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A review by glitterkitter
Seven Ancient Wonders by Matthew Reilly
4.0
A reread so that I could read the next two with the story fresh in my mind.
Seven Ancient Wonders is essentially a massive action thriller. There's not a lot else happening in the book other than action right from the beginning. It could seem repetitive but Matthew Reilly manages to pull it off rather effectively.
There's a lot of things I love about this book, though because there's not a lot of depth to it I didn't give it higher than 3 stars (but it'd be a 3 1/2 if that was an option).
Things I love: all the lovely conspiracy theories tied into ancient Egypt and modern religions.
The main hero is Australian!
Making America the bad guys, without being offensive about it. It's just a realistic portrayal of what the global situation is, and can seem to people outside the US.
Another reread (Jan 2019): Matthew Reilly is great at writing action. I upped the star rating this time because I am that impressed with the action and how well it's paced even if action novels are not really my thing.
I am still frustrated with a lot of the lack of character depth, and to the politics of the book. Israel vs UAE and I'm not sure I'd entirely stand by my last comment in the previous review, but I was thinking this time, how rare it is to have a military hero without them being American and explicitly having the Americans being the bad guys. (but like, completely not tying in the military industrial side of the US????)
I don't know, there are so many points I wish had been delved into more, so I feel a bit unsatisfied looking back at it. But I guess I'm expecting more than I should from a writer who is so focused on the action, that the rest of it is just there to make the action happen and that's their niche and I knew that going in.
Seven Ancient Wonders is essentially a massive action thriller. There's not a lot else happening in the book other than action right from the beginning. It could seem repetitive but Matthew Reilly manages to pull it off rather effectively.
There's a lot of things I love about this book, though because there's not a lot of depth to it I didn't give it higher than 3 stars (but it'd be a 3 1/2 if that was an option).
Things I love: all the lovely conspiracy theories tied into ancient Egypt and modern religions.
The main hero is Australian!
Making America the bad guys, without being offensive about it. It's just a realistic portrayal of what the global situation is, and can seem to people outside the US.
Another reread (Jan 2019): Matthew Reilly is great at writing action. I upped the star rating this time because I am that impressed with the action and how well it's paced even if action novels are not really my thing.
I am still frustrated with a lot of the lack of character depth, and to the politics of the book. Israel vs UAE and I'm not sure I'd entirely stand by my last comment in the previous review, but I was thinking this time, how rare it is to have a military hero without them being American and explicitly having the Americans being the bad guys. (but like, completely not tying in the military industrial side of the US????)
I don't know, there are so many points I wish had been delved into more, so I feel a bit unsatisfied looking back at it. But I guess I'm expecting more than I should from a writer who is so focused on the action, that the rest of it is just there to make the action happen and that's their niche and I knew that going in.