The Rule of Four
by Dustin Thomason, Ian Caldwell
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Book Reviews of The Rule of Four
Book Review: With over 1,100 reviews, please skip mine....
Summary: 3 Stars
If you can get over the unconscious pretentiousness, the obvious tangencies with Secret History and Da Vinci Code, and the other glaring "let's manufacture a thriller" constructs this is enjoyable light reading.
The authors, however, were not brave enough to make the African-American character anything but perfect, noble, and sympathetic and <sigh!> cast as an implied victim of an off-stage prejudice (can we develop any sort of other theme for secondary African-American characters? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?). While of course the wealthy Whit Stillmanesque Manhattanite "Metropolitan" WASP is ultimately a partial fraud and morally shallow, because we know entitlement inures you to capability of normal human emotions and values because of convention and strictures.
The only thing missing in their checklist of secondary character stereotypes was making the villain a cracker math genius with guns in his dorm room, a toothless townie girlfriend, and a still in the basement. Sorry, the villain is a Professor (boo! hiss!) stealing ideas, fame, glory, and suppressing research. Floating above the page, speaking in his still-thick accent, I swear I saw the shade of Henry Kissinger mouthing "the fighting is never so fierce as when the stakes are so small."
"We gotta work that theme into the book somehow."
An interesting villain would have demanded a standard deviation over into "creativity" on the part of the authors and would have broken form. So we are left with a cast of undergraduates who are somehow so conscious of their personal significance to the world that they fail to interact beyond a mannered sociopathology. The ultimate result of the mind-body problem is in full evidence here, with these sexless dull mannequins the "human" residue of purely focusing on academic overachievement. A passage involving the gigantic group streaking on campus is the unintentionally hilarious outward visible sign of an inward carnal absence. The "daring" is so pathetic if any of these zombies got within ten feet of me I'd shove a funnel down their throat, pour in a pitcher of cheap Tequila, and blast Jimmy Buffet's "Why Don't We Get Drunk (and Screw)" until they did the nasty with a woofer or ran through the plate glass windows of some god-awful Bauhaus new-campus monstrosity. Anything to remind them they are made of flesh.
Which is why the resolution of the novel on the significance of *human*friendship* is advanced as somehow so deep. In the world of these self-absorbed characters so-very-very-conscious-that-whatever-they-are-doing-is-thoughtful-and-profound such common human ties are indeed rare, and therefore presented as astonishing. Part of this self-absorbed dimension of the characters is that the plot is set at thesis time, but it frankly got sickening after a while. It was as if *every*single*character* were a BRIDEZILLA, expecting the whole world to stop because of her impending wedding (cue Blue Oyster Cult here). Granted, it did create dramatic tension so the theme of sacrificial friendship had a contrast, but the dimensionality of the characters ended up being defined as thesis+[x]^y, where y is a Martingale scalar of your presence in the plot.
But the McGuffin is cool and actually a zillion times better than the Da VinciCr!p, so all in all it was a fun read.
Book Review: 10 reasons why this book deserves a star
Summary: 1 Stars
This book is nothing but a waste of money and energy, and of course, the most precious of all, time. I hate to say this about a book, but yes, that's what it is. I should have never read this at all... I should have read a better book instead of punishing myself with this garbage (I'm so sorry to be blunt).
If I could only give this book zero stars I would have done so (that's how bad it is), but since 1 star is the lowest, then one it is. Of course, I wouldn't give this book a VERY low rating without a reason, so here they are:
1. It's NOT (or should I say, NEVER) exciting.
2. The conflict is obscure and shallow. I don't even believe there's a real conflict out there.
3. The characters are not at all realistic. They are very childish, and Katie (Tom's girlfriend) was a very shallow girl that she's afraid that she would lose Tom to a stupid book. What a freak she was! I hate the authors for making the only girl (as far as I know, she's the only girl who has a "role" here) in this novel look so stupid in everyone's eyes.
