Tag: SigmaForce

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#BookReview: Trust No One by James Rollins

Non-Sigma Adventure Blend of Rollins, Reilly, Robinson, And Others. Up front, for long time fans of Rollins: This is *NOT* a Sigma Force book… but it *is* written in such a way that I could see this book being retconned into that series at a later point via having these characters show up in a future Sigma book. The style of this tale and the Sigma books are very similar, so it really wouldn’t shock me at all there.

For others who have never read one of Rollins’ earlier thrillers – mostly in the aforementioned Sigma Force series – this is a very solid, standalone (so far?), introduction to his overall style. For fans of Matthew Reilly, Jeremy Robinson, David Wood, Nick Thacker, Matt James, and Rick Chesler in particular… you’re going to find a lot to enjoy here. And if you read this book and find you like its style, you should absolutely go check out all those other authors I just named as well, if you haven’t already.

The mysteries and puzzles are clever here – yes, this also can at times feel like a Tomb Raider or Uncharted type adventure – and the action is intense, yet also not full out sprinting throughout the novel. There are breathing periods where both the good guys and the bad guys are trying to figure out what is going on and where they need to go next, but even within these passages the tension never really lets up too much. Even while bullets aren’t flying, mysteries are still being uncovered no matter their age, and yes, this tale has some secrets that are not too old at all.

Overall simply a fun and well paced adventure tale that will take you out of the so-called “real” world for several hours – it *does* clock in north of 400 pages – and will have you on the edge of your seat for most of that time.

Very much recommended.

This review of Trust No One by James Rollins was originally written on February 10, 2026.

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#BookReview: Tides Of Fire by James Rollins

Sigma. Is. Back. With Kingdom Of Bones, it looked like Rollins was delving too far into the fantastical and leaving behind the more grounded roots of this series. Here… the ties are more to the scifi than the fantastical, including The Abyss, Pacific Rim, Earthcore by Scott Sigler, and even… Mass Effect 3??? Yes, there is one particular scene roughly 2/3 into this tale that while not *quite* word for word with a particular moment in Mass Effect 3, is damn close – and the sentiments and reasons are identical within their worlds. (To be fair, in this particular situation… the wording is always going to be very similar, no matter where you encounter it.)

But more than the scifi zeitgeist connections here, this tale truly gets back to the real roots that make Sigma Force so special. We’ve got the historic and the scientific, and again, the scientific is at least more closely based on actual science this time around. But we’ve also got the camaraderie among the team, including having most of the team (minus Painter, Lisa, and newer team member Jason) together the first time we see them and having a bit of a mini-adventure then as the overall tale begins to pick up. Then we’ve got the Sigma Split, with the team breaking up to go their own separate projects to try to uncover and stop whatever is happening. Each of their specialties get highlighted and tested to degrees not seen in recent Sigma books in a fair amount of time, even Gray’s “special brain”. More akin to David Wood’s Dane Maddock Adventures in this particular point, there are even several callouts to other characters from prior Sigma tales and how those characters are still impacting the world even through the events of this tale.

And that epilogue… It sets up the 2024 entry into this series to be one of the most explosive in quite some time, and you’re going to want *that* book in your hands the moment you finish this one.

Very much recommended.

This review of Tides of Fire by James Rollins was originally written on August 12, 2023.

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#BookReview: Crucible by James Rollins

Can Even Sigma Defeat This Threat? Honestly, the best thing about this book is that Rollins ups the stakes *so much* that the threat feels *all too real* – even moreso than during the events of The Demon Crown. And yes, in part this is because I’m reading this book – where the science involved is fully realized Artificial General Intelligence – in 2023, when it seems we hear every day that this is truly just days away from actually being real. But also because of Rollins’ writing and what he is willing to put the characters we’ve come to love so much through. The team is actually split in *three* ways here, rather than the more typical two, and with each feeding on the other (as usual)… pulse pounding at its finest. Rollins truly makes you feel that even Sigma is actually being gravely threatened – and that is a true talent, after spending so many books showing them to be almost a John Cena type of organization, able to take any beating that comes their way and ultimately win anyway. Combining the science of AI with the history of the witch purges and in particular the Spanish Inquisition – which was still raging as recently as just 200 yrs ago – was truly inspired here, and works quite well – even moreso with the particularly shocking revelation in the end that ties all the way back to the very first words of the book. Truly one of the better Sigma books, but absolutely one that needs to be read at minimum in order as a trilogy with this being Book Three and The Seventh Plague and The Demon Crown being books 1 and 2, respectively. (Even if you don’t go back and re-read the *entire* Sigma story before coming into this one.) Very much recommended.

This review of Crucible by James Rollins was originally written on June 23, 2023.

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#BookReview: The Starless Crown by James Rollins

Solid Storytelling. Nearly Deceptive Description. Let me be explicitly clear: THIS IS A FANTASY BOOK. It is NOT a Sigma Force style science-bending military technothriller. Given Rollins’ rise to fame on the back of his Sigma Force books, as well as the fact that he has *another* pseudonym for his pre-Sigma Force fantasy novels, the fact that the description of this book does not make clear that THIS IS A FANTASY BOOK is dang near deceptive marketing. If you enjoy fantasy tales, this one is going to be perfectly in line with what you enjoy and more power to you. But despite having a *far* wider range in my own reading than most readers, fantasy books are one of *few* genres that just make for dang good naps every time I try to read them – and this one was no different, despite LOVING Rollins’ Sigma Force work and at times reading it in a single sitting. This noted, Rollins’ abilities to craft a tale are just as strong here, and for what it is the story is compelling. Truly my only complaint is that it should have been made explicitly clear that THIS IS A FANTASY BOOK, and I would never have touched it at all. Recommended.

This review of The Starless Crown by James Rollins was originally written on January 8, 2022.