The Rule of Four
by Dustin Thomason, Ian Caldwell
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Book Reviews of The Rule of Four
Book Review: Dull, Drab and Awful
Summary: 1 Stars
This was a good idea for a book that was poorly written. The effect of this unfortunate combination is a boring book not worth the trouble of reading. I wish that I would have done what others reviews did and stopped after 50 pages.
There are insipid chase scenes devoid of suspense; feigned scholarly discussions that are lacking insight or purpose and a pointless central mystery plot with no hint of cleverness. The characters are shallow, dull, uninteresting, boring, lifeless and just plain drab and awful. While in some professions these attributes might be considered an asset; in a modern mystery novel they are in fact a real detriment. None of the principal players are at all interesting. The four main characters are not at all likeable and I couldn't sympathize with any of them on any level. Count yourself as lucky if you have none of these boring manikins for friends.
The historic references to the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" are the only bright spots in this pathetic waste of a book. The reader will have to force himself through a sluggish plot with boring characters and a slow pace to learn a little about this renaissance love story. There is a modern translation of the original book in question. I wish that I would have read the modern English translation of the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" (see: Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: The Strife of Love in a Dream) and never heard of "The Rule of Four".
I have the feeling that "The Rule of Four" is for an early adolescent audience while the serious books are left for the grown-ups.
On the positive side, the cover of the book is a very pretty shade of red.
Pass on this dog.
Book Review: Dull, Drab and Awful
Summary: 1 Stars
This was a good idea for a book that was poorly written. The effect of this unfortunate combination is a boring book not worth the trouble of reading. I wish that I would have done what others reviews did and stopped after 50 pages.
There are insipid chase scenes devoid of suspense; feigned scholarly discussions that are lacking insight or purpose and a pointless central mystery plot with no hint of cleverness. The characters are shallow, dull, uninteresting, boring, lifeless and just plain drab and awful. While in some professions these attributes might be considered an asset; in a modern mystery novel they are in fact a real detriment. None of the principal players are at all interesting. The four main characters are not at all likeable and I couldn't sympathize with any of them on any level. Count yourself as lucky if you have none of these boring manikins for friends.
The historic references to the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" are the only bright spots in this pathetic waste of a book. The reader will have to force himself through a sluggish plot with boring characters and a slow pace to learn a little about this renaissance love story. There is a modern translation of the original book in question. I wish that I would have read the modern English translation of the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" (see: Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: The Strife of Love in a Dream) and never heard of "The Rule of Four".
I have the feeling that "The Rule of Four" is for an early adolescent audience while the serious books are left for the grown-ups.
On the positive side, the cover of the book is a very pretty shade of red.
Pass on this dog.
Book Review: Exceedingly disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought The Rule of Four because I wanted something deeper than your average thriller and this novel seemed to be different. And it was, but only because the book is not as good as your average thriller. The two authors remind me very much of those people who once attended a prestigious university and then feel obliged to tell you about it for the rest of their lives.
The basic idea behind this book is actually pretty good: a small group of students and tutors at Princeton try to decipher the secret message hidden inside a mysterious rambling medieval novel and thereby find a crypt packed full with some sort of treasure. I actually liked the description of the codes and thought the final few pages were intriguing. Unfortunately, the work is comprehensively undermined by some very flat and pretentious writing (there is nothing so unconvincing as two people in their twenties trying to be d-e-e-p about what it means to grow old), flawed characterisations and a truly hopeless lack of pace. Whenever the narrative threatens to get exciting, our hapless writing duo whisk us off elsewhere to observe some arcane aspect of daily life in Princeton, be it boring parties, the different dining clubs or how hard it is for people in different years to date each other. I'm sure it was very nice for you to attend Princeton. How exciting that must have been. Good for you. Just please don't make me read about it for page after page after page.
Reading this book, you wonder what happened at the editing stage. Did no one with experience of the fiction trade go back to the authors with a list of what they needed to fix? The end result would have been much better because there is in fact a good thriller striving to make its way out of this overblown mess.
Book Review: Interesting and entertaining
Summary: 3 Stars
I am rather surprised at the number of negative reviews I have seen here. I enjoyed reading this book a lot. One must bear in mind, it is a first novel, by young authors, and frankly, I think that they have done a good job. One big mistake was made here, but probably by the publishers. This book should never have been called "The Da Vinci code for people with brains". The Independant should be severely criticised for writing this rubbish, and the publishers need a slap for including this phrase in the printed matter of the book. All this achieved was to give prospective readers far too high hopes, and of a different type of story at that. Of course some of them were dissapointed. It was false advertising to blame, not the authors. There are indeed elements of THE DA VINCI CODE, as well as THE NAME OF THE ROSE and A SECRET HISTORY. However, this book has something of it's own as well. I feel that the authors dealt very well with the idea of obsession, and how some things assume unreasonable importance in our lives. I enjoyed some phrases a lot, for example: "All it takes to be happy is to love the right things in the right amounts", or "the commedy of being chronically late for my own life was lost one me". I think there are a lot of ideas in the book we can all relate to (which makes the book a bit more real for us), and this is increasingly uncommon in popular fiction today, with everybody runing around saving the world from total destruction. And, while this book was a work of fiction, prior to reading it I was not aware of the existance of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, and I am certainly fascinated to know more about it. I certainly enjoyed reading THE RULE OF FOUR, and I do not hesitate to recommend it. Don't be put off by all the bad reviews. Try it!Book Review: Good read, not amazing
Summary: 3 Stars
I can't remember where I heard about this book, but I was kind of intrigued since it got so many low reviews on Amazon (415 one-star reviews!) and yet it was a bestseller. It's based around a real-life book called Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a thick book about a man who dreams about his love. In the novel, however, it's full of mysteries and puzzles. The main character Tom's dad was obsessed with the book, and he meets another student at Princeton who also becomes entranced with the book and its secrets. The story follows the two of them as they try to solve the last puzzles while dealing with two men who've been studying the book for years. It's a mystery and action/adventure.
I picked it up from the library, and I liked it. I think I can see why a lot of people wouldn't like it. There are a lot of infodumps, and sometimes the backstory or history relating to the puzzles completely interrupts the current story. The writing isn't stellar, but the story intrigued me. I wanted to see what happened to the characters and what the big secret of Hypnerotomachia was. I wasn't disappointed, either.
I liked the friendship between the four guys. They're all different, but they clicked, and I really liked the bond they had. Charlie was the nicest guy, too. Paul really annoyed me after a while, but I suppose that was the point, to show how much the book had taken over his common sense.
There was a lot of cool history in this. I commend the authors for doing all that research! Seriously, a lot of time and effort must have gone into this book. The adventure aspect was great, too; they wrote great action scenes.
I think it was a good read. Like I said, not stellar, but I didn't feel like I wasted my time.