The Colossus Rises (Seven Wonders, #1)
by Peter Lerangis, Torstein Norstrand (Illustrator), Mike Reagan (Illustrator)

3 out of 5 stars

Jack is kidnapped by a secret institution of doctors and scientists that claim he has a rare genetic marker from the heirs of Atlantis royalty. This genetic anomaly will kill him within a year if he doesn’t get special treatments, and in return the institution asks that he help a team of other teens with the gene to track down powerful artifacts from Atlantis hidden around the world. But Jack doesn’t know who to trust. Are the doctors telling the truth, or just manipulating him and the other teens so they are forced to hunt for the artifacts and unlock their power?

This book was okay. It had some good writing, a fun adventurous plot, and the characters are interesting. Jack is joined by Marcos, who is very strong and athletic; Cass, a boy with immense brain power; and Aly, a girl with extraordinary tech skills. I liked the supporting characters, and the whole crew has a good dynamic, but somehow I just didn’t connect with the characters. I didn’t really care about them emotionally.

The writing is good and the plot is well-constructed, but I never forgot that I was reading. I never got immersed in the story, and I started skimming/speed reading for the last half of the book. I think that if I were the target age range for this book, I would have enjoyed it more. But reading it as an adult, I just got bored.
I felt like the book was trying to be Percy Jackson and not succeeding. It has a lot of very similar elements as the Percy Jackson books, but it doesn’t gel together.

The best part of the book is the puzzle aspects in the plot. There are a lot of codes and secret messages and hidden clues, and I love that kind of thing! But I felt like the characters solved the codes a little too quickly and easily sometimes.

Overall, it has all the elements for a great middle grade fantasy adventure, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

This book has been screened on the Screen It First website. https://screenitfirst.com/book/the-colossus-rises-seven-wonders-1-565105