2012: The War for Souls

by Whitley Strieber

December 21, 2012, may be one of the most watched dates in history. Every 26,000 years, Earth lines up with the exact center of our galaxy. At 11:11 on December 21, 2012, this event happens again, and the ancient Maya calculated that it would mark the end, not only of this age, but of human consciousness as we know it.
 
But what will actually happen? The end of the world? A new age for mankind? Nothing? The last time this happened, Cro-Magnon man suddenly began creating great art in the caves of southern France, which to this day remains one of the most inexplicable changes in human history.
 
Now Whitley Strieber explores 2012 in a towering work of fiction that will astound readers with its truly new insights and a riveting roller-coaster ride of a story. A mysterious alien presence unexpectedly bursts out of sacred sites all over the world and begins to rip human souls from their bodies, plunging the world into chaos it has never before known.
 
Courage meets cowardice, loyalty meets betrayal as an entire world struggles to survive this incredible end-all war. Heroes emerge, villains reveal themselves, and in the end something completely new and unexpected happens that at once lifts the fictional characters into a new life, and sounds a haunting real-world warning for the future.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Horror, Fantasy, Aliens, Apocalyptic, Audiobook

319 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

American writer best known for his novels The Wolfen,The Hunger and Warday and for Communion, a non-fiction description of his experiences with apparent alien contact. He has recently made significant advances in understanding this phenomenon, and has published his new discoveries in Solving the Communion Enigma.

Strieber also co-authored The Coming Global Superstorm with Art Bell, which inspired the blockbuster film about sudden climate change, The Day After Tomorrow.

His book The Afterlife Revolution written with his deceased wife Anne, is a record of what is considered to be one of the most powerful instances of afterlife communication ever recorded.

Reviews

[Cristóbal Angulo Rivero · Rating 1 out of 5]

Vaya pedazo de mierda. Es un panfleto de propaganda cristiana estadounidense que huele fatal. Por alguna razón un libro de 2007 con tintes de la guerra fría. Presenta una distopía donde una corporación ha tomado un mundo entero, y tiene los cojones de plantear a los Estados Unidos como la solución.
Aparte de la ideología (mil millones de muertos del comunismo, y 70 años de guerra, según el autor) es el primer Thriller que no me llama ni a leerlo, el final está escrito con una mano en la biblia, son todo buenismos animistas sobre la salvación de las almas y el poder de la amistad, como un anime pero peor.

[Clint Hall]

Tried reading this before 2012 as some people were getting freaked out by the date because of the Mayan Calendar, so I thought it might be fun. I've heard of the author, wanted to try him out, and this was where I started.

I DNF'd this one pretty quick. Didn't realize it was about multiple realities, so I was very put off by the hard reset of the narrative within the first 100 pages.

DNF score: 4 second raspberry.

[Marvin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mr. Strieber started out as a very competent writer of horror and fantasy novels. Then Communion was released in which he claimed to have been abducted by aliens. It was a fairly interesting story whether you believed it or not. But his fiction suffered since you could no longer separate his fiction from what he claimed as fact. When I read 2012 I was hoping for the return of Strieber the novelist. But it is impossible to tell the fiction from what Strieber is professing to believe. I doubt he really believes this could happen. However he bases much of the plot on his own theories, espoused in his "non-fiction", about UFOs coming from alternative universes. Couple it with the faddish idea that the Mayan calender predicts the end of the world and you get a ludicrous story that relies on the gullibility of people. But the worst thing is that the author is no longer the competent writer he used to be. Most of the novel is too badly written to read. It is below average pulp fiction. I feel bad about being so rough on a writer but this book isn't just bad. It is insulting.

[Mary S · Rating 1 out of 5]

What to say about this book? Writer Whitley Strieber really wants to get across the impending doom of the 2012 date (end of human consciousness -- according to the ancient Mayan calendar). The books catches our attention right away. One of the lead characters, Martin Winters, is in the Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt. He is an archaeologist on a mission. Then the world goes crazy and this pyramid blows up. I was following along and gobbling it down up until this point. Here everything starts to go south. Apparently, Martin has some knowledge that no other archaeologist has. This knowledge will help save the world. We are never told what this unique knowledge is, but Martin is targeted by the baddies, who also believe he possesses it. As far as I can tell, Martin never does get to display this unique knowledge.

