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Sigma Force #10
The 6th Extinction
A remote military research station sends out a frantic distress call, ending with a chilling final command: Kill us all! Personnel from the neighboring base rush in to discover everyone already dead-and not just the scientists, but every living thing for fifty square miles is annihilated: every animal, plant, and insect, even bacteria.
The land is entirely sterile-and the blight is spreading.
To halt the inevitable, Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma must unravel a threat that rises out of the distant past, to a time when Antarctica was green and all life on Earth balanced upon the blade of a knife. Following clues from an ancient map rescued from the lost Library of Alexandria, Sigma will discover the truth about an ancient continent, about a new form of death buried under miles of ice.
From millennia-old secrets out of the frozen past to mysteries buried deep in the darkest jungles of today, Sigma will face its greatest challenge to date: stopping the coming extinction of mankind.
But is it already too late?
The land is entirely sterile-and the blight is spreading.
To halt the inevitable, Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma must unravel a threat that rises out of the distant past, to a time when Antarctica was green and all life on Earth balanced upon the blade of a knife. Following clues from an ancient map rescued from the lost Library of Alexandria, Sigma will discover the truth about an ancient continent, about a new form of death buried under miles of ice.
From millennia-old secrets out of the frozen past to mysteries buried deep in the darkest jungles of today, Sigma will face its greatest challenge to date: stopping the coming extinction of mankind.
But is it already too late?
448 pages, Paperback
First published August 12, 2014
2030 people are currently reading
9007 people want to read
About the author
James Rollins
126 books14.3k followersJames Rollins is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of international thrillers. His writing has been translated into more than forty languages and has sold more than 20 million books. The New York Times says, “Rollins is what you might wind up with if you tossed Michael Crichton and Dan Brown into a particle accelerator together.” NPR calls his work, “Adventurous and enormously engrossing.” Rollins unveils unseen worlds, scientific breakthroughs, and historical secrets matched with stunning suspense. As a veterinarian, he had a practice in Sacramento for over a decade and still volunteers at local shelters. Nowadays, Rollins shares his home up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with two furry companions, Echo and Charlie. He also enjoys scuba diving, spelunking, kayaking, and hiking. Of course, he loves to travel and experience new places around the world, which often inspire his next globe-trotting adventure.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,324 reviews
September 14, 2014
I realized something when reading this book, something that should have hit me long before now: James Rollins writes awesome female characters. And if you read thrillers as much as I do, you know what a rarity that is. They're smart and competent, compassionate and driven. Yet they're not cookie cutter-similar, either. Seichan's my favorite, but Jenna's a great addition to the team. It's great to open one of Rollins' books and know that if a woman ends up in a dangerous situation, she'll do her best to get herself out of it.
Aside from that, the Sigma novels are just fun: crazy, cutting-edge science, mad action, and sass. This one references some of the most recent developments in genetics research and environmental preservation, plus shadow biomes and XNA (an alternate nucleic acid similar to DNA or RNA, but using other elements). I always come away from these stories feeling that I've learned something new, and wanting to do more research on the subjects involved.
And did I mention they're fun?
Aside from that, the Sigma novels are just fun: crazy, cutting-edge science, mad action, and sass. This one references some of the most recent developments in genetics research and environmental preservation, plus shadow biomes and XNA (an alternate nucleic acid similar to DNA or RNA, but using other elements). I always come away from these stories feeling that I've learned something new, and wanting to do more research on the subjects involved.
And did I mention they're fun?
March 4, 2022
3.5 stars
In this 10th book in the Sigma Force series two civilian scientists - one in California and one in Brazil - are trying to develop 'outside-the-box' solutions to counteract humankind's destruction of the Earth. Unfortunately the cures are worse than the disease. The book can be read as a standalone.
FYI: Sigma Force is a secret division of the U.S. Department of Defense, composed of former Special Forces officers who've been trained in various scientific disciplines.
*****
The story: In a covert underground laboratory in northern California, Dr. Kendall Hess has developed man-made indestructible viral shells, and loaded them with a substance that will kill ANYTHING and EVERYTHING it contacts.
When the virus gets loose - and safeguards in the lab fail - a desperate distress call goes out. The SOS ends with the plea: "Kill us. Kill us all." California State Park Ranger Jenna Beck and her partner - a Siberian Husky named Nikko - arrive at the scene to see the lab explode and Hess get abducted by well-trained commandos.
The commandos try to kill Jenna (because she witnessed the kidnapping), but the Ranger is very resourceful and holds her own until Sigma Force personnel arrive.
Everyone in the California lab (aside from Hess) is dead and the virus-contaminated smoke emanating from the burning facility is killing everything it touches: bacteria, fungi, insects, plants, animals, people, etc. Moreover, the destruction is spreading and seems unstoppable.
Skip ahead a short while and two victims of the virus - the dog Nikko and a Sigma Force operative - are quarantined and fighting for their lives.
In addition, the discovery of old maps and other clues result in two Sigma Force units being dispatched: one team - led by Gray Pierce - goes to a laboratory in the Antarctic.
Another squad - led by Painter Crowe -travels to the mountains of Brazil. Both teams are attacked at every turn, and the book is chock full of action scenes filled with death and destruction.
At the Antarctic facility, Sigma Force learns about a habitat beneath the Antarctic ice, populated by ancient exotic creatures living in lakes and caverns.
These organisms, which are unknown to the outside world, have an unusual type of genetic material called XNA (for xenonucleic acid). XNA contains a different sugar component than RNA (which contains ribose) or DNA (which contains deoxyribose).
It turns out that Hess's California lab used XNA to create the deadly substance in the undestroyable viral shells. Hess's ultimate aim was to fortify the DNA and RNA of 'normal' plants and animals - so they could withstand global warming, habitat destruction, and other harmful changes to the planet. However the discoveries in Antarctica don't provide a solution to the spreading calamity in California.
In Brazil, Sigma Force finds that (supposedly dead) scientist Dr. Elwes Cutter - an evil genius - has used XNA to bioengineer a tropical ecosystem filled with deadly plants and animals. (I have to admire the author's imagination in creating all the unusual creatures in this novel.)
In addition, Cutter had Hess abducted, so he could get the 'blueprints' for the invincible viral shells. Cutter has various nefarious schemes in mind to 'save the Earth' (which I can't reveal because of spoilers).
Meanwhile, back in California a government scientist, Dr. Raymond Lindahl, is trying to stop the virus before it spreads to the whole region, country, and perhaps world. Lindahl is planning to use the nuclear option if all else fails. In addition, Lindahl wants to use poor Nikko as a test subject - to study the effects of the virus on his body. Other Sigma Force personnel strongly object to these plans for Nikko, but the scientist is very insistent. This leads to some drastic actions.....
With all this going on, the Sigma Force teams face a race against time at every turn.
The units in the Antarctic and Brazil are fighting to survive attacks by commandos AND deadly creatures; the Brazil team is trying to capture Cutter before he carries out his diabolical plans; and all of Sigma Force is desperate to stop the virus before Lindahl blows up California. Can they do it? You'll have to read the book to find out.
Rollins includes a lot of real science in the book including: life in extreme environments; techniques for manipulating genetic material; methods for creating new species; attempts to resurrect extinct species; and more.
