Cobalt Blue: A heart-pounding action thriller – Includes bonus material!

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years ago, Cassie and Arnold were alone at the family home in Texas when two of the Fury's sons, the Fury of Odessa and the Fury of Kazan, broke into the house. Odessa and Kazan admitted that their government's agencies have little intel on Cassie, and their intent to gift both her and Arnold's heads to their father. Despite an attempt at fleeing, Kazan managed to snatch Arnold from Cassie and broke his spine with a single punch, crippling him. Before the brothers could move in on Cassie, Cobalt returned home and swiftly killed the two Furies, later having their severed heads delivered to the Russian embassy in Washington. This incident prompted the family's relocation to a new home in Montana. The day after Cobalt's funeral, the Fury arrives over Washington, D.C. to begin his campaign. Cassie, now aged 29 and working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Los Angeles, watches the television broadcast as her eldest brother, Greg, aka Cobalt Green, steps forward to take on the Fury. Having served proudly in the United States Army, Cobalt Green might seem to the one to end the Fury's campaign before it begins, but alas he is swiftly defeated and decapitated. As the Fury practically demolishes the Pentagon before flying off to his next destination, the horrified Cassie and her husband Trey Cassowitz decide to return home. Cobalt White does not have a dedicated coloured text section, instead sharing the same purple text as her twin, Cobalt Purple, likely due to the difficulties of using white text. Fury of Russia is a ridiculous villain - a resentful psychopath with no boundaries and a lifetime of anti-American indoctrination. Being insane is his job and hobby. He wants to storm America, crush its monuments, and murder its people, starting with Cobalt Blue’s super-offspring.

And then there’s our lead who apparently has 0 emotions despite a whole bunch of people she loves dying around her within the space of 24 hrs. Two weeks earlier, Cobalt informed Cassie that the psychopathic Fury wants to tear down everything America stands for, humiliate and kill its leaders, and something else she had warned Cassie about after a summit in Paris. Cobalt knows that no one will be able to stop Furin after she dies, even her children since they are only half as strong as him. However, she revealed to Cassie that he has the same weakness as herself; their muscles, bones and organs may be stronger than normal, but as her declining health has proven, their superhuman feats take a heavy toll. Cobalt then tried to encourage Cassie to consider being a hero like her siblings, and while Cassie has always disliked the idea of being idolised and in the spotlight, Cobalt believed her daughter has the right mix of brains, strength and foresight necessary to stop the Fury. Overview: Matthew Reilly is the international bestselling author of eight novels: The 6 Sacred Stones, 7 Deadly Wonders, Ice Station, Temple, Contest, Area 7, Scarecrow, and the children's book Hover Car Racer, and one novella, Hell Island. Following rejections from all the major publishers, Matthew self-published Contest in 1996, printing 1000 copies. He produced a big-budget-looking novel which he sold into bookshops throughout Sydney, one shop at a time.

The whole thing is laughable, and I admit, it was probably made even more laughable in audiobook format. The narrator did a decent job, even though the Russian accents were a bit much - but hearing the cringey, ridiculous plot read aloud was embarrassing. It was a mess that I just couldn’t stop listening to, so yeah, it probably did it’s job, but lets be real - it’s full of needless deaths that could have been avoided if these supposedly great superheroes uhh… ACTUALLY WORKED TOGETHER?! Why was that never an option???? America and Russia both have superheroes - the Fury of Russia (all strength, rage, and hate) and Cobalt Blue (full of compassion and intellectual curiosity). They both got the same powers (think Superman, only better) during the same event. With each country having a superhero, we get a truce of sorts similar to the nuclear standoff during the Cold War.

In the end, there is a short interview with the author where he claims this novella was initially a movie script. That explains the uneven pacing, but the bigger problem is the author turning a subpar story into a bombastic adventure that makes no sense from start to finish. An undercooked tale served with glossy decorations doesn't do justice to the author's legacy.As these children grew up, it became clear that all of these offspring had only half of the strength of their respective superhuman parents. While the Fury's sons were conscripted into the military, Cobalt raised all of hers with her husband (albeit under constant guard) and had them attend public schools. Upon reaching adulthood, the eldest seven were allowed to choose their futures and places of residence, with most becoming heroes to their adopted cities. Cassie, meanwhile, preferred to remain anonymous to the public.

