The problem with this? Cobalt Blue was much older than Fury when she got superpowers, which unfortunately don’t stop aging and heart failure. So one day after Cobalt’s death, the Fury of Russia comes to America to kill her offspring and wipe out the country. Since Seven Ancient Wonders in 2005, Matthew's novels have been the biggest selling new fiction title released in Australia for that year. 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. years ago, during the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War, the United States and Russia attempted to ease the old tensions by collaborating on a space mission to study the atmosphere of Venus. Upon the probe's landing in the Arctic, an American science team and a Russian special forces unit were sent to retrieve its samples. However, a tiny organism from Venus's atmosphere that had become attached to the probe abruptly burst and released a strange gas into the faces of Dr. Christine Cobalt and Sergeant Nikolai Furin, rendering them both comatose for a few months. After they had awoken, both found that they had developed superhuman powers, such as enhanced strength, senses and even the ability to fly. In the post-novel interview, Reilly revealed that he had begun writing Cobalt Blue as a screenplay, before expanding the story into the current, novel version. The screenplay version of the story was said to contain less scenes, such as the cruise liner incident and the scene with the Vice President at LAX. Reilly maintains that he'd like to direct a film adaption of it at some point.

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. Matthew has also written several short stories, including Roger Ascham and the King's Lost Girl, a special free prequel to The Tournament which is available online. Other short stories include Time Tours, The Mine and the hyper-adrenalised romp, Altitude Rush. 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. 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. Not just stupid, but actual terrible writing that I can’t believe got past the multiple steps of editing.

🍪 Privacy & Transparency

From racist gangs in Berlin to gangsters in New York City, Nazis in the 1930s and Hitler's inner circle during the Second World War, Hanna will encounter some of history's greatest minds and most terrible moments, all while desperately trying to stay alive.

Spanning forty years, this is the thrilling tale of a young woman propelled through history's most dangerous times. But read it carefully, because all may not be as it seems... 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.But when, as a teenager in 1919, her life is suddenly turned upside-down, she is catapulted into a new and extraordinary life - as a secretary, a scientist, a sister and a spy. Now there is Cobalt Blue. Reilly’s super ability is to tap into the zeitgeist, even if he doesn’t direct it. 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.

With 'Cobalt' gone, the only thing standing in Russia's way is her legacy: seven children, each possessing a fraction of her powers. 'The Fury of Russia' sets out to eliminate them all. 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. 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.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. 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. 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. 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.