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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
This was a great book. A little slow to start, but it took a long time to establish this world within the world as we know it. Despite the slow start, it ended strong and has me very interested in finding out what happens to these characters.
Spoiler
I really hope they find Marco before it's too late for him. And while I am mad at him for running or rather flying away, I am not surprised; he's 13 and that's exactly what a 13 year old boy who thinks he's invincible and now have a magic tool that will allow him to fly would do
The Colossus Rises, book 1 in the Seven Wonders series by Peter Lerangis, is very good. Along the same lines as Rick Riordon's Percy Jackson series with the characters descendant from gods, the Seven Wonders characters are descendant from the royal line of the lost Atlantean race. The Atlantean race does have some powers, but in subtler measures. Both sets of characters are on quests of similar natures. Although listed for a middle grade audience, I believe The Colossus Rises raised itself above such a limiting category and can be enjoyed by many who, like me, do not always bind ourselves in by constricting tag lines. I really liked the well written tale and will be reading more in this series soon.
In my honest opinion, it is hard to find a book that can engage our youth. Even harder, in a world that is become more and more dominated by women (yay), to find YA novels that cater to our young men, and even harder than that, finding YA novels that manage to grasp the attention of both girls and boys.
Harry Potter did it, Percy Jackson did it, and now, The Seven Wonders series will do it as well.
I LOVE this book, and am anxious to read more. Usually, my taste in YA books veer towards the “paranormal romance” road, and so a book so obviously middle grade (the main character is 13) was not something that I would expect to thoroughly enjoy. Pleasantly surprised that I was wrong.
In Seven Wonders: Colossus Rises, by Peter Larangis, we meet 13 year old Jack McKinley, a smart boy who meets his not so happy destiny following the worse day ever. Waking up at a place called the Karai Institute, he finds out that he is the receiver of a genetic anomaly that will grant him super powers- but will also kill him within a few months. That is unless he and three other receivers of this genetic disease, all 13, manage to find and bring together seven Loculi which will cure them once combined. Quite a lot to take in huh?
So, several things I love about this book. There is mythology and lore, from the mysterious Atlantis and its demise to the seven ancient wonders of the world and their current whereabouts. There is also treasure hunting, in which you follow the characters as they solve riddles, puzzles, and put together obscure clues to find out more about Atlantis, the seven Loculi, and their whereabouts. It’s also so cool that they have a snarky girl in Colossus Rises, who is a genius hacker and can regurgitate movie facts like she’s watching them live. I assumed the adventure would be a solo one, but it was nice to see Jack make friends with other teens who are in the same predicament and all have unique assets to help them work together.
What I found most adorable was the slight romantic tension between main character Jack and hacker extraordinaire Aly. As they are obviously very young (though super intelligent and mature because of this intelligence), and in mortal danger, romance is not high on their list, but the awkwardness exuded by Jack around Aly is super adorbs, and seems totally accurate of young, teenage boys.
Which brings me to my next point. Peter Lerangis is amazing at providing the right voice for his characters. It is my belief that the further away from your own age you try to write, the harder it is to be convincing about the characters. So often you see adults making their YA characters either too immature, or too “adult sounding”, or having them use weird slang from the 70’s even though it is clearly 2013. Lerangis fully convinces me that Jack is a 13 year old boy, albeit more intellectual then most of his peers. He balances the fine line of the maturity needed to handle the news of being slated to die with the often emotional rashness of those who are burgeoning teenagers.
The sense of epic adventure is really the attention grabber here for young adults. As a child (and sometimes now as an adult) I fervently wished that I had amazing powers, that I was this supercool person who is destined for something greater than myself, and that I could make life-long friends who intrinsically understood my plight and sought to help me fulfill my quest. Harry Potter was like that for me. It was a world familiar enough for me to dive in, but new enough to be completely immersed once I was there. Colossus gives me that same feeling-the ability to escape, and to do it with the character rather than jumping in alone.
If I had a son of my own, I would wholeheartedly and enthusiastically give this to him to read, enjoy, and fall in love with. Seeing as I don’t however, I will gladly read it in my imaginary son’s stead.
Harry Potter did it, Percy Jackson did it, and now, The Seven Wonders series will do it as well.
I LOVE this book, and am anxious to read more. Usually, my taste in YA books veer towards the “paranormal romance” road, and so a book so obviously middle grade (the main character is 13) was not something that I would expect to thoroughly enjoy. Pleasantly surprised that I was wrong.
In Seven Wonders: Colossus Rises, by Peter Larangis, we meet 13 year old Jack McKinley, a smart boy who meets his not so happy destiny following the worse day ever. Waking up at a place called the Karai Institute, he finds out that he is the receiver of a genetic anomaly that will grant him super powers- but will also kill him within a few months. That is unless he and three other receivers of this genetic disease, all 13, manage to find and bring together seven Loculi which will cure them once combined. Quite a lot to take in huh?
So, several things I love about this book. There is mythology and lore, from the mysterious Atlantis and its demise to the seven ancient wonders of the world and their current whereabouts. There is also treasure hunting, in which you follow the characters as they solve riddles, puzzles, and put together obscure clues to find out more about Atlantis, the seven Loculi, and their whereabouts. It’s also so cool that they have a snarky girl in Colossus Rises, who is a genius hacker and can regurgitate movie facts like she’s watching them live. I assumed the adventure would be a solo one, but it was nice to see Jack make friends with other teens who are in the same predicament and all have unique assets to help them work together.
