The Six Sacred Stones [Hardcover]

MATTHEW REILLY (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: MACMILLAN (January 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0641912595
• ISBN-13: 978-1405040976
• ASIN: 1405040971
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,682,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Matthew Reilly is the international bestselling author of eight novels: The 6 Sacred Stones, 7 Deadly Wonders, Ice Station, Temple, Contest, Area 7, Scarecrow, and the children's book Hover Car Racer, and one novella, Hell Island. His books are published in more than eighteen languages in twenty countries, and he has sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable but in a good way, January 23, 2008

By 

Lost In Kansas "James Corbett" (Arkansas City KS) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Six Sacred Stones: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is for those who have not read Matthew Reilly. This is your typical sifi-occult-dungeon and dragons-ancient history-techno-thriller. And I am not joking about that. Remember the old movie SPEED? It had three action scenes in it, enough for three movies. Well this is like that but more and bigger. Your jaw drops with each action scene. You wonder how he can top that one and quess what? He does. Reilly is Australian and that plays an important part in his writings. For you see, he has found the new enemy, the new bad guy, the new villian-us the US. As a matter of fact the Arabs are one of the good guys. YOu need to read 7 Deadly Wonders before you read this one because Reilly refers back to it often. I have read all of his books and they are all except for one deal with old world lengends. It is like sitting through a lecture by Indiana Jones. Clive Clusser use to be the leader in this type of lituratue, but he has grown old and soft. Reilly is the new leader is non stop action. I know it is over the top but boy is it fun to read. I don't think we will see a Reilly novel made into a movie anytime soon. The cost of the action scenes would be extremely high and to costly for studios. Give this a try, you won't be sorry.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another winner from the KING of ALL Action novelists, January 21, 2008

By 

Jeff Edwards "RadioJeff" (Twin Falls, Idaho) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Six Sacred Stones: A Novel (Hardcover)

I am a little puzzled at why some people who have read Reilly's previous novels are having a problem with this one (and 7 Deadly Wonders for that matter). What were they expecting? I don't want this to sound the wrong way, but if you've read one Matthew Reilly novel, you've read them all. Certainly they are ALL different, but the action is on a scale that is head and shoulders above ALL authors I am currently familiar with. The storylines are all different, too--but the action sequences on one book are no more outlandish and unbelievable than they are in ANY other book by him.

I LOVED 7 Deadly Wonders. Think of it as the DaVinci Code on a MOUNTAIN of steroids going Warp 9.9. Great story and most importantly: FUN. One thing I really love about Reilly's novels is that he doesn't take himself, or his stories too serious that he sacrifices in order to make everything 100% believable. If you want that, go read a non-fiction book or something by Clancy. If you want absolute thrills that takes action/adventure storytelling to a whole new level? Read Reilly.

The 6 Sacred Stones is a direct sequel to 7 Deadly Wonders. At the end of that book, through the tireless efforts of Jack West and his rag-tag group of heroes, they did something extraordinary that secured Austrailia as the dominant country on the planet for the next 1,000 years. But what Jack and all the others did not know, is that there was a counter to the Tartarus Rotation which eliminates that herculean effort and in effect helps to usher in the end of the world. It's quite a complicated storyline, much more so than anything else Reilly has produced before, and while it's pure fantasy, who cares as long as we have a great time along the way?

6 Sacred Stones takes us literally all over the globe, from China to South America to Dubai and Africa and many points in between including Stonehenge. Creative is one word I could use to describe this book, but I'll use Exhausting instead because that's how it leaves you once you finish. Oh--and talk about a cliff-hanger...! It seems many people are more than a little upset that as the story ends we leave Jack West--who escapes death more than once in this one--literally falling into what could very well be a bottomless pitt without any possible means of survival or rescue. What I personally believe and through experience with previous Reilly novels has taught me is that NOTHING is set in stone necessarily. As I read Ice Station I cannot recall how many times a character was painted seemingly into a corner that was impossible to get out of--and yet that is exactly what happened. Just reading about the prisoner train rescue scene in 6 Sacred Stones ought to give most an idea of just how Reilly manages to snatch characters quite literally right out of the jaws of death...so, do we write off Jack West Jr? Absolutely NOT. He'll pull through...I don't know HOW he'll do it, but mark my words, in the 3rd and final volume of this trilogy, he'll do it.

In short, if you are a fan of Reilly's novels, I honestly cannot see why you wouldn't like this one as well. Be forewarned: the ending is amazingly abrupt and finding out what happens will test our patience in a BIG way...but if you liked 7 Deadly Wonders, you really ought to get a major kick out of additional exploits with Jack West and Co.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great adventure, January 17, 2008

By 

Scotty (New Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Six Sacred Stones: A Novel (Hardcover)

I just finished reading this book not ten minutes ago, and wanted to give my opinion of it. I enjoyed it immensely. I know there are a lot of critics of Matthew Reilly's writing style, and I've rendered my opinion on that matter in another review for his book The Seven Deadly Wonders, so I won't repeat myself here. I will say that this book was so much fun and very exciting from start to finish, and I did enjoy the cliffhanger ending, which makes me all the more excited to see how it turns out. I love a good adventure story, and as I tell everyone who inquires, Matthew Reilly is the best pure action writer out there. I have all of his books at home and have thoroughly enjoyed reading his style of escapist storytelling. I enjoy Mr. Reilly's books for what they are: pure adrenaline. And please keep it coming.