The Last Oracle

I'm noticing a trend in this book as well as his previous book. The symbology and occult themes are giving way to modern-day explanations for ancient mysteries. It kinda ruins the mysticism I've come to love from this series and the genre as a whole. I hope future books in the series bring back “the unknown” a bit more.

This book deals with the very cool notion of a branching lineage from the Oracle at Delphi, but waters it down by presenting that lineage as a group of autistic savants with brain implants. It's a well thought out plot and is mostly believable, but it just disappoints me a bit personally. Leaving that feeling behind, I really enjoyed this group of characters probably most out of any in the series. Grey and Painter are great as always, and the secret spoiler character is explained well, but I must give a special shout out to Kowalski. I hope he shows up in future novels. His fascination with shoes is endlessly entertaining.

The more elaborate plots points are a bit far-fetched, but they really don't get blown out of proportion until towards the end, so I didn't find myself put off by their over-the-top notions much at all.

Of the 5 books in this series I've read so far, this is the best as far as cover-to-cover action. There really isn't a dull moment to be found, and James Rollins is a man who knows how to write action. I've said it before and I'll say it every book until it happens that he needs to helm any future Indiana Jones movies.