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What is marketed as the "long-awaited sequel to the worldwide best-seller 'Chariots Of The Gods'" ( all those books Erich Von Daniken has written in the past 50 years don't count as sequels?), "The Gods Never Left Us" is really just another Von Daniken book, and that's fine.It's not a proper sequel, yet it does build on and discuss the ancient astronaut theory made famous in "Chariots Of The Gods."
The book starts off on the wrong note with a completely unnecessary short fiction piece. If Von Daniken wanted to write a fiction story, he should have done that separate from this because on first glance this book screams "cash grab." The second chapter gets back to reality, but is full of recycled hypotheticals that are beyond repetitive.
Things start to pick up in the third chapter, which aims at breaking down genetics and details advancements in science and newly discovered species with traits unusual to what science has taught us (there is an "Ancient Aliens" episode on this). There's stuff about mythical hybrid beings, and not much new developments here, but it is well-put together. He makes a great point how early writings should be viewed as more fact than fiction since writing was once a high art form and why waste it on fantasy tales on clay tablets. The rest of that chapter is a slick summary of the ancient astronaut theory condensed enough to catch up new readers to the theory.
The rest of the book continues looking at mythology, cultures, the future of artificial intelligence, the earth's dwindling resources, "God" and ancient texts. Not much new stuff here except for the idea some of the foods of earth may not have originated from this planet.
The book is an enjoyable and easy to read Von Daniken offering, but isn't anything ground-breaking or a proper "sequel" like advertised.
-By MIKE DAMANTE