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Nicholas Linnear #5
Floating City
London. 18cm. 570p. Encuadernación en tapa blanda de editorial ilustrada. Idioma Inglés. Eric Lustbader .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario. 0006475981 (pbk)
576 pages, Paperback
First published July 28, 1994
81 people are currently reading
688 people want to read
About the author
Eric Van Lustbader
166 books1,223 followersEric Van Lustbader was born and raised in Greenwich Village. He is the author of more than twenty-five best-selling novels, including The Ninja, in which he introduced Nicholas Linnear, one of modern fiction's most beloved and enduring heroes. The Ninja was sold to 20th CenturyFox, to be made into a major motion picture. His novels have been translated into over twenty languages.
Mr. Lustbader is a graduate of Columbia College, with a degree in Sociology. Before turning to writing full time, he enjoyed highly successful careers in the New York City public school system, where he holds licenses in both elementary and early childhood education, and in the music business, where he worked for Elektra Records and CBS Records, among other companies.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/ericva...
Mr. Lustbader is a graduate of Columbia College, with a degree in Sociology. Before turning to writing full time, he enjoyed highly successful careers in the New York City public school system, where he holds licenses in both elementary and early childhood education, and in the music business, where he worked for Elektra Records and CBS Records, among other companies.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/ericva...
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 2, 2023
Nicholas Linnear goes to returns to Vietnam, where criminals have taken his MacGuffin Device.
Not really in line with the other Return to Vietnam fictions of the day.
Not really in line with the other Return to Vietnam fictions of the day.
October 14, 2017
Eric Van Lustbader-Floating City, only 1 star in GR.
I started reading it on 9/21 and only finished it on 10/13. I am very glad it is over. I could not get a hold on it as it was all foreign to me- names of characters and etc as well as the description of the actions and places are road blocks to me tht slow me down- I'm probably OCD since I feel I must understand what is going onbefore feel I can turn th page. This book takes place in Japan with many Japanese cultural topics that are just so foreign to me they slow the read way down and take all the joy of reading away.I just can't rate a read that I don't enjoy any higher, I use my rating to decide if I will buy another of the author's books later on. There were some areas that I could follow that I felt were well written and I hate to rate an author so low but I don't want to go through another 3 weeks on a book I usually read in 3 days. I even spent several days looking thru the net to find character summaties, notes , and etc. with no help.
I started reading it on 9/21 and only finished it on 10/13. I am very glad it is over. I could not get a hold on it as it was all foreign to me- names of characters and etc as well as the description of the actions and places are road blocks to me tht slow me down- I'm probably OCD since I feel I must understand what is going onbefore feel I can turn th page. This book takes place in Japan with many Japanese cultural topics that are just so foreign to me they slow the read way down and take all the joy of reading away.I just can't rate a read that I don't enjoy any higher, I use my rating to decide if I will buy another of the author's books later on. There were some areas that I could follow that I felt were well written and I hate to rate an author so low but I don't want to go through another 3 weeks on a book I usually read in 3 days. I even spent several days looking thru the net to find character summaties, notes , and etc. with no help.
January 15, 2023
This is the 5th in the NINJA series of books by Eric. I have one more to go (SECOND SKIN). The author is well versed on Asia, especially Japan and Vietnam in this particular book. I personally visited various areas of Vietnam for about a month in January 2017. He took me back there. I learned more about the culture from his writings. He continues to broaden my horizon with his profound words. I love this series and would love to see it all as a Netflix Original series. Ha-ha Actor Brad Pitt might make the ideal lead character of Nicholas Linnear.
Here are the lines that captured me this time:
‘In nature a repulsive caterpillar tuns into a lovely butterfly. But with human beings a lovely butterfly turns into a repulsive caterpillar. --Anton Chekov
Sex and death never far apart, were almost indistinguishable in Saigon.
The dual nature of the octopus was rampant in Japanese legend; its sexual potency was believed to be unparalleled. And why not? With eight arms, it must surely be a better lover than a man.
“There is always a whiff of paranoia to suspicion, isn’t there?”
Time, patience, and acceptance were three virtues of paramount importance.
“My mother once said to me that the biggest mistake one could make in life was to tell someone what he doesn’t want to hear.”
It was a universal truth that there were times when confession was the only thing that could heal the soul.
*Books on every conceivable subject lined one wall.
“I hope I haven’t disturbed you at this late hour.”
“Time is irrelevant to me...As is sleep.”
“All marriages go through their bad patches. It’s just that, in the end, some break up and others don’t.”
“This is Vietnam...women have no rights of their own here. If they gain any respect at all, it is granted grudgingly and, I’m afraid, temporarily.”
