Customer Reviews
EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS - By: J. P. Henderson-Long, 10 Mar 2008 
As a writer myself whose interest liesin all things environmental, I have been knocked for six by James Herbert's passion,in this book, about the world upon which we live. Cleverly written, it tells a cracking story that also educates & raises awareness & I have not been able to put it down. Everyone should read this book. It should become part of the school curriculum & includedin examinations. Not only does it deliver an increasingly important message, it is a roller-coaster of a read & I cannot recommemd it highly enough.
Mother nature will fight back - By: Jo, Burgess Hill, 29 Jul 2007 I agree with the previous reviewer. I read this book when it was first published & likewise whenever we have freak weather I remember this book vividly. A really good read as well.
You won't watch the weather in the same way again - By: Sarah, 07 Jun 2007 
This book is bound to be good, it is James Herbert. A very enjoyable read with a good story line & great characters. When you see the news reports of fluke weather you get very freaked out. You have been warned.
I read this book many years ago & I know it made an impression as I always think back to it when I see anything weather related on the news. It's a great book ignore the middle of the road reviews adnd enjoy it yourself.
Ambitious misfire - By: dogbarkssome, 03 Feb 2006 
Following two of the best novels he’d ever writtenin Haunted & Creed, Portent is an unfortunate misfire from James Herbert. On one hand Herbert’s attempt to depict a world-wide apocalypse is ambitious, but stylistically Portent is a step back to the sort of ‘un-natural disaster’ form he’d usedin the likes of the Rats trilogy, The Fog & The Dark, where the lead characters story is intercut with numerous short scenes of disaster-movie-style mayhem featuring new characters who are introduced only to die spectacularly. Where previously this format had led to some tense drama however, here Portent falls oddly flat, with the sheer scale of the destruction sweeping across the Earth so enormous that it’s difficult to actually care about anyone caught upin it – this is death on a widescreen cinematic scale, & while that might make for exciting viewingin a special effects heavy Hollywood disaster movie, it doesn’t quite workin prose form.
Also the story of ‘hero’ James Rivers is very thin – he spends most of the novel being slowly convinced of the reasons behind the disasters sweeping the Earth, before flying off to Scotland to have the plot explained to him by some wise old hermit on a hill. Throughout there is no chance of anyone actually being able to avert the disasters, so the characters just sort of passively drift through the novel (at one point Herbert has Rivers frantically attempting to tell the authorities of the explanations he’s discovered for what’s happening, but as they cant actually do anything about it it seems a rather pointless exercise). The closest the novel gets to some actual drama is when Rivers has to protect some psychic twins – the first of a new post-apocalyptic generation - from an opposing force, but it’s too little, too late.
James Herbert obviously had his heartin the right place when writing Portent, as with it’s story of a vengeful ‘Mother Earth’ this is Herbert’s big environmental message book, but unfortunately it fails to engage the reader as a piece of dramatic storytelling. Probably his least enjoyable novel, Portent is for Herbert completists only.
Especially scary given todays news - By: , 20 Jan 2005 
I started reading this book just before the sri lanka disaster. As Herberts work maybe not one of his best but chilling when readin light of the horrific events which happened over Boxing day.