4. I hate how the book's characters are (almost) all males. It was just dull, and it didn't trigger any excitement. Reading about their lives was truly boring.
5. I am not against non-linear chronology, in fact I think it's cool. The thing is, the authors DON'T know how to write non-linear chronology properly. It was VERY confusing, and sometimes irrelevant to the story you could have taken that particular part out.
6. The climax was... okay, I'm not even going to call it a climax!
7. Very lame ending. VERY, VERY LAME. No conflict was resolved.
8. The plot is not well-crafted. It's always beating around the bush. I know of people who can write a lot better.
9. Very long for a stupid story. I struggled as I read it. For books of this genre, it would usually take me two and a half days to finish. Since this one is really, really bad that I didn't feel like finishing it at all, it took me 4-5 days to finish. I'm glad I finished it! I thought I would give up. It was like a perpetual punishment.
10. It was hard to keep myself awake while reading. I fell asleep thrice.
I also learned that every event that is written in a piece should develop the characters, and that from these events we should be learning more about them to make us interested in them. Well, the authors obviously failed us. The characters were very one-dimensional; they just didn't come out alive. They are of no substance. At all! If they wished this novel to be at least realistic, they should have done more research about the ancient book that this story is about. And that should be accompanied by talent. I'm so sorry, I didn't see any talent in this work! If filling a paper full of words that are not well-thought is a talent, then they are very talented.
I would never EVER recommend this book to any of my friends if I consider them special.
Book Review: A pretty good book and I think I know why a lot of people hated it
Summary: 4 Stars
I've just been going through the reviews that people have written and I was especially curious about the ones that rated it 1 star or wanted to rate it lower. From my point of view. I like this book, I'm reading it right now for like the 4th time. The reasons why I like this book are:
1. The plot is interesting. I'm an avid fan of stories that attempt to unravel or talk about something historical and the blurb on the back of the book gave me enough reason to buy it.
2. The lead character is refreshingly different. Instead of having your usual hero going through the story, this story is written from the perspective of someone in college. The main character is as normal as can be, there is nothing special about him.
3. The story seems real. The descriptions of Princeton, the life of college students, be it romance or stress or deadlines or breaking the rules, all of it gives the story a firm ground in reality as it goes about a story of pure fiction.
4. The story is highly informative. For a trivia buff like me, there was so many little tidbits of fact (names, stories etc) thrown into this story at various points of time that it had me engrossed just waiting for the next one.
I have a feeling that the people who rated 1 star were disappointed by this book because of the following reasons :
1. It is not the Da Vinci Code. A lot of people fell for the obvious marketing ploy of putting snippets of quotes that make it seem like it is almost the same thing.
2. Leading on from the first one, it doesn't move as quickly as the Da Vinci Vode and it doesn't have a supposed 'heroic' character like Langdon. Neither does it have a villian hiding in plain sight nor does it have some globally known earth shattering secret that is about to break.
3. This book is about Princeton. I somehow think a lot of school spirit is coming out here. Hence the fact that the plot was based in Princeton (and involved a lot of description of the place) really put people off. (I'm not from Princeton either mind you)
4. This story is narrated from a very simple perspective of a college student and it involves a little known manuscript from the past. No changing of world faith, no toppling of known order, nothing of that sort and thus a lot of Dan Brown fans were disappointed by the lack of anything overly sensational.
5. The story is for the most part realistic. Yes, to some of you, reading about someone else's college life might seem boring and even out of place when you go in expecting to find a story of historical grandeur and Indiana Jones like adventure.
I could probably keep writing about both why I liked the book and why people didn't like it but I will stop here.
In short, it is a pretty good book which is worth a read. Just don't go in expecting the Da Vinci Code.
Book Review: Debut thriller needs to make up its mind
Summary: 3 Stars
How do you rate a novel that is well-written, clever, original and riveting and yet simultaneously disappointing? Perhaps we should be charitable in hopes that the two authors will take another crack at the novel form. Because there is no denying the talent on display here. This is the historical mystery thriller in its most elegant form: plausible yet still gripping; a page turner but without being badly written; erudite without being stuffy. Best of all, the characters are all vivid and three-dimensional in a way that thrillers seldom manage. And yet, strangely, this is also the downfall of the book.
