Entangled: The Eater of Souls

GRAHAM HANCOCK... that name spells Authorship, Adventure and Aptitude... right? Wrong.

Sadly, as an Adventure Novelist Graham Hancock misses the mark by a mile. Not that the ideas and concepts he is trying to get across to the reader are not facinating and thought provoking... they are; however, it is the style of writing and use of grammar that reminds me of a Sophomore writing assignment. I found the story tiring and difficult to remain interesting because of two main reasons: First. The use of modern day vernacular and expletives greatly dimmed the mental picture given to the reader. It just doesn't work for a 10,000 year old, stone aged Homo Sapien to be using the [...] and [...] words. Some of the dialog sounds like it was lifted from an urban pulp novel (it wasn't, of course but it sounded like it). If the ancient part of the story was set in modern America... as the second part of the story is... it would work. But, then, that would wreck the entire provocative nature of the story. Second: Graham's choice of tone and style is passive and weak. The one thing I remember from my mandatory English writing course in High School is "Show Don't Tell!" EG: Instead of:

"While running, stumbling toward the safety of the woods, Ed found..." try:

"Ed ran in exhausted terror afraid that the crackling and snapping of the dry, thick underbrush would alert his pursuers. His heart pounded wildly, his vision dimmed and blurred. He stumbled and fell heavily over a hidden branch, got up, knees and knuckles bloody and willed his aching body towards the safety and dark of the deep woods."

This is not a quote from the book and is really not a very good example of style because I'm not a professional writer. Still, the second version of the scene is filled with imagery more than the first. It shows more and tells less. (Anyone is welcome to edit and improve my amateurish example).

I was disappointed with Mr Hancock's first effort as a Novelist; but I am looking forward to the (I hope) greatly improved sequels.

Simple, fast-paced, intriguing concept. The pace will leave you breathless. Mr. Hancock introduces readers to the world of shamanism via a gripping tale of the entanglement of a modern-day rich girl with a stone age huntress forced to become a warrior. Ria fights for her life and the lives of her clan, as well as her new-found Neandertal friends whose humanity and compassion surprises many people. She is assisted by the Blue Angel, an aspect of the spirit of Earth manifest through shamanic ceremonies, who connects her to present-day Leoni.

Not only is the story exciting, it's educational and thought-provoking. I can see this one being picked up by Hollywood!

I found the concept of the book fascinating; life in northern Spain in the last Ice Age, with the interactions of Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon people and an interesting fit to the new knowledge of this era. However much as I admire Hancock's other books, especially 'Fingerprints....' and a recent one on interpretation of cave paintings from this same era, I found that 'Entangled' had an overdose of 'blood and guts', just too much detailed description of killing. Disappointing!

This was my first ever ebook, and i really enjoyed it, very, very graphic, but very interesting also. I have enjoyed everything Graham Hancock has written. Entangled is well worth a read, enjoy.
Love ;)

I've enjoyed Hancock's non-fiction archaeological detective books a lot, and after reading his last (Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind) I couldn't imagine what he'd do next. With this new novel it's clear that he's continued along the same lines of supernatural research leading to more experiences and ideas best expressed in fiction.

Although he is in no way a great novelist, Hancock has crafted an intriguing and exciting page-turner (somewhat like Dan Brown's popular novels, but better written and way more interesting). Perhaps best of all is that he's finally found an editor able to help him trim the fat (probably easier to do for novels than for far-out esoteric-archaeological studies).

Jumping back and forth between 24,000 yrs ago and modern times (southern California and the the store forest), as well as their connections through the parallel spirit world of the "Blue Angel", the story is loosely based on a setting inspired by the DMT research of Dr. Rick Strassmann (DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences), the radical cosmic evolutionary ideas of Terence McKenna, traditional Biblical myths (or more accurately their Zoroastrian roots) of a cosmic Good/Evil struggle, and our older shamanic spiritual traditions - in short, a fantasy/sci-fi mix of visionary dream-time experiences and anthropological/consciousness studies. As the cover flap quotes, "...might have been written by J.K. Rowling - if Rowling had apprenticed herself for 7 yrs with Mary Leakey, 7 years with Carlos Castaneda and 7 yrs with Robert Crumb". That sounds about right, a Harry Potter tale for adults.

