Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievability eliminates suspense
Review: Terrible book.There are many reviews that pan this book because of the complete lack of beleivability and repeated "...at that exact moment..." escapes. Others have responded saying its all just for fun and you should not expect literary greatness. My problem with continual narrow escapes (good guys kill 10 guys with 10 bullets - somethimes less, while bad guy misses good guys with 10,000 bullets) is that after a couple of times it removes all of the suspense because you know the good guy will get out of any situation.
Rating: 
Summary: Temple is Good but Ice Station is far better
Review: Matthew Reilly is an excellent author who follows closely to the type of writing found in Clive Cussler, James Rollins, Steve Alten, etc. Worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Written like a 12 year old
Review: I read Ice Station, and while amateurish was reasonably well written. I suspect that the editors rewrote that one to make it readable. For Temple, they probably either thought that Reilly was successful enough to allow it through without editing or they couldn't find editors willing to undertake the task. I don't blame them. I have never read a professionally published novel that was so badly written in my life. It reads like a 12yo wrote it, with exclamation marks on every second sentence, cartoonish "BOOM, CRASH, BANG!" descriptors (the best one is YECCHHH), repeated use of unrealistic words like nanosecond ("a nanosecond before it happened..."), and totally unbelievable scenarios. Other reviewers have described some of the idiotic plot devices used, so I won't go into them here. Suffice to say that if your tastes run to Green Goblin and The Incredible Hulk comics, you might like this book. Otherwise go with Clancy or Forsythe. Or get a lobotomy.
Rating:
Summary: A pretty good archaeological thriller
Review: Reilly writes a decent novel with a fair amount of action and mystique, however some of the action events and stunts in the novel are a bit ridiculous and unplausable. At one point, a character jumps from one plane into another at 20,000 feet. If you're a fan of Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer films and dont' have a problem with suspending your belief in reality for awhile, the novel offers a good read, especially to those interested in cryptozoology (the study of mythical or extinct animals). The only problem I had with the story is that it is about 100 pages too long, and at times is a bit convuluted. The novel could have ended around page 350, but just when you think it is over, Reilly adds another twist (for better or worse is up to the reader) that keeps the story going. As a fan of science fiction and expecially archaeological fiction, I did enjoy the book and will look into some of Reilly's other novels.
Rating:
Summary: Simple, non-stop action...
Review: Matt Reilly's Temple is simply one of those books that you read for pleasure. This is clearly in the category of a "beach read". It definitely will not be mistaken for literature, but for its genre of action thriller, it meets the test of readability. Particularly entertaining are the integrated diversion scenes depicting the Incan world during the time of the Spanish conquest (necessary in understanding the main plot of the work). This novel is quite violent, however, and isn't really suitable for younger teens. On every other page it seems as if someone's head "exploded" (to use Reilly's favorite word). That aside, this isn't a bad thriller, although it does stretch the boundaries of even novelistic credibility at times.
Rating: 
Summary: Chock full of action...and horrendous prose!
Review: This book is, perhaps, the first sign of the apocolypse. At the very least, it signifies the end of literature as we know it. Matt Reilly is an "author" only in the sense that someone prints his books. His prose is crude, clumsy, and an embarrassment to literate people the world over. He makes liberal use of ellipses and exclamation points, which is fine. If you're ten-years-old. If, however, you intend to write for people who have NOT been lobotomized six or seven times, it would pay to be a little more competent. A little more subtle. I will not even disccuss the plot; it is far-fetched beyond description, requiring not just a suspension of disbelief, but a complete suspension of brain activity. However, I did give it two stars because I actually finished the book. I have to hand it Reilly there; something he did compelled me to find out what happens. In the end though, I think we're all a little dumber for having read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Over the top action
Review: This is a novel that is begging to be made into an action flick. It does however take a great deal of suspension of disbelief on the part of the reader. Our hero William Race is supposed to be a mild mannered linguistics expert that is brought along to the Amazon just to translate an ancient manuscript, but he soon becomes an action hero that a younger Arnold Schwarzenegger would be envious of. When I say suspension of disbelief, I'm not kidding. We're asked to believe that William can survive a hugh explosion by being blown clear in a barrel, he can fight giant crocodiles barehanded and the best is the survival of plunging to earth from the back of a plane (airborne) in an tank. But overall, it's an entertaining read.
