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| Plot Summary of Valhalla Rising |
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"
Putnam, Jul 2001, 27.95, 544 pp.
ISBN: 039914787X
In 2003, the cruise ship Emerald Dolphin sails on its maiden voyage from Sidney to Tahiti when a fire breaks out. The alarms, sprinklers, and idiot lights fail to alert the crew. When a crewman discovers the blaze and reports it, human error and disbelief quickly compound the problems leaving two thousand and five hundred people facing death as the inferno spreads at an uncanny rate of speed.
National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) engineer Dirk Pitt notices the red glow through binoculars from on board the oceanographic survey vessel Deep Encounter. He notifies Captain Burch and they sail at full speed towards the fire twelve miles away. Though many die, the NUMA crew rescues about two thousand survivors. One of them Kelly Egan watched two men kill her father and try to steal his attaché case. She barely survives thanks to Dirk's intervention, but the case is empty. Her father invented a magnetichydrodynamic engine that uses saltwater as its source. When the Emerald Dolphin sinks into the Pacific, Dirk leads the investigation into what caused the disaster, but remains unaware of the ancient and modern sea monsters that have marked him for death.
VALHALLA RISING is a fantastic thriller that runs a full speed ahead story line and never decelerates on its knots until the tale is finished. Dirk remains fresh and his watery escapades make for first rate reading. The remaining characters round out a great action-paced sea adventure that shows Clive Cussler is still the Great Admiral of the seven seas.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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"Dirk Pitt is back in action in Clive Cussler's "Valhalla Rising." A huge new cruise ship mysteriously catches on fire and ultimately sinks in the middle of the south Pacific Ocean. Dirk Pitt and his crew are lucky enough to be close by for the rescue operation, but it only starts there. Pitt begins an investigation that leads to an evil collaboration between the country's oil companies to create a monopoly on oil. "
BethG, Resident Scholar
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"The story begins in the year 1035 somewhere in America where a tribe of Vikings led by Bjarne Sigvatson explore the fjords of America. Cussler manages to transport you to the Viking era without going into too much historical detail but gives the reader enough information to imagine the hardships the main Viking character had to endure in his struggle to find new land for his tribe.
We are then transported to the year 1894 in the middle of the Caribbean Sea where a “monster” is terrorizing local shipping
Then in the year 2003, a luxury liner Emerald Dolphin is suddenly engulfed in flames and sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Dirk Pitt comes to the rescue of the passengers and embarks on a perilous task of determining the cause for the sinking and who or what was behind it.
In a short space of time Pitt will come face to face with a series of extraordinary monsters, human and mechanical.
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John Gautry, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Valhalla Rising |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 35%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
Tone of story
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
Time/era of story:
- 1980's-1999
Spying/Terrorism Thriller
Yes
Big vehicle disaster?
Yes
Kind of vehicle:
- boat
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Water adventure
Yes
Water:
- on the ocean surface
Search for technology?
- method of transporation
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- engineer
Age:
- 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use?
- just the right amount
Ethnicity/Race
- White/American
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- mastermind
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist
- power
The antagonists are:
- big business leader(s)
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Physique
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Mid-Atlantic states
Asia/Pacific
Yes
Asian country:
- Pacific Islands
Ice Caps/Sea?
Yes
Where?
- Ocean
Water?
Yes
Water:
- pleasure/love boat
- sail boat
- lifeboat
- warship
- lost at sea
- scuba under
- submarining
- feeding sharks
- drowning
Style
Part of a series?
Yes
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths?
- hundreds or more
A lot of techno jargon?
Yes
Unusual forms of death
- drowned
Unusual form of death?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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