Then we are introduced to the alternate earth. Great premise, but the tooing and froing get a bit much. Indeed, a number of the shifts seem kind of pointless. Then there are the double agents from yet another alternate earth -- or maybe just another planet that can shift into the alternate earth and our earth (you get the drift here).

There are some great tropes brought to life in this book -- alien abduction, zombies, new levels of consciousness -- lots of good stuff. But, the author, like the other lead character in the book, Wylie Dale (also a writer), seems to have no control over what he is writing. It just comes to him, and he is tasked with writing it all down. And here is where, in my opinion, the book fails -- the author doesn't help the reader to make any sense of this stream of consciousness. Plots, explosions, mayhem, quiet times, new humans, alien baddies and goodies -- they all come pouring out, fighting with one another to get the reader's attention. This creation seems to control Whitley Strieber completely -- and not in a good way!

[Francoise · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started reading this book, I assumed, because I had come across it at the same time that the movie was released, that the two were related because the names were the same. But, I was so wrong! The movie was basically another "disaster/end of the world" type of movie, whereas the book is an sci-fi book dealing with the concept of parallel universes and the idea that one of these universes is run by evil creatures that are able to assume human form. These creatures have only very rare times during which they are able to cross over from their planet to ours and wreak havoc. the year 2012 is one of these windows of opportunity, as predicted by the Aztec calendar, and they have made careful plans to do horrible things to carry out their plans on earth and on the other parallel universe that resembles Earth. There were times when I was a little confused as to which of the Earth universes I was reading about, but upon some consideration, was usually able to get it straight. This book was very carefully thought out and well written. The ending moved into the area of New Age type thinking but the story was riveting and I must say that I found myself staying up late every night until I was able to finish reading it. I recommend it!

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

From Publishers Weekly
Strieber's epic sequel to 2006's The Grays blends equal parts science fiction thriller, supernatural horror and provocative spiritual speculation. As struggling author Wylie Dale works on his latest novel, which revolves around an upcoming date when the earth crosses both the galactic equator and the solar ecliptic—a time that the Maya predicted would mark the cataclysmic end of this age—he begins to uncover evidence that what he's writing about is actually happening on a parallel earth. If nothing is done, on December 21, 2012, gateways will open into this world and reptilian invaders will not only enslave humanity but feast on their succulent souls as well. While Strieber's exploration into the existence and import of the soul isn't exactly profound, it is wildly entertaining. Fans of apocalyptic page-turners like King's The Stand and Niven and Pournelle's Lucifer's Hammer will enjoy this ambitious—and audacious—tale as it invokes everything from rectal probes and Ann Coulter to the destruction of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Very interesting read, led me to read more about 12/21/2012. Check it out.

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

First off, this book sucked big time.

The description from the back made it sound good but the constant jumping between parallel worlds made it confusing and, for myself, hard to keep track of the various characters in each world. The other thing that confused the hell out of me was that in an early chapter it lists 1 date then the next chapter lists an earlier date and the story continues from there. It actually started off pretty good once I was able to keep track of things in the other worlds but by the time I got around to the end of the book I had to fight myself to finish it. It felt like Strieber was fighting to come up with a way to wrap up the book in a somewhat plausable fashion, which just disappointed me even more. I had thought about reading "The Greys" but after reading this disaster, forget it. I'm done with this guy.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was more of a political attack than an entertaining story. Continued reading it for the sole purpose of analyzing the author. Have to admit. It did make me laugh out loud.

[Chris Morton · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Mayan calender ends ... the war for souls begins ... load of bollocks.

[Brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

what a HORRIBLE book. so, i have about 1900 ebooks to read on my kindle. i figure the best way to parse so many books in so little time (if i live for another 50 years i'll have to read 38 books a year or about 3 books a month) is to take them in alphabetical order and apparently the alphabet starts with numbers.

and i thought "hey, it's 2012 and this book is about 2012, good choice." i hoped that it would be some sort of historical fiction/speculative future that mixed real life data about the mayans and 2012 with a speculative and vaguely possible possible future that COULD take place around the winter solstice this year.

not the case.

this was a bad science fiction novel set it three different parallel universes and centers on some writer that is "taken" by a set of circumstances in a different universe and is writing the events that take place a la "conversations with god."

and then the parallel universes slowly start to collide and the writer starts seeing things that he is writing about in his universe and people think he's nuts as the other universe is slowly destroyed by aliens and the aliens are like the spanish conquistadors that neither know why they are there and really are just homesick and trying to accomplish their goals so they can go home.

i made it halfway through, grudgingly. i frequently wanted to just stop reading it was so lame. and if i have to get through all these books (and, you know, new books are coming out all the time) in such a small amount of time i'll need to stop reading some books when they become unreasonable.

when i got to "part 2" i knew i had reached a very natural stopping point where i felt i got enough info about the book to know it was worthless and could adequately explain myself to myself and feel okay about getting over it.

so, onto another.

[Johnny712 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This entire book is confusing.
But, there were some real things in this book. In one part, a guy asks a cop to torture a guy from the other universe. The cop refuses to because the guy is an air force leader. Wylie and the cop began arguing. He ended up not doing it.
So, this shows me that all of the military people stick together. The air force guy wasn’t even from the same universe and he stood up for him. The guy tried to kill the cop’s best friend, too. But you know what, I probably would have done the same thing as the cop. Even though the leader almost killed my best friend. Almost.
This happened one time before. In the other universe, martin almost got killed by his cop best friend.
How could someone do that? That is what I wouldn't do. They were going to hang martin. He did nothing wrong. I think the person that sent the cops were afraid of martin. That's why they tried to kill him.
This book would be good if you can take a lot of info in. One guy's this, then he’s that, then an alien. So confusing.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, so admittedly I do not read a lot of sci-fi. So I don't know if this book is representative of the field or an outlier, but I hated this book. The three worlds paradigm was confusing to follow and all of the characters seemed too much like automatons. Literally only finished this because my brain doesn't allow me to leave books unread once I've started. But I was racing to be done with it. And it doesn't turn me on to the genre at all.

[Ewa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Chaos, chaos, chaos. Nothing more than chaos. Best lesson how not to write books. I seriously wonder if Mr. Strieber has severe ADHD to make such a mess. Beginning was quite intriguing one but soon afterwards he lost discipline completely and everything ended deus ex machina style.

[Nat · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an alien/disaster novel it was…confusing to say the least.

This is only getting 3 stars from me because I liked the few concepts of reality occurring because of worldwide acknowledgement/belief and some of the spiritual concepts.

Crossing parallel universes and blowing up the pyramids were cool concepts at first but the writing is a little crazed, the characters seem ridiculously changeable and it relies on a lot of dialogue, which leaves the reader wondering what on earth is physically happening sometimes.

Also I’m wildly confused about one characters name. Is it just my edition? Several times Wylie switched to Wiley, and not just once here or there, it would be consistent in a few paragraphs of one spelling and then back to the other version. I was thinking this would play into the alternate universe theory and be a cool style of writing but I read this whole damn book and that didn’t seem to be the case. What gives?

This is my first experience with Strieber but it was a bit disappointing. All potentially real in an alternate universe, I can believe that, but it’s a bit poorly portrayed in our universe.

[Silver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una storia scritta in maniera inusuale, che mi ha ricordato la tecnica usata da Michael Ende per "La Storia Infinita".
Un archeologo che sta studiando la Piramide di Cheope si trova nel mezzo di uno sconvolgimento planetario. Delle enormi lenti sorgono nelle località dei più famosi siti archeologici del mondo; uno scrittore di fantascienza comincia a scrivere un libro come se fosse in trance; una razza aliena cospira da millenni per prendere il controllo dell'umanità nel giorno in cui i Maya hanno predetto la fine del mondo: il 21 Dicembre 2012.

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review – While I enjoyed the story concept I did not enjoy the story as it was written.

• There were many unexplained loose ends, some of which are noted in the summary below.
• The story was very male centric with nearly all of the principal characters being men or boys. Women and girls have secondary and/or are portrayed as the “victims” that the men must rescue or as evil creatures.
• The story will get dated quickly as there are many references to current day products, people, and organizations.
• The author seems to intrude too much, injecting his personal beliefs about the environment, religion, etc.
• There were bouts of confusion caused by poor copy editing such as misspelling or using alternate character names at points.

