Jake Ransom and the Howling Sphinx (Jake Ransom Series #2)

by James Rollins

Overview

Using his father's watch as a key, Jake intends to return to Calypsos. Instead he's thrust into a strange desert land where he's joined by his friends Marika, Pindor, and Bach'uuk and his sister, Kady. As they try to figure out what to do next, a surprise attack by the beautiful young Princess Nefertiti takes them all captive.

Soon even she is battling the Skull King's minions. For Jake has something the Skull King wants—a prize that will give its owner awesome power, including control of the fearsome Howling Sphinx. In a new pounding adventure, Jake races against time to outfight and outwit Kalverum Rex, knowing that if the Skull King wins, he'll be unstoppable.

Filled with unexpected danger, challenging puzzles, and dazzling action, this is a first-rate, fast-paced thriller—a read only James Rollins could have created!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061991974
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/03/2011
Series:	Jake Ransom Series , #2
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	265,366
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	8 - 14 Years

About the Author

James Rollins is the author of international thrillers that have been translated into more than forty languages. His Sigma series has been lauded as one of the “top crowd pleasers” (New York Times) and one of the “hottest summer reads” (People magazine). In each novel, acclaimed for its originality, Rollins unveils unseen worlds, scientific breakthroughs, and historical secrets—and he does it all at breakneck speed and with stunning insight. He lives in the Sierra Nevada.

Hometown:

Sacramento, California

Date of Birth:

August 20, 1961

Place of Birth:

Chicago, Illinois

Editorial Reviews

Gr 5–9—In this sequel to Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow (HarperCollins, 2009), Jake's wild adventures take readers on a journey through space and time, where Nefertiti and her father, Pharaoh Neferhotep, are waging war against the Skull King and his minions, who are hunting Jake and his sister, Kady. The siblings don't know if their parents are alive or dead. When a new exhibit on Egypt opens at the American Museum of Natural History, they discover that it is sponsored by Bledsworth Sundries and Industries, the company thought to be behind their parents' disappearance. They take a close look at the mummified body that they heard was half-man, half-bird and discover that it is a grakyl—a deadly creature from another world that gives a warning to Jake and Kady: the Skull King will find and kill them and everyone they love. Suddenly they are back in Pangaea with their friends from the previous book, facing danger and adventure at every turn. And they must defeat the Skull King or the bridge between one time and another could be closed forever. A wild ride with some quick-thinking teens fighting for survival.—Kathryn Kennedy, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA

School Library Journal

An adventure series mashup built on Indiana Jones-like tropes picks up steam with this second volume.

Three monthshave passedsince eighth-grader Jake Ransom and his older sister Kady returned from the ancient land of Calypsos on Pangaea, where they saved the inhabitants—Neanderthals and lost Roman legionaries and ancient Maya—from the evil magister Kalverum Rex. Neither teen knows any more about thelocation of their archaeologist parents, missing three years now, but both are sure that their parents are lost somewhere in time. After an attack on their home, the siblings visitan Egyptian exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History only to be attacked again by the blood magic of Kalverum as he seeks the Key to Time. They are thrown into the desert kingdom of Deshret, cut off from the rest of Pangaea by a flesh-tearing windstorm. The bracelets given them by the elders of Calypsos also draw in their friends from their last adventure, and the five find themselves once again battling theSkull King and his minions while trying to find traces of their parents. Rollins' second Jake Ransom adventure is tighter, more magical and more thrilling than the series opener.

Likely to win Jake more fans, this will have adventure seekers of both genders clamoring for volume three (likely to deal with Norse lore, given the dropped hints).(Adventure. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews