Read-Along: Seven Ancient Wonders - Part 29

The boring exposition continues. This chapter is, no word of a lie, nothing but Wizard telling the assembled delegates more about the Capstone and the Cult of Amun-Ra who looked after it, and are now known by other names throughout history: The Knights of St John and The Freemasons, the only secret societies Matthew Reilly can be positive that everybody knows about.

The Sheikh also asks them to "remind me of the Seven Ancient Wonders please?"

So the "young Irishwoman" in the room rattles them off in order of construction, just in case we were in danger of being mistaken for intelligent people. Enjoy it though, because this is the only piece of characterization she will ever get.
Wizard and the like point out that just because something has not been found, then that does not make it a myth. Well then, Wizard, by the same logic Angela Lansbury is real!

In a future post I may explain my theories behind this train of logic. But for now enjoy the second best waifu. The best will be shown in another future post

This statement is in regards to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and not, in fact, Matthew Reilly. The Canadian madman goes on to talk about how Alexander and Ptolemy visited or otherwise interacted with all seven of these eponymous structures (look at me! I managed to use the word "eponymous" in a sentence) but that it was Callimachus who mapped these specific buildings as "The Seven Wonders" as an attempt to make a map to the wonderful Capstone which they are all looking for.

Key here in only two pages is the exposition regarding the Capstone. Reilly is a man of simultaneous bizarre brevity and meandering madness: here he explains the Capstone and its relation to Alexander, including what it was made of and how it was a gift from the Oracle of Delphi. Now, the Oracle was apparently the head of a cult called "The Cult of Amun-Ra" and these guys evolved into the Knights of St John. Responsible for placing the Capstone on the pyramid, they also removed it. By "they", I mean the Cult. Not the Knights of St John. Well, actually I am not sure. Which iteration of this group of triangle-obsessed folk is responsible for which pyramid redecoration is left unclear in the book.
What bearing do they have on the tale?
Aside from mentioning Alexander the Great as being a key member, absolutely nothing. Reilly does what all books about ancient conspiracies do and mentions the Freemasons here too, but they also amount to being little more than background fluff never brought up again. This should mean that we get back to the breakneck pacing of his usual works, right?
If only you could see the face I am pulling right now.
The Oracle has a line of children, unbroken, over the years who have the ability to read the language of this "Callimachus Text" in the "Word of Thoth". This text details where the various pieces of the Capstone are and will allow the gang to, presumably, find them if they have the ability to read (a bit of a leap considering our party) and can read this particular language. Why there isn't simply a cipher or a code is left unsaid, much like the love we all have for our favourite cipher:

Charles. Charles Cyphers, in case you were wondering. Here he is on behalf of all Matthew Reilly readers.

The Oracle also apparently only ever has one child. In 4,500 years of existence there is only ever one kid. Don't take my word for it:
"the Oracle -male or female, the Oracle can be either- has always spawned one child."
Are you telling me that the Oracle never embarked on an "heir and a spare" policy? That their policy of carrying on the line of the ONLY PEOPLE WHO CAN FIND THE MAGIC ROCKS is the same as my own regarding "number of wristwatches worn"? Even Sauron made multiple fucking rings! What if this kid turns out to be a jerk? What if they are born blind, or they just want to dance? Oh, but that will never happen, surely?
"The Oracle, a foul, distasteful man by all accounts, was killed two months later in a drunken accident."
Well gee fucking whizz.
The Oracle they are referring to is also the only black man in this book who is not Fuzzy. His wife (The Oracle's, not Fuzzy's, that would require backstory and character development) was the one carrying his children.
This is where the volcano comes into play.
I never thought that I would be writing that sentence in my life.