While having Wylie Dale “write” the universe 2 story was confusing at first but turns out to be a good plot device and it allowed the story to segue relatively seamlessly between universes.

Summary (and spoiler alert) — This is a parallel universes story with three universes included in this story though with all of them based on Earth.

• Universe 1 seems like ours.
• Universe 2 is very similar to ours but there are two moons, cars are always painted black, product names are different, etc. For the most part the differences are never a factor in the story.
• In universe 3 the dinosaurs never died out but instead continued to evolve. Apparently they are under severe resource and population pressure and desire to take over universes 1 and 2. While the two human tracks are quite similar the dinosaurs are different in that they 1) have developed technology to remove the soul from a body, store them, and to insert them into new bodies; 2) have limited control over the “gateways” between universes; and 3) have developed methods to shape-change their bodies to look like humans. The dinosaurs intend to enslave the humans and will also use their souls for recreation or entertainment. Apparently humans live happier lives and so a dinosaur can bring a little bit of happiness into its life by consuming a human soul.

The story title, 2012, comes from that on December 21, 2012 the Mayan long calendar is supposed to end and for a short time Earth will be in an alignment with the galaxy that allows the gateways to open up. This is an area of the story that is not explained well as the gateways seem to be a natural phenomena but the dinosaurs also have some control over them. For the most part the gateways connect the same places on Earth. A gateway in central Kansas in universe is connected to same spot in central Kansas in universe 2. Presumably the same is true for the connections to universe three but as the names are different we don’t know this for sure. There is one brief episode in the story where a character seems to jump, or is taken, from place to place. It’s not clear if this is an aspect of a gateway or something else.

The dinosaurs have made sporadic raids into both universes, have shape-changed a few of themselves into humans, and have units embedded within universe 2. It’s not explained well but apparently there’s some difficulty with doing this and also that both dinosaurs and universe 2 humans have extreme difficulty operating in universe 1 though a few do so. The exact problems/difficulties with doing this are not explained nor is it explained why random individuals can cross back and forth.

The story itself follows two main characters.

• Wylie Dale is a science fiction writer in universe 1. Apparently about five years earlier he was abducted by aliens and probed. Wylie has started a new book but the writing process seems to be out of his control. His body/fingers just type away and he reads. The story being written is about the dinosaur attack on universe 2 though at first Wylie is unaware that these are parallel universes. The mechanism or cause for this “automatic writing” is never explained. Later in the story Wylie comes to understand the original abduction and probing was a raid by dinosaurs via a gateway though the story never explains why the raid took place.
• Martin Winters is an anthropologist in universe 2. While the story starts out with Martin in Egypt he lives with his family in a small town in Kansas in a house that’s in the exact same spot as Wylie Dale’s house.

The story thus alternates from action in universe 2, and towards the end a couple of chapters in universe 3, to finding that Wylie just wrote that part of the story and his reactions to that in universe 1. The universe 1 chapters are written in a sans-serif font.

Note that the character Wylie Dale seems to be patterned after the author of 2012, Whitly Strieber, who claims to have been had an encounter with aliens and has gone on to write books about this.

[Miguel Velásquez · Rating 2 out of 5]

"La diferencia entre nosotros y un animal inteligente es que el animal entiende lo que es, pero no lo que eso significa"

Tengo varias cosas que decir de este libro;
1) Verdaderamente el nombre o título del libro NO tiene nada que ver con la historia que se cuenta, es decir, si bien sabemos que la temática del libro es el "fin del mundo", no es precisamente el tipo de fin del mundo que nos esperamos. O sea, está bien que quisieran agregarle alienígenas e incluso, alienígenas reptilianos, pero de ahí a que los personajes principales desarrollaran poderes o existiera mundos paralelos o incluso carros voladores, pues eso como que no de la solidez al libro.

2) Precisamente retomo el punto anterior y es que siento que el autor quiso como abordar muchos temas (mundos paralelos, alienígenas, poderes sobre naturales, criaturas mitológicas, historias antiguas, historias bíblicas, entre muchas otras cosas), pero finalmente se hablaba de tanto y eso te hacia perder en la historia. Muchas veces te hablaban de una criatura, pero tú no lograbas identificarla, porque si bien ya te la habían descrito capítulos atrás, entre uno y otro se agregaban tantas cosas que finalmente no sabias de que te estaban hablando.

