The Last Oracle: A Dumb yet Fun Race to Save the World

The Last Oracle by James Rollins

I don’t think its’s a secret I love James Rollins. He is a master of Indiana Jones-ish high action fun adventure stories. And even though many of his books feature a story line of “Let’s get to this lost city or artifact before the bad guys do,” the stories are always fun. And that is James’ strength; fun. So after a drought of his books lately, I found one at a thrift shop called The Last Oracle.

So what is it about? The story begins with Gray Pierce, who one day is approached by a homeless man and is give a coin with a Greek symbol on it. Right after that moment, the man is shot down by a sniper. Gray is part of an odd ball government sect Sigma Force, which looks into the murder to find that he was a scientist researching a group of people with ancient Greek gypsy blood in India and some powerful men are after his work. So Gray sets out with a team to find his work and ultimately a sacred temple. At the same time a diabolical Russian group are collecting Chernobyl radiation victims who also have this gypsy blood. These children are being experimented on to have powers. Lastly, a man wakes up with no memory and is tasked with the responsibility of escorted two of these children experiments with bad men on their tail. And of course, all these stories tie together into one large conspiracy.

So the good? The action department this story is fantastic. Something is always happening and it keeps the fun rolling to the very last page.

The bad? The book is a Sigma Force novel and it found it failed to mention that anywhere on the book. And Sigma Force novels is James Rollins’ globetrotting adventure mixed with silly level espionage plot lines. And when I say silly, I’m not saying spy novels are silly, I love good ones. I’m saying that there is some silly mastermind trying to end the world in a stupid way while he pets his white cat. The espionage aspects of this book sent it into a whirlwind of stupid directions similar to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skill. I have read another Sigma Force novel and it followed the same trend as well. So yeah, the story ended up being silly. The characters are very vanilla as well.

Overall, it’s a dumb read at the end of the day but it is so much fun. This book is the equivalent of a big dumb fun blockbuster. You read it for the ride. But if you’re looking for more grounded serious story, look elsewhere. This is for people who just want something dumb and fun.

3 smoothie out of four.

Overall Rating: A Dumb yet Fun Race to Save the World