It was a Matthew Reilly (MR) novel. Those of you who have read MR's novels will understand the kind of action it packs. His novels mirror that of an Indiana Jones adventure story, mixed with Michael Bay's action movies, wanton destruction, multiply that by 10 fold.
The Five Greatest Warrior carried on exactly where The Six Sacred Stones ended, with Jack West Jr falling down the abyss at the second vertex. I never expected him to die, because, most of the time in MR novels, the villains always die a gruesome and horrifying death, whereas the hero always makes it to safety. In this case, a military equipment for all MR's fictional marines carry, help to save Jack from falling into oblivion.
MR has managed to cut down on all the descriptive sounds,and explosions in this novel to a bare minimum. I think it had become really annoying to see all those italic texts describing action sounds like you see in comic books, for example, Shhwwang, which can be used for sound close swinging knife edge, so on and so forth.
This novel was a page-turner, there was no way I could put it down, but I had to, I was seriously losing a good night's sleep in order to continue with the plot. It is a mostly descriptive novel, with intrigue, puzzles, betrayal, bravery, chivalry etc. In other words, it read like an action movie. You didn't really have to think too much, like when reading one of Agatha Christie's murder mysteries.
I would say that this novel did move along nicely. And I have no wish to change anything in the novel. However, I sincerely hope that MR can start writing novels that do not have such predictable scenarios. If you've read his earlier novels, dealing with another of his character, Scarcrow, the hero is always backed into a corner, and always finds a way to escape, even when one or more of his teammates have betrayed him, trapping him in something inescapable. On one hand, it does show innovation to think of a scenario like that where eventually the hero escapes, but on the other hand, it's just recycled ingredients used from a previous novel.
I think being a techno-phile (I love technology), the warblers that MR mentioned inside his novel were something I really enjoyed reading about. It works almost like a personal body shield that confuses and deflects any fast moving metal like bullets, confuses electronics like those present in missiles. However, practicality tells me that it may eventually be developed only if the electromagnetic waves were not so powerful when used as a personal shield, I think all the soldiers who used them would eventually become sterile!
All in all, a fun and entertaining page-turning read. Highly, highly recommended to anyone who doesn't want to read moderate soap like a Jodi Picoult novel, or think to hard on who killed who like an Agatha Christie novel. This will be worth the read, even if you're in-flight or in transit at an airport in some forsaken land. A novel that opens windows into places you've never been, and it's 85% fact mixed with 15% fiction!
5 out of 5 stars
The Five Greatest Warrior carried on exactly where The Six Sacred Stones ended, with Jack West Jr falling down the abyss at the second vertex. I never expected him to die, because, most of the time in MR novels, the villains always die a gruesome and horrifying death, whereas the hero always makes it to safety. In this case, a military equipment for all MR's fictional marines carry, help to save Jack from falling into oblivion.
MR has managed to cut down on all the descriptive sounds,and explosions in this novel to a bare minimum. I think it had become really annoying to see all those italic texts describing action sounds like you see in comic books, for example, Shhwwang, which can be used for sound close swinging knife edge, so on and so forth.
This novel was a page-turner, there was no way I could put it down, but I had to, I was seriously losing a good night's sleep in order to continue with the plot. It is a mostly descriptive novel, with intrigue, puzzles, betrayal, bravery, chivalry etc. In other words, it read like an action movie. You didn't really have to think too much, like when reading one of Agatha Christie's murder mysteries.
I would say that this novel did move along nicely. And I have no wish to change anything in the novel. However, I sincerely hope that MR can start writing novels that do not have such predictable scenarios. If you've read his earlier novels, dealing with another of his character, Scarcrow, the hero is always backed into a corner, and always finds a way to escape, even when one or more of his teammates have betrayed him, trapping him in something inescapable. On one hand, it does show innovation to think of a scenario like that where eventually the hero escapes, but on the other hand, it's just recycled ingredients used from a previous novel.
I think being a techno-phile (I love technology), the warblers that MR mentioned inside his novel were something I really enjoyed reading about. It works almost like a personal body shield that confuses and deflects any fast moving metal like bullets, confuses electronics like those present in missiles. However, practicality tells me that it may eventually be developed only if the electromagnetic waves were not so powerful when used as a personal shield, I think all the soldiers who used them would eventually become sterile!
All in all, a fun and entertaining page-turning read. Highly, highly recommended to anyone who doesn't want to read moderate soap like a Jodi Picoult novel, or think to hard on who killed who like an Agatha Christie novel. This will be worth the read, even if you're in-flight or in transit at an airport in some forsaken land. A novel that opens windows into places you've never been, and it's 85% fact mixed with 15% fiction!
5 out of 5 stars
