The 6th Extinction

James Rollins is one of my favorite authors. I’ve read many of his books.The 6th Exthinction is my latest read.

I remember the first time I ever read his books. He isnt my usual type of author but like so many authors I’ve found that I end up loving, I got his first book on a whim. It was a rainy Sunday, I needed something to read and went to the local drugstore and bought my first James Rollins novel, The Judas Strain. I was mesmerized right away.

I’ve read many of his books since then and they never fail to impress. They follow a formula; they race at a breakneck speed around the world and always at the end it’s seems to be a blend of history,science and usually some kind of mysticism.

I don’t mind that the books are set up the same, there are still plenty of twists and turns. My favorite parts are the back of the books where he goes over the fact or fiction of the writing. I’ve looked up and read more about many things he’s brought up in his writings. And I am not a science person AT ALL. It’s like his books are ice cream sundeas and he’s hidden some Brussel sprouts deep in the ice cream.

Now to this book. The is a classic James Rolliins book that starts with a historical figure and then boomerangs across time and the globe to California, Washington DC, South America and finally Antarctica. The books steams ahead at its usual breakneck speed however I do feel like you get a good idea of the characters and their motivations. I also learned a little bit of science that I didnt know about.

I do have some complaints. I don’t know if Mr. Rollins is at a loss for new ideas but I noticed that not only the structure of the book was the same there were definitely events that happened in other books. I read The Devil Colony right before this book.In both books a main character, the SAME main character gets shot in the arm. Both times it’s brushed off but wow how many times can someone get shot in the arm? Also both books someone in the field has to have their leg chopped off with an axe. Also there is usually a basically mute ( in some cases actually mute) beautiful cold woman who has a soft spot for children but otherwise is an assassin in many of his books. He uses these devices over and over. I could mention more but you get my point.

Despite those repetition’s I liked the book. I’d give it 3.5 stars. Can’t wait to read the next one. Just need a few fresh ideas!

I’m a longtime Rollins fan, having read all the way back from Subterreanean (which I thoroughly enjoyed the nod too in this novel). I love Sigma Force and everything it’s grown out too lately, but for some reason this one didn’t really spark with me. Being familiar with a lot of his pre-Sigma works, I saw him going back to a lot of his roots in biology and veterinarian studies, which heavily influenced books like Ice Hunt and Amazonia. That being said, putting these elements in a Sigma Force-style narrative made it feel–to put it plainly–repackaged. The whole experience felt, to me, at least, like a retelling of Subterranean, only with my beloved Sigma characters (and not even my favorites: where’s Monk??) spliced in. It’s the same, fast-paced, page-turning adventure you’d find in Sigma, but with a lot of the monster madness of his earlier works put together in a mishmash of the familiar and the even-more-familiar that left me with a bland taste in my mouth and no memorable characters or moments to leave with. It’s good, but skippable.

I was trying very hard to read James Rollins’ THE SIXTH EXTINCTION, but could only make it to Chapter Six before I gave up and threw the book away. What should have been an intelligent, exciting thriller was ruined for me by all the jumping around between different characters and different scenes. I absolutely hate that type of book…you can’t get into it before being ripped from one scene and suddenly thrust into something completely different, again and again. Yuk. I have only found ONE book that I liked with that style of writing, and it was THE STAND by King.

So far this is the first Sigma Force book that I struggled to finish. Usually, Rollins’ books are page turners and there aren’t enough hours in the day to read them. I am becoming disappointed with the predictable scenarios. Every Rollins’ book so far takes place in a tunnel and/or cavern underground. And every, or most, books have a plucky female character that is annoying or rebellious or irritating or way too confident. In this story, that character is Jenna. I didn’t like her from the start and found it hard to believe that she could hold off an onslaught of mercenaries barehanded or that she would be allowed to accompany Painter and the marines on their dangerous trip to Brazil. She wasn’t even military and yet she was a major player in their plans. The book felt like a rushed creation by Rollins. Several times I found myself having to reread a section just to understand what he was trying to say…and then would find things written in error. Rollins always has several stories going on at once in his books and they usually work. They didn’t this time. Too confusing, too disjointed. I love this Sigma Force series and always have a hard time putting them down. He is a great story teller with a cast of wonderful characters. While this book didn’t wow me the way his previous ones did, I can’t wait to dig into his books that follow this one.

I normally enjoy such books: an over the top plot, fast action etc and finish them in a few days. But man, this book is tedious. The characters are onedimensional. By page 250 we finally find out who the main culprit is, but we still don’t understand why he thinks unleashing a virus on the world would lead to a better world (presumably, he would also die). Some of the team journey to Antarctica where they are introduced to scientists who have found an underground world previously visited by the Nazis (an old story). The plot is fragmented and uninspiring. The science does not convince. Having paid nearly 10 quid, I wanted to finish it — but I threw it in the bin when I got to page 275 and nothing had improved. Cussler does / did this sort of thing much, much better.

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