3) Para nada ayuda la forma de escritura del autor, porque por un lado hubo varias partes que tenía una descripción exagerada, casi poética de un libro escrito en prosa, pero que en realidad hacia lento el libro. Muchas veces hubo capítulos enteros MUY tediosos donde uno decía como, pero para que describe esto. Y no solo era la descripción, muchas veces describía de forma extensa y lo volvía a repetir. Eso de verdad que era terrible. Pero por otro lado, hubo partes que simplemente las dio por hecho, es decir, pasaban porque si de una línea a otra y la verdad yo quedaba como ¿pero cómo llegamos a este punto? y no eran partes básicas, sino que eran sucesos que literalmente le daban un giro gigantesco a la historia, pero que el autor en dos líneas las daba por hecho. Entonces creo que Strieber vive en un mundo al revés, los apartes que perfectamente podría dar por hechos, NO, él lis describía hasta que lograbas asquearte. Pero aquellas cosas que realmente necesitaban una buena descripción de como llegamos ahí, literalmente aparecían de la nada.

4) Yo creo que la idea de que el mundo se acabara por alienígenas fue una buena propuesta, pero siento que la historia no concordaba bien, porque querían hacernos entender que esos alienígenas era menos evolucionados que los humanos, pero después nos hablan de autos voladores manejados por almas. La verdad eso fue bastante raro. Por otro lado uno de los personajes principales se entera que es alienígena (cosa que también pasa de un momento a otro sin justificación alguna de cómo se da cuenta), y de ahí nace una nueva historia (como si no fuera suficiente con el hecho de que ya el libro no puede con una trama adicional), sobre como terminó en el mundo de los humanos. Pero más allá de eso, la historia se vuelve un tanto extraña o incluso me atrevería a decir que pegada abruptamente, porque de un momento a otro, al personaje le sale un hermano de la nada que tiene vinculada su alma a un carro volador y lo lleva a lo que al parecer es una sociedad de alienígenas pero con diferentes pensamientos, en fin... Muy mala esa parte, parece que la historia la hubiese escrito un niño con MUCHÍSIMA imaginación.

5) La verdad no le coloco 1 estrella porque hubo partes del libro que me parecieron interesantes, pero la verdad en su mayoría fue muy mala, la historia, las conexiones entre los personajes, los antagonistas. No hubo una construcción de personajes, simplemente creo que el autor pensó que podía dar por hecho esos elementos que a mi parecer son uy importantes en una historia. La verdad las dos primeras partes del libro son super tediosas (casi entro en un bloqueo lector con esta parte), no sucede nada, descripción de cosas inútiles, piezas del libro regadas por todas partes, muchas tramas sin resolver... En fin.

La verdad es el peor libro que he leído en el año y es una lástima porque la propuesta parecía ser muy interesante.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

That three is being generous. The plot line is muddled in the middle, and it ends with a series of deux ex machinas that really don't explain anything, they just make it so the book can end the way he wants it to end. It started well, and then the wheels just increasingly fall off of it.

[George K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Αυτό είναι το δεύτερο βιβλίο του Γουίτλι Στρίμπερ που διαβάζω, μετά τους Λυκάνθρωπους (The Wolfen) που διάβασα φέτος τον Ιανουάριο. Όταν το 2009 κυκλοφόρησε αυτό το βιβλίο από τις εκδόσεις Λιβάνη, αμέσως μου κίνησε το ενδιαφέρον η περίληψη του και, όσο να'ναι, ο συνδυασμός επιστημονικής φαντασίας, περιπέτειας και υπερφυσικού τρόμου με ιντριγκάρει αφάνταστα. Όμως βλέποντας τις πραγματικά μέτριες κριτικές σε Goodreads και Amazon, συγκρατήθηκα και δεν το αγόρασα. Όμως πριν λίγες μέρες το πέτυχα στο Μοναστηράκι με τέσσερα ευρώ και δεν το σκέφτηκα παραπάνω, είπα να το τολμήσω. Και καλά έκανα. Όχι ότι δεν έχει τα (πολλά) θεματάκια του και χτυπητές αδυναμίες σε διαφορετικούς τομείς, όμως μπορώ να πω ότι πέρασα πάρα πολύ ωραία.