This may seem like an odd combination, but it works beautifully. I can see it becoming hugely popular; maybe not mainstream popular, but for those of us young and adventurous at heart interested in exploring similar ideas in our own lives, this could just prove to be life changing.

(I can even see it becoming a hit Avatar-like movie - what is this world coming to? - Just in time for the paradigm shift of 12/21/2012...Hopefully he's well on his way to writing the sequel - which, if he keeps following the threads of his non-fictional SUPERNATURAL research, will get very far out indeed.)

The book is very interesting. Well written,it manages to travel the twists and turns of the narrative indicating a blockbuster finale. Unfortunately the book ends halfway through Chapter 99 in the middle of a sentence. I attempted advise the store about this, but after spending over an hour on the the store site and being presented with about 800,000 new things to buy, but nowhere to advise re: the truncation, I retired in exhaustion.
In short; If you want a very good read that ends in a satisfying culmination, do NOT buy this book from the store.

My husband and I loved this book and were fighting over it on vacation (not literally fighting, BTW). The ending seemed quite abrupt though and I would read a sequel if he wrote one. Very graphic violence though but worth it for the ideas within.

I have followed G. Hancock nonfiction books for decades.
I really enjoy his work.
Tried this novel, as the time travel paradigm was of interest.
It is filled with violence, not sure why. I got to the end thinking it might have some purpose.
No, the violence goes on and on. Only to end with - to be continued in the next book.
This was enough violence for me. I would still like to understand why Hancock did this.
It is contrary to all his other work. Would not want to repeat the experience

I ordered this book because of the videos by Graham that I had enjoyed.

The book itself was a surprising disappointment. This is book is not for the sensitive reader who is prone to visualize the terrible battle descriptions. I had to work hard to move my mind away from unwelcome recall when I wished to sleep. I'm afraid the violent content completely overrode the underlying message. I will not read the expected sequel.

This is a fantastic read. His first foray into fiction will prove to be a classic that will find you begging for more. If you have read Grahams other non fiction books you will notice how the story line follows his extensive research into the paranormal and archaeological studies. I found that I was not able to put the book down and couldn't wait to see where the storyline ended up. This is a fantastic book and I highly recommend this as required reading for anyone exploring the potential of human consciousness and the origins of our species. 5 Stars......

Wow. This was REALLY bad.

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

It opens with a Cro magnon girl speaking colloquial English, right down to the liberal sprinkling of F-bombs. I have no problem with coarse language, but the colloqialisms were totally out of place for the setting, and the author seems to be including the obscenities more to appear to be cool and hip as an author than because they suit the character. Moreover, this 18 year old Cro Magnon (who would be in early middle age in that culture)doesn't have a clue what's going to happen when a man says he and his buddies are going to take turns with her.

Then we meet a Neandertal youth, who needs no spoken language, because he's telepathic and simply transmits ideas mind-to-mind -- in bad-movie style pidgin English. Seriously? And he has a long, hard to pronounce name. To what end? His culture has no verbal language. What use would they have for phonetic names?

The story then jumps to another really obnoxious teenager, at which point the plot becomes pretty transparent. I waded through another chapter or two, because the author is an intelligent, well-read man who writes respectable nonfiction, and does great interviews and documentaries (which, incidentally is why I bought the book). I thought maybe I wasn't giving him enough of a chance. Ultimately though, even loyalty wasn't enough to make it worth it, and I gave up.

It's not that his ideas aren't fun. He's an engaging speaker and writer of nonfiction, and I simply think he'd be better off to continue to present his ideas in that manner. Fiction just isn't his forté.

Although the time travel in the book may have basis in Hancock's research, I did not find the book to be so much "science fiction" as fantasy. The main character travels repeatedly to our past, as in tribes. I prefer a more future oriented time travel theme but if you like fantasy you may love this book. It is well written but I chose not to finish it.

Reading this... if felt like the next Lord Of The Rings.
It felt like I was in a movie.
Which by the way, they need to make one out of this book.
Get this book. It's actually less fiction than you might think.

