Temple - Matthew Reilly

I was thrilled to get a hold of this book. The author has a unique style to writing and this story simply addictive and spell-binding. It moves quickly and with purpose. It's a thriller novel and written by an Australian writer, Mathew Reilley.

It's main attractions to this story is that it's fast-paced and the complexity of his action scenes. He has sold nearly 8 million copies with all his books combined. He's an eager writer, knows the playing game and traits that fit into a story. It's riveting and moves fast. You get to meet interesting people along the way, and some are just bad. You learn about the plot as you pick it up while reading the novel.

It's a gripping read for sure. It has strong characters in the story that blend with action and would be great if turned into a movie.

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Well I'm already into'Game of Thrones', the book I have just started after getting highly impressed by watching 1st season of the famous HBO television series, but few days back I've completed one more book, from one of my fav author "Matthew Reilly", and this book's name is'Temple'.

US armed forces has built a super-weapon named'Supernova' which can destroy 1/3rd of Earth, if it is activated, but it needs a source of energy, active Thyrium, which never present on earth in active state. But there's an idol, an ancient idol dated back to Mayan/Inca times, which was said to be carved out from a meteor, and it contains that active Thyrium element. What if the terrorist get hold of that idol. Meanwhile someone has killed all the monks of a monastery and stole an ancient scripture which has the detailed story of that ancient idol and its whereabouts. Prof. William Race is picked up by DARPA & ARMY teams so that he can trace down the location of that same idol using a copied scripture of the original, and that too before the bad guys, he is the linguist and can read the ancient language, but what starts as a simple ask for the professor, went to the nightmarish adventure is what the story of this book is all about. Its full of secrets, adventures, and a lot of action, alongwith the two timelines the book is divided into.

This is a fat book, which I got just for Rs.100 from local vendor. It goes for around 763 pages divided over 6-7 parts, with an interview of the author Matthew Reilly at the end. I have read one trilogy from him, plus 1 more book from him, and I become his fan because of his writing and detailed explanation, plus he wrote what I liked, adventure, interspersed with action, and a lot of action, sometimes you have to think accordingly to get the feel of the action, or what stunt is being performed. His language is simple, plus he provides, some diagrams or interpretations of the locations, so that you can imagine the area where the story is being performed. This book is no different, but I will still rate it lower than his Jack West's trilogy, action is more here.

This book is having two timelines, one of ancient Inca time happenings, and one is present time happenings, and book flip between them smoothly, I liked the ancient timeline events and story more than the current one. The characters are well thought and sketched, esp. the ancient timeline ones. Novel is fast and furious and wastes no time of yours to get into action. It took me around 33 days to complete this 1999 novel and one of the first novels from Reilly. If you're into fantasy adventure genre, you can try this any time.I will rate the novel as 3.5/5.

GRuchirG.

Jai Raam ji ki:)

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Hello People,

Back again to write a review on one of my favourite authors. Now if people have read my review on Area 7 you will get to know that I am fan of this author from his first book Contest till Area-7. Firstly I am a fan of fiction and love to read any fast paced thriller or action novels. So it was quite obvious that I had to like Matthew Reilly for the sheer pace and thrill of his books.

The top notch writing style of this author and the way he portrays the action sequences in his books make me read the works of this author. In one of the reviews on General Advice on Books fellow MSian indian1969 says some golden words which keep running in my mind whenever I read a work of fiction. He says '' DONT READ THE BOOK, LIVE THE BOOK '' Thats exactly what I do when I read Matthew Reilly. I prefer to think in the lines of the character and what I would have done in such a situation. If you too live a book rather than just reading it then you will come to know the beauty of the book.

As for the story line is concerned, it is a very interesting parallel story, i.e two stories which are blended into one. One which is in 1530's and the other in the present day i.e 1999 (the time of release of the book I suppose). The author has done a great job to bring in a twist at every important point in the book. I never wanted the book to end and was left craving for more.

Thats the effect the book had on me. I was just blended into the character of William Race, the linguist professor in 1999 and Renco, the Incan Prince in 1530's. The characters are very well defined and have an important role in taking the story further. Matthew has built the plot so creatively that the action of Renco in the 1530's gives the story in the 1999 a twist at the right time. Thats using your imagination to the hilt. I just loved that.

I wont reveal the complete story as it will be an insult to the author. I will tell you my experience about reading the book and what I felt after reading the book.

