I read the book the day I got my hands on it. Suspended everything. Turned off the phone and for about a good 6-7 hours I was lost in the world of Scarecrow and the problems he was facing and how he was facing them and all the awesome shit he was doing to get out of trouble.
BUT
While I was reading the book, I felt cheated.
I felt cheated because Matthew had already used all these tropes before in his books.
The plot with missiles was already done in SCARECROW
The part about a team of soldiers on an island in HELL ISLAND
The part about a hero dying and coming back to life FIVE GREATEST WARRIORS
There were instances when "Scarecrow said nothing." was used in same tone as "Reacher said nothing."
There was an instance where Scarecrow is thrown out of the plane again and he escapes because of the maghook.
I mean, alright, Matthew Reilly is a big shot, big selling author and he is awesome at what he does and I am sure that Scarecrow and Island of Thieves sold a lot of copies, but for readers who've been waiting for a book for a long time, at least there should be something new, something novel, something awesome which is NEW too. Yup, I also realize that all stories are basically about good triumphing over evil, but come on. There are ways to do it, 1001 and more. And with Scarecrow, we expect high volume, mad and apocalyptic intensity.
But it was just not there in Army Of Thieves.
Call it high reader expectations or call it it anything else, there is a lot more Matthew can write than make something that has shadows of his previous works.
That's it. I wanted to rant a bit about it.
BUT
While I was reading the book, I felt cheated.
I felt cheated because Matthew had already used all these tropes before in his books.
The plot with missiles was already done in SCARECROW
The part about a team of soldiers on an island in HELL ISLAND
The part about a hero dying and coming back to life FIVE GREATEST WARRIORS
There were instances when "Scarecrow said nothing." was used in same tone as "Reacher said nothing."
There was an instance where Scarecrow is thrown out of the plane again and he escapes because of the maghook.
I mean, alright, Matthew Reilly is a big shot, big selling author and he is awesome at what he does and I am sure that Scarecrow and Island of Thieves sold a lot of copies, but for readers who've been waiting for a book for a long time, at least there should be something new, something novel, something awesome which is NEW too. Yup, I also realize that all stories are basically about good triumphing over evil, but come on. There are ways to do it, 1001 and more. And with Scarecrow, we expect high volume, mad and apocalyptic intensity.
But it was just not there in Army Of Thieves.
Call it high reader expectations or call it it anything else, there is a lot more Matthew can write than make something that has shadows of his previous works.
That's it. I wanted to rant a bit about it.
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