I enjoyed the novel but found that the escapades and organisms in the two locations, Antarctica and Brazil, got confused in my mind....and I sometimes had stop and think where I was in the book. Still, it's a good story that would appeal to fans of science-filled, action-packed stories.....and I'd recommend the book to those readers.
If you're a long-time fan of the series you should know that all the popular Sigma Force characters are on hand for the proceedings - and there are some changes in the private lives of a couple (can you say wedding?).
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....
October 4, 2017
The 6th Extinction is book 10 in the Sigma series and you don't need to have read the previous books in the series to enjoy this book. Although it wouldn't hurt to read them in the right order. Mostly because the series is good and it's interesting to follow the character lives throughout the books.
This book starts with the destruction of a remote military research station that not only kills every single scientist in the facility, but also every living thing within fifty square miles. Animals, plants, and yes even bacteria are killed and the infestation is spreading. Now, they must find a way to stop it.
This book takes us both to the jungles of South America and the icy world of Antarctica as the agents of Sigma has to find a way to stop the spreading that kills everything in its way.
The book is split into two parts; Commander Gray Pierce and others travelers to Antarctica looking for the answers below the ice and Painter Crowe and his group is going after the scientist that created the scourge and who was kidnapped when the military research station was destroyed. I preferred the Antarctic part of the book, it was most interesting with the lost world under the ice and also the one that felt most adventurous.
Meanwhile, Crowe and his team are trying to find the scientist that was kidnapped by the evil man that wanted to destroy the world that we know. The problem for me with the storyline was that It just got to scientific sometimes, too much scientific babble that dragged the story a bit. It was fundamentally interesting the idea that something could be so devastation dangerous that it could kill everything alive, but it just sometimes felt like the scientific babble just went on and on. That could really be why I just preferred what was going on with Pierce and the others because they had to fight for their lives constantly in Antarctica and the world below was so fantastic and dangerous. Yes, there was danger in Brazil, but I just felt less interested in the storyline.
I liked the book, I think it is well-written and fascinating to read. Yes, sometimes the science went above my head, but that only makes me more impressed because it does make the book feel very well researched. Although it did now and then go on a bit too long for my taste. But still, in essence, a really good book.
This book starts with the destruction of a remote military research station that not only kills every single scientist in the facility, but also every living thing within fifty square miles. Animals, plants, and yes even bacteria are killed and the infestation is spreading. Now, they must find a way to stop it.
This book takes us both to the jungles of South America and the icy world of Antarctica as the agents of Sigma has to find a way to stop the spreading that kills everything in its way.
The book is split into two parts; Commander Gray Pierce and others travelers to Antarctica looking for the answers below the ice and Painter Crowe and his group is going after the scientist that created the scourge and who was kidnapped when the military research station was destroyed. I preferred the Antarctic part of the book, it was most interesting with the lost world under the ice and also the one that felt most adventurous.
Meanwhile, Crowe and his team are trying to find the scientist that was kidnapped by the evil man that wanted to destroy the world that we know. The problem for me with the storyline was that It just got to scientific sometimes, too much scientific babble that dragged the story a bit. It was fundamentally interesting the idea that something could be so devastation dangerous that it could kill everything alive, but it just sometimes felt like the scientific babble just went on and on. That could really be why I just preferred what was going on with Pierce and the others because they had to fight for their lives constantly in Antarctica and the world below was so fantastic and dangerous. Yes, there was danger in Brazil, but I just felt less interested in the storyline.
I liked the book, I think it is well-written and fascinating to read. Yes, sometimes the science went above my head, but that only makes me more impressed because it does make the book feel very well researched. Although it did now and then go on a bit too long for my taste. But still, in essence, a really good book.
July 19, 2025
In the 6th Extinction, James Rollins takes his readers on a journey of DNA evolution. What if Darwin's theory had more to it than what we learned today? The Sigma Force series never disappoints, and in this installment, we learn about the advances of medical technology and the impact of changing the core of human beings mindsets. Is this why animals and other species became extinct years ago? A fun ride, but a bit too technical again in some parts. I missed Seichan not being in this book... but I enjoyed the new characters. Sad we lost one who's been involved since the beginning, tho too. Onward to the next one in the series, which I hope to finish by the early fall.
June 16, 2017
This is the 10th book in the series but I can't see any reason it isn't a stand alone. This book should come with a five point restraint since once the actions starts it never stops and you just careen from one dangerous situation until the next. And the story is like the Stand meets Jurassic Park if written by Tom Clancy.
The book starts off with a nice park ranger and her dog are overseeing a school trip to a lake outside of Bodie, CA. https://www.bodie.com/ in a weird bit of coincidence I had never heard of the town until a few weeks ago and here it was popping up in a book. As the tour ends all she can think about is a nice dinner of ribs but before she can get it she is sent out to investigate an emergency call from a local secret military base. In echoes of the Stand she arrives and finds the gate wide open and heads into the base. In moments she is on the run trying to evade a cloud of deadly gas. she and her loyal dog then end up fighting off a band of mercenaries trying to eradicate any witnesses.
She get rescued by the Marines and is drawn into an adventure that will take her and the team to South America and Antarctica. In addition to the semi mad scientist who was creating a deadly plague in the California mountains there is an even crazier scientist in the Brazilian rain forest whose ego knows no bounds. Then there is the hidden world under the South Pole filled with living things so deadly and terrifying that a velociraptor would look like a golden lab puppy.
You the reader tag along on all these adventures and bounce and bound from one action sequence to another. And you honestly need to put the book down occasionally and catch your breath.
Very enjoyable
The book starts off with a nice park ranger and her dog are overseeing a school trip to a lake outside of Bodie, CA. https://www.bodie.com/ in a weird bit of coincidence I had never heard of the town until a few weeks ago and here it was popping up in a book. As the tour ends all she can think about is a nice dinner of ribs but before she can get it she is sent out to investigate an emergency call from a local secret military base. In echoes of the Stand she arrives and finds the gate wide open and heads into the base. In moments she is on the run trying to evade a cloud of deadly gas. she and her loyal dog then end up fighting off a band of mercenaries trying to eradicate any witnesses.
She get rescued by the Marines and is drawn into an adventure that will take her and the team to South America and Antarctica. In addition to the semi mad scientist who was creating a deadly plague in the California mountains there is an even crazier scientist in the Brazilian rain forest whose ego knows no bounds. Then there is the hidden world under the South Pole filled with living things so deadly and terrifying that a velociraptor would look like a golden lab puppy.
You the reader tag along on all these adventures and bounce and bound from one action sequence to another. And you honestly need to put the book down occasionally and catch your breath.
Very enjoyable
August 7, 2014
The 6th Extinction by James Rollins is the very highly recommended 10th Sigma Force Novel, but more importantly, it is a terrific thriller that will deliver an action packed ride to the suspenseful end. This is not a leisurely read. It is a "stuck overnight at the airport book," meaning The 6th Extinction will keep you up, awake, and entertained with minimum trips to find coffee or a distraction. In fact, you will be a toe-tapping, nail-biting mess trying to read fast enough to find what will happen next. (And I literally was a toe-tapping, nail-biting mess reading while waiting for my car's oil to be changed today.)
