Review: The Three Secret Cities

The Three Secret Cities by Matthew Reilly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just as Matthew Reilly hinted at after the two-part adventure that was Books 2 and 3 in this series, it's pretty clear that the rest of the countdown in the titles is a big old four-part adventure in the making. Building on the plot threads set up in The Four Legendary Kingdoms, we go from that book's premise of Matthew Reilly doing The Hunger Games to this book's premise of Matthew Reilly doing Catching Fire. The games are much higher in stakes, with an even more insidious environmental threat to contend with, and of course the extra danger level of having to confront the challenges of all three cities all at once or else everything's going to be for naught. And that's before we get into the nasty behind-the-scenes politics of Hades vs. everyone else in charge of the Legendary Kingdoms. This book's the usual Matthew Reilly action rager, building up to his nastiest ending yet - yes, even more so than The Six Sacred Stones. But then there's that last line that foreshadows a twist that leaves me guessing helplessly - and wrongly, no doubt - what the hell Reilly could have in mind when the title countdown ticks to Two.

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