The Five Greatest Warriors by Matthew ReillyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Re-read 08/20
This one had the giant task of tying together all the threads that were scattered in The Six Sacred Stones, so naturally it's rather epic.
Here are the things I loved:
- Treasure-hunting adventures
- Fun traps
- Gruesome deaths
- Ridiculous stunts
- Epic battles
- Super fun, badass characters
- Interesting take on history
- Fascinating locations
- Daring deeds
- Kamikaze moments
Here are the things that cost it one star and why:
A little too long
The scope is HUGE and as a consequence a lot of details are skipped over. It has a lot of ground to cover, so it takes a lot longer to get through the adventure. There are also more bad guys so you have to keep on top of who wants what outcome and why, as well as who works for whom.
The down-played role of the stones vs the previous book
I definitely got confused about what all the stones and pillars were for in the last book, so their role being not as important in this one made it even more confusing. I lost track of what each of the six stones was used for, and what the deal was with all the pillar rewards. It felt like there were just too many to keep track of, and because the warriors are important here, the stones just became a little bit meaningless. Which is weird, since we're still talking about all-important ancient artefacts.
Less trap adventures
The first book was so amazing the way everything had a dedicated trap system to it. In SSS, we started strong with traps, but by the end here no more f*cks are given and the treasures are a little more easily accessible. I mean, it was handy, because it saved time, but it also took away some of the finesse.
The part of the Warriors was a little thin
It's in the title, but they didn't all play a huge part. They're all involved somehow, but some have massive parts while others seemed a bit inconsequential. The importance of the five just seemed to be reaching a little. Understandable, though, I suppose, when this is really just a continuation of the SSS adventure.
Less team focus
I am a big fan of motley crews so to see this one so divided kinda hurt my heart a little. They're all such a great team and are so fun together, but they get split up here so there's less banter and having each other's backs. They're still all kicking butt in their respective duties, but I miss them all hanging out together. Plus Astro totally got shafted in this book and that makes me sad. I have such a soft spot for him.
Overall these are fairly minor complaints because the whole series is just so manic fun. You really have to not overthink things and just sit back and enjoy the ride. I love how crazy the adventures are, and how different parts of history are rewritten to suit this story. I like that so many different aspects of history are included.
It's pretty epic in scope but it does a great job of tying together all of the previous adventures, giving us a satisfying conclusion. There are some pretty cheesy moments but I just love the characters so much that I can forgive them for those. XD
A really fun, treasure-hunting adventure. Highly recommend this series.
**Original Review 01/16**
No matter which book you pick up, Matthew Reilly consistently delivers great action. I've particularly enjoyed the Jack West series because I love the ancient history, and I'm quite happy to believe Reilly's telling of it. There's great diversity in the myths and locations and I love the variety of the locations, even if they do have similar trap systems. I was delighted by Pooh's role, and there were some seriously bad ass action sequences that had me irrepressibly grinning on the train. On the down side, I thought the notion of the rewards from the pillars could have been delved into a little deeper, and the ending seemed a little rushed to me - I was eager to read how the rescue played out, so was disappointed in it being skipped over. Overall though another thrilling ride with great characters and crazy, suspend-belief action.
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