A distress call comes out of an old military station in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, by Mono Lake, asking for someone to, "Kill us all!" Jenna Beck, a California State Park Ranger and her dog, Nikko, go up to investigate and quickly become part of something much larger than anything she could anticipate. It appears everything near the site is dead - and then commandos in black from a ubiquitous black helicopter fly in to finish the job. The site is blown up, releasing a man-made pathogen that kills everything.
The Sigma Force is called into action to find out what the pathogen is, where the scientist in charge has been taken, who is attacking them and the scientists, and where the genesis of the pathogen can be found. Their teams must travel from California to Brazil to Antarctica in a race to discover the answers and stop the madness before it causes the 6th extinction, this time of the human race.
Rollins always delivers the goods!
This thriller benefits from all the real science and research Rollins does to enhance the book. (Those who miss Michael Crichton's books, take note.) The 6th Extinction is full of science and history. Rollins clues you in at the end what science and research is real, what research or beliefs the scientific debates and theories are based on, and where the science is heading, along with other information. I love that about his books. Rollins not only provides us with an excellent, electrifying thriller full of action and adventure, he also treats his readers with respect and a nod to their intelligence and comprehension.
Having read all the Sigma force novels (or almost all of them), I could easily follow along with the many characters and the action. I really think that you could jump into the series and still finish the book with just as much enjoyment. Of course, then I'm predicting that you'll then want to go back and read the other Sigma force novels - and everything else Rollins has written.
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of HarperCollins for review purposes.
A distress call comes out of an old military station in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, by Mono Lake, asking for someone to, "Kill us all!" Jenna Beck, a California State Park Ranger and her dog, Nikko, go up to investigate and quickly become part of something much larger than anything she could anticipate. It appears everything near the site is dead - and then commandos in black from a ubiquitous black helicopter fly in to finish the job. The site is blown up, releasing a man-made pathogen that kills everything.
The Sigma Force is called into action to find out what the pathogen is, where the scientist in charge has been taken, who is attacking them and the scientists, and where the genesis of the pathogen can be found. Their teams must travel from California to Brazil to Antarctica in a race to discover the answers and stop the madness before it causes the 6th extinction, this time of the human race.
Rollins always delivers the goods!
This thriller benefits from all the real science and research Rollins does to enhance the book. (Those who miss Michael Crichton's books, take note.) The 6th Extinction is full of science and history. Rollins clues you in at the end what science and research is real, what research or beliefs the scientific debates and theories are based on, and where the science is heading, along with other information. I love that about his books. Rollins not only provides us with an excellent, electrifying thriller full of action and adventure, he also treats his readers with respect and a nod to their intelligence and comprehension.
Having read all the Sigma force novels (or almost all of them), I could easily follow along with the many characters and the action. I really think that you could jump into the series and still finish the book with just as much enjoyment. Of course, then I'm predicting that you'll then want to go back and read the other Sigma force novels - and everything else Rollins has written.
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of HarperCollins for review purposes.
December 4, 2014
It’s Alright.
Have been a fan of James Rollins since reading one of his first books Map of Bones. In The 6th Extinction, once again, there is only a matter of hours to save the world. The book jumps around quite a bit and near the end I started skimming and even skipping. Eventually got tired reading about all the killer monsters, what they looked like, what they did, etc. etc. However, for a first time reader of this author it should prove to be an entertaining read. But after reading many of his other similar books think I need to give him a pass for awhile.
Have been a fan of James Rollins since reading one of his first books Map of Bones. In The 6th Extinction, once again, there is only a matter of hours to save the world. The book jumps around quite a bit and near the end I started skimming and even skipping. Eventually got tired reading about all the killer monsters, what they looked like, what they did, etc. etc. However, for a first time reader of this author it should prove to be an entertaining read. But after reading many of his other similar books think I need to give him a pass for awhile.
August 21, 2014
Gah!! At 75% mark I lost all interest. Too stupid and way too predictable. The science in this one went too far. I much preferred the earlier books. Shame...
July 19, 2024
This was the July book for our group book read on Mystery & Suspense group on the Library Thing site. I like James Rollins. I have read most of his other series including some in this one, so I thought I knew what to expect. The book description read like it would be a top-notch adventure... and it was...but only up to a point. The opening chapter was mesmerizing...Charles Darwin on the Beagle in Antarctica...secret maps...science fiction, right? Maybe. It wasn't long before I began to find that it was much less a sci-fi story than I had expected.
The female leads are highly trained and capable but somehow, they always seem to need to be rescued by a potential love interest with a gun. All the heroes, of course, have guns with no doubts about killing and with astounding accuracy...but they aresaving the world after all. If you want to read a fast-paced action novel, then this will not disappoint. If you are a science fiction fan, you might find the flaws in logic regarding the potential microbial threat a bit on the doubtful side.
After the journey through history with Charles Darwin, the story switches over to modern times, along with a genetically engineered microbe that escapes from the laboratory and is threatening life on earth. The author skillfully weaves in some information about the Nazi development of Antarctic caverns, then he focuses on the continent's bizarre lifeforms...and begins to address the microbial dangers in this cavern purported to contain super-mutating, predatory species. He by-passes the fact that Mother Nature has quite a long-standing reputation for dealing with life-threatening life forms of any type. I guess the author believes that teeth and squirmy underwater threats are story-worthy villains...and, mostly he is right. I was rather disappointed with the flawed logic where the reader is expected to be fearful of man-made microbes, but not of microbes in a super-mutating environment. Maybe fodder for another book.
If you like gun-toting heroes and villains, then you will probably eat this story up...if it doesn't eat you up first. It has lots of bad guys, some very good guys that we can all root for, multiple life-threatening monsters, a fuzzy warm and sympathetic animal who loves one of the damsels in destress... in this case his name is Neko and he's a dog, ...and a time-sensitive, can they save-the-world mission.
If you are looking for an intellectually challenging science fiction drama with a sweet dog, and a complex moral challenge, then you will diffidently like this one. Side Note: I listen to the audio book version read by Christian Baskous. He didn't do a bad job, but I had problems with the way he portrayed the voice of the characters. Of course, I had to take into consideration how many of those different voices he had to do.
The female leads are highly trained and capable but somehow, they always seem to need to be rescued by a potential love interest with a gun. All the heroes, of course, have guns with no doubts about killing and with astounding accuracy...but they aresaving the world after all. If you want to read a fast-paced action novel, then this will not disappoint. If you are a science fiction fan, you might find the flaws in logic regarding the potential microbial threat a bit on the doubtful side.
After the journey through history with Charles Darwin, the story switches over to modern times, along with a genetically engineered microbe that escapes from the laboratory and is threatening life on earth. The author skillfully weaves in some information about the Nazi development of Antarctic caverns, then he focuses on the continent's bizarre lifeforms...and begins to address the microbial dangers in this cavern purported to contain super-mutating, predatory species. He by-passes the fact that Mother Nature has quite a long-standing reputation for dealing with life-threatening life forms of any type. I guess the author believes that teeth and squirmy underwater threats are story-worthy villains...and, mostly he is right. I was rather disappointed with the flawed logic where the reader is expected to be fearful of man-made microbes, but not of microbes in a super-mutating environment. Maybe fodder for another book.
If you like gun-toting heroes and villains, then you will probably eat this story up...if it doesn't eat you up first. It has lots of bad guys, some very good guys that we can all root for, multiple life-threatening monsters, a fuzzy warm and sympathetic animal who loves one of the damsels in destress... in this case his name is Neko and he's a dog, ...and a time-sensitive, can they save-the-world mission.
If you are looking for an intellectually challenging science fiction drama with a sweet dog, and a complex moral challenge, then you will diffidently like this one. Side Note: I listen to the audio book version read by Christian Baskous. He didn't do a bad job, but I had problems with the way he portrayed the voice of the characters. Of course, I had to take into consideration how many of those different voices he had to do.
October 25, 2020
সিগমা ফোর্স সিরিজের মধ্যে প্রথমবারের মতো কোন বই পড়তে গিয়ে বিরক্ত লেগেছে, বইটা বেশ ওভাররেটেড লেগেছে। অনুবাদ খুব একটা ভালো লাগেনি। সিগমা ফোর্স সিরিজের মধ্যে এই প্রথম কোন বই খুব একটা উপভোগ্য লাগলো না। খুব ভালোও না, আবার খারাপও না। অনুবাদে যথেষ্ট সমস্যা ছিল বিশেষ করে কয়েকটা শব্দ বুঝতেই পারিনি কি বুঝাতে চেয়েছেন, সম্ভবত টাইপ করার সময় শব্দগুলোতে সমস্যা হয়েছে। যাইহোক মূল গল্পটাই ভালো লাগেনি, অনুবাদ কিংবা পরপর কয়েকটা সিগমা পড়ার প্রভাবও আছে এর পেছনে।
July 21, 2014
ScienceThrillers.com review: If you're a fan of science-themed or techno-thrillers but you don't know author James Rollins and the Sigma Force series, it's past time to join the party.
Rollins is easily one of the top three writers of science-themed action thrillers working today. The phrase "the next Michael Crichton" has been horribly overused, but Rollins has a legitimate claim to the title. The Sixth Extinction, his newest Sigma novel, is a masterpiece of imaginative, suspenseful storytelling with plenty of science and science fiction elements.
The Sixth Extinction is as good as or better than any other book in the Sigma Force series. I was particularly entranced by the science themes, which focus on synthetic biology and bioengineering. (Bringing microbes and molecules into a story is always a plus with me!) Strange life forms, both micro and macro, aren't the only newcomers to this Sigma novel. Rollins introduces Jenna Beck, a California State Parks ranger who has brains, courage, resourcefulness, and a search-and-rescue dog named Nikko. (Rollins, who was a veterinarian in his previous life, has started writing great dog characters. Check out his Tucker Wayne stories, featuring military dog Kane: Bloodline (Sigma Force), Tracker: A Short Story (Sigma Force Novels), The Kill Switch: A Tucker Wayne Novel (Sigma Force Novels).)
As readers expect in Sigma tales, the action in Sixth Extinction is wild and nonstop and set in several exotic locales. In this installment, Antarctica and the Brazilian Amazon are key settings. My favorite setting is actually the one least exotic to me: California's eastern Sierra Nevada, including Mono Lake, the village of Lee Vining, and the ghost town Bodie.
Readers will recognize strong echoes of Crichton's Jurassic Park and Micro in this novel. Rollins displays impressive creativity in constructing worlds teeming with predators that are believable and terrifying. He also uses his story to thoughtfully explore some important issues about how humans might or are responding to what many believe is a real-life sixth great extinction happening right now. See his notes at the end of the book for discussion.
There is generally less development of Sigma team member life stories in this volume (though there are wedding bells in the air) but there is a setup for more stories to come.
In his Sigma Force thrillers, Rollins is known for mashing together crazy mixtures of real science and history and turning them into action-packed plots. Sixth Extinction is no exception. What I found particularly appealing about this installment of the series is the science focus on biotechnology. I'm a sucker for DNA stories. Rollins plays games with real science, taking bits of truth and sometimes stretching them into pure science fiction. In this book, the stretches are shorter, maybe because (as he points out in the end notes) science reality in the field of synthetic biology is perilously close to fantasy. Hence the 4 biohazards rating, higher than Sigma usually gets from me. Rollins actually had me looking some stuff up (CRISPR-Cas technology, to be precise) and I enjoyed learning about the new technology.
In short, take it as a given that if you follow the ScienceThrillers website, you should be reading James Rollins. The Sixth Extinction may not be the best place to start, given the long history of the characters in the series, but then again, it's a fabulous page-turner and who cares if you don't know all the details? Pick up whichever Sigma novel you can get your hands on and get started.
Rollins is easily one of the top three writers of science-themed action thrillers working today. The phrase "the next Michael Crichton" has been horribly overused, but Rollins has a legitimate claim to the title. The Sixth Extinction, his newest Sigma novel, is a masterpiece of imaginative, suspenseful storytelling with plenty of science and science fiction elements.
The Sixth Extinction is as good as or better than any other book in the Sigma Force series. I was particularly entranced by the science themes, which focus on synthetic biology and bioengineering. (Bringing microbes and molecules into a story is always a plus with me!) Strange life forms, both micro and macro, aren't the only newcomers to this Sigma novel. Rollins introduces Jenna Beck, a California State Parks ranger who has brains, courage, resourcefulness, and a search-and-rescue dog named Nikko. (Rollins, who was a veterinarian in his previous life, has started writing great dog characters. Check out his Tucker Wayne stories, featuring military dog Kane: Bloodline (Sigma Force), Tracker: A Short Story (Sigma Force Novels), The Kill Switch: A Tucker Wayne Novel (Sigma Force Novels).)
As readers expect in Sigma tales, the action in Sixth Extinction is wild and nonstop and set in several exotic locales. In this installment, Antarctica and the Brazilian Amazon are key settings. My favorite setting is actually the one least exotic to me: California's eastern Sierra Nevada, including Mono Lake, the village of Lee Vining, and the ghost town Bodie.
Readers will recognize strong echoes of Crichton's Jurassic Park and Micro in this novel. Rollins displays impressive creativity in constructing worlds teeming with predators that are believable and terrifying. He also uses his story to thoughtfully explore some important issues about how humans might or are responding to what many believe is a real-life sixth great extinction happening right now. See his notes at the end of the book for discussion.
There is generally less development of Sigma team member life stories in this volume (though there are wedding bells in the air) but there is a setup for more stories to come.
In his Sigma Force thrillers, Rollins is known for mashing together crazy mixtures of real science and history and turning them into action-packed plots. Sixth Extinction is no exception. What I found particularly appealing about this installment of the series is the science focus on biotechnology. I'm a sucker for DNA stories. Rollins plays games with real science, taking bits of truth and sometimes stretching them into pure science fiction. In this book, the stretches are shorter, maybe because (as he points out in the end notes) science reality in the field of synthetic biology is perilously close to fantasy. Hence the 4 biohazards rating, higher than Sigma usually gets from me. Rollins actually had me looking some stuff up (CRISPR-Cas technology, to be precise) and I enjoyed learning about the new technology.
