The Last Odyssey (Sigma Force Novels #15) by James Rollins
Reviewed by: Sylvia Shults, Circulation Specialist
Genre: Action/adventure, Military Fiction
Suggested Age: Adult
What’s the book about?: Archaeologists have discovered the city of Troy. If that is real, and not just myth, maybe the voyages of Odysseus, as described by Homer, are also historically accurate. Explorers discover a medieval ship frozen in a glacier. The ship contains artifacts that are even older, from the Greek age. Those artifacts promise to lead to a weapon of unimaginable destruction. Sigma Force has to beat the bad guys to the weapon, and that means finding Tartarus: the actual entrance to Hell.
My Review: Like most of the FDL staff, I’ve been working from home during the coronavirus shutdown. Part of that means processing books (yay!!!). I don’t usually read James Rollins — I have done in the past, but I tend to go more for domestic thrillers rather than action novels. Plus, I really don’t like reading large-print books, as I find there’s not enough material on a page to keep the thread of the story going. But in the box of books that I had to process, I found Rollins’ latest, The Last Odyssey. I’d read most of my library-book stash at this point in the shutdown, so I gave this a go.
I’m glad I did! It’s one of a series (again, not my fave), but I had very little difficulty picking up the nuances between the different characters, even though there were references to previous books. There was a good amount of action, and I just skipped over the techy parts (where Rollins got all drooly over weapons and submarines and speedboats). What really drew me in, and what got me interested in the book in the first place, was that the book was an imagination of the travels of Odysseus. I was a Classics major in college, so I happily dorked out to the mythology references.
I was satisfied with the ending, too. The bad guys all separately got what was coming to them. There was even a little bit of redemption, of sorts, for the really reprehensible female bad guy (and I won’t go into it any farther than that, but it was awesome).
All in all, if you like James Rollins in the first place, this is a no-brainer — you should definitely read it. But, even if action thrillers aren’t necessarily your jam, give it a try. There’s history, action, and excellently-drawn characters. I found it really enjoyable.
Three Words That Describe This Book: Enthralling, Exciting, Mesmerizing
Give This a Try if You Like… Dan Brown, Clive Cussler, or W.E.B. Griffin
Rating: 4/5
