The Five Greatest Warriors, by Matthew Reilly
One of our avid Year 8 readers told me about this the other day so I dutifully bought and read it over the weekend. The things we do! 
It continues the story which ended on the VERY LAST PAGE CLIFFHANGER of Six Ancient Stones featuring Jack West and concerns the discovery of the Pillars which will STOP THE DARK SUN from returning and DESTROYING ALL EARTH!
Why am I writing in capitals? The book makes you read and write like that, truly. Like all Reilly’s books, it is action-packed and short on reflection and big on explosions. Like the Dan Brown novels, there is a mix of conspiracy theory, research into ancient mystery and conjecture about what happened to famous people from the past. Did they do this? Leave that there? Who were the race of beings who constructed the Machine which will stop the Dark Sun? Will our heroes make it to the next chapter without being trapped/blown up/maimed…The action moves quickly from one set piece to the next, barely leaving time for emotional release. Even when there are breaks in the narrative of some weeks or months, Reilly covers these with a couple of paragraphs, saying that the characters are researching and then gives us a lecture on their findings. This is great if you are not interested in knowing what their thoughts are or how they feel about anything. If all you want is to be catapulted into the next firefight, it works well.
Each chapter and part usually has a map and/or diagram so you can see how intricate the mess is likely to be for Jack West and his mates. At the same time, you can admire the author’s skill in devising these scenarios. If you thought Indiana Jones or National Treasure were tricky, you are in for a surprise.
Boys will love this book. It has explosions, military details about guns and planes and weapons and other things that blow up, kill or maim, little in the way of romance, treasure and chases. I enjoyed it but as with reading all of his books, I found myself rushing through them and then not really being able to remember much of it at all. It is like eating a meal of pure sugar. Tasty while it lasts but not very nutritious.
Filed under: Action-Thriller, Book Reviews, reading | Tagged: action, Book Reviews
This sounds really fascinating. I don’t mind reading a book with more action than usual. It creates variation. The conspiracy theory and conjecture that comes with it calls to me. I love it when authors play with history. And so it joins the long list of to-be-read. Hey, who says only boys like this kind of stuff??
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Not me! But I guess that is the stereotype. Thanks for the comment!
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