Actually, it doesn't explain the volcano.
See, the big info dump in this chapter is that the Europeans who are hunting for the Capstone now have the kid and a copy of the text (apparently copied in secret in the 13th century, hence the involvement of the Vatican, which opens up a whole slew of possibilities including the Pope being behind this, which would actually be kind of awesome) so seem to have this shit covered. However, the girl these guys pulled is the first time that the Oracle has EVER had twins, so they are at an advantage here because they too have a magic baby.
Now the plan is finally explained:
These nations raise the baby in secret until she can read the Text, follow its clues and grab the first piece of the magic rock they can get their hands on, holding onto it long enough for the ritual to pass and the entire quest to be rendered moot, thus saving the world and not letting any one nation or person come out on top.
That's... actually not too bad.
Wizard proposes that each of thee delegates offer up a soldier to guard the girl, to raise her and then embark on the quest. To his immense credit, Reilly actually has this:
"But I warn you. This will be a long mission, a mission of years, not months. It will be one of constant vigilance, self-sacrifice and discipline."
So he at least acknowledges the fact that these guys will be out of action for 13 plus years, all to guard this girl and stop America and Europe from gathering pieces of a magic golden rock.
It is completely unrelated, but I want to show you this superfluous line about West with absolutely no context:
"Since he was his own delegation, West didn't need to discuss anything with anyone."
I know what he was trying to do here: make West out to be the badass loner and mysterious hero, but all I can picture is a one-armed lunatic sat in the corner because nobody wants to talk to this crazy person. Less Jack Reacher, more Jackanory. Well, I got a laugh out of it, especially since this is in an Irish farmhouse and thus looks more like an awkward wedding than a diplomatic meeting.

Now we finally get an intro to all but one of our main characters. Are you ready? Do not blink. For Canada:
"Canada already had Max Epper."
And then there is Saudi Arabia (you know, back when we didn't talk about the human rights abuses):
"On behalf of the United Arab Emirates, I offer my second son, Captain Zahir Anzar al Abbas." The trooper who had been sitting beside Abbas for the duration of the meeting stood. He was a rotund fellow, short and round -some would say chubby - with a bushy black beard and turban. "Captain Zahir Anzar al Abbas, heavy arms, explosives, 1st Commando Squadron, at your command. Callsign Saladin."
There's simultaneously a lot and not very much to unpack there.
Our token Arab character is a little fat man, the son of a Sheikh and known as "Saladin". Jack Shaheen would have a field day with this. We at least know that the guy is into heavy weapons and explosives (a nice escape from the terrorist stereotype, surely...) but for every time this specialty (or indeed anybody else's) comes up you are to take a shot of Absinthe. On this knowledge, my Omid Djalili theory stands.
Saladin is one of the few prominent members of this group throughout the book and whilst descriptions aren't everything, we don't ever get much more than that to go on. He bickers with Stretch; and the fact that he has the closest thing resembling an arc to anybody in this novel is both a spoiler and an indicator of something amiss with all of this.
But enough of that! We have my favourite description possibly in the history of fiction, and certainly a Matthew Reilly novel, coming right up!
Then the Spaniards' representative stood: tall, handsome and athletic, he looked like Ricky Martin, only tougher.
The man does give his name, which I am going to ignore because it comes straight after that nugget of solid fucking gold. I want a Ricky Martin movie now, where he is the main character. You know what, fuck that, I want Ricky Martin as every single one of these characters.

All wearing exactly this exact costume.

His specialty is apparently "Underwater destruction and demolition", which I thought was the tagline to "Finding Nemo", but here we are.
The Jamaicans introduced a tall dreadlocked fellow named Sergeant V.J Weatherly, call-sign: Witch Doctor.
Ricky Martin was given a full name (Enrique Velacruz, in case you were wondering), a specialty and even a handful of lines where he introduces himself. Our black guy only gets "V.J", which I choose to believe stands for "VelJohnson" after the "Die Hard" alumni, infinitely improving this book.
Fun fact, I almost wrote "movie" instead of book there.
The New Zealanders offered a big hairy-faced NZAF pilot nicknamed Sky Monster.
Surely due to there being fuck all on that island, everybody in New Zealand can fly a plane?
Last of all, the Irish offered two representatives: one of which was the only woman to join this special multinational unit.
They sent Zoe Kissane and the giant fellow who sat by her side, her brother, Liam. Both hailed from the famed Irish commando unit, the Sciathan Fhianoglach an Airm. 
I am not even going to try to pronounce that.
She introduced herself:
Haven't we already been? Oh fuck it.
"Sergeant Zoe Kissane, hostage rescue, advanced medical. Call sign: Bloody Mary."
Oh if only you know how hilarious that first specialty of hers was in this book.
He did too: "Corporal Liam Kissane, also hostage rescue, bomb disposal, heavy arms. Call sign: Gunman."
Why are there two heavy arms specialists on the team? This is going to be a swift, chase-focused narrative. As awesome as it would be to have West wield an arm cannon and Liam to go back-to-back wielding miniguns with Omid Djalili as Horus swoops overhead, I feel that it would detract from the purpose somewhat. I know that I have complained about the terrible nickname before, but I shall do so again here: Why is the man's nickname/callsign "Gunman" when he specialises in bomb disposal and heavy arms? Surely "Boomer" would be more appropriate? Or "Knockout"? I only came up with those two off the top of my head and the latter makes no sense, but is certainly more appropriate than "Gunman".
And why do the Irish get two representatives?
It will make sense, on a meta-textual level, many chapters down the line.
And there they stood, all around the wide table, the nine chosen representatives of eight small nations who were about to embark on the mission of their lives.
I would quote "Guardians of the Galaxy" here, but that would be too easy.

