I have a crush on Jack West Jr.
I honestly do. I’m torn between wanting him for a lover and wanting him for a father. But… not both. That’s just gross.
Jack, or the Huntsman, is the protagonist of Matthew Reilly’s series of books, starting with Seven Ancient Wonders, continuing with The Six Sacred Stones and concluding (at least, for now) in The Five Greatest Warriors. Apart from being Australian (and everyone knows that Aussie blokes are HOT (my opinion, take it or leave it); eg Hugh Jackman, Heath Ledger, Eric Bana etc), Mr Reilly gives us this description of him in 6SS: “Of medium height, with blue eyes and tousled dark hair, he was handsome in a rugged kind of way. Once upon a time, he had been ranked the fourth-best special forces soldier in the world, a lone Australian on a list dominated by Americans.”
*BAM* Instant crush.
But, can you blame me? Blue eyes, “tousled” dark hair, awesome soldier (he can take care of you, an obvious benefit), Australian. Plus, he’s got a kick-ass titanium arm (incident with a volcano), a pet peregrine falcon named Horus and a love of history.
Anyway, I just finished reading the latest instalment of Jack West Jr’s adventures in The Five Greatest Warriors. And I loved it.
*Spoiler Alert – Read on and discover spoilers.*
The book starts with the end of The Six Sacred Stones; Jack falling into an abyss with a suicidal Japanese soldier bent on revenge. It doesn’t even take him 20 pages to escape from his predicament. That’s what I like about Matthew Reilly; it’s *BAM* straight into the action. I personally didn’t like The Six Sacred Stones as much as I liked Seven Ancient Wonders; I found it kinda slow. But The Five Greatest Warriors takes it all back, promising a non-stop roller coaster and delivering on every front. After all, it took me about 14 hours to read it, an unprecedented time considering how many interruptions I faced during those 14 hours. And I don’t know how many times I actually yelled out “NO!” or smiled and muttered “awwww…” It actually got me laughing more than a couple of times and the Scottish twins, Julius and Lachlan Adamson, had me grinning inanely for pretty much every one of their scenes. I can’t begin to explain how excited I got when Pooh Bear finally showed his brother up (his brother deserved it too, he was an arse) or how betrayed I felt when several characters who I had begun to like turned out to be enemies. But one event got absolutely no reaction from me.
Let me just explain now; no character is safe in a Matthew Reilly book.
This was proved to me in his book Scarecrow when my favourite character, Fox, was executed by guillotine. It was again pointed out during Seven Ancient Wonders when Big Ears, another one of my favourite characters, was mercilessly shot and killed. And again when The Six Sacred Stones ended with Jack West Jr tumbling into an abyss. No character is safe. So, when Wizard is killed, forgive me for saying that I wasn’t that shocked. A friend of mine was outraged, coming up to me, ranting and raving, a couple of weeks ago, declaring that Matthew Reilly can’t kill him off. (She knew I hadn’t read the book so she didn’t reveal who had died, just that she was very upset about it.) Me? I just metaphorically shrugged it off, of course feeling sad for the characters but being secretly relieved that Jack’s love interest wasn’t killed. (Alright, she’s described looking a little bit like me. A girl can dream.)
*End of Spoilers – I told you they were there.*
Anyway, I actually did love reading The Five Greatest Warriors. In my opinion, it was a lot better than The Six Sacred Stones, although it can’t compare to Seven Ancient Wonders. It’s not a piece of literary genius, but it is a rip-roaring adventure that takes you from England to China and everywhere in between. And Jack & Lily’s relationship had me awwwww-ing on a whole new level. It makes me really want Jack West Jr as a father.
~ Bats ♥