While an uneasy truce was held between America and Russian thanks to the presence of their respective superheroes, Cobalt and the Fury of Russia remained rivals for many years. Yet in spite of their great abilities, both continued to age as normal humans do, and Cobalt, already older than the Fury by two decades, eventually passes away at age 79. As soon as she passes, the Fury - no longer possessing an equal to oppose him - announces that he will soon begin a campaign of destruction against the U.S. and to eliminate Cobalt's children. I genuinely cannot believe I'm saying this right now but Matthew Reilly, this was not it. If you know me at all you know how much I adore Matthew Reilly's books but oh boy, my most anticipated book of 2022 is not only Reilly's worst book (that I've read so far) but, it might also be one of my least favourite books that I've read all year. It's a great action story because of course it is, Matthew Reilly wrote it after all. If you're a fan of the tv show The Boys then I'm sure you'd love this bloody action-full superhero story. But, that's really all this book has going for it. I blitzed through this book and I'm definitely keen to read more from this world of megalomaniac supes. It was dark, brutal and fast, and left me craving more. It’s obviously inspired by The Boys, Shazam, and a dash of Marvel (I mean, Russia’s secret weapon, America’s greatest hero?? AND A TOP SECRET SUPER EVIL GENIUS?? C’MON), but it was so cringe and flat that even if you’re not a fan of Marvel/DC, you’d think they’re masterpieces compared to this. Matthew Reilly continues to produce some of the best action thrillers on the market today, and this is no exception, Cobalt Blue is another masterpiece in what is a collection of exceptional books.

It's The Boys meets Captain America with no punches pulled - the action is hectic and non-stop, and the good guys just cannot catch a break. It's a steady rise of stakes that will have you on the edge of your seat wondering how this could possibly end well. Oh and Cobalt Gold?? Talk about ridiculously stereotypical. Listen, I’m well aware that stereotypical gays exist, but “Golden Gary” was the most 2 dimensional queer character I’ve ever seen. Contest • Temple • Hover Car Racer • The Tournament ( Roger Ascham and the King's Lost Girl • Roger Ascham and the Dead Queen's Command) • The Great Zoo of China • The Secret Runners of New York • Cobalt Blue

Both Dr. Cobalt and Sergeant Furin found that they were evenly matched, and while the former was selfless, working to understand her powers and defend peoples' lives when they needed her, Furin was tyrannical, viscously reclaiming the old Soviet republics and taking whatever he desired, earning the moniker the Fury of Russia. Soon the U.S. and Russia sought to create a new generation of these superhumans, with Cobalt donating some of her eggs to be artificially inseminated and brought to term through surrogacy, while Furin merely mated with the thousands of volunteers to try to produce a child. Despite some difficulty, both programs worked, with Furin having six sons, while five boys and two girls were produced from Cobalt's eggs. To much surprise, Cobalt also became pregnant to her husband, giving birth to a young girl, Cassie, although her parents elected to keep her identity a secret from the public. She is a most unique secretary and she will work for many bosses - from shrewd businessmen to vile Nazis, to the greatest boss of them all, Mr Albert Einstein...They name ‘their’ Superhero ‘The Fury of Russia’, whilst the US names their hero ‘Cobalt’, after her surname. For anyone familiar with Matthew Reilly’s novels, it may not be too surprising to learn that he has moved into action films with his directing debut of Interceptor, made for Netflix. Reilly’s novels read like fast-paced, high-octane-fuelled adventures, set in exotic locations and involving high profile, high-stakes players, all of which feels like it has been written with the possibility of selling film rights in mind. For this reason, it should also come as no surprise that Cobalt Blue was developed from a screenplay Reilly had been working on. Cobalt Blue is set in an alternate reality in which – much like many Hollywood films and television shows now – superheroes are real. Superheroes have become part of the zeitgeist of the modern world, and it’s not hard to understand why. As super enhanced humans, superheroes lead lives of emotional extremes: their stakes and the dilemmas they face are also super enhanced. They are us writ large and they may reflect our current political and ethical challenges in the stories produced about them. Not just stupid, but actual terrible writing that I can’t believe got past the multiple steps of editing. What follows is a period in which there is a new cold war, as the Russian’s reclaim the old ‘Soviet Union’, using their new super powered being as a super soldier to crush the enemies, combatants or not, of any country that won’t rejoin the Union.