Matthew Riley’s hero Jack West is one of the world’s five greatest warriors, along with Moses, Genghis Khan, Napoleon and Christ—seriously!—so he is well-nigh invincible. In every book, he saves the world from increasingly outlandish threats, in which his fighting skills help as much as his knowledge of the classical texts. You know he will vanquish his foes and get out of the worst crises alive; it’s the how that is thrilling for his fans who turn his books into bestsellers.

The Four Legendary Kingdoms is a Jack West thriller after The Seven Ancient Wonders, The Six Sacred Stones and The Five Greatest Warriors. As the titles suggest the books are a mix of action and mythology.

This time, the world a threat of extinction from a collision with the superior Hydra Galaxy, unless mere mortals of Earth can prove that they are worthy of living. The four kingdoms of the title are Land, Sea, Sky and The Underworld, which are ruled by immensely powerful kings. Interestingly, the Underworld is India, which is where our one-armed hero is headed—most unwillingly.

The rulers of the four kingdoms organize a set of deadly challenges, and pit the best warriors against one another and perform the rituals that would deflect the fast approaching Hydra Galaxy. West is kidnapped and forced to compete in these ‘Games’ or his family and friends—also kidnapped along with him—will be killed.

There are sixteen well trained and fully prepared contestants, and every time one is eliminated, their families held hostage are slaughtered too.

The challenges are tough and so bizarre that the book has drawings explaining them, to enable the reader to visualize them too. While the Games are on, there are other sub-plots involving Minotaurs enslaved by Hades, the King of the Underworld, and the danger to West’s adopted daughter Lily, who is a prize catch for the nasty son of Hades. There’s also a vicious midget called Mephistopheles who brandishes lethal weaponry.

Readers of Reilly’s thrillers obviously go for pacy action, and very simple dialogue. So the book goes on a breathless ride to see how west survives. As an ally here is the hero of another Reilly series—Captain Shane Schofield of the US Marines, better known as Scarecrow. The scene in which they have to fight each other to the death is truly chilling.

The book is aimed at young readers and has a comic-book core, but grown-ups who do pick it up, will be absorbed enough to go to the very end. And yes, Jack West’s mother Mae Merriweather (she threatens serious bodily harm to anyone who calls her Mae West), is quite a character too!

The allusions to Hindu mythology are unmissable, but there is a cocktail of myths from other cultures too—which is why it is important for the hero to have brains along with brawn.

The Four Legendary Kingdoms
By Matthew Reilly
Publisher: Orion/Hachette
Pages: 430