2012

The War for Souls

By: Whitley Strieber

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

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 a 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.

©2007 Whitley Strieber (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[B]lends equal parts science fiction thriller, supernatural horror, and provocative spiritual speculation....wildly entertaining." (Publishers Weekly)
"Immensely entertaining, and it's optioned for a big, splashy, FX-laden movie." (Booklist)

Alas, I was hoping for more.

I like buying audiobooks that have bad reviews just so I can disagree. And some of the bad reviews for this book are quite harsh. But in the end, I tried my best to see something that just wasn't there. The premise for the story could have been so much better if lizards weren't involved. The idea of parallel universes hasn't been done that well in the past, and still hasn't. This book goes back and fourth and even though you do know who is speaking, it is too disjointed and unclear. Perhaps it would work as a movie, I don't know.
But the whole idea of the book had very little to relate to the doomsday theory of 2012. This was just implemented as a recognition of people starting to take notice of the potential this theory has. The actual story of this book would read exactly the same if it were situated in any time period.
I thought this would be an interesting doomsday story, like "One Second After" or "the Road". but it wasn't. It had a much stronger focus on Science Fiction. So if you like that sort of thing, fine. But for me, as much as I tried, this book didn't work.
The only saving grace was the narrator, the veteran of the audiobook world, "Joe Barrett". He never disappoints with a vast array of tone, accents, characters and clarity of voice. Joe is the consummate professional, I've listened to his other work and it is clear he was born to be a story teller.

Meh...

I couldn't do it. I just couldn't finish this book. Rarely do I ever stop listening to a book, but this was a rough one. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the fact that the author actually took the time to write it (hence the first star of my review). Also, the concept was quasi-interesting, but it was a little too disconnected for me (hence the second star).

Other than that, I had to pull the rip-cord about halfway into the story before I found myself throttling my iPod (three cheers for product placement...I'll take my check now Apple).

Try listening to Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson instead.

A fun ride, but a few pot holes at the end

Stephen King spins immersive yarns that make up for his anticlimactic endings. Mr. Strieber does the same for the first half of the story. As long as I could follow his protagonists and antagonists, it was an enjoyable ride -- especially with the nimble and evocative voice work of reader Joe Barrett.
*
The tease toward the didactic in Martin's transformative experiences seemed short on an adequate supply of gold leaf. The references felt out of place in the context of this story, where a lighter touch would have been as, if not more, effective.
*
The long and fun ride hits pot holes in the final chapters. Characters suddenly display amazing attributes, convenient for the storyline, by having historic information about the character quickly backfilled to explain the unexpected turn of events.
*
Strieber may have thought that the alien location of these scenes offered a blank canvas, but without any reader preparation, this technique was more like early draft notes for a different book had been left in the wrong manuscript.

Not bad, but not brilliant either...

The book starts off great with a captivating plot of an apocalyptic future - but then it takes a wrong turn and looses some of its mystery. The ending, however, is the most disappointing part of the book - it is somewhat forced, as though the writer has ran out of ideas for the book's ending, or if this ending was planned in advance - it hadn't come out right.

Don't waste your credit on thi

After listening to "The Grays" by Whitley Strieber, I was very excited to listen to another of his books but I was greatly disappointed by this novel. My biggest complaint is that this book has too many sci-fi elements that on their own or even put two of them together would have worked fine but with parallel dimensions, soul stealing, snake people, and Mayan calendars mixed together this story is a giant stew of crap.

Also, none of the character's with the exception of General North are not likable or relatable and didn't care if they lived or died.

A slow read

This book would be better if it were condensed, maybe even a lot. For me, it is a slow read - I'm having a difficult time staying interested. In fact, I have listened to seven other books while still trying to finish this one.

It really kept me hooked .... not bad at all

I'm surprised at the bad reviews this book has received. I found it much more compelling in terms of an interesting narrative than half of what I download here on Audible. Though it got a little out there during the last 1/4, I found the rest of the storytelling top notch. I liked the symmetry between the worlds, and there were other nice devices as well.

Decent...

...but not spectacular. I was really hoping for a sequel to Strieber's previous novel "The Grays" which I very much enjoyed. This books touches on some slightly similar concepts but overall wasn't as directed and seemed a bit silly. Perhaps silly is too harsh. I did enjoy the listen, I guess it's just a case of the book not being what I wanted it to be and that is my fault, not the author's.

2010

My bet is on the Mayans.......

Interesting twists, liked the angle tho

Ann Coulter is a cannibal demon?

This book started out slow but seemed to be building a tempo that had promise of really being masterful. I was sadly mistaken. The whole inter-dimensional plot got so convoluted that I nearly quit listening for good, several times. This author tries to weave too many theories together in describing the final outcome of 122112. There were some intriguing ideas that this book presented but they were thrown in almost as filler and not well developed. It was also a frustration that the author used biblical passages to reference the apocalyptic events, but the book is far from having any evangelical Christian eschatological foundation. When the main character finally enters the demonic dimension toward the end of the book things got especially weird; i.e. the reason for my review title.
This was a book written for the secular masses who only want a good sci-fi story to somewhat tie together the 2012 speculations. Apparently this book is making it to the big screens as well. Go figure.