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Legend (Event Group Adventure #2)

3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 · rating details · 502 ratings · 50 reviews

Go down a river of no return, toward a fateful meeting with an animal that predates mankind’s existence by ninety million years---after a treasure that has captured man’s desires for centuries. This is what Legends are made of.

The year 1533: Sent by Francisco Pizarro, Captain Hernando Padilla and his small Spanish expedition found the legend that men had only dared to whis...more

Hardcover, 352 pages

Published August 21st 2007 by Thomas Dunne Books (first published 2007)

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Sep 14, 2012 John Bonilla rated it 5 of 5 stars

wow how do i start. First this book is a perfect five right of the bat the book hooked me it only took the first few pages of the prologue alone to get me to want to keep reading.At first i thought it be cheesy and lame cause well thee title isnt eye catching.The word legend is use so much its getting a bit old but i kept reading and with all the twist and info they give you as you read you just need to know more. As for what lesson we have just started in class is one humor and there is quit a...more

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Nov 04, 2011 solaret rated it 2 of 5 stars

There's nothing much to say about this book. It wasn't particularly good, nor was it particularly bad. Just mediocre.

Legend suffers from having too many plotlines at once. There's at least three groups of people that we follow through the story, more if one of them splits up. For the sake of simplicity, let's call them the Good Guys, the Bad Guys, and the Damsels in Distress.

So, the story starts when the Damsels in Distress (DiD) decide to gallivant off into the rain forest in search of gold/lon...more There's nothing much to say about this book. It wasn't particularly good, nor was it particularly bad. Just mediocre.

Legend suffers from having too many plotlines at once. There's at least three groups of people that we follow through the story, more if one of them splits up. For the sake of simplicity, let's call them the Good Guys, the Bad Guys, and the Damsels in Distress.

So, the story starts when the Damsels in Distress (DiD) decide to gallivant off into the rain forest in search of gold/long-lost animals/a really important SECRET. Unfortunately, the Bad Guys (BG) know about their expedition and send people to follow them along. The DiD shake off one group of BG, only to be accompanied by another group. So much for them. This all occurs, naturally, long before the Good Guys (GG) have any notion of what's going on, since they're dealing with yet another group of BG on something completely different. Confused yet?

Anyway, the DiD and their chaperoning group of BG get into trouble. It turns out that their expedition into a valley surrounded by waters called the Black Waters of Satan (original name in Spanish) is dangerous. Surprise, right? And for some reason, they take college students with them, onto this trip that practically everyone (but the college students) seem to know is dangerous. But yes, there are scary monster-like creatures. Naturally.

Then, after they've been missing, the GG finally find out through some implausibly high-tech computer system. The GG spread out, find an impossible boat just waiting for them, and get shot at.

Sort of spoiler-y, I know. But I am getting to a point.

My problem with Legend is that everything's too convenient. No one important dies, just a bunch of secondary characters that I can't even get straight. The GG never notice something's coming along to make their lives harder because one of them just happens to turn off the sonar or look away at exactly the wrong (right?) time. And even when someone important should die, he/she doesn't through anthropomorphism. Yes, that's right, the animals love humans. And everything just gets worse and worse, until the Event Group has to succeed, or it was not only be a personal crisis, it'll be a national crisis. And after that, something else happens to ensure that it'll be not only a national crisis, but the fate of the world depends on it. Or something.

It just staggers belief, really. And for a book that's supposed to be a thrilling ride through gunfights and impossible threats to humanity, I couldn't connect enough with it to think of the characters as real, of their situations as real. Come on, even Dan Brown did better than this.(less)

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Feb 03, 2013 Andrés rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Having read a lot of negative reviews on the second Event book I was prepared to be thoroughly disappointed. At one point I considered not even reading it, but then I wouldn't be able to judge for myself, would I?

It takes a while to get going, that's for sure. It has to first set the background by introducing two characters from the distant past and the legend of "El Dorado." Then it moves on to the present where the Event Group makes a discovery that is never brought up again for the rest of th...more

Having read a lot of negative reviews on the second Event book I was prepared to be thoroughly disappointed. At one point I considered not even reading it, but then I wouldn't be able to judge for myself, would I?

It takes a while to get going, that's for sure. It has to first set the background by introducing two characters from the distant past and the legend of "El Dorado." Then it moves on to the present where the Event Group makes a discovery that is never brought up again for the rest of the book. I found it odd at first but decided it's just part of what the Event Group does.

Are the characters one-dimensional? I'd say that's a fair assessment. Did I find myself rooting for Colonel Farbeaux at times? Certainly. None of these issues, however, detracted from my enjoyment of the adventure. "Legend" has elements from Indiana Jones, a couple of Jules Verne's stories, and one particular element that reminded me of the movie, "The Core." I think there's something else at the back of my mind, but I can't pinpoint it.

Anyway, it's a tale of discovering a new world within our own and that's always a mystery worthy of an adventure. I did find some elements were superfluous, such as the President's daughter or the Frenchman's wife. Sure, maybe Kelly factored in on the President's decisions but I think he would've pushed just as hard if she hadn't been a part of the expedition, not that she contributes much anyway. Danielle's presence is also unnecessary, having infiltrated the Event Group's expedition... to what end? I still don't know. It seems she was only placed there and then to spur Farbeaux into a stupid quest for misplaced revenge in the books to come.

Another detail I'd like to point out is Collins' apparent omniscience. He seems to know everything, what sometimes raises a few questions. For instance, apparently he knew Danielle was a plant. What did he do about it? Nothing at all. Why did he bring her along then? Was he planning to use her as leverage or something? No idea.

I was also a bit unsatisfied with the author's answer as to why the Incas decided to mine the plutonium. "Because it was hot" seems to me to be a most disappointing, if not outright ridiculous, reason. The answer is a bit more elaborate than that, to be fair, but I think my summation isn't that far off the mark either.

It was an entertaining adventure, nothing more, nothing less.(less)

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Aug 04, 2011 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars

I picked up this book because of its great cover art and intriguing tagline, promising it would appeal to X-File fans and readers of Preston and Child. Since I'm huge fans of both, I picked it up. Let's just say this thriller was less than thrilling. Instead of focusing on the unknown and possible strange and weird, it was all about the military and very flat and two-dimensional military characters in this book. Not a single character had a personality or stood out in any way. I had such difficu...more

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Jul 31, 2011 Patrick Gibson rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror-of-it

Legend is a scary, creepy, fast-paced and adventurous, utilizing facets from high-tech weapons and boats to the latest scientific principles. With fantastic character-driven prose, and legendary locales and a myriad of horrific creatures that will surely give you the creeps, this latest novel is better than Golemon's debut novel EVENT.

If you love larger-than-life adventures, filled with interesting characters of all kinds, as well as exotic locales and creatures out of myth and legend and beyon...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Kara Jorges rated it 2 of 5 stars

The highly trained, super-secret government organization, the Event Group, is back for another adventure when a team of college students goes missing in the Amazon. Led by former Event Group member Dr. Helen Zachary, the group had gone looking for a hidden valley that supposedly contained El Dorado, the lost gold mine of the Incas. Dr. Zachary was far more interested in the unique animal life supposedly living in the valley, but there are others who only want the gold, and still others yet who w...more The highly trained, super-secret government organization, the Event Group, is back for another adventure when a team of college students goes missing in the Amazon. Led by former Event Group member Dr. Helen Zachary, the group had gone looking for a hidden valley that supposedly contained El Dorado, the lost gold mine of the Incas. Dr. Zachary was far more interested in the unique animal life supposedly living in the valley, but there are others who only want the gold, and still others yet who want another valuable mineral that is also hidden in the mine. A lot is at stake in the Amazon, and when the Event Group discovers that none other than the president’s daughter is part of the missing Zachary expedition, they high-tail it down to Brazil to begin looking for the lost mine.

After Golemon’s page-turning first effort, “Event,” I had high hopes for this novel that soon fizzled. It was obvious before I was even halfway through that the same amount of effort had not gone into this book. First, and most glaring, were the numerous misspellings and bad grammar. Publishers these days have obviously decided to cut corners in the proofreading department, and nearly everything I read is littered with typos, but this book took it to a whole new level (a “vile” of liquid?) that was distracting, to say the least. But that is not the only way in which this book, or those reading it, suffered. It was very hard to keep all the characters straight because there were simply too many protagonists who all had too much in common. History and science were given less than respectful treatment, as well. Probably the biggest problem with this book, though, was the convoluted mess of a plot.

