Rating: 
Summary: What do you expect, Faulkner?
Review: I think Matthew Reilly has an ability that's under-appreciated. You can look at this as mindless entertainment and yes, Reilly is never going to be able to write like Faulkner or Hemingway, but ask yourself this: Could Faulkner or Hemingway write something like Temple if they wanted to? Certainly not. Reilly's gift isn't in the way he puts words on paper, it's in his ability to free his imagination of any constraints and deliver a work that will hopefully free the reader's imagination as well. Credibility is strained right from the beginning with his hyper-elaborate action sequences but after awhile you just say "the hell with it" and go along with the ride choreographing the incredible images in your head. As mentioned in his interview at the end of this book (The Australian edition, I don't know about the American one) writing a novel does not place the kinds of limitations making a film does. I don't think the technology exists yet to shoot the massive scenes described in this book, and I don't think any producer would be crazy enough to finance it. I've never came across a writer who dared to undertake what Reilly has accomplished and that makes Temple, as well as his other novels, a unique reading experience.
Rating: 
Summary: IT'S LIKE READING AN ACTION ADVENTURE MOVIE
Review: Matt Reilly knows how to make you turn the pages. Sure, you have to suspend your disbelief at times, but he's writing great entertainment. I read the book in one sitting. Just great fun.
Rating:
Summary: Matthew Reilly isn't on his way to the top - he's there.
Review: It's 7 o'clock in the evening. You've had a long, uneventful day at work. Finding a comfortable spot on the couch, you crack open Temple and begin to read. Next thing you know, it's dawn. You haven't gotten a wink of sleep, you're stomach stopped rumbling hours ago after being repeatedly ignored, and calling in sick to work seems tempting as you itch to flip back to page one - and read it all over again.Temple is one of those books. Grabbing you from page one, it takes you on a dynamic adventure that you won't forget. I scanned some of the reviews, and I have to disagree with categorizing Temple as a simple action-adventure book, nothing more. It's plenty more! Intermixed with all of those hair-raising adventures is a plethora of information - if history books could be marketed like that, I'd have gotten A's across the board. In fact, after reading Temple I became fascinated with Incan history, myths and legends. I do, however, have one disparaging remark about Temple. If you've never read an action-adventure book, don't start with this one. I did, and now ever single book I try that's similar - only pales in comparison.
Rating:
Summary: Temple
Review: Temple is one of the best adventure books I've ever read. From the opening pages, Reilly captures my interest and glues my hand to the book. There was not a boring, slow paragraph I skipped. Temple is similar to Michael Crichton's Congo, very hard to put down.
Rating: 
Summary: Too incredible at times to be believable
Review: Well, the cover and back text really drew my attention: wow, something in the ancient times, some action, a good mix of interesting stuff. The story started out great, but the "hero" in the book tends to be more unbelievable as time progresses. If you have read Clive Cusslers books, you may recognize something of Dirk Pitt in him: everyone dies, but he doesn't, and while he is shot in the shoulder at point blank range, he'll still rescue the maiden from the jaws of the dangerous caiman. I thought (and this was confirmed in the interview at the end of the book) that Matt Reilly would much more prefer writing thriller scenarios. Some scenes in the book are SO elaborate, and so complex, that it seems like the scenariowriter for Lethal Weapon got together with the scenariowriter for Die Hard, got drunk, and wrote parts of this book together. There is a particular scene where the good guys chase the bad guys over water, with boats/catamarans/jet ski's where everyones move is being noted in such an elaborate way that I started to feel dizzy. Which Nazi was killed now? And how exactly? Which jet ski did which flip-move and who is dead now? I even glossed over some parts of this water scene (which took on for about 50 pages), which I NEVER do. So: nice book, if you read it in the back yard, on a lazy summer day. The concept is good, but rather distorted because of Reilly's insatiable taste for ACTION. Shame. Also, as I said above, the hero is rescued a zillion times, which makes him rather unbelievable (an ancient language professor who is wounded, but snatches up a statue, while darting for the exit of a huge tank which is in mid-air and is rapidly crashing down? Naturally, the guy makes it without another scratch). Darn it. Not what I hoped it to be!
Rating:
Summary: Empty Temple
Review: What can I say about this latest work of Matthew Reilly? A few words spring to mind; entertaining, unbelievable and trite. It's a lot like one of those 'leave-your-brain-at-the-door' movies in that, while it is entertaining there isn't much more to it. The characters are hollow stereotypes and the descriptions are lacklustre. The action comes thick and fast and, at times, is actually exciting. Sadly, action alone cannot save this book. You will, without a doubt, at times, think "there is no way that a language professor would do that!"- I know I did... several dozen times. The peak of unbelievability occurs when the main character, Race (the previously mentioned professor), rides a motorboat up the wings of a Bi-plane, landing on a bigger boat on the other side. So, if you are looking for a no-brainer entertaining romp or enjoyed the author's previous work (Ice Station; which was superior, IMHO) then this book is right up your alley. If, however, you want a book with depth, emotion and believability then you should look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Ride the ReillyCoaster
Review: Ignore KiwiAl, he has unfortunately fallen into the century old war between NZ and Australia. A bitter feud where one side questions the others familiarity with livestock. These books are good at what they were intended for. If you want a literary classic dont look here. This is pure and simple action. This is not credible, it is incredible. No time for looking deeply into the soul of the characters, the pace is just too fast. Thats what this is about. The Ride. From Neo-nazis, covert military groups struggling for survival, mythic feline monsters chasing us in the present to maddened conquistadors, the giant cats and Incan warriors chasing us in the past. It doesnt stop. The book is a rush. Far from perfect but just the same a damn good read. If ever an action movie fell straight from the screen into a book then it would be like this. If you like action and plenty of it.....read this. And KiwiAl......BAAAAA!!
Rating:
Summary: OK so Matt Reilly isn't exactly Shakespeare
Review: OK so Matt Reilly isn't exactly Shakespeare but if you want a good read, with action, adventure, attention to technical detail (mostly...) and just generally good escapism then this is the book for you. Reilly keeps the pace fast and furious thoughout the novel and the characters and story are familiar if you have read Reilly's other book - Ice Station (which I suspect Dreck hasn't). Reilly has obviously read a lot of Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler and Frederick Forsyth and incorporates the key elements of their style of writing into his books. OK so he needs practise and refinement in doing this but for a 3rd novel this is a pretty good effort. At least he doesn't ramble on and on for hundreds of unnecessary pages like Tom Clancy's more recent efforts...
Rating: 
Summary: Dreck
Review: Any author who describes something as being "a great big huge thing" desrves the contempt of any reader over the age of six. Any writer who can pen the following paragraph and expect us to take him seriously needs counselling. I quote: "Strangely, there was only one Nazi on board the Rigid Raider behind him. It was the boat that he had assailed with gunfire earlier, killing all its occupants bar one." Matthew Reilly is such an author. I have just this minute thrown his book into the trash. It deserves a worse fate.
Rating:
Summary: Texans and Rappas and Bombs! Oh my!
Review: Ladies and gentlemen, we're about to go supersonic. With a plot that moves at the speed of light and enough over the top action sequences to make Arnold Schwartzenager do a double take, Reilly's third novel is testestosterone central.
Anyone framiliar with Matt's writing style will be plesed to see that he has once again made excellent use of his formula: Fast, plot driven, 2-D characters. The story goes something like this: William Race, nerdy collage professor and cookie cutter "good-guy", is asked to help the US army find an ancient Incan idol in the middle of the Amazon jungle. Why? Because it's made of a material that, when placed in a special bomb called a Supernova, can destroy the Earth. And it seems that just about every terrorist in the world has a Supernova, minus this crucial ingredient. And they're all willing to kill to get it. To put things lightly, all Hell breaks loose. In the course of 24 hours, Race and friends deal with Nazis, suicidal Texans, traitors, traitors who're betraying the original traitors, vicious jungle cats, crocodiles....... starting to get the gist of it?
And in between all that, there is a parallel plot. Every once in a while, our hero reads some of an ancient Incan manuscript, which tells the story of Santiago and Renco, the two fellows who hid the idol so many years ago. The manuscript as as action-packed as the main plot, culminating in an amazing battle sequence between our heroes and Fransisco Pizzaro. Good stuff. So, as per usual, Temple is a rollicking roller-coaster ride, an action packed good time delivered by a man whose fans expect no less. Oh, yeah, by the way "blah blah blah bad character developement blah blah blah who cares its a blah-ing action thriller."
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