They would acquire a tenth member soon -Stretch, from Israel- but he would not be a member of their choosing.
I had to include this next sentence because it pisses me off.
We have established that the interminable preceding chapters were in media reas, where we met Stretch the Isreali sniper and could work out from that that he would be a member of their team (unless West was merely going mad and hallucinated him, which in a story with Wizards on the team, is entirely likely), and through basic maths we can work out:
9 + 1
=
10
That was therefore superfluous, Reilly seemingly believing that we could not make sense of this ourselves, but not content with that he had to give us a spoiler about how that guy would join and something regarding the circumstances of it. Not content with THAT, he gives us a spoiler for something in a section TWO PAGES after this one. Reilly, we can wait, it's fine. We can fathom and comprehend things, we can work stuff out.

Our chapter ends the way that Matthew Reilly chapters often do: he drops a line which is supposed to be dramatic or revelatory, or some sort of terrible cliffhanger. West tells Saladin that the girl has a name: Lily. This is, right down to the number of lines and its place in the book, the set up of "Ice Station" too (a Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield novel) wherein a minor character we give less than zero shits about introduces himself as Luc Champion.
Fun fact: This is better than Ice Station.

Read-Along: Seven Ancient Wonders Part 28

This flashback within a flashback is more of a flash forward than a flashback, but is still set in 1997 and thus a flashback. That had more flashes than the Grandmaster himself... The chapter states that this part is in Count Kerry, Ireland at a place entitled, I kid you not, O'Shea Farm. Say what you like about Reilly, he does just roll with it.

Gathered are a group of "delegates" from seven different "minnows" of world affairs, waiting on an eighth. Now, these are the countries introduced earlier, in the form of our team, but then their nations of origin were irrelevant and actually didn't come up without Matthew explicitly stating it, even as he tried to raise the stakes in that ridiculously long opening sequence. I prefer this chapter, as even though it is exposition, it's a slower one, it has a little more going on in it as a result, and you can imagine it being done well in a movie. You can picture the camera panning around, showing each of the nations, introducing our characters properly with little touches, like in "Armageddon", but with unfortunately far less Buscemi.

The hero we need, and the one we deserve

You can really see it working. Unfortunately we only really get an introduction to one of the delegates at this point, the others are just nameless figures in the background, and that one is this guy:
"Their leader, a wily old Sheik from the United Arab Emirates named Anzar al-Abbas,"
Oh Matthew. I do appreciate once again that he is going all out with his cards here. His misspelling of Sheikh is rather annoying to me though. Al Abbas is the closest thing to a true supporting character for the majority of this book, everybody else (even Wizard) is an actual part of the mission, so there's nothing really bogging down the rest of the narrative, be that investigations, emotion, common sense, a comprehensible plot... The Sheikh is a minor character, all things considered, but I'm glad that we know he is wily and old, that will be important somehow, probably, when we are shown this rather than told it.
The Canadians are described as "typically, sat there calmly and patiently" as we await the arrival of their guy and the last delegate. It is nice of them to mirror the views and attitudes of Reilly's editor.
Of course, the last delegate is Jack West, accompanied by Canada's Professor Max T Epper. In the interim we're dropped some information about the capstone and some information about a bullshit prophecy. The Capstone is made of seven pieces of a diamond. When it's put together, there's a shaft running down the middle of it, with branching paths into the rest of it, a crystal at the end of each. Don't ask me how.
"This is a crucial point"
We know it is, Matthew, that's why we've picked up on it. Jesus Matthew. What makes you think I'm this stupid?
Oh, right, I'm reading "Seven Ancient Wonders" and writing a blog about it.
The book throws out some quasi-intellectual nonsense about theories regarding the Capstone, all nonsense we can safely ignore.
Wizard comes in, and there is furtive whispering. We get the line "The ones who found the Scrolls of the Museion" dropped as a whisper by one of the Arabs. I could be a dick and chalk this up as a case of Reilly giving us another, more interesting adventure, but I actually am going to be honest here: I like it. It's one of the few times we get a glimpse of actual character from these two fuck-bags. Scrolls from the legendary Library of Alexandria, long thought lost, tracked down and recovered by an old man and a burly Australian? We learn from that that Epper is some kind of classical-orientated genius, and he and West are good friends, whose reputations precede them. There's more character and creativity in that one line than we've had in ten action sequences. I now care a little bit about them.
Of course, this novel is still about a one-armed Australian and a Canadian Wizard carrying Scrolls from the Library of Alexandria on a quest to rescue a magic diamond from the Vatican, so I won't give this too much credit.
Oh, and Wizard and West are among the least ridiculous characters.
We learn that Wizard has a beard, as white as it will be in ten years (important that) and that West has lost his arm, meaning he's not yet gotten his replacement. This could be a prelude to an adventure and epic quest to find the knowledge and resources to give West an artificial arm, or perhaps that adventure retrieving the head of the Colossus of Rhodes was the prelude to the grand finale and the group had to go through hell to get him an arm in time for fun times at the end?

It's not

Then we get this bizarre line, whispered by another character:
"Epper is Professor of Archaeology at Trinity College in Dublin, a brilliant fellow, but he also has doctorates in physics and electromagnetics..."
There's a lot to unpack there. Trinity College in Dublin is a big place, I'd hope that they have more than one Professor of Archaeology, otherwise students are going to get short-changed. Is Epper THE professor, A professor or the Head of the Department? These distinctions are kind of important. Also, I see he graduated from the school of Hollywood science, where he has enough to keep the plot moving. Yes, there probably are experts in archaeology AND those other two things, but I've yet ot learn of them, and there's probably a preference form the two.
I know that they go delving into ancient tombs and underground places, technically archaeology I suppose, but the knowledge Epper spouts throughout the novel regarding the ancient civilisations they encounter and the prophecies they wrote down are far closer to things a Professor of Classics would know.
So whilst we have been given an introduction to Epper, it is inaccurate.
He and West graduate from the Indiana Jones school of Archaeology.
OH!
One more thing, Wizard speaks several languages over the course of the novel.  I'm not talking the usual stuff like French, German and the like, but Latin, Greek, Sumerian and things like that, FLUENTLY.
Not only is Epper an inventor, archaeologist, Head of Department, professor at Trinity College (I am presuming he has tenure, because OF COURSE HE WILL) adventurer, expert on ancient cultures, doctor in physics and electromagnetism (I am presuming that is what a doctorate in electromagnetics is, because my spell-checker keeps flagging it up) but he is a multi-linguist too.
This makes Epper a:

I am sure that Epper is somebody's player character from a role-playing game manifested as a character in this novel, and I'm not even mad! I love this man, he's utterly ridiculous. The rest of the team are there for representation and combat skills (except for Noddy, he's there for... well) but Wizard is just the best character, can he be the hero of this Doc Savage-esque adventure?

We are dropped hints about West's past with the American army in Iraq in 1991, then he sits down. Reilly then makes a big point that HE is the entire delegation of his nation, who have sent no other representatives when the other nations have sent diplomats and soldiers?
"That nation: Australia."
I am surprised at the restraint in Reilly for going six novels (Contest, Temple, Ice Station, Area 7, Scarecrow and Hover Car Racer, which is a whole different kettle of Speed-Racer, I mean fish!) and a novella (Hell Island, a personal favourite of mine, which actually is important to this series for reasons we shall go into one day) without making a single character, let along protagonist, Australian. Then, when he finally gives us a lead character who isn't Shane fucking Schofield or the guys from the other books, he gives us the most Australian Australian who ever Australias in Australia. The pride this man has in his nation is incredibly endearing. I wish everybody loved each other a tenth as much as Matthew loves Jack West Jr and Australia, or a hundredth as much as I love Matthew Reilly novels.
Epper, unlike Reilly, gets to the point (his actual words on one line) about why they're there:
They tracked down the wife of the new Oracle of Delphi, a woman named Malena Okombo, after she fled her abusive husband (the spoilt man) and West promised to protect her. She was kidnapped literally the day after he said this (I am serious, he says as much in the paragraph) and we get the line about "the incident in the volcano", which is a remarkably low-key way of putting it.
How wonderfully Australian.
And that single paragraph of around six lines is all we ever get of the Oracle and his wife, and her connection to Jack. Nobody forms attachments to women as quickly as Jack West Junior! The Oracle is mentioned in a single line again later in the book, but that's it for the two of them in so far as plot goes.
General Colin O'Hara is named as the head of the delegation.
Enjoy that name.
He may as well be called Brendan Seamus Dermot O'Flaherty.

