2012: The War for Souls
by Whitley Strieber
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Book Summary Information
Author: Whitley StrieberEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-07-01
ISBN: 0765358670
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Tor Books
Book Reviews of 2012: The War for Souls
Book Review: It could have been a perfect thriller...
Summary: 3 Stars
For time untold people have wondered what waits beyond death. Do we simply cease to exist? All our experiences, our knowledge, hopes dreams, regrets, do they vanish into nothingness?
Or do we move on to another plane of existence?
We believe, right or wrong, that because we are self aware, that we can think and interact with the world and others, that we have an immortal soul.
Just what exactly is the soul anyhow? No one really can answer that. You ask a hundred different people and you'll probably get a hundred different answers.
Personally, I believe that the soul is nothing more than our mental energy. Now before you start laughing or worse, think about this - our minds are made up of electrical impulses. These impulses control our bodies and they allow us to think.
Our brains are nothing more than hard-drives with biological coding that is built into us to keep our bodies functioning. The rest is essentially space for memory.
So, to me, the soul is the energy that runs our mind and body, the compilation of all our memories, thoughts and experiences.
And, as energy can never be destroyed, it simply changes form and becomes something else.
That being the case, yes, in my personal view our soul IS immortal, that it can never die, it just changes form.
Now, what does this metaphysical mumbo jumbo have to do with the review? Everything. After all just read the title of the book - 2012: The war for Souls.
Before I continue, here's my usual disclaimer. I will not reveal any spoilers about the novel other than what you can read on the back cover.
The novel is about the end of the Mayan Calendar, December 21st, 2012. The date that many believe is the end of the world.
Sure, it could have something to do with the end of an era, or, as in the novel, something that is downright apocalyptic in nature. Just go do a search on Amazon using 2012, and you'll bring up an easy dozen or more hits that discuss this matter.
The novel deals with the end of the world. But oddly enough, it involves alternate realities, invaders from parallel universes.
And, the first half of the book is brilliant. It is terrifying and heart breaking all at once. It deals with loss, betrayal, and of course the end of the world.
And frankly I wish that the author would have kept with that pace through the entire novel. If he would have, the book would have earned an easy 5 out of 5 from me.
But, explanations are needed and things are eventually revealed... and it took away the whole sense of fear, hopelessness and urgency that I felt reading the first half.
I can't go into any details what so ever as it would most definitely ruin things for anyone who wants to read the novel.
Don't get me wrong, the book was enjoyable - but having mysteries explained kind of ruined it for me.
Despite the fact that the mysteries needed to be explained. Talk about a quandary, eh?
The characters are well written and in some cases quite likeable. You really feel their pain and suffering, their fear at what's happening around them and the hopelessness of the unenviable situation they find themselves in.
Now, this won't spoil things, but it does touch on a lot of mythology from various religions and cultures across the planet. Let's face it, the book deals with the end of the Mayan calendar after all.
I will point out the fact that the closer I got to the end of the book, the more confused I got. It had to do with what was happening to two sets of characters, the `scribe' and his family and the survivors of the apocalypse.
The lines between reality and story in the actual novel became so blurred I had a hard time following what was happening.
Was it intentional? I have to say yes, it left me wondering if the scribe was in fact responsible for what was happening, not just recording it.
You'll understand if you choose to read the novel.
It could have been a perfect novel for me, but it wasn't. It was, for the most part, very well written and entertaining, although I would have preferred if Whitley Strieber would have used paragraph breaks to indicate the change of scene, and it would have been wonderful if he would have made more use of `he said, she said' so it would have made the interaction between characters a lot easier to follow.
Hey, it's a good read, pick it up, even if it's not worthy of a 5 out of 5.
3.5 out of 5.
Summary of 2012: The War for Souls
December 21, 2012, may be one of the most watched dates in history. Every 26,000 years, Earth lines up with the exact center of our galaxy. At 11:11 on December 21, 2012, this event happens again, and the ancient Maya calculated that it would mark the end, not only of this age, but of human consciousness as we know it.
But what will actually happen? The end of the world? A new age for mankind? Nothing? The last time this happened, Cro-Magnon man suddenly began creating great art in the caves of southern France, which to this day remains one of the most inexplicable changes in human history.
Now Whitley Strieber explores 2012 in a towering work of fiction that will astound readers with its truly new insights and a riveting roller-coaster ride of a story. A mysterious alien presence unexpectedly bursts out of sacred sites all over the world and begins to rip human souls from their bodies, plunging the world into chaos it has never before known.
Courage meets cowardice, loyalty meets betrayal as an entire world struggles to survive this incredible end-all war. Heroes emerge, villains reveal themselves, and in the end something completely new and unexpected happens that at once lifts the fictional characters into a new life, and sounds a haunting real-world warning for the future.
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