A review by emsemce123
Seven Deadly Wonders by Matthew Reilly

adventurous emotional lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I was originally gonna give this a 4.5 or 4.75 score but that little voice in my head was like, oh what the hell. I had fun, most fun I've had in awhile reading this. That's a 5☆. A few months ago I asked on reddit for books that had an Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider/ Ucharted feel and this was one the most common and highest voted responses so I bought the book and it sat there in my room for months until I thought why not? Gotta Crack into my backlog at some point and man was I glad I did. This series is really fun, you do have to suspend your disbelief a little (a character with a robotic arm and a pet falcon and a magnetic device that diverts fired bullets and the insanity that are some the many traps in this) but does it have great characters? Yes, while they don't get a ton of development there's enough there and some get more characterization than others, so when certain characters do die, it feels like I hardly knew them. Understandable as Reilly has a decent size cast and a race against time plot to deliver on. I would've liked more calmer moments (there are some there during backstory moments and travel between destinations) spent in foreign locals with the culture being described whereas this is nonstop, race against the clock action, and it never gets boring or exhausting. It also plays into the believability again, I'd like more time to explore the tombs and lost places they visit but it's always "we got no time, we gotta race through these traps as fast as we can!" The supernatural bit of the story is left in the air for me, I'll have to continue the series (and I plan to) to see how it plays out. It would've been cool to get more characterization on the villains as well, we get a little but not much. Matthew Reilly did say he was influenced by Indiana Jones and wanted this to be a "fantasy-like" adventure while not being too unbelievable and in that I think he definitely succeeded. I had a lot of fun and will definitely pick up the next book!