Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Review: Scarecrow / Seven Ancient Wonders by Matthew Reilly

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Title: Scarecrow / Seven Ancient Wonders (Omnibus)
Series: Shane Schofield, Jack West Jr.
Author: Matthew Reilly
Read copy: Mass Market Paperback
Published: 2008
Publisher: Pan Books
ISBN: 0330507990
ISBN-13: 9780330507998

SCARECROW

As 'Scarecrow' Schofield watches his mission to eliminate a Siberian turn into a bloodbath, he realizes he has been tricked—and now becomes the prey rather than the predator. For a shadowy consortium of staggering power and wealth has included his name on a list of fifteen targets to be eliminated without fail by noon that day. Now every high-powered bounty-hunter on the planet is on his trail, while he must simultaneously track down the perpetrators of a conspiracy about to reduce many of the major cities of the world to ashes.


SEVEN ANCIENT WONDERS

Four and a half thousand years ago, a magnificent golden capstone sat at the peak of the Great Pyramid of Giza. It was a source of immense power, and reputedly capable of bestowing upon its holder absolute global power. But then it was divided into seven pieces and hidden, each piece separately, within the seven greatest structures of the age.

Now it's 2006 and the coming of a rare solar even means it's time to locate the seven pieces and rebuild the capstone. Everyone wants in—from the most powerful countries of Earth to gangs of terrorists...and one daring coalition of eight small nations. Led by the mysterious Captain Jack West Jr., this determined group enters a global battlefield filled with booby-trapped mines, crocodile-infested swamps, evil forces and an adventure beyond their imagining.

My rating:

Scarecrow

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!

I love it when a completely out-of-the-blue book buy turned into a treasure. That’s what happened with this story for me. From the page one, it grabbed me, sucked me in, and took me with it on a roller-coaster ride, never stopping the intensely woven action until the very end.

A gripping page-turner, intense, chaotic, yet making incredible sense, action-packed, funny at times, incredibly sad at times, dramatic, explosive...and there’s plenty more adjectives I could use to describe this novel.

Unbelievable. Fantastic. Engrossing. A masterpiece in escapism.

I loved it from beginning to end and I can’t wait to read more adventures of the Scarecrow.


Seven Ancient Wonders

Maybe it wasn’t as “exciting” and non-stop action as Scarecrow, but it was still a sneaky page-turner. Sneaky in the sense of the reader turning the pages without being aware of how many there are only to have to do a break and notice the page he/she’s on and wondering just when he/she’s read so much in so little time.

The historical/mythological explanations got a bit tedious overtime, and the double flashback about the past 10 years jarred the pacing quite a bit (it would’ve been best to have that flashback in the beginning, not in the middle of the story), but the action and intensity more than made up for the little hiccups.

Loved it.

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