Seven Ancient Wonders by Matthew ReillyMy rating: 3 of 10 stars
Ahhh...
Finally it's over. I am undecided on how many stars I am going to give. After making my review I will decide.
So, what have we got here... A action-slash-adventure thriller book sure reads like a movie script.
First of all I nearly gave up after reading 78 pages and after my second, third and each attempt I read but I don't want to leave any unfinish book.
I have so many critics that I don't know how to begin. I know this is FICTION novel but at the same time I know this is not fantasy and neither SF so there are some things that I sure accept as "writer's liberty".
First of all are the characters. The main character is a uber character near invicible. No matter how many times they try to kill him he will escape. No harm can befall him. So I didn't care about him.
Second his partners in adventure are what they are. Muslism are muslims, israelites are what you expect from one of them. And so on.
Third The Enemies. Oh my god! The story goes like this... The europeans task force is something something invicible awesome but then a couple chapters after they die like a vietnamese in a Rambo movie. Then come the americans. They are the best of the best and bang come the vietnamese. Then come the isralites... oh no, they are the best of the best of the best and vietnamese become... They sure look like Stormtroopers in a Stars Wars movies. They are the best of all galaxy but sure don't hit a damn thing in all movies.
In this case change bond's villains to West's villains. It's the same thing.
Four How in the name of Amun-Ra they could make all their travels in under 7 days? How in name of God could they find all those hidden wonders in such short time. You know Iraq is sure big enough and the Tunisian's Coast to cover in just couple of hours.
Five If only was that easy to take someone from the Guantanamo bay.
Six Oh my god... the hawk. I want it. I really want it because he is a smart as a person and can fly.
Seven Then you've got all those traps with crocodiles... What the heck do they eat inside a mountain closed for 4 thousand years? Maybe they are cannibals...
Really man.. I am going to type here this sentence
"He leapt from the walkay onto the stepping-stone -- and immediately heard a rush of water from up inside the wall-hole, accompained by a low crocodilian growl --
-at which point he jammed his titanium X-bar into the wall-hole and hit a switchon the bar.
Thwack!
The x-shaped bar expanded with a powerful springloaded motion, so that suddenly it was wedhed tightly in the mouth of the circular wall-hole.
Not a second too soon.
An instant later, a burst of water gushed out of the wall-hole, immedately followed by the jaws of a massive crocodile that slammed at tremendous speed into the X-Bar!
The croc roared angrily but its jaws were caught against the X-bar unable to get past. The rush of water sprayed all around Fuzzy, but didn't knock him over."
So the water fall followed by a crocodile.... Where was this crocodile? It was there awaiting patiently for 4000 years to the trap sprang? Talk about epic fail... both of the croc and the writer.
Just to finish. This main character twist the neck of a crocodile. AWESOME!!!
Eight The ending - So the Australians are invincible now. Ok, good. So the next two books Jack West is even more amazing than this one right? I like the part when Jack and Wizard talk about not saying anything to the Australians. So Australia will rule. How? Militaristic of economic? What will happen when one Australian tries to kill another? Their weapon will fail as Judah did? What?? Sorry. Weak Ending.
Now the positive parts
One The history bit. All the stories behind it. The connection between the Egyptians and the catholic church and the free masons. The connection between nowadays buildings and the ancient wonders. That part I liked. It's another way of seeing things.
Two The Americans are evil militaristic nation with the old European nations. The rest of the world must join and battle them. It was another change of setting. Usually the Americans are the good guys.
Three All the drawings and pictures inside the book really gave the book another feeling. Sometimes when I am reading a book with a detail information about something I sure would like to see a picture to make it easier. This book help me a lot. I really enjoy that. And For that I will give you a bonus star.
In the end my conclusion is this:
You wanna read a fast paced thriller in a plane or a train under 5/6/7 hours? Then I advice it to you. You wanna read a book alike Da Vinci Code, Go for it. Other person read at your own peril.
I would give one star. But the historic part and the drawings and pictures deserve a second star. Will I read the next one (that I bought after enjoying a lot Contest and thinking it would be similar)? Maybe. If I would want to read a fast paced book but soft on the mind.
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