“Nothing inherently Vietnamese ha any permanent worth. We’ve only become important in world geopolitics because of our location...We’ve been left with no culture. Our music is French, our cuisine is an agglomeration, and we all aspire to look American.”
Never discount the incredible—or even the impossible.
BUDDHA’s Four Noble Truths: “Existence is unhappiness; unhappiness is caused by selfishness; unhappiness ends when selfishness ends; selfishness can only end by devoting oneself to the eightfold path.”
“In order to get on with your investigation you’ve got to trust someone sometime.”
Strenuous physical exercise caused important chemical changes with the mind and body...to aid the healing process.
“Four is an evil number. In Chinese, it is synonymous with death.”
“There comes a time in every man’s life when certain priorities present themselves above all others.”
“That’s true. Old age becomes one’s bedmate without one’s quite knowing how it got into the house.”
“Old age and disease...transform one’s perceptions.”
“I am not naïve enough to believe people—especially politicians--can change in the blink of an eye.”
“Laughter is good for my azalea. They drink it up as they do water and sunlight. When there is a wilt in my garden, I know it is because they lack the sound of laughter.”
*“Your father was an architect of dreams. I do not expect you to understand this now, but one day you will.”
What is young love without the imperfections of lust and a strong sense of danger?
“Glad you came along. I could use a break. Brain gets stale working in the same mode for hours at a time.”
“Weren’t we taught in Tau-tau that three is the number of conflict?”
The underground food courts at the GINZA Branch of Mitsukoshi, Japan’s famous department store were legendary.
The smell of frying peanut oil was as luscious as the sumptuous sweep of a woman’s naked thigh.
“DANGER,” my father always said, “is a beast best mastered at an early age.” And he was right. I learned from him how to protect myself, how to lay low and how to retaliate. I learned to negotiate—and to compromise when the need arose. The best thing my father ever did for me wsa to put eyes in my back.”
‘Man must sit in chair with mouth open for very long time before roast duck fly in.’-- Chinese proverb.
“Try being Japanese. Be patient. There are many strands to this web. Let them play out in their own time.”
There was always someone who was certain his way was better—or more righteous—than all the others, and though it had many faces, this was the sole seed of war.
Crises always brought the big guns out of the woodwork.
Who could control LOVE?
He had experienced the intimate mind-body alliance time and again through tai chi and meditation.
“There have been innumerable studies that prove that in serious illness as in old age, loneliness can accelerate a terminal decline.”
How much money, influence, and power was enough?
“Don’t threaten people you can’t kill in a tenth of a second.”
Grieving had always been best left as a private affair, as far as he was concerned.
“Relationships slither away even before they can be formed. They have become, like Japan, superficial symbols, anachronisms that are manipulated like chess pieces to gain advantage. And like chessmen they are often expendable.”
He thinks in great leaps—leaps of faith. He is a strategist of the highest order. He developed a counterplan.
“It’s only when you fear something too deeply that it can harm you.”
Japanese were brought up to think of themselves as apart from the rest of the human race.
Benjamin Franklin wrote: “He that lives upon hope will die fasting.”
‘On a night when the moon shines as brightly as this, the unspoken thoughts of even the most discreet heart might be seen.’--Jzumi Shikibu
He looked fit and not at all a man of some ninety-plus years.
He had already been five a precious gift. The past, he had been shown, was a living thing, affecting the present in ways most people could never imagine. As for the future, it would unfold in its own way. He was content now to allow that to happen.
Here are the lines that captured me this time:
‘In nature a repulsive caterpillar tuns into a lovely butterfly. But with human beings a lovely butterfly turns into a repulsive caterpillar. --Anton Chekov
Sex and death never far apart, were almost indistinguishable in Saigon.
The dual nature of the octopus was rampant in Japanese legend; its sexual potency was believed to be unparalleled. And why not? With eight arms, it must surely be a better lover than a man.
“There is always a whiff of paranoia to suspicion, isn’t there?”
Time, patience, and acceptance were three virtues of paramount importance.
“My mother once said to me that the biggest mistake one could make in life was to tell someone what he doesn’t want to hear.”
It was a universal truth that there were times when confession was the only thing that could heal the soul.
*Books on every conceivable subject lined one wall.
“I hope I haven’t disturbed you at this late hour.”
“Time is irrelevant to me...As is sleep.”
“All marriages go through their bad patches. It’s just that, in the end, some break up and others don’t.”
“This is Vietnam...women have no rights of their own here. If they gain any respect at all, it is granted grudgingly and, I’m afraid, temporarily.”
“Nothing inherently Vietnamese ha any permanent worth. We’ve only become important in world geopolitics because of our location...We’ve been left with no culture. Our music is French, our cuisine is an agglomeration, and we all aspire to look American.”
Never discount the incredible—or even the impossible.
BUDDHA’s Four Noble Truths: “Existence is unhappiness; unhappiness is caused by selfishness; unhappiness ends when selfishness ends; selfishness can only end by devoting oneself to the eightfold path.”
“In order to get on with your investigation you’ve got to trust someone sometime.”
Strenuous physical exercise caused important chemical changes with the mind and body...to aid the healing process.
“Four is an evil number. In Chinese, it is synonymous with death.”
“There comes a time in every man’s life when certain priorities present themselves above all others.”
“That’s true. Old age becomes one’s bedmate without one’s quite knowing how it got into the house.”
“Old age and disease...transform one’s perceptions.”
“I am not naïve enough to believe people—especially politicians--can change in the blink of an eye.”
“Laughter is good for my azalea. They drink it up as they do water and sunlight. When there is a wilt in my garden, I know it is because they lack the sound of laughter.”
*“Your father was an architect of dreams. I do not expect you to understand this now, but one day you will.”
What is young love without the imperfections of lust and a strong sense of danger?
“Glad you came along. I could use a break. Brain gets stale working in the same mode for hours at a time.”
“Weren’t we taught in Tau-tau that three is the number of conflict?”
The underground food courts at the GINZA Branch of Mitsukoshi, Japan’s famous department store were legendary.
The smell of frying peanut oil was as luscious as the sumptuous sweep of a woman’s naked thigh.
“DANGER,” my father always said, “is a beast best mastered at an early age.” And he was right. I learned from him how to protect myself, how to lay low and how to retaliate. I learned to negotiate—and to compromise when the need arose. The best thing my father ever did for me wsa to put eyes in my back.”
‘Man must sit in chair with mouth open for very long time before roast duck fly in.’-- Chinese proverb.
“Try being Japanese. Be patient. There are many strands to this web. Let them play out in their own time.”
There was always someone who was certain his way was better—or more righteous—than all the others, and though it had many faces, this was the sole seed of war.
Crises always brought the big guns out of the woodwork.
Who could control LOVE?
He had experienced the intimate mind-body alliance time and again through tai chi and meditation.
“There have been innumerable studies that prove that in serious illness as in old age, loneliness can accelerate a terminal decline.”
How much money, influence, and power was enough?
“Don’t threaten people you can’t kill in a tenth of a second.”
Grieving had always been best left as a private affair, as far as he was concerned.
“Relationships slither away even before they can be formed. They have become, like Japan, superficial symbols, anachronisms that are manipulated like chess pieces to gain advantage. And like chessmen they are often expendable.”
He thinks in great leaps—leaps of faith. He is a strategist of the highest order. He developed a counterplan.
“It’s only when you fear something too deeply that it can harm you.”
Japanese were brought up to think of themselves as apart from the rest of the human race.
Benjamin Franklin wrote: “He that lives upon hope will die fasting.”
‘On a night when the moon shines as brightly as this, the unspoken thoughts of even the most discreet heart might be seen.’--Jzumi Shikibu
He looked fit and not at all a man of some ninety-plus years.
He had already been five a precious gift. The past, he had been shown, was a living thing, affecting the present in ways most people could never imagine. As for the future, it would unfold in its own way. He was content now to allow that to happen.
August 25, 2015
I read this primarily due to my interest in stories re: feudal Japan and the martial arts. Lustbader has written other books that touch on these subjects and they, like this story, are enjoyable in a simple manner. The action is well done, albeit overblown and a bit too theatrical in my opinion. His use of metaphysical and mystical devices detracts from an otherwise decent storyline, however. In all, it was a decent break from my more complexly written mystery novels.
August 20, 2017
FLOATING CITY not only has the best title of any of Lustbader's three dozen other books, but it's also another excellent read, as most of his novels are (nobody bats a thousand). Representing the second volume in a trilogy involving the venerable Nicholas Linnear battling the Yakuza and the Mafia, this novel improves upon its predecessor THE KAISHO, a fine book itself. I started reading this immediately after KAISHO. FLOATING CITY starts at a quick pace and maintains that pace till the last page. Lustbader has as little compunction for killing off characters as George R.R. Martin.
September 17, 2022
Well I read this book because I really loved the Kadhio, the 4th book in this great series. Witch was one of the vest books I have ever read.
The main character Is Rock a tough soldier who was friends with Do doc who Nicholos fought and killed at the end of the Kashio.
Rock lives and controles an Island and trys to drvelope a new clear bomb or something like that.
The book was boaring in my opnion.
Not many twists in the story line as Eric usually writs .
The main character Is Rock a tough soldier who was friends with Do doc who Nicholos fought and killed at the end of the Kashio.
Rock lives and controles an Island and trys to drvelope a new clear bomb or something like that.
The book was boaring in my opnion.
