The Europa Conspiracy

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The writing is on the wall for the Babylon Rising series, and it looks good for them. In the third novel, biblical archaeologist Michael Murphy is seeking out the Babylonian wall that God literally inscribed a warning on before overthrowing the kingdom. And the result is quite an interesting story to read.

Many of the same failings I previously reported in the writing style continue in this book - the out of sequence flashback-style introduction, a tendency to lecture, and the frequent jumps from one mind to another. In all honesty, each time I read one of these novels, I wonder how much their publication stems from Tim LaHaye's good name.

The story in and of itself is good. Murphy blindly follows yet another clue from Methuselah, winds up in a life-threatening situation, escapes by the skin of his teeth, deciphers what he receives, and then dodges the vicious Talon in search of said object. Incidentally, one of the points of confusion came in the first few chapters, where Murphy stated Talon may have survived, then stated that only four living people could claim to have seen the ark (Talon being one of those four). This made me wonder if he would make up his mind. Apparently the editor in charge of that sequence was taking a logical break. I wasn't surprised, then, to learn that Talon had survived his swim in the Black Sea.

Another writing hangup I have is the rush rush rush to show action, without expanding it. For instance, when Talon witnesses his birds killed, we know he is upset only because we are told he was "horrified." He didn't act horrified. He didn't feel horrified. We were just told how he felt as he performed his other duties. The writers missed a great chance to really take us into his psyche.

Now, granted, I am a writer with an eye towards detail, so I am probably being too picky. I am sure that the average reader would overlook these qualities in the story. And the story itself is very good; the authors did a good job of planning and scheduling it. I would just like to have seen the execution go a little smoother.

In all honesty, I will probably read the fourth novel only because I already checked it out of the library. I won't request any future works, and I won't wonder how things went. There is always hope that the writing will improve, but it's not enough for me to invest my time in. But for the average reader who doesn't think about things like character development, I'm sure the story will be quite enjoyable. But not for me.

Nola Redd is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Creative Writing. You can read more of her book reviews in her Biblio-file.