I purchased this kindle book on a special offer of .99. I did so because David Wilcock gave it such a glowing review on his website. I thought it would be an uplifting spiritual read.
The good news is that I only wasted .99 and my time. The bad news is the level of violence, gore, sexual torture, graphic torture and murder of children, disembowlment, skinning alive, burning alive, impaling alive, gouging of eyes, severing of limbs, bashing of brains and rivers of blood that seems to be in every chapter after the first few. The language spoken is full of cursing, profanity and obscenity. It eclipsed the story, which could have been a great story without it.

I am not into fiction. However, I have followed Graham Hancock's studies for 15 years or so. I have always been very interested in his lectures and interviews. This book kept me glued to it . I read non stop for 2 evenings and finished it. Unusual for me. I was totally satisfied and will most likely reread it at least twice....like a good movie. Definately mind bending and thought provoking. The ending was good as it doesn't leave you disappointed but anxious for the sequel.

If you are unfamiliar with neo-pseudo-shamanistic drug culture, this book may seem somewhat interesting and exotic. Even so, this is a terrible, awful book.

On virtually every page some one is raped or gets an arrow through the eye or has their innards gouged out or some other senseless, pointless act of violence. OK, I get it, the bad guys are really, really, really, bad. I don't have to read about the hundred different ways they disembowel good guys.

The main characters go from one gruesome predicament to another to another ad nauseum, but the struggles and the violence never lead to anything: the characters never seem to gain anything or learn much or move themselves closer to their goals. The plot never builds to anything of value.

The pointlessness and lack of progression makes this book feel far longer than it really is. It's 400 pages that feel like 800. And, the kicker is that it has no ending. It's as if the writer met his publisher's contractual page count, and then typed THE END. It's clearly meant to force the reader to buy the sequel. But this book did nothing to make me care enough about the characters to even think of opening the sequel, let alone paying money to buy it.

Enjoyable fantasy, uses many of the ideas presented in the non-fiction works by the same author. In the "hard to put down" basket, but the ending seems to require a a sequel. For the background try: Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind if you have not already read it.

It was disappointing read. Over use of the "F" word,rape,torture of women and children and the decorative use of male genitalia as trophy s and decorations was too much for me. I finished the book but found no fun or enlightening value to it.

Disclaimer: I made it through only 10% of the book --before the nausea became unbearable.

Maybe I'm overly sensitive? Confused? Ugh.

The story idea seems quite interesting --however,the writing style left me feeling as if I was being verbally abused by a violent, sex-crazed, 14 year old with potty mouth. It had to stop.

This was a major "let down." Clearly there were a couple of aspects to the book that were interesting but more than half the book un-creatively and graphically described violence and brutality... over and over again. The same story could have been written in 50 pages without the detailed "blood spurting" violence. And, there is no conclusion... this is the first of a series of more books, which based upon this one, will likely contain no outcome and overdone brutality. I read the hard cover edition.

I thoroughly enjoyed Entangled. The idea of time travel is not new, however what made Entangled interesting was the three main characters, Leoni, the modern girl, Ria, the Neanderthal, and Sulpa, the wicked one who appears as different characters in both worlds. Hancock's imagination made the book interesting and exciting for me. I can't wait for the sequel.

I found that Hancock's imagery of blood, gore, and gratuitous violence to be sophomoric and self-serving. I kept reading and reading waiting for some sort of redemption, but all there was were the mind-numbingly repetitive scenes of alternating carnage and fairy tales. I just wish I could get back the hours I wasted on reading that piece of trash.

I just read this book "Entangled" and promptly threw it in the garbage when I was done....never had I done this to a book before! As compelling as it was to finish, (I was hoping it would get better even to the end) I was truely disappointed by everything in this book. The words , the descriptions, the language, the characters, the main ideas, everything. I think that while he may have some great things to say non-fiction wise, this book for a first debut of fiction backed by his research, fell into the trap of sex, violence, outright gore, and simple minded scenarios that I found insulting overall. I could not really picture the scenes as they were written. It is no "Shantaram" by any means. I was truely sad that I had wasted 3 days on it!