In short, take it as a given that if you follow the ScienceThrillers website, you should be reading James Rollins. The Sixth Extinction may not be the best place to start, given the long history of the characters in the series, but then again, it's a fabulous page-turner and who cares if you don't know all the details? Pick up whichever Sigma novel you can get your hands on and get started.
March 1, 2018
چندان دوستش نداشتم. خیلی زیست شناسی داشت.
این قدر که حوصله ندارم خلاصه بنویسم.
همین
این قدر که حوصله ندارم خلاصه بنویسم.
همین
August 17, 2014
I felt like this book was a bit lacking in originality and shared many of the same info as James Rollins' other books. A few examples: this book has the underworld of Antarctica component of Subterranean, the throwback animals of Alter of Eden, the deadly virus component of The Judas Strain, and the scary flora and fauna of the Amazon like in Amazonia. If one were to mix up all those ideas into one book, it would be The Sixth Extinction. That said, it was a fairly good read, if slightly more boring than some of his other books. I felt like I knew what was going to happen most of the time and was therefore not inclined to pay very close attention. I found my mind wandering a lot and then realizing that I wasn't paying attention and having to reread. That's never a good sign.
July 14, 2017
The book starts off and it is like a football game in the 4th quarter and the score is close. Rollins does not let you get comfortable and has set up the sequence of events with you knowing full well what the background is (historically) and what scientific facts are available and then he goes for the running game with 4th and a yard to go. He never leaves you stale and wanting. It was exciting from the start to finish. I could not believe the pace he set from the onset. There is mystery and travel...some-places new and exciting.
There is however a chapter that I did not like. I am not fancy about spiders and the like that are bigger than normal. I will not go further into detail. I skipped that chapter. It did not really affect the rest of the book.
Of course, as all his books, he does not want to leave you with any falsehoods, and he makes sure to clear the air with what is fact and where he let his literary license to entertain take over. No illusion on what went on. a 3 out of 5 based on my dislike of the bigger than life animals...
There is however a chapter that I did not like. I am not fancy about spiders and the like that are bigger than normal. I will not go further into detail. I skipped that chapter. It did not really affect the rest of the book.
Of course, as all his books, he does not want to leave you with any falsehoods, and he makes sure to clear the air with what is fact and where he let his literary license to entertain take over. No illusion on what went on. a 3 out of 5 based on my dislike of the bigger than life animals...
July 29, 2016
This is the 10th Sigma Force novel by James Rollins. All the members of the team are back, including Commander Grey Pierce, Dr. Lisa Cummings, Painter Crowe, and Kowalski. Two other main characters Jenna Beck and Jason Carter play prominent roles.
As he does with all his novels, Rollins weaves his fiction with threads of actual science and history. What makes his work interesting is the possibility that some or all of the cataclysmic events depicted could come true. This formula along with fast pacing and changing environments provides the constantly shifting milieu necessary to keep most readers enthralled.
This book begins in the high country of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in eastern California. Containment in a clandestine, government bio-lab is breached and an unidentified virus begins its march into the food and water supply. What it infects, it kills. Nothing can stop its spread.
Sigma force is tasked with unraveling the mystery behind the facility, its occupants, and the science and history leading to its existence. The trail of paper and bodies eventually leads them to the ice fields of Antarctica and the rain forests of Brazil, where they come face to face with the past and the future. Neither includes the current dominant species struggling to balance individual human wants with the needs of the planet.
If you are a fan of the Sigma novels, you will most likely enjoy this read. On the expanded scale, I provide the Sixth Extinction with a 4.1 out of 5.0.
As he does with all his novels, Rollins weaves his fiction with threads of actual science and history. What makes his work interesting is the possibility that some or all of the cataclysmic events depicted could come true. This formula along with fast pacing and changing environments provides the constantly shifting milieu necessary to keep most readers enthralled.
This book begins in the high country of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in eastern California. Containment in a clandestine, government bio-lab is breached and an unidentified virus begins its march into the food and water supply. What it infects, it kills. Nothing can stop its spread.
Sigma force is tasked with unraveling the mystery behind the facility, its occupants, and the science and history leading to its existence. The trail of paper and bodies eventually leads them to the ice fields of Antarctica and the rain forests of Brazil, where they come face to face with the past and the future. Neither includes the current dominant species struggling to balance individual human wants with the needs of the planet.
If you are a fan of the Sigma novels, you will most likely enjoy this read. On the expanded scale, I provide the Sixth Extinction with a 4.1 out of 5.0.
November 11, 2015
I’ve been a fan of James Rollins for a number of years now, and yet I can’t help but feel that his series of Sigma Force novels are getting a little long in the tooth.
His tenth iteration, The 6th Extinction, carries with it a whiff of ‘been there, done that’ malaise and the typical Rollins formula has been reduced to a simple template. If you’ve read the series thus far, you know exactly what you’re getting. Frankly, that’s a shame. There’s no surprises, to the point that you can predict exactly what happens when and where in the narrative with striking efficiency. From an author that used to keep me glued to the pages and in constant suspense with an adrenaline-fueled read, this book only managed to inspire boredom and apathy.
SPOILER WARNING FROM HERE ON OUT
Going in, you know that the Sigma team will be split in half, with the A-team and B-team focusing on their own A and B stories before converging for the finale. You know that there will be good guy scientist commandos versus merciless bad guys intent on devastating the world and siccing their own army of commandos against the Sigma boys and girls. There’s a Dog in Danger subplot, and since The 6th Extinction is all about a man-made renegade virus that could potentially eliminate the human race, you know that dog will get infected and that he will make a full recovery. When the book opens with Painter and his fiance prepping for their wedding day, you can rest assured that their lives will be quickly interrupted with a crazy global threat, but that everything will get resolved just in time for their happy nuptials to take place. You know that Gray will be dealing with his father’s Alzheimer and agonizing over the choices he must make to care for his dad, simply because that’s become an ingrained part of his story for ten novels now. I know Alzheimer is a rough and awful disease and that it is not the least bit simple for those dealing with it, or their family. But reading the same schtick for ten books now has grown into a frustration, right down to Gray repeating a decision from an earlier book under the auspices of Second Chances. I wish Rollins either had something new to say about Gray, his father, (or even the rest of team Sigma for that matter) or would just freaking move on already. There’s even multiple ticking-time bomb scenarios, stacked one atop the other in the forms of an actual nuclear bomb, a rampaging virus, and multiple infections that could spell death for these unfortunate ancillary one-off characters if a cure isn’t found in a matter of hours. About the only cliche not stuffed into The 6th Extinction is the tired ‘days away from retirement’ device.
While I completely dig the science and sense of authenticity Rollins is able to breath into these thrillers thanks to meticulous (or at least seemingly meticulous) research, it’s heavily lacking in other areas. While the plot elements of rogue genetic engineering, biohacking, and ancient, almost alien-like lifeforms surviving in shadow ecologies are ridiculously strong and interesting, the story element surrounding these devices is pretty blah. Particularly the characters, who may get shot or dismembered from time to time, only to bounce back virtually unaffected or any worse the wear. It was cute at first, but now lacks even a glimmer of interest. Which is compounded further, since this is a book centered on a mad, perilous viral threat to all of life on Earth as we know it, but there’s never really any true sense of danger. Rather than moving along at a breakneck, frenetic page, it feels bloated and sluggish under its own weight. There’s no surprises here, and the stakes don’t feel much at all like stakes because you know everything’s going to be OK. This may be Rollins’ most risk-averse formulaic comfort-read effort yet. Sadly, I found myself far too bored far too often.
