Valhalla Raising

by Clive Cussler

2001

Status

Available

Publication

Berkley Books 2001.

Description

Fantasy. Fiction. Suspense. Thriller. It is July 2003. In the middle of its maiden voyage, the luxury cruise ship Emerald Dolphin suddenly catches fire and sinks. What caused it? Why didn't the alarms go off? What was its connection to the revolutionary new engines powering the ship? NUMA special projects director Dirk Pitt races to rescue the passengers and investigate the disaster, but he has no idea of the bizarre events that are about to engulf him.Before the next few weeks are over, Pitt will find himself confronted by an extraordinary series of monsters, both human and mechanical, modern and ancient. He will tread upon territory previously known only to legend. And, at the end of it all, though many lives will be lost, and many saved, it is Pitt's own life that will be changed forever...Filled with dazzling suspense and breathtaking action, Valhalla Rising is Cussler at the height of his storytelling powers.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member mrsdanaalbasha
Dirk Pitt, Clive Cussler's aging but still potent superhero, returns in the 16th adventure in this popular series about the director of special projects for the National Underwater Maritime Administration (NUMA). Pitt's NUMA survey ship happens to be in the vicinity when the world's newest and
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biggest cruise ship founders and sinks, giving Pitt the chance to stage the daring rescue of nearly 2,000 passengers. Among those who perish is a famous scientist whose revolutionary engines powered the ship to her watery grave; while Pitt is unable to save Dr. Egan, he rescues his beautiful daughter Kelly from the sea, and later from a murder attempt aboard the rescue vessel.
Pitt and his trusty pal Al Giordino track the sinking to the boardroom door of a multinational conglomerate called Cerberus, whose evil CEO has designs on the world's oil supply. He'll do anything to keep Egan's advanced engines and secret formula for frictionless oil off the market--even sabotage another vessel, this time a luxury passenger submarine. By the time our heroes have foiled the mastermind's nefarious plots, they've also uncovered the existence of a working submarine nearly a century before one actually existed--irrefutable proof of a Viking landing on the Hudson River--and the remains of the British sailor who inspired Jules Verne's Captain Nemo.
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LibraryThing member pgam01
Good book that kept my attention. The hero, Dirk Pitt, is more comic book hero than a character in a novel. Also, Technology that is used is futuristic and gain out of comic book. Cussler coul dhave left some of it out. Alos, not sure what we included a story about Vikings here and call the book
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Valhalla Rising? Book about Pitt and his buddy AL Giordano stopping terrorists from blowing up NYC by attempting to crash a tanker filled with liqued propane into World Trade Center. Book takes place in 2003 but book published in 2001. Leaving out viking part would not have hurt story. Alos, Pitt discovers that Capt Nemo really lived. Again this portion of book did not really have anythign to do with main story
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LibraryThing member madams
Cussler once again gives a book where he can tie in history with the present and make it palpable. Good read.
LibraryThing member readingrat
Parts of this were really good and parts of it were really bad! Right now I'm trying to decide whether or not to give another offering from this author a read. However, since I really didn't like the character of Dirk Pitt, I'll definitely avoid the myriad of tomes featuring that character as the
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protagonist.
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LibraryThing member caroren
  • Full of adventure, viking history and literary speculation with the author making an appearance.  Dirk Pitt, underwater scientist and adventurer, working for the National Underwater Maritime Admin., uncovers a plot to control the world's oil supply.
LibraryThing member kimmy0ne
rip roaring adventure story you want to be in yourself
LibraryThing member SonicQuack
As the Dirk Pitt series continues, Cussler pays less attention to serious plot elements and serves up a more puerile sort of entertainment. The villains of the piece are stereotypical as usual, Pitt is his usual indestructible self, his ability to escape certain death unwavering. Alas there is
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deception afoot in Valhalla Risiing, should you be expecting any Viking fiction then prepare to be disappointed. In fact not only does Cussler play pure lip service to the title and any related content, he unashamedly tinkers with the works of Jules Verne. Should readers be aware that Valhalla is almost a spoof then they'll be entertained, for Cussler's work is easy going and offers a rivetting Bond-lite approach to the adventure genre.
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LibraryThing member Bobnitefan
This is the first Clive Cussler book I have read. Very enjoyable. My first thought is that it is like reading a Hardy Boys novel for adults. This is particular apparent in Mr. Cussler's description of characters as they are introduced through out the novel. Other similarities to Hardy Boys include
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the regular references to prior books and his unlimited access to resources. Will definitely read more stories in the future.
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LibraryThing member DavidLErickson
The Chase and Spartan Gold are still my favorite of the Clive Cussler novels I've read, but Valhalla Rising is an entertaining read. Imagine discovering Captain Nemo's Nautilus! And a boat load of Viking booty.

NUMA hotdogger Dirk Pitt once again saves the day, thwarting the uber-bad guys at every
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turn and Clive Cussler makes a guest appearance.

Lots of new high tech stuff for the techie buffs, pretty girls and lots of actrion.

Uber bad guy Zale sets out to corner the petroleum market and prevent new technoloy that will reduce the world's reliance on oil using mass murder as a political tool. But a Zale insider and Dirk Pitt see to it that that doesn't happen. And Dirk meets his son and daughter he didn't know he had. I've already met them as I'm reading the books out of sequence.

