Blue Gold

I recently traded in pretty much all my Clive Cussler books, but up til now had only read the Dirk Pitt ones and one of the Oregon files (was not that impressed with the Oregon files ones, the Dirk Pitt ones were good but I figured I probably wouldn't re-read them).  Blue Gold was one that I picked up in Cambridge last term, didn't get round to reading, and so left here to enjoy when I got back.  And I did enjoy it.  I was quite surprised, in fact.

Blue Gold is one of the Kurt Austin books, set in the same world as the Dirk Pitt ones (indeed, in the other Kurt Austin book I've now read, Pitt makes a passing appearance).  It's an adventure story, based loosely around the ocean, and it's certainly an entertaining enough way of passing the time.  The character description sometimes felt a bit forced (particularly the bit about the jazz)--reminded me of my English Lit teachers rule of 'show, don't tell' when it comes to characters.  But other than that, there was a reasonable amount of action, there was a reasonable plot, the science was, well, maybe a little exaggerated, but potentially plausible.  Also, very amused by the giant woman.

In short, Blue Gold is pretty much what you'd expect from a Clive Cussler book.  There's action, beautiful women, a hero and his sidekick...  The Kurt Austin books could, in fact, almost be Dirk Pitt ones, save for a few little details about the two main characters.  So if you're a fan, and you've run out of Dirk Pitt books (although to be fair, there are twenty-odd of them, so you'd have to be an obsessive reader like me for that to happen quickly...) these are just as good.

Arctic Drift

By Clive Cussler, this is actually really good. The latest instalment in the Dirk Pitt series, which I've loved. When I read the blurb though, I thought oooh, dodgy, don't know if I'll like it. Particularly after I found Golden Budha (Oregon Files) to be a little disappointing and lacking in the usual excitement and technology and decent character. Global warming was the topic for this one. A miracle cure. Which instantly made me back off a bit, probably because of the mess James Patterson made of The Final Warning (Maximum Ride series) when he decided to introduce global warming to an otherwise fantastic series. So I felt a bit wary about reading it, but I figured I'd seen it in the library, wasn't going to cost me anything but time to read it, and if it was rubbish, I'd just stop.

It wasn't rubbish. Dirk Pitt (Sr) was on fine form, saving the world etc, and his two kids (still not entirely sure where they came from--I think they showed up randomly in an epilogue with no warning, but still, they're pretty neat) were certainly well written. I particularly like Summer (just to add, these 'kids' are in their twenties, so they're technically not kids I guess). Anyway, there's a nice ecological problem with mysterious stuff killing loads and loads of fish, perhaps linked to a 'green' buisnessman. Who, it turns out, is not so 'green' as he'd like people to think. The miracle cure is actually very believable! That was what stunned me most. And it was written so well, that even if it does seem a little far fetched to think there's a magical catalyst that'lll be randomly discovered that can stop global warming by turning carbon dioxide into oxygen, that didn't really affect the plot. To be fair, accidents are how most scientific discoveries seem to be made, and maybe it isn't far fetched. After all, this is the guy who predicted how the Titanic would be found and explored... before it happened. Let's hope Clive Cussler's right about this one too.

Golden Budha

This is the first book in the Oregon Files. It had a few too many intercontextual references for my liking. Kept mentioning suchabody or suchabody else as being like this or that, and as I didn't have a clue who the other people were, it was kinda annoying, as you can imagine. I've only read the Dirk Pitt books Clive Cussler's written before, and they're pretty great. I think I prefer the Dirk Pitt ones.

There were a few too many characters and most of them were not developed at all well. The action was pretty good, but confusing at times. The ending was also a little idealistic. One plus point was that the women were not just included for the men to seduce and to trick the men, as is often the case in the Dirk Pitt books (the first one was written thirty odd years back, so it's hardly surprising, it just gets a bit annoying).

On the whole, it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't knock your socks off brilliant. I won't be going out my way to hunt for the other books in the series, but I might get them out the library eventually. While I'd highly recommend the Dirk Pitt series, this one doesn't get my vote. It's about average, which basically means don't bother to my mind, although it's not so terrible you feel you've completely wasted your time and you refuse to finish reading it.

Raise the Titanic

Yet another in the Dirk Pitt series. This one was a little far-fetched perhaps, but I still enjoyed it. Surprising how accurate his ideas about how the Titanic would eventually be found were (at the time it was written, the location of the Titanic was still a mystery). Despite being far-fetched, the characters were interesting and believable. I know the series has been criticised for being unrealistic, and for Dirk Pitt being too indestructable, too much of a hero, but who cares? I think the individual books are each plausible, it's just that when taken as a whole you think no person could really live that adventurous a life. Still. It's a shame NUMA doesn't actually exist, I'd love to work for it.

Pacific Vortex

Another book in the Dirk Pitt series by Clive Cussler. It's the first one, and I thought it was fantastic. Quite realistic, and I do like Summer. I wish she hadn't stayed with her dad at the end, it would've been nice for him to have a girlfriend. Still. Worth reading for sure.

Dirk Pitt Series by Clive Cussler

Right, I said I'd reveiw all the books I read this summer. So far this summer, I've read four Dirk Pitt books, which are absolutely fantastic. I've read Atlantis Found, Iceberg, and I can't remember which two others I've read. Anyway, if you like adventure books, they're well worth a read.