Το να συνοψίσω την βασική πλοκή εδώ δεν έχει νόημα, είναι αρκετά μπερδεμένη, άλλωστε μπορείτε να διαβάσετε και την αρκετά κατατοπιστική περίληψη στο οπισθόφυλλ�� του βιβλίου. Απλά να περιμένετε μια θεόμουρλη ιστορία με τρία παράλληλα σύμπαντα και πύλες μεταξύ τους στον αντίστοιχο πλανήτη Γη και ερπετόμορφα όντα που θέλουν να σκλαβώσουν την ανθρωπότητα στα δυο παράλληλα σύμπαντα και να αρπάξουν τις ψυχές των ανθρώπων. Αυτά σε γενικές γραμμές. Η πλοκή είναι αρκετά έως πολύ ό,τι να'ναι, όμως έχει πραγματικά το ενδιαφέρον της. Η δράση είναι έντονη από την αρχή μέχρι το τέλος, με πολλές δυνατές σκηνές και τρομερές, πολλές φορές σκληρές, εικόνες, και η ατμόσφαιρα αρκούντως σκοτεινή και, γιατί όχι, τρομακτική. Οι χτυπητές αδυναμίες που έλεγα πιο πριν, εντοπίζονται κυρίως στους χαρακτήρες και σε κάποιους χαζούς και άστοχους διαλόγους. Η γραφή, πάντως, μου φάνηκε καλούτσικη και σίγουρα ευκολοδιάβαστη.

Γενικά, αν σας αρέσ��ι που και που να διαβάζετε "αληθινές" ή φανταστικές ιστορίες με ερπετόμορφα όντα που μπορούν να πάρουν ανθρώπινη μορφή και θέλετε μέσα και έναν πόλεμο για τις ψυχές και ταξίδια σε παράλληλα σύμπαντα, τότε η ιστορία είναι ό,τι πρέπει για μια ξεκούραστη ανάγνωση. Απλά να περιμένετε και αρκετά εξωφρενικές αναληθοφάνειες στην πλοκή (αλίμονο!) και διάφορες άλλες αδυναμίες.

[Alexandra Rolo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Opáaaaaaaaaaaaaaa isto parecia tão giro... mas é tão chato mas tão chato que perdi toda e qualquer vontade de ler o quer que fosse. Juro!

Por isso é que não se compra livros só pelo título, mas o que posso eu fazer que conspirações e o fim do mundo me piscam o olho e não resisto?

Strieber merecia um prémio qualquer pela quantidade quase absurda de ideias loucas que enfiou nas poucas páginas que o livro tem. Tudo acontece neste apocalipse. Desde aliens aos Maias, não falta nada. Talvez falte o Pai Natal, mas tirando isso está cá tudo, até um universo paralelo para não faltar nada ao caos.

Caos é a palavra melhor para descrever este livro que me fez adormecer umas quantas vezes e esquecer, não a vida mas o que acontecia. A certa altura dava por mim a reler partes só para ver afinal onde estava e o que estava a acontecer.

O livro até começou bem mas depois pronto... é um pouco do que acabei de explicar... caaaaaaaos.

http://folhaembranco.blogs.sapo.pt/

[Lloyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not really what I had expected. I don't know if I was looking for more of the concepts put forth in the film "2012" (which IS NOT an adaptation of this book, by the way) or some intense fictional study of the Mayan long count.

What is was was a pretty solid piece of work with strong concept of metafiction and fiction vs. reality concepts. It deals more with extraterrestrials, which I should have expected from Strieber and gets more into a sci-fi/horror fiction examination of the looming date of December 21st, 2012.

A good read and something that would make me want to read more of Strieber's work, but maybe just not this book again.

[Krystal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful and disconnected

The story itself has potential. The writing craft is undeveloped though. There’s too many disconnections, not in the story as a whole, but from one simple moment to the next.

