The Last Oracle: A Sigma Force Novel by James Rollins
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Book Reviews of The Last Oracle: A Sigma Force Novel
Book Review: Good airplane reading if you don't mind the implausible.
Summary: 3 Stars
"Secret" government organization of former commandos gets involved in a worldwide plot involving gypsies, autistic children, Chernobyl, the ancient Oracle of Delphi, etc.
The story included historical details and information about government research projects, both true and well-researched, but for my tastes the story went on a bit too long. Also, the evil plot at the very root of the story (I won't spoil it) was quite implausible.
So overall, it held my interest for almost the duration of the book, but I won't remember much about it a month from now.
But, here are a few of my faves in case you're looking for good books to read:
Fantasy: The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud (2nd book is the best)
Completely Unhinged Fiction: Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
Simple, but inspiring fable: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (a bit male-centric though)
Book Review: pretty good, somewhat sloppy
Summary: 3 Stars
One of several JR I've read. Fairly good story, tho not his best. I am really bothered, however, by writers in this genre, especially with his level of success, who are so ignorant or too lazy to get very basic stuff straignt. Was I the only one bothered by the fact that Chernobyl is in Ukraine, not Russia? That is just inexcusable.Book Review: His worst book yet
Summary: 2 Stars
I have read almost every James Rollins novel, and The Last Oracle is by far, without a doubt, his worst. To emphasize how disappointed I am in this book, I just quit reading with only 75 pages left. I'm in the middle of the climax, and I could honestly care less.
Lets talk about why this normally five-star writer has dipped down to a two:
First, his lack of character development. I guess because most of the characters have been written about for five novels now, he feels that it's not necessary to spend even a paragraph letting you know who the characters are. There is no time spent letting you know who they are, or why they are who they are, it's just nonstop problem followed by deus ex machina. The characters go go go go at a full pace, but there isn't a sentence here or there that explains their thoughts, or their reasoning behind what they're doing. From the very beginning it feels as if you've just opened up a book at random and started reading. There are also random characters sprinkled in who seem to serve no purpose. I still don't know why Luca, the gypsy, was in the novel. He randomly joined the team and was scarcely mentioned again the rest of the way. The only thing I know how him is that he's a gypsy with daggers. And he sat at the back of the car once. That's it. Dr. Masterson also serves little purpose. You meet him, he almost gets killed, they run, that's it. Who is he? Why is he important? Why couldn't we have spent some time explaining why he's even in the novel?
Second, he's getting away from his forte. What I used to love about Rollins was the way he took me by surprise with his imagination. His novels had secluded areas with ancient trees that had fruit that allowed people to regrow limbs, he had subterranean caves filled with dinosaur-like creatures and humanoids living in their own bio dome, scary creatures that could see you in the dark on an ice island, strange diseases that turned you into zombie-like ravages, and so many other incredible ideas. This one falls flat. He tries to bring up an ancient mystery in the first chapter, but it truly has nothing to do with the rest of the book. Instead, it's guilded as an ancient mystery, but underneath it's really his attempt at a Bourne-esque novel. Industrial espionage and intrigue. But he's just not good at those novels. He needs to get back to his roots of linking past and present like he did in The Judas Strain.
Finally, he focused entirely too much on ending every single chapter with a cliff-hanger. He had so many insurmountable obstacles on every page that he lost focus on what the book was about. I found myself wondering what the point was. Why are they running? Who are these random hit men? Who cares? There were so many deus ex machina that I eventually got desensitized. When I got to the big, important climax I just couldn't give a rat's butt. It didn't matter. Yeah yeah, they're going to find a way to save the world, even though they shouldn't have been able to. So much of the novel was spent on each section's climax that when I finally got to the big one I couldn't help but think, "That's it?"
Bottom line, Rollins has written some outstanding novels. I'd recommend him to friends (in fact, I have multiple times), and I will definitely be reading Doomsday Key, but save your time and money on this novel. It's clearly his worst book yet.
BAC
Book Review: Story Carries It - Sort Of
Summary: 2 Stars
This is my first James Rollins book, chosen from the NYT bestseller list because I was looking for an entertaining adventure writer. The story wasn't believable, but interesting enough to drag me through the slapdash writing. I'm happy to hear he's written better things. However, after struggling through meaningless sentences, weird images that include teats spilling in shining streaks of joy, I'm not sure I'm up to another try. It seems to me that, if only out of respect for his readers, he ought to read the final draft before submitting it to the publishers.Book Review: readable but definitely not my favorite
Summary: 2 Stars
This James Rollins book just did not click with me. The story seems dragged out in every parallel story within the novel. I believe that he could have told it in much fewer pages.
In general, I like the way Rollins rolls science within his story, and yet managers to not explain everything within the scientific aspects. The epilogue was somewhat mystifying, though.