I work in shifts for 9 hours a day. I got the book on a Sunday and finished almost quarter of it the same night. Very reluctantly I slept and within the next 3 days I completed the book. Imagine a 700 pager in 3 days. Now that's Matthew Reilly. As mentioned earlier, I was left craving for more.

I also read a review here which says that he is far from logic and is wild on imagination. But Matthew himself says in an interview ''You can let your imagination run wild and create a magnificient action sequence on paper without any cost, but the same thing in a movie will cost you millions of dollars.'' Now thats very true and you have to get engrossed in the book to imagine those action sequences. Come on guys, its a work of fiction and we have to give liberty to the author to let his imagination free to create a wonderful action scene or some unbeliveable stunts. That's what Matthew has done in Temple, Ice Station and Area 7.

Totally now his works are as listed below (for fans and bibliomaniacs alike):-

1. Contest

   
   




2. Ice Station

   
   




3. Temple

   
   




4. Area 7

   
   




5. Hover Car Racer

   
   




6. Scarecrow

   
   




7. Seven Deadly Wonders

   
   

I have read Contest, Ice Station, Temple, and Area 7. I just cant wait to get my hands on Scarecrow as it is a Shane Schofield book.

Well guys Temple is a must read if you like parallel stories and love to live the book rather than just read it (I liked that line by my fellow MSian so much that it is like a mantra to me which I was following without knowing it. Thanks Ratnakar for those golden words.) Even if you dont like parallel stories or have not read one till date, you will start liking them after you finish reading Temple. So all you Bibliomaniacs out there dont miss out on this super thriller.

Adios and Cya guys soon,

Maddy

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I found this book in my brothers personel collection, and being a book lover I picked up and started reding it.........n believe meits pure and sure addiction. Till now its one of the best books I have read and anyone who has a little flair for reading cannot put this book down. The author of this book Mathew Reilly has very interestingly and descriptively combined two eras into one story.....and the blend is such that one is inseparable from the other. The authors descriptive style of writing takes you to a different world altogether surrounded by ''rapas''(the mythical creature talked about in the book which really exist in the times of today), eerie legends, the tone idol that starts humming as soon as it is immersed in water,the choppers,the bad guys....u name it and u have it. One can very well imagine that you have been carried away by the sands of time into a diffrent world altogether. The author has given a very good narration and very intricately woven and blended the characters as if they were the very beads of an embeded pearl necklace,u pull one string and the whole thing goes lose,not asingle character is out of place all are set ibn the right time to tingle the senses of the reader and fill his mind with awe and a hunger to see whats going to happen next.

As for me I really liked the bookor sholud I say loved it,i would suggest all to read this book and in case you have already read this one then do go for Area 7 which is also another rocking story from the pensieve of thoughts of the writer.

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I was simply taken in by the synopsis given on the back cover of the book. Peru's jungles, ancient idol, rivalry between parties went on searching it... lot of hurdles like 18 foot long crocodiles, anacondas, tribes and what not! But unfortunately railey has chosen to give the logic a complete go by which makes the reader to feel tired and jaded of the escapades made by the hero william race. It may sound logical when picturised on big screen but for a taut story there must be some basis for the hero's heroics.

1) Hero with no combat skills(he is an ancient language professor!) is killing a 18 foot long crocodile in one-to-one combat in a pond in night!

2) One cannot stand atop a vehicle moving at 100 kmph. But our professor jumps from one plane to another at 18000 ft above ground and deactivates a bomb capable of annihilating the planet!

3) so many shoots him with state-of-the art machine guns but with a simple pistol he downs everyone off!

4)Villains execute everyone except our professor so that he would come after them to finish them off!

If I go on telling like this I am afraid I will have to narrate all the events in the book!!!

If you want to read a comics some700 pages long happily go for this!!!

gvenkatesh

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I don't know where this Aussie writer gets his ideas from but he is THE only writer to impress me in a LONG, loooooooooong time. To use the cliche, the next best thing to buttered toast (and chocolates of course!)

Man, does this person rock!! I first read his Contest and couldnt close my eyes for the rest of the night, jumping at every small thing. It hooked me well and good and so I went on a hunt myself.....to see if this person had something else out that I could get my hands on....and blow me down, he did!!!

So to whoever is reading this, I beg you, implore you, (grovel, grovel) please do spend some money and get the rest of his books (there are 4 in toto). I promise you, you won't regret it. Though I am not sure about the order, the books are: Contest, Ice Station, Temple and the latest - Area 7.

