Mini-Review: ‘Entangled’ by Graham Hancock

My thoughts on Graham Hancock’s fiction debut, ‘Entangled’.

‘Entangled’ was originally published in 2010, but never made it onto my radar. Then, a couple months ago, Graham Hancock announced a deal for the book on Twitter. I was looking for something to read on my Kindle* and the $.99 sale price was too attractive to pass up.

Graham Hancock is a journalist and author whose non-fiction work primarily focuses on questioning commonly held beliefs and societal “truths”. Controversy follows him like a loyal dog. ‘Entangled’ was his opportunity to say, “Hey guys, this is fiction. I’m allowed to go crazy”.

In short, the book tells the story of two young women whose lives become “entangled” despite the thousands of years that separate them. Ria lives in Stone Age Spain alongside Neanderthals, while Leoni inhabits 21st century Los Angeles. Together, across time, they must work to defeat Sulpa, a supremely evil force who is intent on destroying the human race. They are both guided by the Blue Angel and their spirits are able to travel to different realms by drinking the psychoactive plant brew, ayahuasca.

The Amazon.com description has this to say, “Entangled rides a growing wave of interest in parallel dimensions and imaginary worlds (The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Golden Compass are recent Hollywood examples). . .

But Entangled has the added merit of being grounded in solid anthropological and scientific research. Hancock calls on his years of research into cutting-edge issues, including the “Neanderthal Enigma”, the nature of consciousness, the many worlds interpretation of quantum physics, parallel realms, time travel, and near-death experiences.”

The book is full of adventure, suspense, and interesting ideas about consciousness/spirituality. It is a fun, quick read, but the subject matter is not light. I particularly enjoyed Hancock’s vision of Neanderthals and humans coexisting. These interactions are the foundation of the Stone Age portion of the book and add an extra layer to the battles. I also enjoyed the vivid descriptions of what it was like traveling to the different worlds, as well as the worlds themselves.

My favorite part of this book is the rate at which novel ideas are introduced. ‘Entangled’ is not a long book, yet one after the other, Hancock introduces alternative history, time travel, parallel universes, near death experiences, Amazonian drugs, spirit worlds, telepathy, and countless other fun ideas.

Overall, I had a great time reading ‘Entangled’. However, if I had to nitpick, I’d say the easy-reading writing style was a negative for me. Sometimes it’s nice to read something that doesn’t require much effort, but the writing style did not mesh with the deeper ideas in my opinion.

If you’ve read ‘Entangled’, let us know what you think in the comment section.

‘Entangled’ is the first part of a planned trilogy, but no news has been released about a sequel. I’ll be ready and excited to read part two whenever it is published.

For more insight into how Graham Hancock came up with the idea for ‘Entangled’, check out his post on John Scalzi’s Whatever blog.

*This was the first book I read on my kindle that I’ve had since last December. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and recommend the 6″ Wi-Fi Kindle that is currently only $79. The special offers and sponsored screensavers are hardly noticeable.

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Creator and editor of Weird Cool Dumb.

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