Review of Sandstorm by James Rollins
[vc_row][vc_column][title type="subtitle-h6"]Chandler Adams[/title][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="11/12"][vc_column_text]If you enjoy science, adventure, and mystery I highly recommend The Sigma Force Series by James Rollins. Rollins combines current scientific discoveries with the fast-paced adventure that we’ve seen in other novels such as Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. Sandstorm, the first book in the series, follows the adventures of Sigma Force agent Painter Crowe and British Museum curator Safia Al-Maaz as they race to solve a mystery buried under the deserts of Arabia.Rollins’ Sigma Force is a secret intelligence agency buried within the American government tasked with researching, finding, and gathering new and dangerous scientific technologies. The Force is aptly described at one point as “scientists with guns.”
After a strange lightning storm causes an explosion in the British Museum, Agent Painter Crowe is called in on the suspicion of a terrorist attack yet what he finds is so much stranger. An anatomically correct iron heart is revealed in the center of a sandstone statue that was turned to glass by the explosion and this discovery leads curator and archaeologist Safia as well as her patron and adopted sister Lady Kensington on a hunt for the lost city of Ubar. Painter and Safia’s ex-fiance and archaeologist Dr. Omaha Dunn, rightly nicknamed Indiana Jones are dragged along for the ride.As an anthropology major, what really drew me in, was the use of real archaeological sites and theories, as well as, real scientific facts woven into the fiction. Despite pulling bits and pieces of information from many different fields the science never overwhelms the plot of the novel. The reader is never subjected to dense pages of scientific jargon or explanations. Rollins creates the perfect balance between science and fiction that allows a reader with absolutely no scientific background to easily follow the story without being bogged down with complex science. As a bonus, after the conclusion Rollins has added an Author’s Note that explains what parts of the novel are based in fact and which are purely fiction. He also explains where he pulled his scientific research from. Rollins even goes as far as to suggest novels and articles that the reader may look into if they are interested in a particular aspect of the science behind the action.But what good action story doesn’t involve a little romance? Though, Rollins sets up the possibility for a love triangle between Safia, Painter, and Omaha, he refuses to play into the stereotypical, manipulative, and unhealthy romance that we’ve become used to seeing in mainstream media. Safia, while attracted to both men, does not lead them on and refuses to be the “damsel in distress.” Overall most of the romantic plot is kept to a minimum until after the mystery is solved. Though both men are striving to keep Safia safe in the harsh desert filled with friends and enemies alike, they are able to see past their attraction to Safia in order to work together. And, though I won’t tell you who “gets the girl” in the end, the men are able to handle Safia’s right to choose with dignity rather than resorting to petty high school dramatics.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]