At this point, one Sigma Force book is pretty much the same as the next, just swap out one bit of cutting edge science for another, change the name of the mysterious far-flung locale hiding Mother Nature’s deepest, darkest secrets, slap a new cover on it, and hit the bestseller lists. I’m sure Rollins is contractually obligated to turn out new stuff in this series for his publisher since it’s a no-brainer cash grab for both of them, but still, these stories need to get seriously shaken up and the author desperately needs to break the mold.
Or, maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m just too tried of prolonged, open-ended, never-ending series reads. Maybe I’m just too old for this stuff, or maybe I’m just growing more finicky with the books that fill my scare free time for reading. I obtained this book from my local library, and maybe the time that elapsed between requesting it and obtaining it meant a swing in desire and this just wasn’t the right book at the right time for me. Maybe. Just maybe.
Right now, I certainly don’t find myself in any rush to read Rollin’s next effort, The Bone Labyrinth. I’m sure I will one day, in the hopes that his books can excite me the way they did when I first stumbled upon Ice Hunt quite a while back. I used to buy his books religiously, but I think those days are at an end. For now, I’m quite content with waiting for an ebook copy to turn up in the check-out queue at my library, or for it to hit that sweet $1.99 price point. Or maybe this was just a misfire for Rollins and he can rediscover his groove and remind me why I used to enjoy his cunning romps around the world and into the corners of lost dark continents.
His tenth iteration, The 6th Extinction, carries with it a whiff of ‘been there, done that’ malaise and the typical Rollins formula has been reduced to a simple template. If you’ve read the series thus far, you know exactly what you’re getting. Frankly, that’s a shame. There’s no surprises, to the point that you can predict exactly what happens when and where in the narrative with striking efficiency. From an author that used to keep me glued to the pages and in constant suspense with an adrenaline-fueled read, this book only managed to inspire boredom and apathy.
SPOILER WARNING FROM HERE ON OUT
Going in, you know that the Sigma team will be split in half, with the A-team and B-team focusing on their own A and B stories before converging for the finale. You know that there will be good guy scientist commandos versus merciless bad guys intent on devastating the world and siccing their own army of commandos against the Sigma boys and girls. There’s a Dog in Danger subplot, and since The 6th Extinction is all about a man-made renegade virus that could potentially eliminate the human race, you know that dog will get infected and that he will make a full recovery. When the book opens with Painter and his fiance prepping for their wedding day, you can rest assured that their lives will be quickly interrupted with a crazy global threat, but that everything will get resolved just in time for their happy nuptials to take place. You know that Gray will be dealing with his father’s Alzheimer and agonizing over the choices he must make to care for his dad, simply because that’s become an ingrained part of his story for ten novels now. I know Alzheimer is a rough and awful disease and that it is not the least bit simple for those dealing with it, or their family. But reading the same schtick for ten books now has grown into a frustration, right down to Gray repeating a decision from an earlier book under the auspices of Second Chances. I wish Rollins either had something new to say about Gray, his father, (or even the rest of team Sigma for that matter) or would just freaking move on already. There’s even multiple ticking-time bomb scenarios, stacked one atop the other in the forms of an actual nuclear bomb, a rampaging virus, and multiple infections that could spell death for these unfortunate ancillary one-off characters if a cure isn’t found in a matter of hours. About the only cliche not stuffed into The 6th Extinction is the tired ‘days away from retirement’ device.
While I completely dig the science and sense of authenticity Rollins is able to breath into these thrillers thanks to meticulous (or at least seemingly meticulous) research, it’s heavily lacking in other areas. While the plot elements of rogue genetic engineering, biohacking, and ancient, almost alien-like lifeforms surviving in shadow ecologies are ridiculously strong and interesting, the story element surrounding these devices is pretty blah. Particularly the characters, who may get shot or dismembered from time to time, only to bounce back virtually unaffected or any worse the wear. It was cute at first, but now lacks even a glimmer of interest. Which is compounded further, since this is a book centered on a mad, perilous viral threat to all of life on Earth as we know it, but there’s never really any true sense of danger. Rather than moving along at a breakneck, frenetic page, it feels bloated and sluggish under its own weight. There’s no surprises here, and the stakes don’t feel much at all like stakes because you know everything’s going to be OK. This may be Rollins’ most risk-averse formulaic comfort-read effort yet. Sadly, I found myself far too bored far too often.
At this point, one Sigma Force book is pretty much the same as the next, just swap out one bit of cutting edge science for another, change the name of the mysterious far-flung locale hiding Mother Nature’s deepest, darkest secrets, slap a new cover on it, and hit the bestseller lists. I’m sure Rollins is contractually obligated to turn out new stuff in this series for his publisher since it’s a no-brainer cash grab for both of them, but still, these stories need to get seriously shaken up and the author desperately needs to break the mold.
Or, maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m just too tried of prolonged, open-ended, never-ending series reads. Maybe I’m just too old for this stuff, or maybe I’m just growing more finicky with the books that fill my scare free time for reading. I obtained this book from my local library, and maybe the time that elapsed between requesting it and obtaining it meant a swing in desire and this just wasn’t the right book at the right time for me. Maybe. Just maybe.
Right now, I certainly don’t find myself in any rush to read Rollin’s next effort, The Bone Labyrinth. I’m sure I will one day, in the hopes that his books can excite me the way they did when I first stumbled upon Ice Hunt quite a while back. I used to buy his books religiously, but I think those days are at an end. For now, I’m quite content with waiting for an ebook copy to turn up in the check-out queue at my library, or for it to hit that sweet $1.99 price point. Or maybe this was just a misfire for Rollins and he can rediscover his groove and remind me why I used to enjoy his cunning romps around the world and into the corners of lost dark continents.
July 12, 2016
Audiobook Review
2 1/2 Stars
Narrator Christian Baskous
Rollins, what were you thinking? What might have been a rip-roaring excellent novel that transports you to a phantasmagorical world of alternate life engineered by mad scientists landed flat like a genetically mutated fish. Rollins reworks his storyline and characters from Subterranean, adds far to0 many groups of characters, profoundly confusing the reader with a choppy story line lacking cohesion.
Read by Christian Baskous, what should be a 12 hour audiobook lasts 15 a grueling hours. His grinding old-dude voice (I'm old, so this is saying something), and atrocious accents shred the narrative. The book is not chapterized in audio, so the reader has no advance warning when the story shifts from one group of actors to the next.
The Sigma team doesn't seem like a team in this rendering, fractured and shallow. In all, an incredible disappointment. Rollins has been a tremendous writer in the past, but I won't wade into one more of the Sigma series.