Another story of "good/bad" against evil/good", with many many repetitious accounts of gratuitous, horrific violence enacted by both "sides" Really lacking depth and "creativity" - not something that will stir your soul - maybe your base chakra.... unfortunate, because it uses a storyline with some definite possibility, but has been sullied by adolescent tale telling...and immature attention to thrill seeking....pretty sad.

I downloaded the book but guess what, the store.com won't allow me to pick it up on my IPad ~ Actually I tried it again today and it only says ERROR so I am not sure what else to do ~ I have a new Kindle Fire coming and maybe I can download it again and/or get some help making the changes ~ In other words, I can't seem to get it to play or me to listen/read the book! Darn!

I find Graham's non-fiction to be fascinating and the DMT drug really is this strange, so it's great to find it in fiction even though much of the research has actually occurred. However, suspension of disbelief is critical in this supernatural thriller where Leoni and Ria meet across time in a strange intermediary world and are recruited by the Blue Angel to save humankind against the embodiment of evil, Sulpa/Jack. It's a cosmic battle and so there are some heavy passages that can be confusing about time and physics but Hancock manages to keep the pace moving with the parallel stories of characters thousands of years apart in time. There are some parts of the book that are on the horror side of thriller, graphic descriptions of the way in which Sulpa/Jack and his followers massacre people and slaughter children. It's not meant to be nice, this is the embodiment of evil, but I had to skip over some of the more stomach-churning parts. I like the way the Neanderthals are portrayed, Uglies who are still gentle, in touch with the spirit world and are the light which evil is trying to extinguish. The dialogue is done well considering most of it is 'pulsed' telepathically and there are some evocative scenes of early hominids which is hard to write credibly about. The book is essentially a fast-paced race to save mankind with some huge themes, high body count and the two protagonists under increasing danger.

Hancock has done a great job of distilling a difficult subject into a fast-paced book. My main criticism is that there was no indication of this being a series and the end comes abruptly with no resolution in the story. I was annoyed to get to the last page when the story wasn't wrapped up properly in this book and there's no indication of another book.

I bought this book after hearing Graham read some of it on his website, and on youtube. He is such an amazing author, and has several mind-altering, viewpoint-changing books that are not fiction, so this was a different direction than he normally takes. I have read all of his books, I highly recommend them. I cannot believe I didn't write a review earlier. This is one of my all time favorite fiction books, everyone. And I read A LOT. He takes you on a mind blowing trip into alternate, and what I believe to be, quite realistic possibilites about our space and time, and what we are doing here on earth as humans in general. Keeps you on your toes the whole way through. Even if you don't have any knowledge of alternative ideals and meta-physical beliefs, the fight between wrong and right, good and evil, is so classic, I think you will like it based just on the originality of the flow of it all. Its like no other book iv'e read. I cannot wait for the sequel to come out, hopefully in 2014!

This book was a surprise. I remember Hancock's fascinating books on ancient civilizations, based on research and fact. This book is a totally new direction for him; it is a fantasy that weaves between modern and ancient times, bringing together Leoni, a young woman in current time and Ria, a teenage Cro-Magnon girl. The latter has formed a unique partnership with a group of Neanderthals. They are caught up life/death struggle against another tribal group who have been taken over by dark and very evil forces. For me Graham went overboard in the battle scenes, but the story is so intriguing that it carried me past the gore and mayhem. This book presents a number of themes: out of body travel possibilities, time & space travel, acceptance of differences, the battle between good and evil, the power of drugs like Ayuawasca to open portals to other dimensional realms and our human ability to change history. Whatever your beliefs about these themes you will be fascinated by this tale and will have your mind opened to new ideas......Enjoy

I met and spent time with Graham Hancock & Santha Faiia at a retreat in Brazil in the summer of 2007. Those of us in attendance were lucky enough to hear him read the initial chapters of Entangled. It was amazing and we all anxiously awaited each opportunity to hear him read. The book was not completed then, but those initial sessions had me hooked. I could not wait for it to be finished. He was kind and thoughtful enough to acknowledge us in the forward. However, he did not need to do so. Graham is a highly intelligent, knowledgeable and considerate person. Those qualities come through loudly and clearly in Entangled. It is a work that stands on its own. I do not generally read fiction, but I COULD NOT put down this book. Having experienced ayahuasca in many ceremonies now, Graham¡¦s portrayal of those other realms is fascinatingly descriptive and real. I won¡¦t repeat the description of the story, since those can be found elsewhere. But be aware that Graham¡¦s tale is vivid & addictive. You will not be able to put it down either. Graham, thank you for such an entertaining & well written tale. I am anxiously looking forward to more of your work!

