The Storm in My Head

Book Review: The Colossus Rises

The Colossus Rises is the first book in a five-book series called the Seven Wonders, written by Peter Legrangis. The main character is a thirteen-year-old boy by the name of Jack McKinley. Jack discovers that he, along with his three new friends, have a volatile gene that basically gives them superpowers, but without the powers of seven magical orbs called the Loculi, will kill them before they reach fourteen. Together, they discover the locations of the Loculi, and retrieve the one hidden at the location of the Colossus of Rhodes.

I found The Colossus Rises to be somewhat of a bland read at the beginning, with a few decently irrational choices that somewhat removed my suspension of disbelief. I also felt that the buildup to the action was a little bit slow, which was something that the author could have fixed. However, I enjoyed the characters, and once the story was set up, it went along very smoothly. There are codes and puzzles interspersed throughout the book, which were quite entertaining to try to solve, and watching the characters work out the codes for themselves was equally fun.

All in all, The Colossus Rises wouldn't be my first choice for a good read, but it's certainly not a bad book either. If you don't have any other obviously better-quality options, I'd recommend reading it, even if you just want to screw around with the puzzles inside.

Its library categorization is J Fic Legran.