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The Jack West Jr Series is a group of novels following the adventures of former Australian SAS specialist Jack West Jr, aka, the Huntsman.

Stories[]

Novels[]

  1. Seven Ancient Wonders (October, 2005) - 7 Deadly Wonders in the United States.
  2. The Six Sacred Stones (October, 2007)
  3. The Five Greatest Warriors (October, 2009)
  4. The Four Legendary Kingdoms (October 2016)
  5. The Three Secret Cities (October 2018)
  6. The Two Lost Mountains - (October 2020)
  7. The One Impossible Labyrinth - (October 2021)

Short Stories[]

Main Characters[]

The leading characters appearing throughout the series are:

Jack "Huntsman" West Jr: The main protagonist of the series, a former Australian SAS soldier ranked among the best in the world, but who preferred to study ancient history. His skills at decoding ancient mysteries and ability to handle himself in a variety of combative situations make him a dangerous individual to his enemies, one who will always work hard to catch up and save the world for no reason other than because it's the right thing to do.

Lily West: Jack's adopted daughter, and one of the twin Oracles of Siwa, whom the team raises from infancy. Her ability to understand the mysterious Word of Thoth make her tremendously important to the team's missions. It is through her adventures with the team that she learns how to be a good person, particularly from her interactions with and lessons from Jack.

Zoe "Princess" Kissane-West: A member of Jack's team and one of two representatives of Ireland along with her brother. She begins as Jack's love interest and later becomes his wife and Lily's adopted mother.

Max "Wizard" Epper: A genius-level scholar of many fields who serves as Jack's longtime friend and mentor, and as the team's representative for Canada. His studies into ancient history and mysteries led him to help found the team as they set out to defend the world from disaster, and became a grandfather-figure to Lily.

Zahir "Pooh Bear" al Abbas: A member of Jack's team and representative of the UAE.

Benjamin "Stretch" Cohen: A member of Jack's team and a former member of the Israeli Mossad. While he started out as an outsider due to Israel's forced demand to join their coalition, he eventually became one of their most-trusted allies, one who chose his new friends over his own nation's interests.

Ernest "Sky Monster" Sheperd: The pilot for Jack's team and representative of New Zealand. A running joke in the first several novels of the series was that no one other than his parents seemed to know what his real name is. Despite his discomfort in combat outside of an aircraft, he is a loyal friend to Jack and the rest of the team.

Alby Calvin: Lily's best friend, confidant, and later love-interest, who is a mathematical and astrological genius. Despite starting out as a somewhat meek child when first drawn into Jack and Lily's adventures, he grows into a far more confident and capable individual later on. 

Iolanthe Compton-Jones: A member of the British Royal family, and the sister to the King of Land, who initially works both with and against Jack's team in their first encounters. However, she later becomes less morally ambiguous and joins the team in their efforts, becoming one of their most knowledgeable allies.

Mae Merriweather: Jack's mother who is an expert historian. Once forced into hiding after splitting from Jack's father, she later emerges as an important ally to the team when they discovered the existence of the Four Kingdoms.

Trivia[]

  • This is the second series Matthew Reilly created.
  • With the release of The Four Legendary Kingdoms, the appearance of Shane Schofield and Mother from the Shane Schofield Series (with some other details from that series being mentioned) confirms that both series are set in the same fictional universe.
    • A connection to the Shane Schofield series had already been implied; Sean "Astro" Miller first appeared in the novella Hell Island  as a supporting character, and would later appear in a supporting role in both The Six Sacred Stones and The Five Greatest Warriors.
  • Matthew Reilly had mentioned that William Race from Temple could one day appear in the Jack West Jr series, suggesting that the events of the stand-alone novel are also set within the fictional universe. Ultimately, however, the Jack West series ended in 2021, making this suggestion void.
    • If this had become reality, this would have created another connection to the Shane Schofield series, where Temple's Supernova has been referenced in Area 7.
    • During an interview with Booktopia in late 2021, Reilly mentioned that he had considered including William Race in The Two Lost Mountains, in which Jack would have needed to consult with an ancient language specialist.
  • During The Three Secret Cities, Iolanthe notes Elizabeth I had a diary recounting that she and Roger Ascham went to a chess tournament in Constantinople, though the events there were unrecorded. This fits with Reilly's novel The Tournament, revealing it is set in the same fictional universe as the Jack West Jr and Shane Schofield series.
  • The short story, Jack West Jr and the Hero's Helmet, contains unanswered elements that for some time were expected to contribute to the finale of the Jack West Jr series; notably, the Knife of Osiris was stolen by an assassin - who referred to the weapon as a keyblade - working for an unknown master.

References[]

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External link[]


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