2 1/2 Stars
Narrator Christian Baskous
Rollins, what were you thinking? What might have been a rip-roaring excellent novel that transports you to a phantasmagorical world of alternate life engineered by mad scientists landed flat like a genetically mutated fish. Rollins reworks his storyline and characters from Subterranean, adds far to0 many groups of characters, profoundly confusing the reader with a choppy story line lacking cohesion.
Read by Christian Baskous, what should be a 12 hour audiobook lasts 15 a grueling hours. His grinding old-dude voice (I'm old, so this is saying something), and atrocious accents shred the narrative. The book is not chapterized in audio, so the reader has no advance warning when the story shifts from one group of actors to the next.
The Sigma team doesn't seem like a team in this rendering, fractured and shallow. In all, an incredible disappointment. Rollins has been a tremendous writer in the past, but I won't wade into one more of the Sigma series.
January 17, 2023
★★★½
While it is not mind-blowing, The Sixth Extinction is a great page-turner, filled with action and adventure, with some interesting ideas.
The Sixth Extinction exactly serves it's purpose to me, as an action-adventure read. I am on a reading slump for the whole of last year, and this book gets things going. It is easy to read, the action makes the plot go quickly, and thus it is perfect.
As I move through the series, the lack of fatality makes things a little too predictable and convinient. That is one downside I clearly felt with this book. However, the science stuff was interesting and I found myself googling a lot to verify and know about the things mentioned here. That's a huge plus.
As for characters, I missed Seichan, but Jenna is an interesting addition. I hope she joins the team. It is again good to see Painter in action. Gray and rest are the usual fare and there is nothing much to say.
While it is not mind-blowing, The Sixth Extinction is a great page-turner, filled with action and adventure, with some interesting ideas.
The Sixth Extinction exactly serves it's purpose to me, as an action-adventure read. I am on a reading slump for the whole of last year, and this book gets things going. It is easy to read, the action makes the plot go quickly, and thus it is perfect.
As I move through the series, the lack of fatality makes things a little too predictable and convinient. That is one downside I clearly felt with this book. However, the science stuff was interesting and I found myself googling a lot to verify and know about the things mentioned here. That's a huge plus.
As for characters, I missed Seichan, but Jenna is an interesting addition. I hope she joins the team. It is again good to see Painter in action. Gray and rest are the usual fare and there is nothing much to say.
February 17, 2024
Ova mi je bila fenomenalna! Tona akcije, zabavne sekvence s Antarktike, naravno uvijek pomalo nevjerojatno, ali baš za uživanciju.
Svi u ekipi su mi bili odlično. Ovaj put se Seichan pojavljuje doslovno u tragovima, ali Gray zato ima neke druge osobne probleme. Kovalsky zakon kao i uvijek, i naravno uvijek dobije najveće oružje hahahah. Konačno, konačno ga je Gray počeo malo više cijeniti. Trebalo je deset knjiga da do toga dođe, ali zadovoljna sam. Pojavljuju se i neki novi simpa likovi koji će se nadam se pojaviti i u nekom od idućih nastavaka. Jao a čukoooo, lijepi Nico, mislila sam da će jadan skončati. Joj što volim happy end kad su životinje u pitanju.
Uvijek kad čitam Sigmu, odmah imam želju nastaviti s idućim dijelom. Ali ne smijeeem. Uh!
Bookopoly 2024. – Husband Pick
Globalni ciljevi: nastavak srijala
Svi u ekipi su mi bili odlično. Ovaj put se Seichan pojavljuje doslovno u tragovima, ali Gray zato ima neke druge osobne probleme. Kovalsky zakon kao i uvijek, i naravno uvijek dobije najveće oružje hahahah. Konačno, konačno ga je Gray počeo malo više cijeniti. Trebalo je deset knjiga da do toga dođe, ali zadovoljna sam. Pojavljuju se i neki novi simpa likovi koji će se nadam se pojaviti i u nekom od idućih nastavaka. Jao a čukoooo, lijepi Nico, mislila sam da će jadan skončati. Joj što volim happy end kad su životinje u pitanju.
Uvijek kad čitam Sigmu, odmah imam želju nastaviti s idućim dijelom. Ali ne smijeeem. Uh!
Bookopoly 2024. – Husband Pick
Globalni ciljevi: nastavak srijala
January 26, 2025
Always love a good techno thriller and Sigma Force never lets me down. Scientists can be evil or can be curious to the point of doing evil because they don’t think through the consequences of their actions before they create or experiment. And of course they can be careful and conscientious. But what’s the fun and adventurous story in that? This was a whirlwind of evil genius trying to kill off humanity and the good guys trying to stop that from happening. Intense and frightening.
March 11, 2015
Fasten your belt, pull down the roll bar and hang on! The 6th Extinction by James Rollins starts fast and then picks up speed, twisting and turning on a dime as it takes you on a ride into the science of biogenetics and the reality of mass extinction looming above us all. Rollins does not let up in this novel, the 10th in the Sigma Force adventure series.
A distress call is received from a military research station deep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains -
"...This is sierra, victor, whiskey. There's been a breach. Fail safe initiated. No matter the outcome: kill us...kill us all..."
When help finally arrives they find everyone dead. Not only at the research station but for fifty square miles around. All life. Animal or plant. All dead.
To confuse matters even more, there is a firefight going on the mountainside. A park ranger and her rescue dog are pinned down by a paramilitary group. She is rescued and the story she relates is even more frightening as the leader of the research station is kidnapped, taken alive before the station was breached.
Only one group, Sigma Force, has the capability and scientific know how to unravel this mystery and fight off what may be a catastrophe up global proportions. A madman with an environmental agenda has gotten a hold of the most powerful virus on the planet. A virus no plant of animal has an immunity against. A virus which can be used to bring out the 6th Extinction.
Rollins is a thrill writer and his novels move so fast that they are meant to be devoured over the span of hours, not days and not weeks. The 6th Extinction is no exception to this rule. It is fast. It is exciting and it is smart. Very smart. Rollins has stepped into the void left by the passing of Michael Crichton. There are shades of Andromeda Strain here but unlike most of Crichton novels, there is no dull interlude as the science is explained. Here the science is fast and furious. Bill Nye on speed dial. You will understand it and you will want to not believe it possible but like most truly frightening aspects of good fiction, there is a great deal of truth to it all.
Another winner by a gifted storyteller at the top of his game.
A distress call is received from a military research station deep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains -
"...This is sierra, victor, whiskey. There's been a breach. Fail safe initiated. No matter the outcome: kill us...kill us all..."
When help finally arrives they find everyone dead. Not only at the research station but for fifty square miles around. All life. Animal or plant. All dead.
To confuse matters even more, there is a firefight going on the mountainside. A park ranger and her rescue dog are pinned down by a paramilitary group. She is rescued and the story she relates is even more frightening as the leader of the research station is kidnapped, taken alive before the station was breached.
Only one group, Sigma Force, has the capability and scientific know how to unravel this mystery and fight off what may be a catastrophe up global proportions. A madman with an environmental agenda has gotten a hold of the most powerful virus on the planet. A virus no plant of animal has an immunity against. A virus which can be used to bring out the 6th Extinction.
