The Four Legendary Kingdoms by Matthew Reilly Series: Jack West Jr #4
Published by Simon and Schuster on May 2nd 2017
Genres: Action & Adventure, Thrillers
Pages: 448
Format: Hardcover
Goodreads
The thrilling new novel featuring Jack West, Jr. from the New York Times and #1 international bestselling author! A RUTHLESS KIDNAPPING Jack West, Jr. and his family are living happily on their remote farm when Jack is brutally kidnapped and he awakes in an underground cell to find a masked attacker with a knife charging at him. THE GREAT GAMES Jack, it seems, has been chosen—along with a dozen other elite soldiers—to compete in a series of deadly challenges designed to fulfill an ancient ritual. With the fate of the Earth at stake, he will have to traverse diabolical mazes, fight cruel assassins, and face unimaginable horrors that will test him like he has never been tested before. TO HELL AND BACK In the process, he will discover the mysterious and powerful group of individuals behind it all: the four legendary kingdoms. He might also discover that he is not the only hero in this place...
Lynn’s Review:
I’ve been in a book funk lately. Nothing I’ve read has been horrible; nothing has been shout from the rooftops exciting. I was musing this over recently: is there something off with me? But then I figured it out. It’s not me. It’s the books. I read two books in the past 5 days and both were fantastic. Fan. Tas. Tic. I’m not going to review Ruby Circle. Julie and I rave about Bloodlines and Vampire Academy enough here at Chapter Break. Instead, I’m going to gush about Four Legendary Kingdoms, the latest in the Jack West Jr series.
Everything about 4LK really fused together amazingly well for me. The characters – good guys, bad guys, and special guest stars from Mr. Reilly’s other series. The plot of saving the world by facing the same challenges as ancient warriors. The action, fight scenes, and car chases are incredibly vivid. It’s been almost 10 years since the last Jack West adventure for Jack and his family, (and almost as long for readers!) when Jack receives a call from his old boss asking for help. But this is all a ruse to kidnap Jack for a crazy set of challenges. What really strikes me here is that Jack ends up fighting for his life over the course of a few days in jeans, a Simpson’s t-shirt, and NO SHOES. Most of the warriors he’s facing have been training their entire lives for these challenges. And Jack is dumped into the challenges with no information whatsoever. Despite all this, Jack triumphs over the challenges and his fellow warriors.
The aspect that I enjoy most about Mr. Reilly’s writing, and the Jack West books in particular, is the fast-passed action. The first scene throws us into Jack’s most recent predicament, waking up, no idea where he is, with a dude in a giant bull head coming at him. The action doesn’t really slow down from there. Every scene brings Jack into more danger and I couldn’t wait to read how he would survive, save his friends, and the world while he’s at it. Jack is not just a physical warrior, he’s also an intelligent one. He uses his wits to win his challenges, especially the very last challenge. This puts him a notch above all of the other warriors.
The only negative to 4Lk is that it took 7 years to be published. And I read it in 3 days. Though, based on the ending of the book, and the series numbers counting down, I feel confident in knowing there will be at least three more books in this series. Just hopefully not 7 years apart!