The plot setting is then spouted off by Epper over the next . I'll give you the key points.
This Capstone is not only capitalised, but hunted by major sides and civilisations throughout history.
Jason and the Argonauts was a tale of searching for the Capstone.
Napolean sent dudes after it.
Caesar sent dudes after it.
Even Hitler sent a few charming gentlemen after it.
Now it's being hunted by America and "Old Europe" (the two major sides in the conflict, as established in the book's opening scene) consisting of Germany, France, Italy and the Vatican. The two sides are at each other's throats.
China and other glorious nations do not register into this debate.
The key piece of information on the Capstone is The Callamichus Text, its eponymous author having personally known the only man to possess all seven pieces of it: Alexander the Great. The ruler broke it (the Capstone, not the text) up into seven pieces and stashed them at every wonder of the world with his old friend Ptolemy I, so that the power would not be used by others.
Legend has it that he or she who manages to assemble it in time for the glorious event known as "The Tartarus Rotation" would have immense power.

And that's the plot in a nutshell.
I know that I have skimmed over a lot of this, but we'll get to the meat of the book soon, as I have rambled on for long enough.

Read-Along: Seven Ancient Wonders Part 27

From this point on the book goes into overdrive.

This chapter/segment is titled:

"A Previous Mission. The Volcano"

So you know that this is going to be something special. On that front, it does not disappoint...

Ten years earlier in the exotic locale of "North Eastern Uganda", we are introduced to Jack West. Oh, wait, I'm sorry, we are introduced to a drawing done on a computer of "The Birthing Chamber". In a first for this blog (surprising actually) I have attempted to recreate that drawing/diagram in Microsoft Paint. I have changed almost nothing from the original source, right down to the labels. The one in the book had about nine minutes more effort put into it than mine:

This took me a minute. It is only slightly less accurate.

Look at that.

That, or some variant of it, is the first thing in this chapter, before anything else. That right there is the reason that I love Matthew Reilly. You can look at that and immediately know how this goes down, right?
Oh you poor, sweet, innocent reader...

I am tempted to end this entry right now, and leave you with that beautiful image. But much like the rabbit hole, this volcano goes deeper, a lot deeper...

We establish with our first line (after the usual stamps denoting time and location like an episode of 24) that this is in West's dreams. He is running towards the sound of booming drums with Wizard (the first recorded case of the hero running INTO the supervillain's death fortress accompanied by the actual supervillain)  and we must immediately take two more shots for:

"It's hot."

"Hot as hell."

Those sentences are right after each other. I would call out Reilly on this being superfluous, ludicrous writing, were it not a beautiful use of symbolism and metaphor. Much like "The Divine Comedy", in many regards... Such restraint and subtlety (as much as one can expect) from Reilly) in this chapter. Maybe it all goes up from here?

"And since it's inside a volcano, it even looks like Hell."

The immediate next line.

I know that I said I wasn't going to go line by line anymore, but I had to for that part. You were doing SO well Matthew, you were SO close!

Come on Reilly, you can do it!

In the next few lines we learn that West is 27 here (set in 1996, the bulk of the novel is in 2006, making West 37 at the time of the present day adventure. Hey, it's not much information, but I will take what I can get) and he and Wizard go running down this corridor. In a single paragraph they deactivate some unspecified traps, have Horus swoop form his shoulders to tear into some crazy bats (a sequence given more detail than the booby traps, by which I mean it is given two lines rather than one) and reach a pipe which West is ready to slide down. 

I love Horus.

He makes it down the pipe and enters what can only be described as a Doc Savage movie. There are priests arranged in a circle around the altar including the line, I shit you not:

"Six of the priests pound on huge lion skin drums"

Come on Matthew. 

I know you're going for an aesthetic and theme here, and I don't want to be the leftist libtard sackless cuck that I am often called on Doctor Who forums when I acknowledge the existence of Jodie Whitaker, but isn't this a LITTLE close to the bone?

I'm not trying to be that guy here, I want to be along for the ride, but we are then dropped this gem:

"Incongruously, surrounding the circle of robed priests, all facing outwards, are sixteen paratroopers in full battle-dress uniforms. They are French, all brandishing FN-MAG assault rifles, and their eyes are deadly."