Not many twists in the story line as Eric usually writs .
March 16, 2018
another long tale (470 pages, small print) of fellow who continues to fight in life as in war (Vietnam).
Fav quote:
"A person who has no self-worth lacks the ability to put value on human life--any life."
Fav quote:
"A person who has no self-worth lacks the ability to put value on human life--any life."
June 30, 2023
Wow, really great book. Where The Kaisho was a it slow as it had to be in building characters and situations, Floating City takes off like a jet. Really enjoyed this entry and looking forward to reading the conclusion.
July 11, 2017
For Tony
Linnear is once again in the thick of political intrigue, danger from the clans and the power of his own abilities. My old mate would have loved this.
Linnear is once again in the thick of political intrigue, danger from the clans and the power of his own abilities. My old mate would have loved this.
June 5, 2022
Little bit too much...
More Linnear would have helped.
I can not help running out out of steam...
More Linnear would have helped.
I can not help running out out of steam...
October 4, 2022
I'm enjoying rereading Eric's books.
January 7, 2017
One of the poorer entries in the series
February 20, 2010
A busy week and a slower reading book, but its done. Made me think of an old Nick Carter pulp but much! more fleshed out in the story line. Nicholas Linnear is a business man, son of a military officer who was deeply involved in the recovery of Japan after WWII. Nicholas is deeply in to martial arts and even more mysterious oriental mental practices which give him extraordinary powers. The story itself unfolds on 2 main fronts with Nicholas in Japan and Viet Nam his friend ex detective Lew Coaker (who has an artificial had of deadly abilities) in The US. They along with Japanese government officials, Yakuza gangsters, an ex us soldier in Viet Nam who has grabbed hold of the drug trade, a powerful US senator as will as Mafia heads and other mysterious characters keep the reader bouncing around from one local to the other. Interesting but at times tedious reading.
ISBN - 0-671-86808-X, Suspense, Pages - 404, Print Size - R, Rating - 3.5
All books reviewed are from the library or purchased by the reviewer.
ISBN - 0-671-86808-X, Suspense, Pages - 404, Print Size - R, Rating - 3.5
All books reviewed are from the library or purchased by the reviewer.
May 10, 2015
Read this in the mid 90's when just a horny teen - the Ninja stuff (and of course the sexy stuff) blew my hormonal juvenile mind. I do recall I was getting a little inured by the time I got to this book - probably a four star by this stage to be honest but still, the whole series was a watershed for me, having never read these kind of books before, so will give this the usual 5 star for that reason. Haven't read this since, and I honestly don't know if I'd like it just as much but a nostalgic 5 stars for sure - for then at least.
December 28, 2009
Nicholas Linnear takes on a partner in this episode. A one-handed, ex-New York detective helps Nicholas settle a family debt to the Japanese yakuza and destroy an ex-G.I.'s crazy, drug kingdom in Southeast Asia. Action from beginning to end with lots of twists, flashbacks, and suspense. From Tokyo, New York, Florida, and Saigon, a fastmoving action-adventure thriller.
May 7, 2010
Eric Lustbader is one of a kind. Original is a word for him. The Floating City is an unjsual story and most of his stuff is writeen in the Orient and about the Orient. This is a good read. Very enjoyable for those who like the orient and supense and mystery.
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"
June 12, 2015
Back on Track
Mr. Van Lustbader has again achieved story_telling acumen. His descriptions are crisp without the adjective rich exposure. Linear has stepped into a realm of psychic experience that makes him a wizard of sorts, but this is fiction and we can accept that characterization. Carry on eric
Mr. Van Lustbader has again achieved story_telling acumen. His descriptions are crisp without the adjective rich exposure. Linear has stepped into a realm of psychic experience that makes him a wizard of sorts, but this is fiction and we can accept that characterization. Carry on eric
June 26, 2015
Interesting
I rated it four stars because I feel it was well written and informative. I lost interest at times because of to much detail. However, overall I found it to be very good. I will read more of this author's books.
.
I rated it four stars because I feel it was well written and informative. I lost interest at times because of to much detail. However, overall I found it to be very good. I will read more of this author's books.
.
June 27, 2021
90er Jahre Action Kost. Wie schon in den vorangegangenen Bänden, erscheint Nicholas Linnear sehr wenig Kontrolle über seine Fähigkeiten, als auch über die Ereignisse um ihn herum zu haben. Weite Teile der Story werden von den Nebencharakteren getragen.
April 30, 2010
Ok got going by the end - some Oriental culture elements were interesting as was is portrait of current Vietnam.
March 16, 2015
Good action story. Much death as Nicholas deals with the Yakouza, Kaisha inner circle and Godaishu, along with Mick and Rock, and ends up destroying the Floating City. I liked Vesper.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews