Product Description

'The glass enclosure exploded outwards. Stabbing spears pierced his left side. But he barely felt the cuts as a wave of blast-furnace heat struck him, searing, burning away all the oxygen. The next explosion ripped Harry from his feet and threw his body clear across the gallery. But only flaming bones hit the security gate, melting themselves into the steel grating...' Lady Kara Kensington's family paid a high price in money and blood to found the gallery that now lies in ruins. And her search for answers is about to lead her into a world she never imagined existed: a lost city, buried beneath the Arabian desert, where something astonishing is waiting... A covert government operative hunting down a traitor is being drawn there as well. But at the end of a perilous journey lies an ageless power that can create a utopia - or tear down everything humankind has built over millennia of civilisation...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11819 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

About the Author
James Rollins is the author of seven bestselling novels. An amateur spelunker and scuba enthusiast, he also holds a doctorate in veterinary medicine. He currently lives and writes in Sacramento, California.

Customer Reviews

High Adventure, Science, and Romantic Tension
If you are a fan of Dan Brown's books (Da Vinci Code author), you will love James Rollins' books! In a similar style, in "Sandstorm," Rollins rolls exotic locations, high adventure, romantic tension, science, and a touch of religious history involving modern-day guardians into a spy thriller starring government agents, physicists, a businesswoman, and an archeologist. All the action takes place, minute-to-minute, over just a few days. I really enjoyed this book, and had great trouble putting it down, at each sitting! I finished it in three days.

"Sandstorm" begins with an explosion in the British Museum, which sets the action in motion among different factions. Some are searching for the ancient lost city of Ubar, on the Arabian peninsula, while government/terrorist factions are searching for the source of the antimatter which caused the explosion. The action takes us from the United States, into the Arabian peninsula, where two-thirds of the book takes place. All of the action is infused with tension between the woman archeologist, and the two heroes-both of whom we are rooting for at the same time. I was kept on the edge of my seat, wondering until the end which man she would choose!

Fact and fiction are well-mixed in this tale. Upon finishing the book, I could hardly wait to check out all these things and places mentioned in the book on the internet. Then I got to the last page, and found a two-page "Author's Note" section. In a few paragraphs, Rollins informs us about the latest research in antimatter, and of the historical basis for the lost city of Ubar, as well as about the actual tombs of Nabi Imran (the Virgin Mary's father) and Ayoub (Job). He gives us good sources about all of the above to follow up on, if we are interested. He also informs us at this point about a few things in the book which are fiction. I really appreciated this section.

"Sandstorm" is the first of Rollins' books that I decided to try. I am so delighted with this author that I now intend to go out and buy, in one fell swoop, EVERY book that he has published!

Average
The book covers an adventure quest across cities and sands to find a long forgotten city buried under the sands.

I found the story in theory to sound like a good read, but the book is not as good as expected, and nowhere near as good as the other review states.

Where to start? Well the characterisation is extremely poor, verging on the terrible. Many characters that are quite prominent are given two lines of description then the odd spoken line here and there, despite being fairly central to the plot. Another thing that loses the book stars is that certain plot parts are totally ridiculous. I do understand that this is a fiction book, but some parts are so far fetched that they actually made me laugh out loud.

Positive points are that the book is easy reading and there is enough going on to keep the reader interested. Just don't expect a fantastic read.

If you are looking for a desert based adventure book along the same lines but much better, read The Lost Army of Cambyss by Paul Sussman.

Entertaining but flawed
I read Sandstorm several months ago, so I am writing this review with the benefit of hindsight. It was also the first James Rollins novel I read, and I have since plowed through four more, so I am now better able to compare Sandstorm to the books that came both before and after it.

In light of all that, how does it stand up? Well, as the title of this review suggests, it has both strengths and weaknesses.

On the strength side, like all of Rollins books it is a fast paced tale of adventure. If that's your cup of tea there is much to recommend Sandstorm. From the explosive opening in the British Museum to the finale in the deserts of the Gulf, the action and excitement never let up. It also introduces readers to Sigma, the top secret US organisation that features in Rollins two most recent books Map of Bones and Black Order. By allowing continuity between books Rollins is able to draw some characters in far greater detail than he had in previous stand alone novels, and both Sigma itself and its activities are great inventions. As with all Rollins' books the action is punchy and well written. There is enough of an air of mystery to the story to keep the reader hooked throughout and the denoument is satisfying. In many ways Sandstorm is a solidly crafted action adventure thriller.

There are weaknesses however. One of these is the central story. Rollins always deals in the fantastical, be it undiscovered Aztec Tribes or Nazi Genetic Experiments, but with Sandstorm he oversteps the mark slightly. With his other books, even in their most 'out there' moments, you can still suspend your disbelief and let yourself be carried along for the ride. With Sandstorm however, the discoveries that are made veer so far into the realms of fantasy that they are hard to believe even vaguely possible.

It doesn't help that some of Sandstorm's non-Sigma characters are so badly conceived. Lady Kara, for example, is proof once again that American thriller writers should not try to write aristocratic British characters. Nothing about her feels remotely real; she is a cliched view of what Americans think a posh-Brit would be like. Worse, her character arc is one of the elements of the story that is too fantastical. Without spoiling the story, the discovery about her background is the sort of thing that belongs in a fantasy novel not the techno-thriller that Sandstorm purports to be.

Part of the problem is that Sandstorm is a crossover from Rollins earlier books, where the fantasy & mythological elements of the plots were more to the fore, to his more recent books that have a greater basis in scientific and historical fact. By trying to combine the two, neither of which fit comfortably together, he weakens what is otherwise a satisfying and entertaining read. Had he toned down the fantasy Sandstorm would have deserved five stars. As it stands its still a good book, but Rollins has produced better both before and since.