Seven Deadly Wonders by Matthew Reilly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I say it's SF, but that's only because I haven't bothered to add an Action/Adventure category.

For this is what it is! Yeah, robot arms and flying suits and all, but best of all, and adventure to pick up your 5000 year old Legos or Amon Ra is gonna smite you!

Say what? Is that even in this book? Well, sortof.

What we do have is a rollicking adventure that aims for the sort of pure WOW and AWE factor that is generally missing from today's literature, taking us on a tour through all the Seven Wonders of the World, or whatever is left of them, and doing it without much care in the world for little things like logic. Who needs it?

The book is BIG and Wild and Emotional and best of all, it's full of ancient traps. I'm not kidding. It almost overwhelms the page. As I read this I might as well have been watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom on steroids. There's even a little kid. All these burly men in the midst of gun-porn have no problems laying their lives down for her. It's odd but it resolves itself because she's mystically special.

Hell, the whole book is mystically special. :) Add heavy Dan Brown-ish conspiracy theories, wild ancient stories, the Giza Pyramid's capstone, and you'll have a wild feel like the original GI Joe cartoon when they were all on that mystical quest stuff.

Don't get me wrong. I like a good and kooky comic book feel culminating with evil Masonic Americans and evil Catholic Amon Ra worshipers in Europe. I especially love being transported into great pacing, almost non-stop action, and never-ending tests of skill, capture, and pathos. It's kinda perfect for any action movie fan. :) Just turn off the brain and flow with it.

This is the definition of popcorn fiction. And I thought that UF's had it going, lol. I swear I saw Chuck Norris in here.

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