The jarring contrast between chanting robed priests and armed French troopers in modern day gear is something interesting, which of course is never dwelt upon. Who are these guys? Why the French? I know that the French were the villains of "Ice Station" (his first Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield novel, which was an entirely different salad of mixed nuts and batshit) but why are they in Nigeria? Do they work for the Commonwealth nations mentioned in the previous chapter? If so, why aren't there a shed-load of German engineers?

And do you have to call their guns ugly, Matthew? That is just mean, and a rather low blow. We all know that these guys are going to get murdered like a Jean Reno movie post 2001, so why insult and belittle them before that?

Let us end these unrealistic assault rifle beauty standards and have a world where all rifles are judged on their merits! Fight the Assault Rifle Patriarchy!

This is what came up on Google. Any experts feel free to correct me. I have no idea what you are talking about Matthew: I'd buy that thing a dinner any day of the week. Of course, it's French so it'll call the main "pedestrian" and "derivative", but it's the thought that counts, right?

"Their eyes are deadly" is also the title of my forthcoming experimental New Retro Wave Album.

The woman is basically tied to this table in the middle with a ray of light shining down and ready to give birth. We know this because of the following lines:

"And one other thing:

The woman is pregnant.
More than that.

She is in the process of giving birth...

It's obviously painful, but not the only reason for her screams."

I am glad that Matthew Reilly is not a doctor. For many reasons, but that last line is one of them. And no, she is not screaming in existential dread or at the turmoil of being unable to find a good reason why she is locked in a volcano with a group of Nigerians and French Paratroopers, but because they are about to take her baby.

The lead priest is revealed to be Del Piero, who takes the baby (take another three shots for three sentences under four words long) which happens to be a boy, then he leaves the chamber WITH the troopers, and stamps on another stone for good measure.

Okay, I did not see that coming.

West mentions how he was to be there for the woman and failing (yes, I don't trust West with a fruit knife, let alone bodyguard duty) as Wizard ponders on "the Vatican and the French joining forces", which is an actual line which an actual human being has written, and then swings across the chamber with his grappling hook gun to rescue this woman, about whom we know nothing.

Much like the previous part, all of the details are not revealed to us. This is not a complex, Ellery Queen-esque mystery whereby the pieces are there for us to ponder and feel glad that we have uncovered a glorious puzzle; but rather more akin to watching an episode of "Sherlock" backwards in a wind tunnel with the sound muted as you try to come down from a crippling addiction to Benadryl, and somebody occasionally splices footage from Jean Claude Van Damme movies into the middle of it.

Lava pours in and the ceiling drops like my interest in the book, when suddenly daring Jack West reaches the woman (named Malena, apparently), apologizes to her for being dead, and realizes that there is a second baby inside of her. He calls over Wizard to help him deliver this kid.

"the two men perform a Caesarean delivery on the dead woman's body using West's Leatherman knife."

I'm glad that we know it's a Leatherman, otherwise all of this wouldn't make sense.

The tow of them worry about how to escape the ceiling dropping, lava filling chamber without dying and with this little girl still intact, when we get what I have eagerly been awaiting this entire chapter.

West, I shit you not, notices a hole behind the lava. Wizard senses what this moron is about to do and advises him against it; but Jack only says:

"Can you build me a new arm, Max?"

Wizard basically agrees, promising him a better arm as if he were speaking to a child or a Matthew Reilly character, and West subsequently plunges his arm into the hole to find a lever, which turns off the lava flow.

He

Puts

His

Arm

Into

The

Hole

And

Turns

Off

The Lava

Flow

If that image is not stupidly, ridiculously awesome enough for you, here it is retold vie the medium of Jean Claude Van Damme

I love this book so much

Read-Along: Seven Ancient Wonders - Part 25

Being the last person in a retreating formation sucks. You're covering the rear, the bad guys are right on your ass, and no matter how loyal your team is, there's always the risk of being left behind.
No, not the inner monologue of a character, but how we start this latest segment of Reilly's epic saga. If there's one thing Reilly loves more than any other in the box of action movie plot devices, it's the chase sequence. He could write them until the day he dies. Whether on foot, up mountains, in hovercraft, on a plane, on a bus (you shall see), with killer whales, with ancient man-hunting Incan panthers in the jungle, or simply with crocodiles and the German army, there is no escaping them in his books. One memorable segment of Scarecrow involves our hero (Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield) and his newfound chum "Aloysius Knight" simultaneously pursuing and evading bounty hunters along the cliffs of Italy in a sports car and a Black Hawk helicopter respectively, writing off a few dozen other luxury model sports cars in the process, for no actual benefit other than it looking pretty cool. The Slipway segment is the pinnacle of this prologue (cyborg on crocodile combat notwithstanding) in that it lasts the longest and involves the most movement, as daft as it sounds, which is saying something in a novel all about people running everywhere. It also marks the last time I will be doing this play-by-play, as I mentioned in my previous post, due simply to its sheer length and how long I have been doing this on and off. After this huge point of no return, I shall be reviewing each "bit" as it were, giving you the highlights reel now that you hopefully have an understanding as to Matthew Reilly's style of writing and how this madman's mind functions.
But before we delve into this, I would like to give you some quotes from the back of my copy of the book:

"Reilly's talent for coming up with ingenious new twists on every page is awesome. So are his characters."
The Guardian

"Reilly doesn't believe in waiting for tomorrow... adventure unlimited - cutting-edge, high-tech."
Northern Echo

"Breathless action... Explosive stuff."
Mirror

I shall ignore those last two for the moment in favour of the quote from The Guardian, of all places. The hyperbole and Reilly-speak of that quote has led me to believe that it is either from Reilly himself or a newly-sentient computer trapped in Plymouth whose only escape and recourse is to publish glowing reviews of Matthew Reilly novels in the hope that it proves itself to be insane and is thus terminated out of mercy, so as to also escape its banal and terrifying existence in a world of emptiness and horror. I am inclined to lean towards the former, for humor's sake.

By the time the tall and lanky Stretch had landed in the ante-chamber beneath the manhole, the others were already entering the slipway at the far end.
"Stretch! Move it!" West called from the slanted doorway "Zoe's gone ahead to trigger another sliding stone to run interference for us!"
As if to confirm that, a familiar whump echoed out from the upper regions of the slipway, followed by the rumble of a new sliding stone grinding down the slope.
Stretch bolted down the slipway - as a dozen wraith-like figures rained down the manhole behind him, entering the ante-chamber. 
Gunfire.
Rapid-fire.
Freed from the effects of the Warblers, the Europeans were now gladly employing live ammunition.
Stretch was done for.
He was still five steps away from the safety of the slipway when the first few Germans behind him went down in a hail of withering fire.
For just as they had fired, so too had someone else, someone standing guard in the doorway to the slipway.
Pooh Bear.
Holding a Steyr-Aug assault rifle.

Who actually thought that he was dead?
By "he", I mean Stretch, We all knew that Pooh Bear (remember him? Of course you don't, this is not a visual medium, and thus you've had no real reason to keep this guy in your head for so long, especially after his fake death earlier) would be alive and kicking due not just to the dramatic incompetence of killing him off, but because those traps have still not quite been adequately explained enough (despite the large number of pages devoted to them) for us to have any idea if they are permanent or inescapable. They clearly are, by the virtue of Pooh Bear being here.
And would Reilly have given us the facts we know about Stretch (that he is Israeli and tall) if he was to kill him off so early? Of course not. His continued survival in media reas is a given. Whilst we have no reason to care about any of these characters and what they are doing (except Horus, we love her dearly) the fact that we know something about Stretch is reason enough for him to be kept alive, even if it is solely for that big "reveal" about Pooh Bear.
It does clean up the use of Warblers and how they work, however.
Oh wait, no it doesn't
I'm sorry, but I just can't accept these Warbler things.
It's really quite jarring for the narrative, what little of it there is. Whilst this is supposed to be something we just accept and enjoy as part of the rip-roaring adventure these men and women are a part of, to showcase brilliance and creativity on the part of Wizard, it's such a transparent plot device and situational leveler that its use (or, in later instances, lack of use) always comes as a surprise and out of nowhere.
At least he gave us the all-important detail of what kind of gun Pooh Bear was holding.

This is a Steyr-Aug, if anybody was wondering, according to Google.

The heavy-bearded Arab - who had last been seen getting cut off behind the previous sliding stone - waved Stretch on.
"Come on, Israeli!" Pooh Bear growled. "Or I'll gladly leave you behind!"
Stretch staggered the last few steps into the slipway and past Pooh Bear just as  a dozen bullet-sparks exploded out all around the stone doorway.
"I thought you were dead," Stretch said, panting.
"Please! It'll take more than a rock to kill Zahir al Anzar al Abbas," Pooh Bear said in his deep gruff voice. "My legs may be stout, but they can still run with some speed. I simply outran the rock and took cover in that spiked pit, and let it pass over me. Now move!"