[hellboundlily · Rating 4 out of 5]

In verità vorrei dare più un 3.5 di stelle, perché tre mi sembrano abbastanza poche.
All'inizio, prima di incominciare a leggere questo libro, ero convinta del fatto che si narasse la storia di qualche pseudo Apocalisse naturale. Mai pensiero fu più errato.
Ho finito il libro in circa due giorni e, nonostante la confusione iniziale, ho continuato a leggerlo perché la trama stava cominciando a intrigarmi. È la classica storia di un'invasione aliena, atta da creature simili a rettili. Abbastanza scontato, ma anche interessante sotto certi punti di vista.
La storia è adornata di interessanti teorie sui multi versi, sulle immagini dell'Apocalisse di Giovanni e sulle ricerche svolte a capire le leggende intrise nel mondo della religione, soprattutto quella della Bibbia.
La lettura è semplice e fluida e nonostante tutto sia semplificato dalla spiegazione di alcune teorie esistenti - atte ovviamente ad aiutare il lettore meno informato - non lo consiglio a chi non è appassionato di leggende e miti o a chi non conosce alcune simbologie presenti nella Bibbia.
Per esempio: è abbastanza facile capire che l'autore ha voluto mettere in scena gli extraterrestri definendoli "serpenteschi" come monito al simbolo del serpente e del drago nelle varie religioni.
Oltre a ciò vi sono vari altri simboli e teorie che parlano dell'anima, di alcuni passi della bibbia (la "Gloria di Dio" come luce che scende dal cielo per risucchiare le anime dalla Terra) e della figura dell'Apocalisse di Giovanni, con tanto di quattro cavalieri e del Drago (simbolo del diavolo) e della personificazione dell'Arcangelo Michele che l'avrebbe ucciso.

Ottimo racconto, che mi sono gustata pagina per pagina.

[Adrian Halpert · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be realistic, this is not a very good book. It's a narrative mess, there are a number of plot holes and some of the "twists" are silly and seem to come from nowhere.
Why did I give it three stars, then? It was a FUN mess! Despite all the problems, I had a good time with this book. I enjoyed a number of the ideas here, and had fun exploring the alien "planet" (I will say no more so as not to spoil anything) with the characters.
On the whole, 2012 caught my interest in a B-movie kind of way and held it throughout. I do recommend this book for fans of B-movie type novels, I think fans of the genre would have a good time reading this, but would be hesitant to recommend it if B-movies aren't someone's cup of tea.
Schlocky fun!
3/5 Stars

[Anna Lejontand · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very strange story that starts off pretty good, but gets stranger and stranger... Towards the end the story makes strange leaps and you keep thinking "did I miss something? How did we get here?".

The author spends much more time on the nonnsensical dialogue between the protagonists ("Dad, I can do that. No, son, you can't. Yes, dad, I can") while, it feels, he's skipping over important stuff in the story around them that would have been necessary for the reader to really understand what's happening and make the story feel more believable(!).

I can't recommend this book. To say something positive though, it's well written language wise. Which is why I gave it two stars, not one.

[Samuel Bugajski · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really thought that this book would be much more interesting. The heavy focus on parallel universes and aliens and the apocalypse was too much science fiction being thrown in my face. As for being a representation of this genre, it brings nothing but disappointment and frustration to the table. This book felt like such a struggle to get through, and the only good thing about this book was finishing it. I would NOT recommend this book unless you want to be disappointed.

[Casie Blevins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now I understand the low rating.
The beginning is great. The middle is good. The ending is a confusing nearly unreadable mess.

The conceit that was asked of us to believe at the end of the book was way too much. If we were to believe that could reasonablely happen, then we needed to have some set up for it at the beginning of the novel. Some kernel that would make it make sense. The leap was too big.

[Michael Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t hate this book, but I don’t like it either. And I can’t really say why. It has a lot of good themes, intrigue, common science fiction tropes, a twisting story that constantly changes. But I still didn’t enjoy it. Maybe it’s just the believability factor.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of a huge mashup of scifi, dystopia, stories within stories, cautionary tale, horror, exploration of the nature of humanity! I found it at times intriguing and thought provoking and at other times, almost unbearably goulish.

[Beatrice Ronco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originale visione del mondo, libro carino. Il genere non è il mio preferito ma comunque è stato interessante "entrare" nei diversi mondi e conoscere i punti di vista dei diversi personaggi. Unica pecca è che è un po' confusionario il passaggio continuo da un mondo all'altro.