The Six Sacred Stones (Matthew Riley, Macmillan, $49.95 hb, ISBN 9781405038164, November) ****
Six Sacred Stones, the sequel to Seven Ancient Wonders, takes us on the next whirlwind adventure of Jack ‘Huntsman’ West Jr and his motley crew of incredibly intelligent scientists, mathematicians, army-trained combat fighters and genius children, one of whom is his adopted daughter. Simultaneously setting out from the Sichuan Mountains in China and outback Australia, they race around the world in the attempt to beat the powerful and greedy elite factions of the Chinese, British, American, Japanese and Arabian governments who wish to use the power of the sacred stones for their own benefit. What West’s team knows and the others don’t is that in successfully redistributing the rare artifacts to their rightful places at the ancient sites they will be saving the world, and as such our team alone is working for the greater good.
Jack West Jr is all you could ask for in a hero. Think MacGyver meets Die Hard’s John McClane. Fast, efficient, brave and intelligent, he possesses the ability to decipher archaic codes and riddles, wrestle crocodiles, evade ancient booby traps and ensure the safety of his team and daughter all at the same time.
From the first novel we see the return of Lily, Wizard, Pooh Bear, Stretch, Tank, Sky Monster and Zoe, plus new allies Astro and Vulture. Unfortunately, not everyone is as they seem, and as certain presumably trustworthy cohorts start double-crossing Huntsman’s team, we learn never to trust anyone when the prize is so high.
This novel is classic Matthew Reilly. Fans of the author’s work will enjoy this book immensely. Fast-paced and action-packed, this story can be enjoyed by anyone wishing for a few hours of escape and a dose of pure entertainment. Also, it is the perfect book for teenage boys finding it hard to locate adult novels that have a high level of entertainment and a language level suitable for young adult readers. Those who haven’t read the first installment in the ‘Ancient Wonders’ series shouldn’t be put off reading it—it can easily be read as a stand-alone novel as it gives the reader enough back story to understand what is going on and who the characters are.
All up, this is a highly enjoyable read and a compelling sequel to yet another successful series by one of the best Aussie authors writing popular fiction today.
Anna Hood is a bookseller at the Avid Reader bookstore in Brisbane
This article from Thorpe Bowker's Weekly Book Newsletter and Media Extra is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2007, Thorpe-Bowker
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