The Six Sacred Stones (book review)
Swift but not too deep
By ELIZABETH WILLSE
The 6 Sacred Stones
Matthew Reilly
Simon & Schuster, 421 pp., $25
REVIEWED BY ELIZABETH WILLSE
There are two things you should know about “The 6 Sacred Stones.” One, it is a sequel, featuring the same characters who teamed up to unlock the “Seven Deadly Wonders” in Matthew Reilly’s 2005 novel of that name. And the action in “Stones” cuts off abruptly – to be continued in a novel Reilly is still writing.
Read as a stand-alone, this fast-paced, international adventure will keep you turning pages and may send you searching for Reilly’s other novels.
Fans of Indiana Jones or even “The Da Vinci Code” should take note of this adventure, which zips across continents and ties together the mythology of several ancient cultures.
Jack West must gather his team from the prequel: a professor of antiquity, twin Irish hackers, a pilot from New Zealand and two Arab brothers. Reilly has blended mythologies to create a coordinated system of crystals that must be found, purified and set in their proper locations throughout the world to avert Armageddon. Diagrams illustrate connections between the ancient, powerful places where crystals must be placed and the recurring symbol depicting the Earth as the Great Machine designed to ward off solar apocalypse.
Racing against the ritual’s deadlines, the team flies from China to Scotland to Africa, trying to stay ahead of suspicious characters who want to steal the crystals and harness their promised powers.
That would seem to be the set-up for a suspenseful novel, but, oddly enough, there is very little suspense throughout the first two-thirds of the book. When Jack and his team begin, they have so many geniuses and so much technology assembled that it’s hard to believe they’re in real danger. Then again, perhaps it’s best not to probe too deeply when a man with a titanium arm leads his cohorts on a quest that ties together ancient Egyptian, Aboriginal, Druidic, Chinese and African traditions, positing that a connection between quartz crystals carefully positioned on the seven continents will prevent Armageddon. Best to just sit back and enjoy the ride.
There are a few confusing elements, and moments where the suspension of disbelief is strained almost to the breaking point. Some of these might be resolved by reading Reilly’s earlier work. How did Jack West get a titanium arm? How is it that Lily is one of two people on earth who can instantly read and translate the ancient Egyptian language of Thoth? However, these points are not so much drawbacks to “The 6 Sacred Stones” as they are invitations to read the prequel, and to wait eagerly for the next installment.
