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The 5 Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly |
| (Simon & Schuster, $25, GV) ISBN 978-1-4165-7757-7 |
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| Australian Matthew Reilly is quite simply the very best thriller writer on our planet today. The 5 Greatest Warriors is his latest book in an excellent Jack West, Jr. series.
In The 7 Deadly Wonders, Jack rescued and adopted the gifted oracle Lily and then led a multinational team on a ten year mission to find the seven pieces of the Golden Capstone which originally sat atop the Great Pyramid of Giza. Alexander the Great had hidden one piece in each of the seven ancient wonders of the world. Assembling them during a rare solar event (Tartarus) will not only save the world but imbue absolute power to the nation who can make it happen. We later learned that not only was placing the capstone actually a pre-condition which set into motion more potential destruction, but that the total power which West achieved for Australia could be and was reversed.
The 6 Sacred Stones is the sequel which drew Jack out of retirement to locate the six pillars which are six Ramesean (sacred) stones named after Rameses II. Jack must place them in six vertices at six separate sites around the planet to keep "The Machine" (built by a super-ancient civilization) running and once again save the planet, this time from a fatal blast of The Dark Sun which is the Yang to the sun's Yin. The cliff-hanger ending of The 6 follows directly into The 5 Greatest Warriors. Even though Reilly provides a three page summary of the first two books as a preface, your ability to understand and follow this complicated tale and your enjoyment level will benefit greatly by reading both The 7 and The 6 from cover to cover before starting The 5. Egyptology is the cornerstone of this series. References to the capstone on the Great Pyramid, the linkage of Stonehenge with the Great Pyramid, Khufu's Treasure (Khufu built the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx), and The Rhyme of the Warriors found in the Sphinx's Temple which is 5,000 years old are but several examples. This inscription (Rhyme) refers to Moses, Jesus, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, and a fifth warrior "who shall face the greatest test of all..." Jack's plan is to follow the trail of these five warriors and find the remaining pillars and clues to the location of the vertices. His journey takes him all over the world including the Negev, Rio, Heard Islands (World's End), Mongolia, Diego Garcia, Loch Ness, Easter Island, and Jordan to name a few. Jack West Jr. is a combination of Indiana Jones, Robert Langdon, Dirk Pitt, and Jason Bourne, all on steroids. Jack is virtually indestructible and is surrounded by an international cast of idealistic characters who continue to fight against the most evil villains you can imagine, one of whom is Jack's own father. The pace of these novels is wickedly fast and includes lessons in history and geography, as well as technological advances like gull wings which allow Jack to fly thru the air and warblers which divert bullets even at close range. Reilly also includes illustrations which help the reader visualize exactly what obstacles Jack and his crew need to overcome.
If you like non-stop action, albeit with very little character development, you will love this series. Five stars for The 5 Greatest Warriors. I can't wait for The 4.
--Jerry Solot |
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