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. Cassie is angered that she and her remaining brothers are being left to die, and while apologetic, Stevenson is unable to give her any useful intel on the whereabouts of the Fury's remaining two sons. The first edition hardbacks of the novel features coloured text in some sections, which has plot relevance. Cobalt Blue was much older than Fury when she got superpowers, which unfortunately don’t stop aging and heart failure.

I'm a massive fan of Matthew Reilly's work because, even though it's often predictable, it delivers action I can really see in my mind. 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. 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. Whilst there is a very brutal element to this story (Geez, one of the characters gets his head literally ripped off within the first few chapters!A very uneasy peace remains in place, and, over the years, both sides work on trying to create offspring for their respective heroes. Black was certain that their only option would be to lure the Fury to a major city and detonate 10 nuclear warheads at once, though Cassie and Cobalt vehemently opposed the idea since it would sacrifice millions of civilians.

The story is actually incredibly brutal and graphic, as The Fury of Russia starts a bloody rampage, killing not on the Children of Cobalt, but thousands of other innocents, and destroying cities in the process. The amount of sexual violence - both real and threatened- in this book (which is really a novella) is extremely off-putting.Matthew Reilly is now the internationally bestselling author of the Scarecrow novels: Ice Station, Area 7, Scarecrow, Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves and the novella Hell Island; the Jack West novels: Seven Ancient Wonders, The Six Sacred Stones, The Five Greatest Warriors, The Four Legendary Kingdoms, and The Three Secret Cities; and the standalone novels Contest, Temple, Hover Car Racer, The Tournament, Troll Mountain, The Great Zoo of China and The Secret Runners of New York. We are looking at the story through Cassie’s eyes, as she is re-living moments from her past, as well as stories she has been told from her mother, Cobalt’s, past. It’s a special edition, small hardcover novella with coloured text in sections and some coloured pics! The protagonist and her herd of superpowered children are total goody two shoes who somehow don't have the basic common sense to band together against the supervillain even though they know he is coming to destroy them.

The only one who has a chance of stopping him is the titular Cobalt Blue, the daughter of the deceased American superhero.However, this isn't enough to affect the Fury of Russia since he has twice the resistance of his son, and the Fury is quick to chase and pin down Cassie, pummeling her and gloating his intent to make her his sex slave.

Since Seven Ancient Wonders in 2005, Matthew's novels have been the biggest selling new fiction title released in Australia for that year. For at the start of this story, Cobalt, Cassie’s mum dies, and the day after the funeral (like only hours later), The Fury of Russia attacks the US, seeking the ‘Children of Cobalt’ to come and kill them all.

Cobalt Blue is a standalone novella by the master of breakneck-paced action thrillers Matthew Reilly, and I’ve loved most things he’s written, and enjoy superhero stories, so should’ve loved this. Cassie and Trey avoid harm while the Vice President is injured, and Cassie urges Trey to run while she flies straight up and damages the ceiling, brining tons of earth and cement down, separating them from Moscow and killing the Vice President.