In “Event,” the story stayed with the action, and touched lightly on behind-the-scenes politics in Washington. Unfortunately, this book took an opposite approach, and wasted page after page with the president, the secretary of state, and a whole bunch of people in offices pulling strings when what it should have done was stick with the team in the Amazon. I can barely tolerate political machinations in real life and absolutely detest them in fiction. It’s simply not believable in any small way, and I don’t really care which one of these fake people carries the most weight in an imitation Washington. When I pick up an adventure thriller, I want action. This book delivered precious little of that. Instead of battles with the bad guys, or even having issues with the Amazonian flora and fauna, our heroes simply drift down the Amazon in their supposedly state-of-the-art boat while the bad guys watch them from a few miles downriver and talk about their evil plans. I was expecting some great action scenes where the bizarre lagoon creatures wreaked havoc on good guys and bad, and instead, the creatures in this book only made a couple of cameo appearances before simply disappearing. There simply wasn’t enough plot to drive the book, so rather than taking the time to develop a more interesting storyline, the author attempted to flesh it out with ridiculous subplots and the oh-so-boring situations in Washington. Several times throughout the book, I found myself rereading paragraphs I had already read, simply because I could not focus on what was happening because it failed to engage my interest.

Had this been the first Golemon book I had picked up, I would not have wasted my time on another. However, I know he’s got the stuff because his first book was an absolute page-turner of an adventure. This felt more like a thriller-by-numbers that attempted to copy the works of several other second-rate adventure authors, and even descended into the realm of last-minute rescues with blithe explanations that I just didn’t buy. Perhaps I would not have been so disappointed if Golemon hadn’t set the bar so high with his first novel, but I’m really hoping his third book will be a lot better than this.
(less)

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Jun 22, 2012 Victoria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-science-fiction, mystery-thriller, books-in-a-series

Where the first book of the Event Group series tackled Roswell, this follow-up focuses on El Dorado - or at least Golemon’s take on the topic. Unfortunately, the book, despite the rediscovery of a lost city, did not live up to my expectations. Something is simply... missing... The overall execution fell a bit flat in large sections, slowing down the overall action quite a bit. More troubling, however, is the continued lack of character development. Unfortunately no headway at all was made in tra...more

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Sep 19, 2009 Josh rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009, thriller

David Lynn Golemon has been compared to another of my favorite authors, James Rollins. While I find Golemon's books highly enjoyable, escapist reads, I don't think he is yet at the level of Rollins. This is only his second book, so there is definitly time for growth and improvement. Much like Rollins, Golemon's books take a longstanding myth or legend, no pun intended, and mixes in government conspiracies, worthy and ruthless villians, cutting-edge science, exciting action sequences, and daring...more

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Dec 01, 2009 Debye rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-fiction

This is the second book in the Event Group files from Golemon focusing on the lost gold mines of El Dorado. You've got Spanish conquistadors, fish monkeys, Sincaro Indians, a nuclear warhead, a missing university expedition, duplicitous high government officials, a crusty Naval master chief who builds a BRILLIANT river vessel....there's more but..history, military action, monsters, lost gold, Vatican secrets..what's not to like?

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Feb 04, 2013 Jedidiah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Better than Event, but only slightly. Golemon comes up with grand ideas and unique settings, but his action is clinical and drawn-out, his characters are mostly indistinguishable from each other, and their motives are entirely unbelievable. I gave it two stars because I thought there were some cool ideas in the book, but I can't picture anyone devoting the chunk of time required to finish this book and enjoying it.

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Jun 11, 2012 Edward H. Busse, III rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-owned

NO SPOLIERS!! I loved it - this is the second book I've read from Mr. Golemon - the first was Event. Both were excellent book and I'm looking forward to picking reading Ancients - the 3rd book in the Event Group series. As for Legend - the writing was crisp and the story extremely creative. I like the fact that the story and the writing melds natural science, military, geo-politics, personal power, patriotism, violence, horror, expansive scenery, weaponry, "monsters" and bad guys soooooo well. M...more

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Mar 28, 2012 John Furie rated it 5 of 5 stars

"Legend" is the second Event Group novel by Goleman and it did not disappoint. The beginning was a little slow, setting up the plot, but it soon quickly took off. Intrigue, drama and action on every other page. "Legend" takes the Event Group and the reader to the Amazon for a page-turning thriller I couldn't set down. Great read.

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Aug 25, 2011 Gevera Bert rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Like all the Event Group books, it has a fun and interesting plot, but suffers from mediocre writing and horrible editing--full of homonyms, misspellings, and misplaced apostrophes. The Little Bighorn part felt like it had been shoe-horned in; the book maybe wasn't long enough and he added that extra adventure and its pieces?

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Aug 12, 2012 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

Was really looking forward to the second in the series, and though it had a fairly good idea driving it I began to see a trend involving being underground throughout the story beginning to dominate. The many narrow escapes were too similar in nature to really be exciting by the time the climax is reached.

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Oct 26, 2011 Dee Haddrill rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller, keepers, 5-stars, read-2011

The Event Group are back to save the world! This time, its from people trying to find the treasure of El Dorado!

I really can't rate these books highly enough! I absolutely love them! There is non-stop action, great storylines, indepth and well researched history, and fantastic very likeable characters. As a woman, I love the slight thread of romance running through the book between Jack and Sarah. I think sometimes male authors underestimate the fact that women like to read these books too and p...more

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Jan 25, 2011 Tommy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the 2nd book that I have read by this author. It looks like his books will tell stories with the same group of characters. Hopefully they will have different plots and storylines. This one was good and definitely different from the 1st one.

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May 28, 2011 Tom rated it 3 of 5 stars

The follow up to a great start. There are some under developed protagonists, Peruvian mercs,and several other plot holes to which to drive thru, but definitely not a boring book. I'll be starting #3 soon.

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Nov 23, 2010 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

A little bit history, a little bit covert ops with an X-files twist. Excellent sci-fi read. Looking forward to reading more books in the Event series (which has nothing to due with the TV show).

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Jul 27, 2012 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

A Clancy - Cussler mix not very successfully. It passed time with some parts grabbing you. Probably won't continue series.

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Oct 30, 2012 William rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: event-group, ebooks

I really enjoyed Golemon's first book in this series but this second installment of the Event Group series falls far short of being as good as its predecessor. Here is why I think it fails: too many people introduced only to be killed off without having done anything of significance, too many backstabbing and double crossing agents (you never know who to cheer for) and a monster that seems to pick and choose when he/it wants to be savage and monstrous. It really wasn't until the last chapters th...more

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Jul 28, 2010 Jessie added it

Legend: An Event Group Thriller (Event Group Thrillers) by David Lynn Golemon (2008)

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May 02, 2009 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: no-longer-in-the-library

Not as good as the first, but still a good page turner. Fast read for sure.

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May 04, 2013 Kimberly added it

Shelves: thriller

good read. I like the premise, maybe better than the book.

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Apr 07, 2013 ConvincoDude rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-adventures, science-fiction, thrillers, freaky-supernatural-adventures

Not nearly enough action, especially compared to the first book.

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May 02, 2010 Emily Leathers rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned

Very silly, but entertaining nonetheless.

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Mar 17, 2008 Jim rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: adventure buffs who don't mind a bit of Tom Clancy's dawdling pacing.

What a frustrating book. There were way, way, I mean WAY too many storylines in this book. I really enjoyed the storyline involving the characters trapped in the El Dorado mine deep in the Amazon. But I just got very tired with the other Event Group storylines, one back at headquarters, and one out in the field--and by page 200 I was skimming these parts because I just really didn't care about these characters. I still wanted to see how the book ended but I would have liked for this story to hav...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Troy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Hard to put down.

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Jun 08, 2011 Karla added it

Second in trilogy.

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May 09, 2013 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the 2nd book in the Event Group series.

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May 21, 2012 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Exciting second installment of the Event Group books. I wish the smaller creatures in the book were real. I would take one home.

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About David Lynn Golemon

David L. Golemon is the author of the Event Group Thrillers, including Event, Ancients, Leviathan and Primeval. Legend, the second book in the series, was nominated for a RITA award for paranormal fiction. Golemon learned an early love of reading from his father, who told him that the written word, unlike other forms, allows readers to use their own minds, the greatest special effects machines of...more

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Legend (Event Group Adventure #2)

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