The Last Oracle CD by James Rollins Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Last Oracle CD
Book Review: excellent over the top thriller
Summary: 5 Stars
Sigma Force leader Commander Gray Pierce is walking across the DC Mall when a homeless man stops him before collapsing in his arms. The man dies almost immediately, but not before he gives Gray a strange coin with apparently the Greek letter Sigma etched in its center or perhaps just an odd shaped capital E.
Gray later learns the deceased was Neurology Professor Archibald Polk of MIT. From his command post underneath the Smithsonian Castle, Gray tries to learn more about the coin and what happened to the dead academic. Soon he and his unit begin unraveling a nasty plot of insane Russians planning to radioactively poison the world, genetically alter mammals and savant children with implants behind their ears and American espionage units plotting, plotting, and plotting. Only the third century Oracle at Delphi Greece seems to provide answers, cryptically over time of course.
This excellent over the top thriller hooks the reader from the moment the homeless professor accosts Gray who acts so real when he pulls out his wallet to give the man money to get rid of him and when he thinks AIDS upon seeing the blood. The story line starts fast, goes global, and accelerates taking the audience for an entertaining ride with twists and tilts as only James Rollins could do linking Ancient Greece, modern nuclear warfare, and genetics into a suburb action filled tale.
Harriet Klausner
Book Review: James Rollins delivers again.
Summary: 5 Stars
James Rollins continues to put out great books that are fun easy reads, but also make you think just a little about what could happen. With The Last Oracle, Rollins dives into nuclear waste, child experiments, and the desire for power, in a way that makes you want to keep turning the pages.
Sigma is back and once again, Gray Pierce is on the case, a case that literally falls right into his lap when a man is shot right in front of the Sigma head quarters. Thus begins a sting of events that will put the lives of "millions" in danger and bring you to Russia where Gray must once again save the world from a disaster, but this time he might have help from a lost friend.
Along the way we are introduced to young autistic children with incredible powers of the mind. Reading about what they can do makes you wonder about the abilities we all might have inside us. At the end of the book, Rollins goes through what is fictional and the truth at the heart of his story, please don't skip this section it is facinating.
The Last Oracle continues the Sigma adventure and leave the door open for many more in this fine series of books! Rollins has another winner!
Book Review: YET ANOTHER EPIC ROLLINS ROMP
Summary: 5 Stars
In a summer reading daze? Go out and buy James Rollins' latest saga. He just keeps getting better and better; as a writer, he seems to be positioning himself as the Ian Fleming of the new millennium. James Bond faced a host of 20th-century villains, and Rollins' Painter Crowe and Gray Pierce, along with the SIGMA crew, battle even more nefarious monsters out for world domination and conquest. But, unlike other creators of action genre novels, Rollins places the action much more historically, outlining carefully the past that has brought mankind even again to the brink. If the genius is in the details, this author certainly covers all the bases. And then some. The back story of his latest epic is nothing less than the Oracle at Delphi, the classic Greek seer who was sought out by all. How was this oracle able to foresee the future . . . and what happened to her descendants? Would it be possible to trace the bloodline, and then bioengineer the next great world leader?
Rollins' way with a story has grown: There is a denseness, an historical inevitability, a sociological and philosophic center that is marvelous to enjoy. This is not to say that there's any loss of action or suspense, but it's all on a more solid foundation in reality, a complete plausibility to all of the events, an ability to explain seeming coincidences, illustrate the plot, get it rolling and letting it logically build to its frightening conclusions.
But all of this is really a bit too heavy-handed lit major to appreciate Rollins true talent. The Last Oracle is simply a great read; you'll find the characters and ideas stay with you long after putting the book down. Especially wonderful is the character of Marta, a great galumphing chimpanzee who will bring a smile and a tear to everyone, and who has a lot to teach humanity about love.
Book Review: A thought-provoking historical thriller
Summary: 5 Stars
James Rollins has been writing fast-paced speculative fiction since his first novel, SUBTERRANEAN, was published in 1999. Nine other releases followed, including the novelization of the latest Indiana Jones movie, INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. With THE LAST ORACLE, Rollins may have penned the perfect beach book for the summer of 2008.
The novel opens in A.D. 398 with a flashback scene involving the Greek Oracle at Delphi, which legend states may have possessed the greatest power of any oracle in history. An international think tank of rogue scientists known as the Jasons becomes aware of and joins with a Russian group that has been trying since the start of the Cold War to produce their own "oracle" by experimenting with autistic children who have shown savant talents. They have been bioengineered over many years into a great force capable of producing a future prophet who could bring about world peace. The U.S. Defense organization known as SIGMA Force soon learns that this misguided goal will only come about after millions of lives are lost in a global cleansing, the magnitude of which the world has never seen.
Commander Gray Pierce and his team are thrust into this latest mission after Professor Archibald Polk of MIT is assassinated and dies in the arms of Pierce on the great mall in Washington, D.C. They quickly learn that Polk was a founder and member of the Jasons. What's worse is their discovery of the reasons behind Polk's alleged assassination --- to hide the secrets behind the Uranus and Saturn projects that involve the creation of a new oracle somewhere in Russia.
Simultaneous to this plot line is another story involving an American man who awakes in a subterranean Russian research facility with complete amnesia. He escapes with the assistance of three special children and a brilliant chimpanzee. They set off on their own adventure, which has them pursued by the Russian military and a group of savage wild animals as they head towards the radioactive underground mines located in the shadow of Chernobyl.
