36. The Last Odyssey (Sigma Force # 15) James Rollins
So this is the second of James Rollins’s Sigma Force thrillers I’ve read in 2020, While I was waiting for The Last Odyssey to become available from my library, I read The Bone Labyrinth, which had been on my TBR shelves for a long time. I’m actually glad I read The Bone Labyrinth recently because a character from that book makes a repeat appearance in The Last Odyssey. So everything that she was Involved in was still fresh in my memory!
The Last Odyssey First Stop Greenland
Anyway in The Last Odyssey I was taken first to Greenland. In Greenland in an unground caverns below a glacier where an ancient ship is discovered by a group of scientists.
….. The ship’s hold contains a collection of even older artifacts—tools of war—dating back to the Bronze Age. Inside the captain’s cabin is a magnificent treasure that is as priceless as it is miraculous: a clockwork gold map imbedded with an intricate silver astrolabe. The mechanism was crafted by a group of Muslim inventors—the Banū Mūsā brothers—considered by many to be the Da Vincis of the Arab world—brilliant scientists who inspired Leonardo’s own work.
Once activated, the moving map traces the path of Odysseus’s famous ship as it sailed away from Troy. But the route detours as the map opens to reveal a fiery river leading to a hidden realm underneath the Mediterranean Sea. It is the subterranean world of Tartarus, the Greek name for Hell. Read More at Goodreads
A US senators daughter is sent to evaluate the find. However, someone else wants the artifact and soon the scientists are attacked and the artifact stolen. The attackers also kidnap the Senator’s daughter.
The Sigma Force members are sent to rescue the senators daughter and to beat the thieves to the gates of Tartarus! Where ever that may be!
Next Stops Italy , Turkey, the Mediterranean and Morocco
Soon I was taken to the Pope’s summer residence outside of Rome, and an underground city in Turkey. Finally, I was traveling along with the Sigma Force members across the Mediterranean heading for the Gates of Hell
Final Thoughts
Once again James Rollins creates a pulse-pounding adventure that blends some historical reality with Rollins’s own created reality. And at the story’s end he explains to the read what’s true (which is sometimes several things of which you shake your head and say “ that’s true?) and what’s fiction, over several pages
The characters in Rollins’ books are always well-developed and engaging. Plus there’s always a lot of mayhem created. Finally, when all is said and done and I can relax and catch my breath, I always find that I’ve learned something new!
While The Last Odyssey can be read as a stand-alone book, I would suggest reading The Bone Labyrinth first. So check both out!!
Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of James Rollins
Once gain this post was longer than I anticipated. So in the next post, we’ll see where The Marsh King’s Daughter took me.