The Six Sacred Stones
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| The Six Sacred Stones | |
 1st edition cover |
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| Author | Matthew Reilly |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Series | Jack West Jr. |
| Genre(s) | Thriller novel |
| Publisher | Pan MacMillan |
| Publication date |  Official : 23 October 2007  8 January 2008 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 506 |
| ISBN | 978-0743270540 |
| Preceded by | Seven Ancient Wonders |
| Followed by | Unknown title. Continuation of and second half of Six Sacred Stones. To be released in 2009 |
The Six Sacred Stones is a recently released novel by acclaimed Australian thriller novelist Matthew Reilly. It is a sequel to Seven Ancient Wonders. The novel was released on 23 October 2007 in most bookstores in Australia (though some stores released it later later (1 November)) and was released in January 2008 in the US and UK.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
The novel features the return of Jack West Jr, the Australian ex-SASR hero of Seven Ancient Wonders, as he embarks on another global treasure hunt. Many of the other main characters from Seven Ancient Wonders reappear. West's team includes 'Wizard', 'Princess Zoe', 'Stretch', 'Pooh Bear' and Jack's falcon Horus, as well as other newcomers. Jack's dad, Jack West Sr., is also featured as an antagonist.
[edit] Plot summary
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In Seven Ancient Wonders, Jack West Jr. leads a team of international soldiers and spies on an impossible mission against the might of Europe and the United States. The mission involves a worldwide search for pieces of the missing capstone of the Great Pyramid of Giza, ending with the heroes placing the assembled capstone on the top, and a ritual being performed which grants Australians invulnerability for what is supposed to be 1000 years. Six Sacred Stones is a continuation of this.
A mysterious ceremony in an unknown location has triggered a catastrophic countdown that will climax in the destruction of all life on Earth. Jack's team need to find and rebuild a legendary ancient device known only as the "Machine", which would save the world from Armageddon. The only clues to its location, however, are held within the fabled Six Sacred Stones, long lost in the fog of history. And so the hunt begins ...
Introduction:
On Easter Island, the geographical opposite of the Great Pyramid of Giza, seven men utter a chant unused for 4500 years. This serves to nullify the power of the Tartarus ritual (which West performed to grant Australian's invulnerability at the end of Seven Ancient Wonders . A message is sent out by one of the men:
The Power of Ra has been nullified. Kill one of them tomorrow…
On the 21st August 2007 (the day after the Easter Island ritual was performed) an Australian soldier patrolling in Iraq named Stephen Oakes was ambushed in his military truck. His body was found riddled with hundreds of unidentified bullets.
Synopsis:
The book starts with Max Epper (the Wizard) in a tomb in China with his research partner, Yobu "Tank" Tanaka. They search the walls for symbols and find one for the Mystery of the Circles and Laozi's Philosopher's Stone. The Mystery of the Circles (as pictured on the title) has not been decoded. They then find a script on the wall that predicts the coming of Ra's Destroyer and it mentions the Sa-Benben or Firestone, the top piece of the capstone from Seven Ancient Wonders. They realise they do not have much time before the return and they must lay the first pillar soon so they start taking photos and send it to Max's friend Chow and who sent them to Jack West Jr. The Chinese then arrive, kill Chow and capture Max and Tank.
The book then cuts to Jack West Jr's house in the Sandy Desert Australia. Lily, now adopted by Jack has a friend over for the holidays, Alby Calvin. As Jack follows Wizard's instructions to get out, Chinese paratroopers assault the farm. Jack, Lily, Alby, and two other guests, Zoe and Sky Monster outrun the Chinese with the black book and Firestone, by traps that Jack had placed in the ground for emergencies. They get on the Halicarnassus, Jack's plane stolen from the Saddam Hussein in 1991, and fly to the Burj Al Arab tower in Dubai. They then meet by Sheik Anzar al Abbas and his entourage. Then the whole gang returns with the exception of Fuzzy the Jamacian . West then briefs them on the grave situation that the end of the world is nigh.
