Two weeks earlier, Cobalt informed Cassie that the psychopathic Fury wants to tear down everything America stands for, humiliate and kill its leaders, and something else she had warned Cassie about after a summit in Paris. Cobalt knows that no one will be able to stop Furin after she dies, even her children since they are only half as strong as him. However, she revealed to Cassie that he has the same weakness as herself; their muscles, bones and organs may be stronger than normal, but as her declining health has proven, their superhuman feats take a heavy toll. Cobalt then tried to encourage Cassie to consider being a hero like her siblings, and while Cassie has always disliked the idea of being idolised and in the spotlight, Cobalt believed her daughter has the right mix of brains, strength and foresight necessary to stop the Fury. She is a most unique secretary and she will work for many bosses - from shrewd businessmen to vile Nazis, to the greatest boss of them all, Mr Albert Einstein... 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. 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.

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. If it wasn’t filled with WAY too many mentions of r*pe (seriously. Where were those editors..?!) I’d say it COULD have MAYBE worked as a teen action book, but even then it would have been SOOOOO BAD, because once you take away the terrible bits, guess what? You’re just left with the shit writing.Since Seven Ancient Wonders in 2005, Matthew's novels have been the biggest selling new fiction title released in Australia for that year. America and Russia both have superheroes - the Fury of Russia (all strength, rage, and hate) and Cobalt Blue (full of compassion and intellectual curiosity). They both got the same powers (think Superman, only better) during the same event. With each country having a superhero, we get a truce of sorts similar to the nuclear standoff during the Cold War.

I genuinely cannot believe I'm saying this right now but Matthew Reilly, this was not it. If you know me at all you know how much I adore Matthew Reilly's books but oh boy, my most anticipated book of 2022 is not only Reilly's worst book (that I've read so far) but, it might also be one of my least favourite books that I've read all year. It's a great action story because of course it is, Matthew Reilly wrote it after all. If you're a fan of the tv show The Boys then I'm sure you'd love this bloody action-full superhero story. But, that's really all this book has going for it. 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. Contest • Temple • Hover Car Racer • The Tournament ( Roger Ascham and the King's Lost Girl • Roger Ascham and the Dead Queen's Command) • The Great Zoo of China • The Secret Runners of New York • Cobalt BlueAnd then there’s our lead who apparently has 0 emotions despite a whole bunch of people she loves dying around her within the space of 24 hrs. 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. 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.

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.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. 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. Now there is Cobalt Blue. Reilly’s super ability is to tap into the zeitgeist, even if he doesn’t direct it. 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...

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.

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. 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. 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. I have adored the author's writing style for years as he takes his time setting up the stakes for the adventure while fleshing out the characters judiciously so that the story gains from it. However, in his recent outings, including the atrocious movie 'Interceptor' written by the author himself, he has resorted to cliches built upon cliches ending in stale action set pieces. Cobalt Blue is another outcome of the same.