The book under review is: Seven Ancient Wonders by Matthew Reilly
I got this book for Christmas: I fancied a bit of light reading, so taking a recommendation from the internet, I put this book on my Amazon wishlist. And somebody gave it to me.
I came across the author at the time when I was looking for an Australian book to complete a reading challenge. What with the author featuring in the top 50 must read Australian novels at number 31, exactly thirteen places above David Malouf’s Ransom – and boy, was Ransom a good book! – I thought I could count on a solid page turner that wouldn’t engage my brain in any way whatsover. A little light reading.
Well.
I’m not really your classic book reviewer… right? If you’re after ‘proper’ book reviews, you’re reading the wrong blog. I almost never read book reviews myself: I don’t like people telling me which book is a good book (they’re wrong anyhow) and spoil the plot while analysing it (often to death). If you want to recommend me a book, tell me the the title, the author and why it meant the world to you (there’s a comment box right down below). But don’t – ever – give me the plot in detail.
But I digress. No surprise there – I’m known for writing long and rambling posts. Well, not this time. I’ll give you a review. And I’ll be brief. I’ll sum my opinion of this book up in ONE word:
In short and concise Anglo-Saxon:
S**t.
In case the Anglo-Saxon of my few but much loved Spanish-speaking readers can’t cope with the asterisks, let me repeat it…
…En castellano puro y duro (in pure and hard Castilian):
M****a.
For those of you who prefer a more literary take on it, let me quote the immortal last word of the Gabriel García Márquez novel No One Writes to the Colonel which – although the Colonel was obviously referring to something else at the time – sums this book up pretty neatly:
“Shit.”
Or, in the original Spanish:
“Mierda.”
(Please excuse my language.)
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