What readers think of Valhalla Rising, plus links to write your own review.

I agree with Tom's assessment ("...The historical aspects were tacked on with seemingly no proper connection to the main storyline...And the ending???")

I was fascinated by the beginning and the lost Viking tribe...even the Captain Nemo stuff was intriguing...but it had NOTHING to do with 3/4 of the book. And the ending explanation about the briefcase was...well, I'm not sure what to say. It's like he hadn't thought things through and had to come up with some extraordinary (and not very believable) explanation to tie it all together.

I think Cussler has talent, but that alone didn't salvage this book for me. I was very disappointed.

(And what's up with everybody "smiling" (e.g. "he said smiling..."; "she smiled") He must have said "he smiled" two hundred times. Clive, there are other facial expressions, don't you know.)

I'm a big Cussler fan
But C'mon what a crock.
The historical aspects were tacked on with seemingly no proper connection to the main storyline
And the ending???
I think it'll be my last and least favourite Pitt adventure

I used to be a huge fan of Clive Cussler's novels (Raise the Titanic is one I'll never forget), but having read Valhalla Rising - this following severe disappointment in the three preceding it - I can only say that it was most likely the last new Cussler novel that I will read. It is sad to see a novelist like Cussler succumb to clichée after clichée, time after time, offending the reader's intelligence as well his own talent. The man can write good thrillers, with both a believable story and smart characters, so why does he give us books like Valhalla Rising? And to include himself in a key-role? Utterly tasteless, if you ask me. The cameo appearances in the earlier novels was okay, but as with the storyline itself, Cussler has simply gone too far, and overstepped the boundaries of logic and good taste. I can honestly say that never have I been as disappointed in a novel as I was in this one. To give it a one is still way too much.