The 5 Greatest Warriors picks up where The 6 Sacred Stones leaves off. Our hero, Jack "Huntsman" West, Jr. is falling into the abyss with one of the bad guys. It looks like this is the end for our intrepid hero. However, a few well placed hits to the bad guy, quick thinking, and the use of a maghook and Jack is able to live another day. In this installment, Jack and his small, international team, continue their quest to save the world from the Dark Star. In order to do so, they must solve the riddle of The Machine, which will save the Earth from Armageddon. There are clues in an ancient poem of the five warriors, four of them are great historical figures (Moses, Genghis Khan, Jesus, Napoleon), which will take the team around the world. The fifth, and final warrior has yet to be discovered. However, West's team is up against several other groups, one is trying to stop them so that the Earth, and everything on it, dies. The other teams are in it to save the Earth, but they want the riches and glories that come from the Stones. Jack and his team are simply trying to save the Earth, but at every turn are faced with solving a maze, under severe time constraints, while battling at least two other factions. To add to the pressure, not everyone is as they appear; there are betrayals and secret alliances with which Jack and his must overcome. Adding to the thrills, several of Jack's team are kidnapped and must be freed, if they are to succeed.
Reilly writes in an . . . unusual style. It's this style that many may find difficult to enjoy. He uses exclamation points, italics, and has a habit of describing how a bullet sounds as it hits metal or flesh. However, if you are able to suspend your prejudices, you will find no better entertainment than his novels. Nearly every page leaps out at you with action. There is very little gray area in these novels; the good are good, the bad guys, bad. Further, there are several really surprising villains. In addition to the text, Reilly includes maps, photos, and graphics to help the reader and to move the story along. This enhances the novel. While Reilly includes a synopsis of the story and the characters, the reader would be better served by reading the two previous novels in the series before starting this novel. The background is nice, however if this is your first encounter with Jack West and his adventure, you are left to fill in too many blanks. Thankfully, each of Reilly's previous novels are fast paced and will take only a day or two to finish. Extremely entertaining, packed with action at every turn, and including actual historical figures, places, and things, Reilly delivers a satisfying ending in The 5 Greatest Warriors to the story he started in 7 Deadly Wonders.
Disclosure:
Obtained from: Library
Payment: Borrowed
Technorati tag: book review Matthew Reilly
Comment posted by Roy Rumaner01/25/2010 11:50:36 PM
Fantastic !! I thought 6 Sacred Stones was awesome and I have been waiting for this one. Is this the end of a trilogy or does he open it up to go one more?
Comment posted by Gregg Eldred01/26/2010 12:19:08 AM
Homepage: http://www.ns-tech.com/blog/geldred.nsf
@Roy - I am not the sharpest tool in the box. Let's review, and you can draw your own conclusion. The first book in this series was "7 Deadly Wonders," then we had "The 6 Sacred Stones." Now, there is "The 5 Greatest Warriors." Notice anything? I believe that in the end, there will be 7 books in this particular series. I just hope Reilly gets them out the door faster than the 2 years we had to wait for this installment.
Comment posted by John Stockbridge01/26/2010 08:04:20 AM
A great Aussie writer.
What is probably not well known is that in every book, Matthew auctions a character for charity, the winning bidder can nominate the name for acharacter and Matthew builds that character into the plot.
In the 6 sacred stones, the winning bidder asked if his nephews who are twins could be written in.
Matthew says that these characters normally don't survive the book and usually have magnificent deaths. The exception is the twins who survuved the 6 sacred stones and reappear in the 5 greatest warriors.
Comment posted by Gregg Eldred01/26/2010 11:01:30 AM
Homepage: http://www.ns-tech.com/blog/geldred.nsf
@John: that is very cool. The twins play a huge role in this novel, which makes your anecdote all that much better. Thanks for sharing.
Comment posted by theo Heselmans01/27/2010 01:09:00 PM
Homepage: http://blog.xceed.be
I bought my first Reilly book 'by accident' when I was at UKLUG in Edinburgh. I enjoyed it so much, I bought a few more. When I was at Lotusphere, I picked up the rest of his stuff.
No big literature here, but just a crazy ride. Excellent relaxation (but you have to keep your head with it) reading.
Indeed, highly recommended !
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