I finally got the final novel in the adventures of Jack West Jr., The One Impossible Labyrinth. It was supposed to be released early in 2022 but seemed to have been delayed, and then I had to get, thankfully through Amazon, a U.K. trade paperback edition. I have no idea if there was any U.S. edition published of this novel (or the prior one for that matter). The first one in the series came out in 2005, but think I picked it up sometime later.
This is an interesting techno-thriller series by Australian author Matthew Reilly. His works are marked by two elements: dialing up the action to level 11 at times, and having the hero and associates navigate an area (or several areas) that is similar to a platform computer game. His Jack West Jr. series also adds in some interesting crypto-history and puzzles as well.
Sadly, as I noted in my review of the previous book, due to some changes in the publishing industry, it seems harder to get some of the authors I like from overseas. I found that strange for an author billed as an “international bestseller,” but this has affected others as well. I guess we’re lucky that Amazon does carry editions from overseas, but to me this is crazy.
So, a rundown so far: Jack is a former Australian soldier now teamed up with a diverse group trying to stop ancient threats to the world. He has a cybernetic hand, replacing the one he lost saving the life of a young girl, Lily, who is vital to their missions. Lily is now his adopted daughter.
The hand was built by Jack’s mentor, Professor Maximilian Epper, “Wizard.” Almost everyone on his team has a call sign. So far, his team includes his wife, Zoe; his pilot,” Sky Monster“; Lily and now her boyfriend, Alby; “Stretch“; and “Pooh Bear”, along with others who join them, including a Neanderthal. In this series, people do die, including some close to Jack.
The series is marked by a countdown in the titles, which started with seven and is ending with one. Reilly has been clear that there won’t be any more in this series. Sorry, nerds, no zeroth title.
The series started with Seven Deadly Wonders, where several competing international groups are working to put a capstone on the Great Pyramid to stop a cosmic disaster. Naturally, Jack’s group was the one that succeeded.
The next two novels, The Six Sacred Stones and The Five Greatest Warriors, tie together as Jack and his friends race against others to find six stones and place them into a worldwide machine to again stop another cosmic disaster, and reveal important secrets. Jack also goes up against his father and half-brother, both of whom are real pieces of work. In the end, Jack is proclaimed the “fifth greatest warrior.” Read the book to find out who the other four were. I would recommend reading the two together.
In the rest of the novels, we have a new and final storyline to save the world again. Actually the whole galaxy. I would recommend reading the final four as a group, certainly the last two together.
In The Four Legendary Kingdoms, Jack is kidnapped to fight in the Hydra Games on behalf of one of the four “kingdoms” that secretly rule the world: the Land, Sea, Sky, and Underworld kingdoms. This is done to stop a rogue galaxy sent by “God” from destroying the world (and our galaxy). The winning king will be the supreme ruler and needs to deal with two trials to save the world and stop the final Omega Event. But in that novel, things don’t go well. Jack wins, stopping the rogue galaxy, but his king doesn’t complete the ceremony, and this hidden world of kingdoms is thrown in disarray as the Neanderthals of the Underworld revolt, and many royals including two kings are killed, and the Lord Hades (ruler of the Underworld kingdom) throws in with Jack and his friends. But the two challenges must still be done: The Trial of the Cities and the Trial of the Mountains. And once completed, things move to a secret labyrinth. Only this will stop the Omega Event.
The Three Secret Cities deals with this first challenge, set in three lost cities: Thule, Ra (El Dorado), and Atlantis. And also leads to a ceremony at a secret altar. Jack and his friends must complete the challenges, as the other forces don’t know how to do it properly and they must be solved. Meanwhile, they must also deal with the secret rulers and their associates trying to stop and either kill or punish them, as well as the betrayal and in-fighting among these secret rulers. A new player enters the game, Sphinx, which results in the death of Lily. Sphinx betrays and kills his brother, who was the winning king of the Hydra Games, and plans on winning the challenge, becoming the ruler of the world. Unless Jack and friends can stop him. And what he plans as a future ruler is not great.
The Two Lost Mountains picks up from there. There are five “iron mountains,” two of which are lost, hence the title. But first, we find out the cliffhanger from the prior novel, as it was revealed at the end that Lily did not die. We find out who did and where Lily is. Sphinx has upped the game, using “Siren Bells” that put people into a coma that may not be reversible. And someone has been released from the secret prison of Erebus who has a very different agenda from Sphinx or Jack: He wants to end the world, not rule it.
To save the world, someone must go through a trial at one of these iron mountains, thus obtaining a “burning key” to enter the Supreme Labyrinth. There are now several groups going after this, in addition to Sphinx. And these groups are destroying the mountains once they get their keys to prevent anyone else from using them. Can Jack and his team find one of these lost iron mountains and obtain a key, thus allowing them to enter the labyrinth and, hopefully, stop others and save the world?
And the novel ends with Jack with Zoe and Lily at the Supreme Labyrinth, which sets things up for what happens in this book. But they are also the last group to enter the labyrinth.
Thus The One Impossible Labyrinth picks up immediately from there. There are five groups who have entered the Labyrinth at different times (up to 24 hours earlier) and not all have the same goals. So Jack and his friends must not just survive the Labyrinth and its dangers, but deal with the other groups as well.
And while this is going on, his other friends are outside the Labyrinth dealing with several other missions. One group is aimed at finding the hidden royals to be able to expose them. Another is trying to find a special bell that will counteract the Siren Bells that have put millions into slumber before some die of this. And some were left outside the Labyrinth and need rescuing from the bad guys.
So, I don’t think I’m giving anything away by saying that Jack will succeed. You should have expected that. But how he succeeds is the thrill. What will happen to him and his friends both inside and outside the Labyrinth? Will all survive? Will the bad guys get what they deserve? Yes, but what will it be?
And will we finally understand what these trials are all about and for? Who builds them all? And what happens after it’s all done? That’s something I get annoyed at with some works. J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings does tells us what happens after the One Ring is destroyed. Same here, though not to that detail. Hopefully, that will suffice.
I’ve enjoyed this series a lot and recommend it to others for some action-packed storytelling with interesting use of legends and history. You are probably not going to find this in U.S. bookstores, the easiest is to check Amazon.
Reilly also has several stand-alone novels, but I’ve never read any of them. While we will not see any more Jack West Jr. stories, I do hope we will see more of his other action hero, Scarecrow.
