Entangled [Paperback]

Graham Hancock? Yeah I've got all of his records!

Graham Hancock started out as a travel journalist and then moved into historical sleuthing which is when I first came across his work (The Sign and the Seal: Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant, Fingerprints of the Gods: The Quest Continues (New Updated Edition)). What I loved about his stuff was that he was obviously very passionate and enthusiastic about his research and that came across completely in his writing to such an extent, that even potentially mundane topics such as the age of the pyramids or detailed descriptions about astrological precession became exciting page turners!

For me, some of his more recent work, whilst still excellent seemed to have lost a little oomph. Now, with Entangled, I was aware that he writing a fiction book to get across ideas that would attract too much criticism and ridicule if they were presented as fact. I'll be honest, I was expecting something similar to The Celestine Prophecy or The Da Vinci Code, ie, a book desperate to get ideas across with a superficial plot and basic prose to carry these ideas along - not that I am knocking these books, I have enjoyed them and will continue to recommend them to others.

Entangled has, without doubt, surpassed all of my expectations. It is very well written, there is a depth to the main characters, the plot flows and most importantly, that spark, that oomph is back.

There is science and pseudo-science involved in the story, but it is fitted in on the whole as part of the story, and there was only one (short) point in the book when I felt it nearly slipped into lecture mode.

This book reads like a thriller. Each chapter is told from the viewpoint of either Ria or Leoni. It is fast paced, exciting and features lots of battle scenes which in some ways you don't even notice as you find yourself trying to read one more chapter to find out what happens next!

Hancock does not shy away from either using industrial language when appropriate or inserting the gory details of the fights, and this is a credit. Too much entertainment nowadays tones down both violence and language in an attempt to gain wider audiences. Hancock has a story to tell, and tell it he does, superbly.

My only real criticism is the fact that this book whilst it can be read and enjoyed in isolation, is the first in a series. How many books will form the series, I don't know. There's no mention of it on the cover nor in any of the (limited) blurb that I have read. If I had known, in all likelihood, I wouldn't have started this until the series was complete, but that's just me.

5 stars, and highly recommended.

Graham Hancock is a best selling author of numerous non-fiction books investigating the premise of a lost or forgotten civilisation, or lost or forgotten knowledge of our ancient ancestors. "Entangled" is a fictional book that is inspired by his investigations during his research for his book "Supernatural".

The story premise is intriguing, and there are some great ideas at the foundation of it all, however the execution of the narrative often distracts from the overall story. Set in two time periods, the author for the most part alternates chapter by chapter between the two periods, with a handful of exceptions where one time period in a chapter is followed immediately by a second chapter set in the same time period. With each chapter being reasonably short (average of 4-5 pages), this has the effect of disrupting the momentum of the story. I appreciate that this may have been necessary in certain parts, but its use is a little over-done in my opinion, and is overly disruptive to the narrative. Just as you are settling down with one protagonist in one time, you are dislocated from that world to re-familiarise yourself with the other protagonist in the other time. There also felt like there was little to make me want to read the next chapter, such as mini-cliff-hangers for example. Whilst others found the book un-put-downable, I had trouble picking it back up at times.

I felt the characterisation of the protagonists were lacking in dimension, with secondary characters being killed off too readily when it seemed they had served their purpose for the story. I also found that the modern age characters a little unrealistic, but the stone-age characters better scripted. The author uses strong adult language in many instances which again I though detracted from the story. I am in no way a prude, but the insertion of such language felt artificial and shoe-horned in, and at times unnecessary.

Overall, it is not a bad read, considering that this is the first novel from a non-fiction author. The strength of the underlying story carries the book. Due to the structure of the book, I found the first hundred pages a bit of a slog, and had difficultly getting into the book. Happily I persevered and the narrative does strengthen through the middle of the book, but falls away again towards the end. Based upon this, I would give the story premise and ideas five stars, but the execution of the story only three stars. Had the narrative remained as it did through the middle of the book to the end, I would have rated this four stars.

As you will see, others have raved about this book, and if you buy it, you may too. It is the first in series (which you will realise by the ending), and I hope the author improves the narative for the second instalment, and gives the story the vehicle it deserves.

I first met Graham Hancock in Cairo. I remember a small group of us, includng Robert Temple, met very early one morning to visit the Gizeh plateau and the pyramids before they were opened up to the tourists. While Graham was talking to the guards Michael Jackson and his entourage turned up, also wanting to be let in. Michael Jackson's group wasn't admitted, but we were! I take this as a small token of Graham Hancock's global role and importance in the field of 'alternative history' - and also a shift in consciousness, a growing sense that we have much to learn from ancient wisdom.

Since then Graham and I have become firm friends. One of the things I have always admired about him as a writer has been his ability to use the techniques of fiction - suspense, a highly charged sense of pace, the gradual feeding of clues leading to a dramatic revelation - to non-fiction. This is why his books have sold millions. He knows how to lead the reader through sometimes quite difficult areas of thought at a terrific pace, leaving the reader hungry for more.

So what's intriguing and new about Entangled is that he's now applying these fictional techniques... to fiction. This is an epic story interweaving two narratives, one following an attempt to section a young woman today - a bit of a Paris Hilton character - and the other about a young woman living at the time that the Neanderthals were an endangered species. Their stories become entangled because they are able to intervene to help each other by entering an alternative state of consciousness - either by using drugs or by religious ceremony. In this alternative state they arrive at an alternative reality. It is real at least in the sense that, although they might be said to be hallucinating, they are able to see, hear and touch the same things. They also both encounter an angel-like creature, sent to help those with special work to do, and one of the most fightening villains ever to emerge from the printed page.

What's doubly intriguing is that I know from his last book - Supernatural - that Graham Hancock has himself entered this alternative reality on many occasions and is firmly convinced of its reality. I also happen to know that the angel-like creature and villain are said in esoteric tradition to be destined to play crucial, conflicting parts in the history of our times.

Mark BoothThe Secret History of the World