Pierce and company race against time not only to reveal the secrets behind the Uranus and Saturn projects but also to uncover clues left at the site of the original Greek Oracle that might foretell the events to follow. While translating the Sanskrit secrets found at the Oracle site, the SIGMA team is shaken by the discovery of the translated warning: "The world will burn...unless the many become one." What does this mean, and how do they stop the world from burning?
James Rollins has written a fast-paced, exciting page-turner that should please fans of adventure and speculative fiction everywhere. THE LAST ORACLE is well-researched and includes an Author's Note that defines many of the fiction and nonfiction elements of the book. Most eye-opening is the time he spends examining the many famous autistic savants throughout history (Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, Beethoven, etc.). The seed of the novel comes from a quote by Dr. Temple Grandin: "If by some magic, autism had been eradicated from the face of the earth, then men would still be socializing in front of a wood fire at the entrance to a cave." Very thought-provoking for a beach book!
--- Reviewed by Ray Palen
Book Review: Fast-Paced Science/Adventure Thriller
Summary: 5 Stars
The first James Rollins book I ever read was SUBTERRANEAN. It was a "lost world" adventure, about an underground world that spawned the marsupial creatures that inhabit Australia. The book was a blistering good read and I read it - held completely in thrall - in a single sitting. Not many 400-page novels can do that to me these days.
Rollins is the pseudonym of Jim Czajkowski, but he also writes fantasy novels under the pen name James Clemens. As Clemens, he's written and published seven high fantasy novels so far, with more in the works.
Writing under the Rollins name, he wrote five stand-alone thrillers that took readers inside the earth -- SUBTERRANEAN, into high mountains -- EXCAVATION, to the ocean's bottom -- DEEP FATHOM, through the deepest jungles -- AMAZONIA, and to the most remote and dangerous pole in the world -- ICE HUNT. He also wrote the novelization of the newest Indiana Jones movie, INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL.
In SANDSTORM, Rollins introduced a covert espionage team called Sigma Force that deals with archeological and scientific threats to the world. Made up of scientists and military personnel, Sigma Force goes anywhere and battles anything to ferret out puzzles and mysterious left throughout history. Imagine Dan Brown on steroids with Tom Clancy weaponry and you've got a good idea of what Rollins does in these books.
His interest in science and history are immediately noticeable in these books. They're carefully researched (albeit with an eye toward getting Rollins and his fans where they want to go in high adventure), and the pacing is absolutely frantic. Not only does Rollins present information, but he also leavens the exciting mixture with no-holds barred conjecture on his part. He doesn't just know how to relay information, he's quite handy at spinning theories in bite-sized chunks that don't get in the way of the action and don't blow the readers away. I read these books for the information bytes almost as much as for the action and adventure.
The fifth and newest novel in the series, THE LAST ORACLE begins with a bang. After a prologue containing a compelling peek back at the Oracle of Delphi, Commander Gray Pierce is approached by a man only seconds before he's shot and dies in Pierce's arms. The callous murder sends Sigma Force into motion to try to figure out what's going on. Especially since the dead man seemed to know about Sigma Force, one of the most closely guarded secrets in the United States espionage network.
The man turns out to be Dr. Polk, one of the men who helped create Sigma Force. As soon as that mystery is cleared up, the team realizes that Polk - not Pierce - was the intended target all along. Even more mysterious, Polk was a walking dead man, already dying from radiation poisoning.
Rollins plants his clues deftly, charging into the adventure vigorously. A coin clutched by Polk leads them to the museum, and to Dr. Polk's daughter, Elizabeth. I love the pacing of these books, but Rollins strips the characters down a lot, leaving them more blocked-out than filled in. Sometimes I miss not getting to know more about them, but then I realize with the headlong pacing of the books there's no real way to explore any kind of personal life.
In short order, Rollins has got his plot up and running, separating Sigma Force into teams and branching out with different avenues of action. Director Painter Crowe and his group try to figure out the mystery of the Russian girl that falls into their hands while Gray Pierce follows up on the trail of bread crumbs Dr. Polk has left behind. On another front, we pick up the story of yet another Sigma Force member who's fighting for his life to escape enemy clutches with a cadre of the psychically gifted children. And then there are the machinations of the bad guys.
Although I finished the book in a couple sittings, I admit I had to take a breath now and again to figure out who was doing what to whom from time to time. Rollins introduces all the elements of his adventure, from the Oracle of Delphi to the Gypsy culture to Punjab history, then kicks in a lot of psychic spying (remote viewing that the Russians spent so much time with) as well as archeological and scientific background.
Rollins tells his story adroitly, like a sketch artist. He lays out a line that gives the reader just enough to whet the imagination, then jumps to another set of characters and does the same. The pacing and plotting is pure potboiler, and these books could have easily been pulps or serials movies back in the 1940s. Rollins has acknowledge a love of Doc Savage novels when he was younger, and it truly shows.
THE LAST ORACLE also deals with a cliffhanger left over from THE JUDAS STRAIN, and a lot of fans are going to be reading with even more interest than the casual reader. Rollins puts a lot on the line for his regular readers, and they're going to respond.
The book is out just in time for summer. But I have to warn you, if you open this book and begin reading expecting to have a calm day of it, you're going to spend the day on the beach or in a hammock tensed up, dodging bullets and bad guys, and trying to figure out the final mystery of THE LAST ORACLE.