Rollins is a thrill writer and his novels move so fast that they are meant to be devoured over the span of hours, not days and not weeks. The 6th Extinction is no exception to this rule. It is fast. It is exciting and it is smart. Very smart. Rollins has stepped into the void left by the passing of Michael Crichton. There are shades of Andromeda Strain here but unlike most of Crichton novels, there is no dull interlude as the science is explained. Here the science is fast and furious. Bill Nye on speed dial. You will understand it and you will want to not believe it possible but like most truly frightening aspects of good fiction, there is a great deal of truth to it all.
Another winner by a gifted storyteller at the top of his game.
September 2, 2014
Kids, dogs, kidnapping, shootouts, bad guys, good guys, the environment. Its all here and a lot of it is unnecessary and confusing. Hard to keep track of who is doing what for the common good. While rated as "ok," this only deserves 3 of 10 stars.
May 15, 2015
I enjoyed the story and the exotic locations – the story takes place across the globe from the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, to the remote tepuis of Brazil, and all the way to Antarctica. It was a very fast-paced thriller, with less investigation and more “diving-right-in-and-doing” than some of the other books in this series. The returning characters from previous novels were a nice surprise, but I won’t names in case you are a fan of the series and haven’t read this one yet. Jenna, Nikko, and Drake were nice additions to the team, and I wouldn’t mind seeing them pop up again in future volumes. I do wish that Seichan had a bigger part in this one though.
As always with James Rollins’s books, be sure to read / listen to the Notes to the Reader at the end of the novel. He always explains what out of the book is science, and what is fiction. In this novel particularly, that is the scariest part of all.
As always with James Rollins’s books, be sure to read / listen to the Notes to the Reader at the end of the novel. He always explains what out of the book is science, and what is fiction. In this novel particularly, that is the scariest part of all.
October 10, 2014
Seomthing deadly escapes from a secret government research lab in Northern California, along with a message to "kill us all." A local Park Ranger and her dog go to investigate, and miraculously survive to be joined by Painter Crowe and his fiancee, who are nearby planning their wedding. One team (Gray Pierce) heads off to Antarctica followng a lead from an assault on a major lead, to discover a land of strange beasts survivng under the polar ice cap. The other team (Painter) ends up in northern Brazil, where a presumed dead scientist is genetically manipulating species. Really crazy frenetic for most of the book, this one is a wild ride, even for the Sigma Force series.
March 24, 2015
Booooorrriiinnng!
For all the "imagination" Rollins supposedly has, I would think he could do better than put random books from Conan Doyle, Crichton, Tom Clancy, Ian Fleming, Stephen King and Robin Cook into a blender and actually sell the carp that came out. This is just too much all at the same time. Genetic manipulation and lost worlds and evil geniuses and big-breasted anti-heroines and the Nazi legacy and global warming and impending extinction... all in one hodge-podge package with airhead characters doing unexplainably stupid things. I was going to give it two stars. But I changed that to one. Actually, make that one-half of one star.
For all the "imagination" Rollins supposedly has, I would think he could do better than put random books from Conan Doyle, Crichton, Tom Clancy, Ian Fleming, Stephen King and Robin Cook into a blender and actually sell the carp that came out. This is just too much all at the same time. Genetic manipulation and lost worlds and evil geniuses and big-breasted anti-heroines and the Nazi legacy and global warming and impending extinction... all in one hodge-podge package with airhead characters doing unexplainably stupid things. I was going to give it two stars. But I changed that to one. Actually, make that one-half of one star.
Read
August 19, 2024DNF. I’m sure it’s a fine book but I found myself only caring about Jenna’s story line. I also couldn’t keep up with who everyone was or what was going on.
December 10, 2022
Another solid tale. Gray Pierce + team finds an ancient map rescued from the lost Library of Alexandria and a new threat buried under miles of ice.
April 17, 2019
if i'm not mistaken, every main sigma force book up to now has religious shit all over, except this;
on the other hand, the science in this one is a bit difficult to follow, for me at least
p82: using the claw-toothed hammer, he pried open the inner door of the elevator.
p288: "jason, on my signal, you haul ass toward me."
he looked terrified, but he gave a firm nod.
gray shifted his rifle away from the water and pointed it at the roof. he hoped the noise in the confined space didn’t knock jason out, but he had to take the chance. he pulled the trigger.
i guess i missed your signal, hotshot
on the other hand, the science in this one is a bit difficult to follow, for me at least
p82: using the claw-toothed hammer, he pried open the inner door of the elevator.
p288: "jason, on my signal, you haul ass toward me."
he looked terrified, but he gave a firm nod.
gray shifted his rifle away from the water and pointed it at the roof. he hoped the noise in the confined space didn’t knock jason out, but he had to take the chance. he pulled the trigger.
i guess i missed your signal, hotshot
August 30, 2014
It always amazes me how Mr Rollins can blend history, science, and fabulous characters into a novel that is so fast paced and super enjoyable. This book is no exception. Using the frozen world of Antarctica, we and the Sigma crew travel to the unknown region where different species roam and terrify and plants are bred to be killers. Interspersed with that is the jungles of South America where a hell bent scientist is trying to bring the human species down to the level of a Neanderthal so that the playing field on our planet is level and the rules of the jungle prevail.
The whole thing is tied up with the ability to manipulate DNA, RNA, and XNA. The chase begins and the world is once again on edge of being not exactly destroyed but certainly changed and not for the better for the human race. Luckily, the Sigma Force is on it and of course they save the day and thankfully the human race.
Mr Rollins have interspersed the ideas of the various environmentalists and yes, some of them do think we are in the sixth extinction and some believe that it is only through death that a species gets better. There is a lot here that you may or may not agree with but certainly the ideas are mind blowing.
So, needless to say I am ready for the next "voyage" of the Sigma force and I do have my sunscreen ready and have ordered extra ammunition. Thanks again for a wonderful couple days of enjoyable and fast paced reading, Mr Rollins!
The whole thing is tied up with the ability to manipulate DNA, RNA, and XNA. The chase begins and the world is once again on edge of being not exactly destroyed but certainly changed and not for the better for the human race. Luckily, the Sigma Force is on it and of course they save the day and thankfully the human race.
Mr Rollins have interspersed the ideas of the various environmentalists and yes, some of them do think we are in the sixth extinction and some believe that it is only through death that a species gets better. There is a lot here that you may or may not agree with but certainly the ideas are mind blowing.
So, needless to say I am ready for the next "voyage" of the Sigma force and I do have my sunscreen ready and have ordered extra ammunition. Thanks again for a wonderful couple days of enjoyable and fast paced reading, Mr Rollins!
November 15, 2015
Ora aqui está uma aventura que vale bem a pena ler! É dos meus preferidos, sim, é. Só senti falta de Monk, que entra no início mas depois não acompanha Gray numa viagem inesperada à Antártida. Gosto de acompanhar a equipa Sigma pelos locais mais interessantes deste Planeta, gosto das descobertas que fazem, da informação que me dão a conhecer sobre as coisas mais interessantes (às vezes, também medonhas e aterrorizadoras). Gosto de como se deparam sempre com situações de perigo que parecem não ter solução e de repente, bimba!, acontece alguma coisa ou alguém tem uma ideia genial. Ação non-stop, sempre muita adrenalina. Mesmo na gélida Antártida.
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