Seven Deadly Wonders
A Novel
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4.2 • 179 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Indiana Jones meets The Da Vinci Code in this nonstop action-packed thriller about the greatest treasure hunt of all time—a headlong race to find the seven wonders of the ancient world.
An ancient secret...a team of heroes...the adventure of a lifetime.
A legend of the ancient world decrees that every 4,500 years, a terrible solar event will wreak worldwide destruction...but whoever sets the Golden Capstone atop the Great Pyramid at Giza will avert disaster and gain the ultimate prize: a millennium of world dominance.
Now the Sun is turning once again and nation will battle nation to retrieve the missing Capstone...but a group of small nations, led by super-soldier Jack West Jr., bands together to prevent any one country from attaining this frightening power. Thus the greatest treasure hunt of all time begins— an adrenaline-fueled race on a global battlefield.
From the Colossus of Rhodes to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to the Great Egyptian Pyramid itself, unlock the thrills of Seven Deadly Wonders.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Full-stop "Screams. Splashing. Crunching. Blood" punctuate and come to epitomize Reilly's (Area 7; Ice Station) latest video game style thriller about a race to find the seven pieces of the Golden Capstone that once sat atop the Great Pyramid at Giza. Two millennia ago, Alexander the Great broke the Capstone into seven pieces and hid them in the seven ancient wonders of the world. According to legend, whoever finds and replaces them during a rare solar event called "Tartarus Rotation" (predicted for March 20, 2006) could secure a thousand-year reign of absolute power. The race is on, and among the contenders are the United States, a coalition of European nations (and the Vatican), an Islamic terrorist group, and a team of smaller nations (including Canada, Ireland and New Zealand) led by the novel's hero, Australian Jack West Jr., a next-generation Indiana Jones. The Europeans, goaded by evil Jesuit Francisco del Piero, and the U.S., headed by Jack's nemesis Col. Marshall Judah, want the Capstone for their own aggrandizement, while Jack's noble team believes it's too potent to belong to any one superpower. The "greatest treasure hunt in history" a nonstop roller-coaster ride that lurches around the globe might make a summer blockbuster if American audiences will swallow their compatriots as the baddies.
Customer Reviews
Huh okay....
I’m only 16% through so this isn’t an exhaustive review. But a few things struck me. Super West jumped on a Nile crocodile and effortlessly snapped it’s neck. Super West has a trained falcon that randomly plucks dangerous objects out of the air saving the day. I don’t know much about falconry or falcons for that matter but how does one train one to fly around in poorly lite subterranean chamber snatching burning torches out of the air? Super West instructs his sniper to pull the 50 cal sniper rifle off his back and start plugging bad guys (never mind that they’ve been running, dodging, crawling, with wild abandon through rock tunnels. It is a Precision instrument and a lot of banging around tends to prevent it from shooting straight. Did I mention the sniper carting the gun on his back with that extra weigh just finished climbing up a hole in the earth after all the rest of it kneels and fires away one shot one kill.)
I’m going to try to keep going but I’m scared. Not scared Super West will come after me but scared the story gets worse.
Update: I tried I really did. Super West is rated one of the top ten soldiers in the world. (I wish I knew what organization did this rating because I’m sure to be in the top 100.) oh by the way by age 27 he’s no longer in the Army.
Enough of that. Maybe I could overlook how exceptional the protagonist is but the true difficulty with this book is the exposition. It’s one descriptive section after another mainly to tell the reader how great the characters are or how they interact. What little dialogue there is is a ham fisted method for more world building.
I left my 3 star rating because let’s face it 1 and 2 star ratings are typically written by haters. I’m not a hater I simply hate this book.
Intriguing use of the Seven Wonders of the world and flavorful to the story.
Fast paced and insightful to the purpose of the Seven Wonders of the world.
Ridiculous and terrible style
My rating system:
5 stars are reserved for books that totally blow me away. I don’t give too many of these out, since it is almost like giving the book a 100%. It is nearly impossible to write a truly perfect book.
4 stars for books that I would recommend to just about anyone, or, at least, to someone who doesn’t dislike the genre.
3 stars for books that I would only recommend to someone with a strong interest in the particular genre.
2 stars for books that I would be hesitant to recommend to anyone at all, but the book was not a total disaster.
1 star for books that were so terrible or ridiculous for me that I wish I had not wasted time on reading it to begin with.