I must admit, now it’s got to winter time my reading has really slowed down. It doesn’t make sense because winter is the best time to be cosied up inside reading, but instead I have just been sleepy and lazy and avoided it. Today though I wasn’t feeling well so had the day off work, and decided to smash through the book I have been trying to finish for at least 5 weeks now, Seven Ancient Wonders by Matthew Reilly. I read another of Matthew Reilly’s books earlier this year (The Tournament) and loved the way the story pulled me in, using historical facts and myths to do so, and I was told repeatedly that this was the next book to look into.
I must admit, in the first few chapters, it did not pull me in as much as The Tournament did. It could be because I wasn’t motivated to read, or maybe it was just a little too detail heavy in the beginning. The places Reilly is trying to portray in his books are hard to imagine as they are places I have never and will probably never experience. There are diagrams to help, but to try and imagine the spectacular settings he is trying to portray requires a lot of imagination and concentrated thought. It’s worth putting that thought in though, because one of the reasons this book is so great is the mystery around all of these places. Similar to Da Vinci Code (in the sense that it is using historical landmarks and religious myth to create a mystery), it builds a world that maybe could exist, or does exist, but noone would ever really know.
The characters were interesting, and at first it was confusing trying to remember who was who and where they were from because of the various nicknames, but you can always remember the key characters, and you find yourself rooting for the team as a whole, being that they are the underdogs.
I liked the Indiana Jones vibe of this book, of traps and adventures through ancient ruins, and I think this book would make a breathtaking movie, I only hope someone wants to make that. Overall I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
A Turtle Stranger 