We used to read Science Fiction or Fantasy to let our imaginations run wild. The important pre-requisite was, "Is it believable?" What I appreciate about Graham Hancock is not merely that his fiction "is believable," but that his research and quantum physics knowledge indicates some of his theories, wrapped so expressively in story-telling, could be possible--especially theories dealing the "time" continuum.

I really like novels where I learn something new. Hancock really delivers!

ENTANGLED: THE EATER OF SOULS concludes well for the sequel--a bond between two young women, Ria and Leoni, 24,000 years apart, but each willing to forfeit her own life for the other and the evil they hope to banish from their beloved planet, earth.

Entangled is a fascinating foray into the world of entheogens written by a man who has had multiple experiences with them. For anyone who has read Hancock's Supernatural or is interested in the alternate modes of consciousness available to us, Entangled is a must read. It provides a way to approach the subject that differs from the non-fiction and other, more academic approaches.

To address some of the complaints from other reviewers, I will admit that, yes, it is rather violent. It is shocking and can take some time to get used to. However, as Hancock has argued, and I have to agree with, one of the main goals of the book is to depict the battle between good and evil. To do this properly, Hancock must show the worst parts of humanity as well as the best. Unfortunately, evil is unpleasant, and so parts of the book necessarily become unpleasant. If we want to honestly consider humankind, we must be willing to take the bad as well as the good.

It is also true that the writing style can be patchy and awkward at times, but I felt that this improved as the book progressed. As a prolific non-fiction writer who is making his first go of fiction, it is interesting to watch his development as an author as the story unfolds. By about halfway through the book, the writing becomes less stilted and the narrative flows more logically. It is an interesting read, partly just to be able to watch the unfolding of the writing process.

A truly interesting book that raises questions about consciousness, psychedelics, time, the impact of human relationships, and much more, Entangled is certainly a book to pick up. Though the imagery can be graphic and the writing style has hiccups, these don't need to obscure the reader's enjoyment of the story. Hancock claims that the story was given to him through a series of Ayahuasca sessions. Truly, the book is worth a read just to experience another man's altered state of consciousness.

I loved Hancock's non-fiction and was looking forward to this new work. I hesitate to give it 3 stars, more like 2-2.5. The opening was clunky but once I got into it, the book started to flow. I'm kind of shocked by all the negative reviews on the violence, especially in the times of the 'Uglies' and Ria. We're talking about the times of Neanderthals here. It was brutal, very brutal. Not describing it would have come off odd.

Everything else, I chalk up to this being his first time at fiction. Not great, probably could have been edited down and scenes with the Blue Angel more fleshed out. It lost me towards the end, I was expecting things to wrap up,not dither out with an opening for sequels. Still there were a lot of great concepts that unfortunately come up wasted. If the characters were a bit more fleshed out, this would have been amazing. Worth a library read if you love Hancock. Pass on buying it.

The suspenseful cliffhanger at the end of each short chapter makes this exciting book hard to put down. Of late, Graham Hancock has entered other realms and learned of other dimensions - and I say "learned," because the world he encounters on his shamanic journeys has parallels to what the shamans were painting on cave walls 30,000 years ago. When he's not writing, he goes there, wherever there is. You not only are in the hands of a compelling story teller, but one whose writing is informed by having been to places most of us have not visited, so that the wild things that happen to his characters aren't just the product of his imagination but have some footing in what's tangible in the unseen world. Any sense there's no time for fiction, with computers chaining us to facts, can be mitigated by the awareness that you have the opportunity, in reading Entangled, to be informed about a real world beyond this one.