Dr. Elena Cargill is part of a team of researchers in Greenland sent to explore a mysterious and unexpected find: a medieval wooden ship buried within the ice, indicating that the Arabs and not the Vikings or Christopher Columbus were first in that area. The ship holds other mysteries as well, horrible secrets that hint that Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, might be more fact than fiction. Sigma Force is called in to help and it’s now a race against time to discover the mythological Tartarus, before other nefarious groups can get their hands on the information. Can Sigma Force stop the end of days from occurring?
THE LAST ODYSSEY is the 15th book in the Sigma Force series but can easily be read as a standalone story. James Rollins provides enough back history on the characters for new readers to appreciate the relationships and challenges that the various members of Sigma Force face in THE LAST ODYSSEY. However, I suspect that one taste of the adventures of the Sigma Force series will lead readers to dive into the earlier books.
I love seeing Commander Grayson “Gray” Pierce and his wife, Seichan, adapting to their roles as parents. We don’t get to spend a lot of time with their child, Jack, before they are pulled back into service to help but the glimpses we see offer us a different side of them as characters. James Rollins also hints throughout the storyline at the conflict between their roles prior to parenthood and how that looks now that they have a child depending on them coming home safely.
Any James Rollins book is always a thrill ride, but he ramps it up a notch with THE LAST ODYSSEY. I love the tie-in to the literary tale of Homer’s The Odyssey; it’s fascinating to see how “old” technology can still be so deadly. James Rollins delivers one heck of a story, both fast-paced and intellectually stimulating. THE LAST ODYSSEY is highly recommended!
For eons, the city of Troy—whose legendary fall was detailed in Homer’s Iliad—was believed to be myth, until archaeologists in the nineteenth century uncovered its ancient walls buried beneath the sands. If Troy was real, how much of Homer’s twin tales of gods and monsters, curses and miracles—The Iliad and The Odyssey—could also be true and awaiting discovery?
In the frozen tundra of Greenland, a group of modern-day climatologists and archaeologists stumble on a shocking find: a medieval ship buried a half mile below the ice. The ship’s hold contains a collection of even older artifacts—tools of war—dating back to the Bronze Age. Inside the captain’s cabin is a magnificent treasure that is as priceless as it is miraculous: a clockwork gold atlas encircled by an intricate silver astrolabe. The mechanism is signed with the name of its creator, Ismail al-Jazari, a famous Muslim inventor considered to be the Da Vinci of the Arab world—a brilliant scientist who inspired Leonardo’s own work.
Once activated, the moving globe traces the path of Odysseus’ famous ship as it sailed away from Troy. But the route detours as the map opens to reveal an underground river leading to a hidden realm underneath the Mediterranean Sea. The map indicates that this subterranean world is called Tartarus, the Greek name for Hell. In mythology, Tartarus was where the wicked were punished and the monstrous Titans of old, imprisoned.
When word of Tartarus spreads—and of the cache of miraculous weapons said to be hidden there—tensions explode in this volatile region where Turks battle Kurds, terrorists wage war, and civilians suffer untold horrors. The phantasmagoric horrors found in Homer’s tales are all too real—and could be unleashed upon the world. Whoever possesses them can use their awesome power to control the future of humanity.
Now, Sigma Force must go where humans fear to tread. To prevent a tyrant from igniting a global war, they must cross the very gates of Hell.
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