Since I know how graphic writers are (I am one too, so I know the weird scenes in my head), I never thought someone else's scenarios would ever impress me. The closest was Robin Cook but his books were always in small print and I am lazy enough to give up a book if it involves more than 4 hours.

Anyway, the point is TEMPLE is one good read. Personally, I was more interested in the parallel track of the ancient Indians and their tryst with the whites than with the modern tale of scheming government so-and-sos. To me, the rapas are better than the neo-Nazi Bittiker, who sounds like he did one hit too many to stay still. Huh, bozo!!

Go get this one and read.....a word of caution, don't touch it if you dont have at least a couple of days to finish it. Guaranteed unputdownable!

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I was not knowing about this Australian Author . I was asked to read the Temple by one the Uncles I meet in the library.

I hesitated a bit to oblige _ on insisting I went on . I tell u that was an amazing book. I tell u the book is around 400 odd pages and I working for 9 hrs a day finished the book in 3 days.

I was taken for a ride in the jungle , streams , the wild animals . The excitement was so much that I even searched for the Author's address _ to recommend him to sell the story to some Film Director of Speilberg's caliber.

I was truly amazing in all aspects. Even after that I have bought the same book and read it 2 to 3 times .

There are till now 4 books by this Author. His first book the ''Area 7'' was less known _ but is worth a collection. The other books are

1)Contest

2)Area 7

3)Ice Station

4)Temple

Do n'joy the reading _ worth a collection.

Even I would like to describe him the ''RAMBO'' among the

Authors

Denny

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It is a great book. Read it many months back. Very Indiana Jones style,if you know what I mean. Any day now, it would be made into a Hollywood blockbuster. A has it all book - superstitious tribes, a legend around which the story is built, really scary, man-eating cats called 'rapas', monkeys and their therapeutic urine (I will leave you to read the book and figure this one out!), bad guys chasing the good ones over rapids....Matthew Reilly's plot is as I've said very 'masala movie'ish, style of writing - fast and imaginative. Start the book late evening, I assure you, you would be up all night reading it!

Have read his other books - Area 7 which I think is the most recent and The Contest. Both were good too, although the Contest had about 10 mythical creatures which were described in graphic detail. And each time someone or something was killed, well... the writer spared nothing in his effort to describe the gory, bloody killings. Fascinating though I found the book to be, parts of the book actually made me feel queasy. You wont have any such problem with The Temple. The speed at which the story moves might leave you feeling a bit dizzy, but that's all. A book definitely worth reading.

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I bought this one online. I was generally on the look out for any bestsellers of the popular kind and this came up and so I bought it. I read somewhere that Matthew Reilly was the next big thing and that his action packed adventure stories were pulling in the masses.

Now I know we all buy the James Joyce, and then safely stash it away in a corner. If there is one book that justifies doing that, its this one.

This books rocks. And I mean if you got an exam coming, or something important to do in the next two days, dont even think of picking up this one. Temple is one mean addictive story, if you start, your hooked to the end.

The stories (there are two running in parallel, with a gap of hundreds of years between them) revolve around an old mysterious stone idol, which hums when it touches water. Hmmm... thats a new one. Now the modern story is about a government agency in search for the idol, based on a manuscript which tells of the..... now hold your breath.... ancient story. Which basically means that you have no idea of what is going to happen next. And boy do things happen.

You have got the normal hesitant hero, who is least qualified for the search, the babe, the intrigue, the double-cross, the TEMPLE (yup its there too), the ancient heroic story with the bow and arrow thingies, and the new one with modern ultra unbelievably ridiculously souped guns, and to top it all of, big brutal mythical creatures that actually exist, and who (ohmygawd) eat humans by the dozens.

Matthew Reilly spares no expense and creative license to write this one. Breathless would be an understatement, this one is absolutely asthmatic. You follow the adventures of our hero and his top-secret, highly financed (consequently totally fictional) American Government Agency, in pursuit of the idol, which if course is a matter of national security, the bad guys too want it BAD, and the mythical creatures know no good or bad.

Watch out for the zip bang action sequences, especially the scene on the river, involving the choppers and plane. This one has Hollywood blockbuster written all over it. Thing is how do you pack in soooo much into one movie. If you have read a Reilly before and found it too much too digest, well forget anything and everything, run for your nearest bookstore and grab your copy of TEMPLE.

A pot pourri, of the best in action, mystery, myth, HELL everything. I got my money's worth many time over.

You dont want to miss this one. TEMPLE is for the animal in you......

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