Ray Palen's Reviews > Arkangel

ARKANGEL opens with a regular feature we have come to expect from James Rollins titled Notes from the Scientific Record. Knowing that we are about to be barraged with numerous historical and scientific plot elements over the span of nearly 500 pages, this section comes in quite handy.

We learn that a new Cold War is brewing and the center of this battle is the Arctic Circle. As that part of the globes continues to thaw out, land that had been buried under ice for centuries is being revealed to us. There is now a race to claim this territory, which had previously been considered neutral ground for all countries on the planet, with Russian, China and the U.S. leading the fight. Russia desperately wants this territory, which includes the area known in English as Arkangel, because of its ideal locale for military occupation.

There is another secret that this territory has revealed and it relates to an ancient Utopian land called Hyperborea, a land that most modern Russian citizens consider themselves descendants of. How great it would be to find this ‘Shangi-la’ that purportedly was home to super-sized humans as well as animal and plant species unknown to modern history texts. The discovery of this mythical place could mark the end of the world and that is the central focus of the plot for ARKANGEL where Sigma Force must get there before the Russian forces do.

The map that may contain the location of Hyperborea is alleged to exist in the long buried Golden Library of Ivan the Great. Both Russian scientists and the members of Sigma Force are fast at work to find this ancient place that many modern theorists consider to be pure myth. Of course, knowing that this is a James Rollins hints that we may be treated to the discovery of all these so-called mythical places and what a wonder it will be.

Gray Pierce is the head of Sigma Force and takes his cues from Director Painter Crowe. The team that comprises Sigman has been pretty consistent through this adventurous series and it is always a pleasure to spend time with them much in the same way as visiting with old friends. Amongst the villains working against them is an evil woman named Valya who has a dark history with Sigma Force and is a deadly assassin. One big advantage Sigma Force has is the assistance of Tucker Kane and his military trained K-9’s, who were featured previously in the Sigma novel BLOODLINE as well as his own series that Rollins co-wrote with Grant Blackwood.

There is also a heavy religious element to this novel and both Russian clergy as well as ambassadors from the Vatican are involved. The ancient texts that may exist in the Golden Library are of great interest to these long-standing religious sects and there is a similar race to uncover that legendary place and uncover the mind-blowing details that these ancients texts may contain. The bottom line for all the participants in this electrifying novel is whether or not the alleged piece of rock they are searching for in the Arctic is worth dying over.

It's no secret that each of James Rollins’ novels are impeccably researched. His combination of history, science, and fictional thrills puts him in a select group of writers such as Steve Berry, Preston & Child, and Brad Thor. ARKANGEL also contained many photos and diagrams which just amplify the storytelling and makes it practically leap off the page at you. Beyond that, the Author’s Note at the end of his novels runs through the Truth or Fiction of each story for the reader to dive into. This is worth the price of admission all by itself, and the parts that you believed had to be fictional often end up based on historical or scientific fact which is mind-blowing. The Sigma Force novels remain a force in the thriller/adventure genre and are simply not to be missed!

Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter