12+: Jake Rollins and the Howling Sphinx - James Rollins

Release Date: 07/07/11

BOOK BLURB:

An ancient and priceless ruby - the Eye of Ra - has been found beneath the Egyptian sands in the Valley of the Kings. Legend has it the jewel holds immense power, but it has fallen into the wrong hands - which means trouble for Jake and Kady Ransom, and a new action-packed adventure as the pair are catapulted into an ancient land of shifting sands, dark magic and dangerous enemies ...Can Jake and Kady survive and outwit the Skull King himself?


REVIEW:

To be honest when I read the first book I saw potential and had a blast so when the second landed I underwent a reread in order to make sure that I got the most from the release. As with the original it was a lot of fun, the action quite fast when it got going and the characters really stepped from the pages. Add to this a whole degree of mystery that underlie this mysterious world which when backed with a whole host of rich history to dip into really made this a real joy to read.

Hopefully each of the characters will continue to grow with my only real gripe being the sadly lacking expansion of Kady who I felt should have come more into her own in this outing. With luck that will be rectified in future offerings but as usual, the prose really kept it moving alongside some great dialogue. Great stuff.

12+: Jake Ransom and the Skull Kings Shadow - James Rollins

Release Date: 01/07/10

BOOK BLURB:

Three years ago, a mysterious package arrived for Jake and Kady Ransom. Inside were two halves of a Mayan gold coin, their mother's sketchbook and their father's notebook. But their architect parents failed to return from an expedition to the site of a long-lost Mayan civilization. Now Jake and Kady are plunged into a terrifying adventure. Someone is very interested in what's happened to their parents. And in Jake and Kady themselves. So begins a journey into a world of dangers both ancient and modern. Can Jake and Kady survive long enough to solve the mystery?


REVIEW:

Having read James’ books for a number of years, I was interested to see what would occur with his first children’s book. As you’d expect from a thriller writer, he has a great sense of pace and you know that he really understood his male lead very well (as it turned out to be a younger version of James himself.) It also has some interesting characters, a deliciously evil villain and to top it all off, some great idea’s with dialogue as this adventure takes you to James’ version of the Lost World. Great fun, great adventure and with more to follow, the reader can be sure of a few more scrapes to enjoy as the darkness closes in.