Rating:
Summary: great story, original subject matter and good delivery
Review: a winner! picked this up in the airport and couldn't put it down on the plane. i like that we have some new subject matter here - incas, panthers, etc. and a modern story entwined with the ancient. loved it!
Rating:
Summary: Shoddy Book makes for a shoddy read.
Review: Without a doubt, this is the worst book I have ever read. Take a superior-trained group of terrorists armed to the teeth with super high-tech weapons and pit them against a nerdy linguist. Who wins? The linguist of course. I am a fan of a good unrealistic action book. However, Temple pushes the limits of reality to new extremes, making this book a horrible read. I kept asking myself if the book was written by a third-grader. One example: The protagonist is trapped in a control box suspended over the mouth of an enormous gold mine. He manages to diffuse the most powerful weapon known to man (able to obliterate 1/3 of the earths mass - uh, yeah right), then in FOUR seconds, grab an important relic from the other side of the room, and jump into the casing for an atomic weapon, sealing it from the inside (how convenient). All this happens to protect him from the secondary explosion that incinerates the control box yet serves to propel him to a nearby cliff, allowing him to pop out of his protective capsule after the explosion as if nothing had ever happened. This is enjoyable in a book if it happens once, but every page contains more of this BS. Its incredible. Another example: terrorists buy EIGHT blackhawk helicopters from Australia on a budget of $42 million (uh, yeah...). Somehow the australians don't care who they sell these helicopters to nor how much of a discount they sell them for (by my calculations, that would be like a 99% discount). Bottom line, this book is horrible and makes you wonder why you aren't out doing something more fun, like chewing shards of broken glass or picking the soap up off the prison shower floor. Don't waste your time or money.
Rating: 
Summary: Plenty of potential
Review: Not having read the author's previous two novels, I found, made no difference to the enjoyment offered by his third. 'Temple' leans more towards Cussler in style and echoes of Clancy abound.
'Temple' is a full throttle modern day Indiana Jones adventure in the deep Amazon combining military plots, ancient races, fearsome rapa cats and a machine that can destroy the planet. Reilly's Cholditz reason for its manufacture is a trifle lame, but that aside this novel possesses pace in abundance. Reilly's novel appears to want to offer more explosions, more action, more stunts and general derring-do than the last. Special effects are more important than plot. To the point that the only discernable time someone actually has to reload any weapon is when it is of import to the particular scene. By the time the American team featuring our erstwhile hero - Professor William Race, ancient languages lecturer at NYU - hit the river chasing the Germans, all reality is utterly suspended and we are into the realms of the incredible. The metamorphosis of Race from mildmannered bespectacled professor to all action hero is amazing. He's Clark Kent, James Bond and Indiana Jones all rolled into one plus considerably more. Moreover his ability to escape death by seconds is proven multiple times throughout.
Nevertheless this total suspension of reality (bordering on the comic book) is irrelevant - for the author's ability to develop a ripping good yarn is faultless. The premise of the novel is that the oft used 'metorite contains-some-special-powers' opener arrives and with it you can build the supernova - a planet destroying device. And everyone's after it (in fact I think we get to at least six groups), following a sixteenth century story map by the Spanish monk Santiago deep into the Amazon to retrive this off-planet thyrium. The novel is broken up by Race's translations of the story and this sub-story is as equally enthralling as the modern day equivalent. It concerns Hernando Pizzaro's lust for the thyrium-carved rapa head idol, the Inca Prince's Renco's stealing of it with the monk, Santiago and their flight to the citadel of Villacor in which, drawing inevitable parallels to Crighton's 'Congo', resides the fearsome rapa beast of myth and legend. These great cats, that seem to be the size of elephants at times and have an aversion to ammonia, protect the idol during the centuries from Santiago to the modern day. The story descends into each group getting its hands on false idols, real idols, major chase scenes, a lack of regard for human life in the face of gaining the idol (Reilly seems to feel the need to describe the manner of death in slowmo detail most of the time) doesn't really permit any character empathy (other than William Race). By the time we find ourselves in a 67-tonne tank approaching terminal velocity the sheer incredulity of the book has gone and Race's Rocketeer final escape seems almost feasible.
So, 'Temple' - if want a good read that doesn't let its hands off the action throttle and possesses enough characterisation and plot to ensure interest - then this is for you.
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