I have several questions
Whilst it is nice that Pooh Bear survived the trap and all, his explanation is a little simple, almost like it's the most obvious thing to do and anybody with sense would have done it. My first question is this:
how did he get here?
The team have been running through this maze pursued by the entire French paratroop division and German army, and a Jesuit, and then through the puzzle chamber with all of the water and once more past all of the crocodiles and burning oil pits. Did Pooh Bear chase behind the German army, gun most of them down with rubber bullets and crossbows, fight his way through and somehow outrun everybody to get here? Or did he loop round, fighting through the several ambushes and other troopers who would inevitably be here, simply to make a racist remark and save the Israeli sniper who surely would have seen him coming from that direction and... ah fuck it.
How fit is Pooh Bear?
He outran the boulder, got out of that pit, ran to where West's team were, avoided crocodiles and the two armies on the team's tail, reached the slipway entrance before Stretch, and is described as being "stout" and fat.
This guy is a fucking machine!

Pictured: Pooh Bear's exercise routine.

Why is he described as having a "deep voice"? He's called "Pooh Bear" for crying out loud, that kind of character cannot seem like one to growl or sound cool.

Down the slipway the Eight ran, dancing around the edge of the small spiked pit - the air filled with the rumble of the new sliding stone - then over the diorite pit that was the Second Gate. The cracked and broken remains of the first sliding stone from before lay strewn around its base.
The Eight swung over the diorite pit, hanging from the steel handholds they'd drilled into the ceiling earlier.
"Noddy!" West called into his radio mike when he landed safely on the other side. "Do you copy?"
There was no answer from Noddy, their man guarding the swamp entrance.
"It's not the Warblers!" Wizard called. "There must be someone jamming us-"
He was cut off by six Germans who raced into the slipway and opened fire-
-not a moment before the large spike-riddled sliding stone loomed up behind them, rumbling over the doorway to the ante-chamber!

Wizard is awfully protective of the Warblers he uses. The fact that he has had to point out to Jack and friends that these things specifically do not jam their communications devices implies that they did not know about this beforehand. Way to go Wizard, you dumbass.
This one's on West actually, for bringing this mad, probably senile old man with mad scientist inventions on a quest to fight the world and steal a giant diamond in an old Indiana Jones set-piece. Fuck you Jack.

The six Germans ran down the slipway, chased by the sliding stone.
When they came to the spiked pit, one lost his balance and fell in, chest first - impaling himself on the vicious spikes sticking up from the stone pit..
The others got to the larger diorite pit of the Second Gate too late.
Two managed to grip West's steel handholds for a couple of swings before all five of the remaining German troops were either impaled on the spikes on the leading edge of the sliding stone or jumped into the diorite pit to avoid those spikes just as - whoosh! - a blast of churning white water shot across the pit, sweeping them away, screaming

West's team raced ahead now. The sliding stone had given them the lead they needed. Having been blocked off momentarily behind it, and not having experienced the slipway before, the remainder of the German team were more cautious.
West's team increased their lead.
They swept down the tight vertical shaft to the spike-hole where-
Gay porn count: 29
West had correctly chosen the key of life, the ceiling of the water chamber having reset itself...
Still no radio contact with Noddy.
Across the stepping chamber, its stepping stones still submerged beneath the algae covered pool...
Still no radio contact.
Crouch-running down the length of the low tunnel, leaping over its cross-shafts.
And finally they came to the croc-filled atrium with its hand rungs in the ceiling and its vertical entry shaft at the far end.
Gay porn count: 30. He has to be doing this on purpose now.
I like how he's placed the repetition of Noddy not being able to answer on this page so close to each other. It really adds to the tension and drama, which would certainly not be better done by spreading out the lack of radio communication over multiple chapters, as opposed to merely writing about it once before, many chapters ago, so that we forget about it in the midst of all of this ridiculousness. Who thinks that Noddy is dead?

R.I.P

"Noddy, are you out there?" West called into his radio. "I repeat, Noddy, can you hear me-"
Finally he got a reply,
"Huntsman! Hurry!" Noddy's Spanish accented voice replied suddenly in his ear piece, loud and hard. "Get out! Get out now! The Americans are here!"

And that is where this chapter ends. We have one final chase sequence to come, but that's not too long in comparison to the rest of this segment. Is Noddy able to get through their jamming device? Has finally managed to turn his radio on and figure out how to work it?
This book is weird.