes straight downhill from their.
This book was just bizarre and I would not recommend it to anyone. Stay far away.
Book Review: Some incredibly exciting new details on a time-tested plot!
Summary: 4 Stars
The bad news is - this has all been done before! Not once! Not twice! Lots of times! Top secret government agency is staffed by a few megalomaniacs with some variation on a plot to take over the world. Whistleblower catches on. Bad guys realize that whistleblower is onto them. Whistleblower takes it on the lam fleeing for his life with a sex or love interest in tow. Good guy, previously a mild, meek mannered individual discovers that he has the combined survival and killing skills of a Green Beret, a Navy SEAL, a Ninja and a Marine Commando! Hero proceeds to wreak havoc on the insane plans of the megalomaniacs and saves the world! Tale concludes on happy ever after love-making, of course.
The good news is that the devil is in the details! Despite the basic "been there, done that" nature of the plot, Iles has produced a lightning fast-paced tale with some incredibly novel twists and turns and philosophical musings that make this a compelling page turner lying somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle between soft sci-fi, hard sci-fi and pure techno-thriller!
The plot? Dr. David Tennant, an ethicist from the University of Virginia medical school has been appointed by the White House to work with the top-secret Trinity artificial intelligence project. Incredibly high resolution molecular copies of the brains of the participating Nobel laureate scientists obtained through advanced magnetic resonance imaging scans will provide the basis for the quasi-human operating system of a new quantum computer with speeds and capabilities several orders of magnitude beyond current computers. When Tennant attempts to put the project onto a temporary hold because of neurological side effects caused by the MRI scans, such as his own narcoleptic seizures, the team fractures and it becomes clear that the power hungry owners of the project will stop at nothing to bring Trinity to completion! Tennant and his psychiatrist, Dr Rachel Weiss, flee for their lives and the chase is on. This thriller comes to a conclusion with Tennant attempting to reason with a "live" Trinity computer who needs to be convinced of a reason to trigger the self-destruct mechanism on nuclear missiles that are now racing towards their targets in the USA!
Some pretty meaty stuff in this novel for those that like their sci-fi good and hard! Aside from the computer itself, there's MRI scans that can produce 3-D images of the brain with resolution to the molecular level; satellite based weaponry; holographic storage of memory written by lasers into the structure of stable crystals; and, the hypothesis of the existence of anti-space as a possible solution to the ongoing puzzle of spooky action at a distance and quantum entanglement. Those readers that prefer their sci-fi to lean more in the soft, philosophical direction will be pleased to know that the entire novel is a cautionary tale on the ethics of the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence with some very compelling, extended discussion on the very nature and existence of God and evil.
Enjoy! Iles has produced an exciting novel that deserves a place in the library of any thriller lover!
Book Review: Very entertaining, "fun" read.
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a great novel. It may not be the most original story (super-intelligent computer goes mad), but the dilvery is great! A fairly thick book, it flew through it and was wanting more by the end.
Along the lines of Harlan Coben, Dan Brown - science/mystery/conspiracy/adventure novel..
I guess that's about every other book nowadays, but TONS of fun. Read it!
Book Review: Page Turner!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the second book of Iles I've read - couldn't put it down. Really get into the details of the characters as he describes them and feel as if I am actually standing in the story watching it happen, thats how well written this book is.