The Trojan's March On The Seas (Trojan Odyssey - Clive Cussler)

Member Name: Andy.mack

Product:	Trojan Odyssey - Clive Cussler
Date:	29/08/07 (99 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An entertaining read, interesting characters, keeps you hooked

Disadvantages: The first 31 pages

When a huge hurricane threatens the lives of hundreds of people on an offshore hotel, Dirk Pitt and the NUMA team launch a mission to try and save them. The owner of the hotel has fled leaving his guests headed for certain death before the arrival of Pitt and his team. When the storm dies down, another NUMA team have discovered a strange toxin in the water and it all seems to lead to the coastal waters south of the Caribbean. Having barely recovered from saving the hotel Pitt is dispatched on a mission that seems quite straightforward, but before long he realises all is not as it seems and the planet is in danger.

This is the third set of Cussler’s characters I’ve come across and there is actually a cross over between Dirk Pitt’s team and that of Kurt Austin. While Cussler’s three series of books all run on there own It adds some consistency to the series that both NUMA teams actually cross over and appear in the others stories. This series mixes action and adventure with nature and I think it works very well. Cussler uses the ocean as not only a vehicle for his stories, but seems to try and educate the reader on the environment in a subtle way while doing it.

While there are a few comparatives between the two sets of characters in Cussler’s books there are greater differences. In this book the characters are a lot more adventurous and Pitt and his sidekick Al Giordino seem to like getting themselves into a bit of trouble. It’s because of this tendency that makes the Trojan Odyssey such a compelling read. As Pitt and Giordino jump head first into another situation, it keeps you reading to find out what actually happens to them.

The only complaint I would have about this book would be the long drawn out introduction. While it is important to the story and gives a bit of history into the Battle of Troy and the Trojan’s, I thought it was the only bit of the book that was hard to read. It is an intricate part of the whole story and for anyone unfamiliar with the story of Troy it is a learning experience too. However I thought in the context of the book it seems to make the start really hard going. While it’s not overall that much of a complaint, it could put people off the book before they get onto the proper story.

I found that this set of characters seem to really have a lot of personality. The lead character Dirk Pitt is someone you can’t help but like, his witty responses and adventurous nature make him someone you want to succeed. He has a likeable persona to him and it helps with the readability of the novel. I also felt that his sidekick Al Giordino was very much the same. He is the perfect foil for Pitt and the pair of them is really what makes the book so readable.

In all three of Cussler’s novels I’ve read I have to admit to being impressed by his bad guys. The Spector character in this book is done very well and Cussler keeps the secret identity going throughout the book. Although we never find out much about the head bad guy it actually adds to the suspense that Cussler creates and again really makes you want to read on. In fact other than the opening segment of the book I found it almost impossible to stop reading this book each time I started.

Overall this is probably the best of the three Cussler books I have read to date. It has interesting characters, who you can’t help but like and the story combines man’s ability to damage the environment with the power of nature. Coupled with that it’s a page turning read from the start of the book proper to the end. There are numerous twists and turns along the way that keep you guessing and it really is an entertaining read. It’s taken me a while to discover Cussler but he is fast becoming one of my favourite authors.

Amazon: £5.11
Amazon Marketplace: £0.01
Pages: 644
ISBN: 0-141-01694-9

Summary: A Dirk Pitt Adventure on the High Seas