Good read. Lots of fun and a few typos.
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LibraryThing member Garridon
Not Cussler's best effort. It has some of the much welcomed elements that have been absent from more recent books, but two historical parts of the story don't quite work together believably.
LibraryThing member deldevries
the adventures continue with Dirk Pitt. How about the Vikings, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, a big plot to destroy the World Trade Center (was this written just before or just after 9/11?? hard to tell), and multiple miraculous rescues from the edge of death all over the world. Woven together, easy
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read, interesting enough to finish!
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LibraryThing member mrsdanaalbasha
Dirk Pitt, Clive Cussler's aging but still potent superhero, returns in the 16th adventure in this popular series about the director of special projects for the National Underwater Maritime Administration (NUMA). Pitt's NUMA survey ship happens to be in the vicinity when the world's newest and
Show More
biggest cruise ship founders and sinks, giving Pitt the chance to stage the daring rescue of nearly 2,000 passengers. Among those who perish is a famous scientist whose revolutionary engines powered the ship to her watery grave; while Pitt is unable to save Dr. Egan, he rescues his beautiful daughter Kelly from the sea, and later from a murder attempt aboard the rescue vessel.
Pitt and his trusty pal Al Giordino track the sinking to the boardroom door of a multinational conglomerate called Cerberus, whose evil CEO has designs on the world's oil supply. He'll do anything to keep Egan's advanced engines and secret formula for frictionless oil off the market--even sabotage another vessel, this time a luxury passenger submarine. By the time our heroes have foiled the mastermind's nefarious plots, they've also uncovered the existence of a working submarine nearly a century before one actually existed--irrefutable proof of a Viking landing on the Hudson River--and the remains of the British sailor who inspired Jules Verne's Captain Nemo.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Carol420
This is simply a very good novel filled with all of the action, suspense, and frequent plot twists that have become Clive Cussler's trademark. In addition, after all of the action has been concluded, there is still a major surprise to be had in the last few pages. All-in-all, this book was a great
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read and very difficult to put down.
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LibraryThing member mattries37315
A plot to monopolize North American oil and natural gas production leads to terror attacks on two ocean liners that have newly installed revolutionary engines that will destroy the oil industry as we know it, the only man to stop this plot is of course Dirk Pitt. Valhalla Rising is the sixteenth
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books of Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt series that finds the Pitt and NUMA attempt to foil this diabolical plan while attempting to find the secret lab of a reclusive scientist.

In the early 11th-Century, a fleet of ships from Iceland sail past Vinland to the entrance of the Hudson Bay and find sanctuary in a large underground cove that has a passage almost to the palisades above and is carved out by the explorers. The resulting settlement only last a few years before a conflict with the Native Americans results in its destruction. In the 1880s, a US Naval ship is destroyed by a metallic sea monster that has portholes in which the captain sees man face looking out at him. In 2003, Dirk Pitt spearheads NUMA efforts to rescue passengers on two ocean liners that were targeted by an oil and natural gas cartel’s CEO that wants to discredit the revolutionary magnetohydrodynamic engines installed on both by a reclusive genus scientist—that dies in the first liner’s disaster—to help his efforts control all North American oils resources and supplies then to shut out foreign oil. Along with figuring out where the deceased scientist’s lab was Pitt must deal with a plot to destroy the World Trade Center with a natural gas tanker while Loren Smith must deal with bribed officials to investigate the evil CEO in a Congressional hearing. After evidence from St. Julian Perlmutter found in Jules Verne’s home, Pitt finds the cove found by the Vikings that not only contains their longships but the actual Captain Nemo’s Nautilus with a prototype of the revolutionary engines that the reclusive scientist deciphered and improved. At the end of the book when Pitt attempts for the third time to propose marriage to Smith, he is interrupted by the surprise arrival of his until then unknown children, twins Dirk Jr. and Summer, by Summer Moran.

Let me start with addressing the WTC plot first by saying this book was originally published in August 2001, a mere three weeks before terror attacks so Cussler was not attempting to profit off a real-life situation. As for the actual events in the book and of the overall series, there are a lot of retcons throughout this book that void the events in Raise the Titanic! and add to the events of Pacific Vortex, especially the former with the introduction of the Pitt twins that were set up throughout the book by Cussler having Dirk think about how he was getting old. As to the actual narrative of the book, I found this book not up to Cussler at his best. The main antagonist is really the CEO’s terror cell leader who I did not mention above because he is not memorable compared to other characters that he shares traits with throughout the overall series. Honestly, this is more an investigation into the reclusive scientist’s life with stopping an evil plot as a side quest type of deal.

Valhalla Rising is a book that read like a mishmash of plots and events that were intended to build to the future of the series, but also discredited events from the previous books. This is the penultimate book that Clive Cussler solely wrote himself before his son Dirk would become his coauthor, which makes one wonder if the quality of this book and the next made his publisher want to give him help. Overall, not this is not the worst book of the series—far from it compared to the very first books—but things throughout the novel felt off.
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LibraryThing member sjh4255
Another Dirk Pitt adventure where trouble AND luck follows him everywhere around the world not actually performing any NUMA duties but getting his nose where it doesn't belong... if he were a real world government employee, he'd be fired long ago, because they never actually do any research...
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anyways, a good read with some viking legends, Jules Verne and an evil oil magnate thrown in...

**Spoiler alert below **


I also found this very interesting that Zale wanted to blow up the world trade center towers, and the book was released in August 2001... eerie...
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LibraryThing member cjyurkanin
I tried, I really did. And I finished it, I really did! My first Cussler book and my last Cussler book: about 350 pages too long. It dropped a star every 150 pages or so. Another 50 pages and it would have merited a zero. Better to go read Jules Verne.
LibraryThing member buffalogr
As always, the story is multilayered with a history lesson at the beginning and the end. It's a novel with with all of the action, suspense, and frequent plot twists. The usual characters act the way they always do--swashbuckling Dirk and Al, with the typical vile villains. Good book that kept my
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attention.
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Language

Original publication date

2001-08

ISBN

9780425185711

Barcode

1600455

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