What I found most adorable was the slight romantic tension between main character Jack and hacker extraordinaire Aly. As they are obviously very young (though super intelligent and mature because of this intelligence), and in mortal danger, romance is not high on their list, but the awkwardness exuded by Jack around Aly is super adorbs, and seems totally accurate of young, teenage boys.
Which brings me to my next point. Peter Lerangis is amazing at providing the right voice for his characters. It is my belief that the further away from your own age you try to write, the harder it is to be convincing about the characters. So often you see adults making their YA characters either too immature, or too “adult sounding”, or having them use weird slang from the 70’s even though it is clearly 2013. Lerangis fully convinces me that Jack is a 13 year old boy, albeit more intellectual then most of his peers. He balances the fine line of the maturity needed to handle the news of being slated to die with the often emotional rashness of those who are burgeoning teenagers.
The sense of epic adventure is really the attention grabber here for young adults. As a child (and sometimes now as an adult) I fervently wished that I had amazing powers, that I was this supercool person who is destined for something greater than myself, and that I could make life-long friends who intrinsically understood my plight and sought to help me fulfill my quest. Harry Potter was like that for me. It was a world familiar enough for me to dive in, but new enough to be completely immersed once I was there. Colossus gives me that same feeling-the ability to escape, and to do it with the character rather than jumping in alone.
If I had a son of my own, I would wholeheartedly and enthusiastically give this to him to read, enjoy, and fall in love with. Seeing as I don’t however, I will gladly read it in my imaginary son’s stead.
Good for a Percy Jackson fan, but not really anyone else. I disliked both the story and the reader and could not finish it. I did give it 2 discs, though.
I didnt finish it. Got about 60 pages in and ....it had not grabbed my attension. Usually I love this type of book but it seemed like alot of been there done that. The chapters have cool titles but thats all I liked. I gave up (which I hardly do with books). It just couldnt hold my attension no matter how hard I tried. And belive me I tried for ten chapters. But if it takes that long for information, its got to have something happen in those chapters and in my opion this book didnt.
I had a lot of trouble getting into this book which I mostly contribute to the protagonist Jack and the pacing being all over the place. But that being said, I absolutely loved the mythology involving (I don't think this is a spoiler since you probably guessed what the "long-lost civilization that sank" is) Atlantis. I also really like the direction the book took in the last 50 pages, so I will definitely be checking out the sequel at some point.
I liked it. I read it mostly because Rick Riordan gave it a great review. i felt like he tried to mimic what Riordan did and then had a full book just drawing out and explaining. I don't know if I'll read the rest in the series. All I really want to know is if they get to contact their families again :S
I wanted to love this book, but unfortunately it fell short of its mark.
The Colossus Rises by Peter Lerangis wasn't horrible by any means, the premise holds great promise but the book was almost over before anything of real substance happened. I understand, and am probably guilty of creating a believable world that calls for heavy description, but this one really took the momentum out of the story.
It isn't fair to compare it to Percy Jackson, but my love of that series couldn't be put aside. Riordan managed to introduce us to the world of Greek Mythology and keep the story moving forward while making the reader excited for the next twist, trial or victory for Percy and his friends.
The main characters of The Colossus Rises aren't quite fleshed out enough, they lack any draw. I was never interested in learning more about them, and didn't develop any connection to them.
This series has potential, and I will be reading the next book in the series hoping for a better connection to the characters.
The Colossus Rises by Peter Lerangis wasn't horrible by any means, the premise holds great promise but the book was almost over before anything of real substance happened. I understand, and am probably guilty of creating a believable world that calls for heavy description, but this one really took the momentum out of the story.
It isn't fair to compare it to Percy Jackson, but my love of that series couldn't be put aside. Riordan managed to introduce us to the world of Greek Mythology and keep the story moving forward while making the reader excited for the next twist, trial or victory for Percy and his friends.
The main characters of The Colossus Rises aren't quite fleshed out enough, they lack any draw. I was never interested in learning more about them, and didn't develop any connection to them.
This series has potential, and I will be reading the next book in the series hoping for a better connection to the characters.
Obviously, I'm not exactly the target audience for a middle grade fantasy novel. But the whole thing seemed like it was trying (and failing) to recreate the characteristics that made the Percy Jackson series so successful. To me, the whole thing felt rushed. There was insufficient description of the characters, their various roles, and their situation. Most of the characters were entirely one dimensional, and their dialogue relied heavily on gimmicky catchphrases or stock characteristics - talking backwards or only in movie quotes.
It was about 2/3 of the way through the book that the first mention of the Colossus was even made, something that seems a little questionable given the title. So the pacing definitely had issues. The ending was, I suspect, meant to seem suspenseful and cliffhanger-y, but by the time I got there (which, I will admit, only took me a couple of hours), I cared so little about the outcome of the story or any of the characters that instead it was a relief.
In short, it was underwhelming. But, as I said at the beginning, I'm hardly the target audience.
It was about 2/3 of the way through the book that the first mention of the Colossus was even made, something that seems a little questionable given the title. So the pacing definitely had issues. The ending was, I suspect, meant to seem suspenseful and cliffhanger-y, but by the time I got there (which, I will admit, only took me a couple of hours), I cared so little about the outcome of the story or any of the characters that instead it was a relief.
In short, it was underwhelming. But, as I said at the beginning, I'm hardly the target audience.
adventurous
medium-paced