Fuzzy's decapitated head is sent to West just as everyone is alerted that an airplane is about to crash into the building. Everyone escapes, including Jack, Stretch and Astro, an American Marine, who have to base jump from the top of the collapsing building. The attack was masterminded by a member of the Japanese Blood Brotherhood, over revenge for the humiliation of Japan by America in WWII.
The team then splits with Zoe, Lily and Alby heading to Stonehenge (a location of one of the sacred stones) and the rest including Scimitar (Pooh's older brother), Vulture (Scimitar's friend from Arabia) and Astro ) head to the Three Gorges region in China to rescue Wizard.
In China, Wizard is being held captive and repeatedly tortured. However, Jack and Stretch manage to takeover the high speed train to the main prison, where Wizard and Tank were being transferred to.
They are then chased by helicopters, but manage to take all out except for the biggest one, a Mil Mi-24 (nicknamed Hind) gunship. After the gunship lands to finish Jack, Stretch, Wizard and Tank off, Astro, Scimitar and Vulture ambush and capture the Mil Mi-24, leading to Jack and Wizard's escape.
[edit] Characters
Returning from Seven Ancient Wonders:
- Jack 'Huntsman' West Jr, protagonist
- Horus, The Falcon.
- Lily West.
- Professor Max 'Wizard' Epper.
- Zoe 'Princess' Kissane.
- Sky Monster
- Benjamin 'Stretch' Cohen
- Zahir 'Pooh Bear' Abbas
- Sheik Abbas, Pooh Bear's father.
- V.J. 'Fuzzy' Weatherly. (killed by Jack West Sr)
New Characters:
Friends
- Albert 'Alby' Calvin, a friend from Lily's school.
- Lt. Sean 'Astro' Miller, a US Marine who represents America in Jack's team. Astro also appears in "Hell Island".
- Solomon Kol, a friend of Jack. (killed by Neetha)
- J.J. 'Sea Ranger' Wickham, Jack's brother-in-law.
- Lachlan and Julius Adamson, twins from Scotland, mathematical geniuses and former students of Wizard.
- Ono, a Neetha tribesman who aided Zoe and company.
- Dr Diane Cassidy, held prisoner by the Neetha for five years.
Enemies
- Jack 'Wolf' West Sr, Huntsman's father, head of American forces, the main antagonist
- Grant 'Rapier' West, Jack's half-brother.
- Paul Robertson, an American CIA agent.
- Iolanthe Compton-Jones, Official Keeper of the Royal Personal Records for the House of Windsor, allied with "Wolf."
- Yobu 'Tank' Tanaka, leader of Japanese Blood Brotherhood and a friend of Wizard
- Akira Juniro 'Switchblade' Isaki, US Marine who is loyal to Japan.
- Colonel Mao Gongli, a bloodthirsty Chinese commander.
- Rashid 'Scimitar' Abbas, Pooh Bear's older brother.
- Abdul Rahman 'Vulture' al Saud, the Saudi Arabian delegate, allied with the US and China
- The Neetha, cannibalistic tribe
[edit] Sacred stones
The Six Sacred Stones, also known as Ramesean stones, are six stones of different shapes necessary to save mankind. They are hidden in different places around the world and interact with the sa-benben (the top piece of the capstone) each in a different way.
| Sacred Stone | Location found | Function |
|---|---|---|
| The Philosopher's Stone | A cavern in the Sichuan province of Central China | 'Cleanses' the Pillars |
| The Seeing Stone of Delphi | The Realm of the Neetha, Katanga Province, Congo | Allows the user to 'see' the Dark Star |
| The Altar Stone of Stonehenge | The Salisbury plain, England | Gives location of vertices of the Great Machine |
| The Killing Stone of the Maya | Was in Possession of the USA | Gives Dates by which Pillars must be laid |
| The Twin Tablets of Thuthmosis | Buried city in Lalibela, Ethiopia | Contains the Final Incantation |
| The Basin of Rameses II | Unknown | Unknown |
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Official Matthew Reilly Website. Matthew Reilly. Retrieved on 2007-10-14.
