The One Impossible Labyrinth

And that's the finale. I read this book at a breakneck speed immediately after finishing The Two Lost Mountains because I couldn't wait anymore and neither could I sleep without knowing the end. And what a way to end this decade and a half long series.

This has everything that I have come to expect from this series, especially what I absolutely adored in the first book. This really felt like a full circle. Navigating the labyrinth which is full of traps and being “literally” helped by Imhotep's head was awesome and felt very reminiscent of Jack navigating traps in Seven Ancient Wonders right at the beginning. There were also the amazing thrilling action sequences and I was glad to see every single character get their moment to shine, particularly Lily who has grown up to be such a formidable young woman. The nods to Wizard made me teary eyed because even though I read about his death more than a decade ago now, I still remember how much of a wonderful character he was and it felt appropriate to remember him when everything was ending.

And then we have Jack. I have always loved the way Jack is this amazingly good guy who will do anything to protect his loved ones as well as the world and I never once suspected that he might not succeed. But this book was one of the few times the author portrayed how tiring his duty was, and how much more weary he felt when he thought that even protecting the world wouldn't be enough to save all of his family. This is one of those old school good vs evil kinda series without a lot of nuance, but I love it for what it is. And I'm so glad the author gives very satisfactory endings to all the good guys. But I have to say, the way things end for Jack was just amazing because he totally deserves all of it. And after all the tremendously anxious moments we've had throughout the series, I was glad to see things tied up neatly in a bow.

This series has been with me since the first time I started living alone and has been a great companion. Whenever I write about my favorite tropes in fiction, found family is always at the top of my head and this series embodies the trope. It's all about found family and friendship and the love they all share... and the love I have for them. I'm very very satisfied with the way this ended. Maybe one day I will reread because it's been too long since I read the first three and they'll be fun to try again.

I've really enjoyed the entire Jack West Jr series, but for this one, I didn't enjoy it as much as others.

I'm spoiler cutting a couple of things as I don't want to hide the entire review.

The books in the series have always been a little over the top in terms of reality, but so many people came back from the dead in this book. Someone died, and five minutes later there they were again. Not once, not twice, not even three times it happened, I actually lost count how many times someone was thought to be dead and then Surprise! Not actually dead. By the end it was no longer a surprise but kind of expected. Also, the side plot with the bells was super weird. Jack showed in the end that you can control people without them being put to sleep, so what was the point of sphinx doing that? Like for real, why did he need to put people to sleep? He'd have gotten the power regardless. It would have even been better power without putting people to sleep because then he could control people without them knowing. Which Jack ended up doing in the end. (I also find that odd, that Jack would actually use the powers in any way, aside from that moment at the end with his dog.

I also felt like there were too many characters too spread out, and too much (but not much really) going on in the different places. It started to feel long. Which is an odd feeling for what is normally a fast paced action story.

Otherwise the book was standard fare for a Matthew Reilly novel and on the surface level I did enjoy it. But it definitely wasn't one of his better books. And I say that as a huge fan who has read everything he has written. But hopefully this isn't actually the end of the series and one day we'll be surprised with a new and better book for the series. :)