The Two Lost Mountains by Matthew Reilly

Publisher's Synopsis

AN INCREDIBLE VICTORY BUT AT A TERRIBLE PRICE...

Against all the odds, Jack West Jr found the Three Secret Cities but at a heartbreaking cost.

His beloved daughter Lily, it appeared, was slaughtered by Sphinx in a cruel ancient ritual.

TO THE MOUNTAINS AND THE FALL!

With his rivals far ahead of him, Jack must now get to one of the five iron mountains - two of which have never been found - and perform a mysterious feat known only as 'The Fall'.

Although what is this object on the moon that is connected to it?

A NEW PLAYER ARRIVES

Amid all this, Jack will discover that a new player has entered the race, a general so feared by the four legendary kingdoms they had him locked away in their deepest dungeon.

Only now this general has escaped and he has a horrifying plan of his own...

My Review of The Two Lost Mountains by Matthew Reilly

The sixth book in the Jack West jr series picks up where book 5, The Three Secret Cities left off and the Omega Event, i.e. the total annihilation of the entire universe, is only a matter of days away. The only way it can be avoided is by finding two lost mountains of iron and solving the most diabolical of labyrinths. And in Jack West’s case, also avoiding a group of the most bloodthirsty killers who all have him on their radar.

As the name of this volume of the Jack West series implies, Jack and his team need to find some mountains that are important to their quest. In particular, they need to find two mountains that are not yet known as being important. These are the lost mountains that hold the key to the world’s continued existence.

Once again what is already a very difficult task is made infinitely harder by the bad guys, some of whom have been dogging him since book 3, The Five Greatest Warriors. Whenever there’s a reward of untold power and huge riches the dregs of humanity make an appearance and in this case, those dregs are also some of the most evil villains ever to walk the face of the earth.

Chief amongst them is a man known as Sphinx and he has managed to position himself as the new ruler of the earth. He has now become Jack’s main rival and, annoyingly, is constantly ahead in the race for the labyrinth and is always holding the aces. Jack has to continually use his death-defying tricks to get himself, Lily, Alby and the rest of his intrepid crew out of life or death situations.

As with the entire series so far, the action is furiously fast-paced, the deadline is extremely tight and there are new dangers imaginatively introduced by Matthew Reilly to keep the cliffhanger-infested narrative fresh and exciting. 

This series is your typical good vs evil battle and, as its progressed, the guys representing evil have become more odious and ruthless. By contrast, we have been given greater insights into the motivation behind Jack’s actions, not to mention his general outlook at life, particularly through the course of this book.

There’s a side to Jack that we’ve come to be aware of and that’s his utter loyalty towards his closest friends. He explains why when asked by one of them why he cares so much about his companions: 

Jack smiled. ‘There’s an old saying, “You can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family.” You can choose your family. Because “family” are those people who lift you up, who help you reach the heights you can’t reach by yourself. Why should that group be arbitrarily limited to blood relatives? Life is short, Easton, so it’s best spent with those you love.’

So, with five very important iron mountains to locate and only three of them appearing on the maps of ancient documents, there are two still to identify. But everyone’s looking for the mountains where they’ll be able to perform a task that will give them a key to enter and, perhaps, complete the great labyrinth. 

The race is on but, as ever, Jack always seems to be at the back of the pack and the odds are stacked heavily against him.

This action series takes bits of myth and legend and bends it to its will to create an alternate reality. And then, when combined with some of the most notable figures in history and rare and ancient documents provides us with further “evidence” that this whole Omega Event (the end of Everything!) is actually quite possible. But, naah, park your overdeveloped sense of reality, sit back and enjoy the ride because, once again, Matthew Reilly has given us yet another totally entertaining thrill ride that never takes its foot off the accelerator pedal.

As Jack would say, though, ‘I didn’t come this far just to come this far.’ I will be continuing on to the seventh and final book in the series The One Impossible Labyrinth. (I’m already guessing that, because Jack West’s involved, it won’t prove to be “impossible”).