Seven Ancient Wonders by Matthew Reilly

I was really looking forward to this book because the prospect of reading about imminent catastrophic solar event linked to the Seven Ancient Wonders is really small. Not many authors dare to thread this line and fictionally link all these SAWs together. Perhaps except Matthew Reilly.

I’ve read 1/3 of the book and truth to be told………..

It is an utter disaster of catastrophic proportion!

The more I read, the more my brain tried to link between the sequences in the book with Mario Bros/Bomberman/Donkey Kong video games! I’m not joking or under influence of alcohol when I wrote those statements. Read more of the review before you decide to jump the gun.

From what I read so far (Note: The following summary is based on 1/3 of the story), the book is about a group of ultra-super-duper commandos from the most elite commando team in the world; the cream of the crop, best of the best, cream of society, cream of the cream, crème de la crème, pick of the litter, privileged class, smart set, the elite, the finest, the privileged, upper class, upper crust; converge to find seven pieces of ancient artifacts and piece them together before the solar event which will spell the end of the world.

Not only that, this team of the “creamiest of the creamiest” had to forge ahead and compete with 2 other groups of national representatives from USA (who else) and European Union; who coincidentally are represented by their own set of “creamiest of the creamiest” as well. So, the question now is who is more “creamy” and would first get their hands on the coveted SAWs?

I’m under no pretense to praise this book but this is a really good RPG/GAME BOOK! It shouldn’t be in the THRILLER SECTION at all..!! Beats me on why Borders decided to stick the “Mystery/Thriller” tag at the back page. It is really misleading. They should have sold this book at Toy”R”Us as it’ll fit just right in.

Read at your own peril because it is too “game-ish” with multiple levels, traps and enemies to overcome before they can succeed. The best part is; the book comes with illustration for each level... (It’s true... I’m not making this up); just in case the reader cannot comprehend the level of difficulties/traps faced by our ultra-super-duper gang.

Sigh… why o’ why I bought this book in the first place :-( I’ve wasted my hard earned money on yet another truly painful book to read and I’m wondering if I should slog on to finish it.. Sigh sigh sigh :-(

Personal rating: 2 out of 10 (for the effort and writing the book in the first place)

Cons:
1) Please refer to the review

Pros:
1) Please refer to the review