I applaud the authors for putting the focus on their characters rather then forcing them to fit into a series of arbitrary plot twists. Unlike other reviewers, I didn't find that this affected the pacing of the book. Hell, if your characters are strong enough, I'd gladly watch them eat oatmeal. And in fact there's plenty of plot to go around, what with engimatic Renaissance code books, people getting lost in steam tunnels, academic power struggles and the rocky relationships of four college roommates.
But while avoiding the traps of the cliched thriller the writers fall into the clutches of another genre entirely: melodrama. The last portion of the book sidelines both the historical mystery and the realistic characters for a lot of weepy navel gazing. The characters stop behaving like real university students and instead do things like going on the run from the police and breaking up with their girlfriends because of their existential angst, things that real people don't do (admittedly, I didn't attend Princeton - maybe this kind of thing is common amongst the student body?).
Sadly, I can't go into more detail because most of these problems crop up right at the climax of the story. No wonder some readers are annoyed! Having the rug pulled out from under you on the verge of the big reveal is frustrating. And then even the most patient and literate reader might be a tad miffed to have that reveal happen entirely 'off-stage'.
Perhaps the authors did this in hopes of building up some sort of literary street cred, making a daring statement by discarding the plot to keep the focus squarely on the characters. But the truth is that the book is much better when they set their sights lower. Delivering a well-crafted historical thriller that doesn't insult the readers' intelligence is harder than it looks. I for one would rather have that than the overwrought literary character study the last third of the book wants desperately to be.
Hopefully the authors will be back with another novel in which they stick to the basics. Or if they decide to go highbrow once more, perhaps they will kindly let us know BEFORE the finale.
Book Review: Mystery, History and Style
Summary: 5 Stars
The Rule of Four tells the story of Tom, a senior undergraduate at Princeton University. Tom and his friend Paul live two lives, one, their student and social life in college, the other, their quest to unravel riddles hidden in an ancient mysterious book, the Hypernotomachia Poliphili. The majority of the book, written by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason, takes place in just a couple of days. I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys mystery, history and quality writing because it is full of mystery, history and excellent writing.
I recommend this book for anyone that enjoys mystery books because The Rule of Four will keep the reader on edge of his or her seat. Although mystery is not present throughout the whole book, there are two cases Tom and his friends must solve. The first case is the mystery of the Hypernotomachia Poliphili, deciphering the ancient text and solving written riddles and cases of murder long ago. The second mystery begins when a student at Princeton University is murdered one night, and isn't resolved until the last chapters of the book.
I also recommend this book for anyone that enjoys history, especially Renaissance history. Although the plot occurs at Princeton University in 1999, Tom and Paul spend much of their time researching the Renaissance. As they attempt to uncover the riddles of the Hypernotomachia Poliphili, the duo is forced to examine many aspect6s of the Italian Renaissance classics culture: painters and paintings, philosophers and their works, priests and their sermons. Renaissance history is also interwoven throughout the modern day plot through references to Dickens, talks about the students' college history courses, and the history of Princeton University.
Lastly, this book is excellent because of high quality writing. I found the book to be incredibly enlightening and creative regarding writing style. The writing often makes reference to other novels, historical time periods, and real-life situations to draw connections, such as when he refers to Pliny's writings on page 319 to express his feelings. "I felt like one of the dolphins Pliny described, enchanted by human music but unable to make any of my own." The sentences also seem to flow, which kept me constantly engrossed and eager to read the next sentence.
I recommend this book for avid readers interested in mystery, history, and good writing. The story kept me constantly wondering how each riddle, modern and ancient, would be solved. The story also kept me interested because of connections to past cultures and writings. Lastly, the book kept me engrossed because of the flow of sentences page after page.