Book Review: The Last Oracle

The Last Oracle by James Czajkowski (James Rollins)
Release Date: June 2008
Publisher: Harper Collins
Audience: Everyone
Pages: 448
Buy the Book: Amazon
Book Rating: 2/5
JamesRollins.com








A bit of a hiatus for a couple of days my loyal non-existent readers. Anywho, The Last Oracle is the fifth in James's series which follows a group of soldier/scholars known as the Sigma Force. In this book Gray and his group of solder/scholars are not only following the bloodline and  historical trail of the Greek Oracle's of Delphi but also slowly uncovering a plot by a covert Russian group which threatens to destroy Europe and kill millions.


In this book there are four storylines, two main ones (Gray and his group in America/India & Monk and several Russian children escaping the covert Russian group) and two minor plotlines and my main complaint is that these storylines do not meld with one another, its like reading two separate stories that pass like two ships in the night. It wasn't until about 250 pages in or more that the connection between the two plots becomes apparent. Even after that, the main characters in the main storylines get thrown together only in the last 30 or so pages of a 400+ page novel. Further, I felt that the use of deus ex machina in the novel was a bit heavy handed as well.

Also, the 'archaeology' in the book just didn't work for me. Sure, yes, supernatural elements have exists in the genre since its inception, but I just didn't find the claims made in this book to be feasible. While this is a work of fiction, it is set in the real world and the fact that the author is putting me vis-a-vis the preternatural elements in the novel only serves to pull me away from the book.

Those elements aside, I commend him for actually doing fairly extensive research for the novel and, as far as building a story arc and likable characters, he is quite successful in this and other Sigma Force novels. However, I felt that the overall book was one of his weaker offerings. If you like all his novels, sure, give it a shot (I picked it up cheap with multiple discounts when Borders went out of business) but, otherwise, I would skip it as you aren't missing anything as far as the multi-book story arc of the Sigma Force is concerned (save two things that I am sure are recapped in his next book in the series).

Book Review: Seven Deadly Wonders

Seven Deadly Wonders by Matthew Reilly
 Release Date: December 2006
Publisher: Pocket Books
Audience: Everyone
Pages: 576
Buy the Book: Amazon
Book Rating: 4/5









Okay, I guess I should state that this book doesn't fall under the category of dystopian literature, or even apocalypse literature. Well, I retract that last part. The book is about the apocalypse, but is in the tradition of those archaeological thrillers where a group, often military or paramilitary, set out to prevent Armageddon. A...'Preventapocalypse' book if you will. Ha! Worked around that loophole! Onto the review!

Seven Deadly Wonders, in a nutshell, follows Jack West Jr. and his group of scholars and soldiers as they attempt to locate the seven lost wonders of the ancient world to find and recover the golden capstone for the great pyramid at Giza. Why? Because according to an ancient sun cult, if a ritual is preformed in the capstone at a specific time and date, the nation that preforms the ritual will become the most powerful entity on the globe. However, Jack West Jr. faces opposition from other groups also seeking the capstone as countries and organizations band together to take over the world.

For a thriller, this book does very well at keeping the reader on the edge of their seat. Also, the pseudo-archaeology and alterna-history in this book is well researched and well put together. Further, Imhotep V is the ancient world's Macgyver and passed his time making ever more elaborate traps, mazes, and puzzles to foil any attempt at finding the capstone, usually killing said fortune hunters in horrible ways. Further, Reilly creates a cast of colorful and unique characters.

My main complaint about this book is the length. This book is loooong. Not that it doesn't pass quickly, but a large portion of the book is sitting down the reader in front of the author, the author explaining everything to you (even so far as giving you maps and sketches), asking you if you understand everything he explained and then, once you understand the implications of whats about to happen, lets it happen, then sits you down again and recaps the events that just happened again in case you were confused the first time around. That, and you really need to check your sense of disbelief at the door. Hidden macguffins be everywhere.

For all that, Seven Deadly Wonders is a fun read, and a bit of a guilty pleasure for me as I enjoy archaeology (so much so I have a BA in it, well, social anthropology with a emphasis therein, but you get the point). If you want a book that doesn't require heavy thinking and is well put together and deals with pyramids, the hanging gardens of Babylon, firefights, explosions etc, etc, then this is a book you certainly will enjoy. If you enjoy the slapdash archaeology of Indiana Jones, you will like this book.