Elizabeth Varadan | The Children’s Book Review | March 16, 2015
Age Range: 9 – 13 years
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins; Reprint edition (February 10, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-0062070470
What to Expect: Constant danger, explosions, plane crashes, confrontations, zombies, griffins, betrayals, and struggles against evil forces.
The background before book three: Thirteen-year-old Jack McKinley has a rare genetic disorder which gives him extraordinary powers but will lead to his death when he is fourteen unless a cure is found. On a mysterious island at the Karai Institute (KI) an equally mysterious Professor Bhegad does experiments on Jack and three new friends, Ali, Cass, and Marco. All four have the strange gene that marks them also as descendants of ancient Atlanteans. They can only be cured if they find seven magical loculi hidden in the seven wonders of the ancient world (thus the name of the series: Seven Wonders). These seven loculi will save the world as well as saving Jack and his friends.
By The Tomb of Shadows, they have found two of the loculi, one in ancient Rhodes and one in ancient Babylon. Now they seek the third at the tomb of Mausolus in Halicarnassus (in what is now Bodrum, Turkey.) Not having read the first two books, for a few chapters I was disoriented, sorting out who was who. Explosions, confrontations at gunpoint, plane crashes, vicious griffins—this is a book with lots of violence. The evil Massa look and dress like monks, and they are also after the seven loculi. Jack’s mom, supposed dead, seems to have joined them. Marco, also switches sides. Jack’s dad shows up after years of absence after researching a cure for Jack’s genetic condition and warns that Professor Bhegad cannot be trusted. There is a trek to the underworld, confrontation with Artemisia, queen of the zombies. Action abounds until the last, and the book closes with a situation that is a lead-in to the next book.
The four teenagers have snappy dialogue. The action never lets up from chapter to chapter, and settings are vividly imagined. At the author’s website a reader can find an interactive map of the seven ancient wonders and learn a bit of history about each.
“From the bring of what were left of her teeth, I knew that yes was not in the ballpark. Skilaki took a step back and began raising her hand. “You have no power to bargain.””
This book will appeal to tweens and teens who like lots of action and danger in their stories and who are curious about ancient history.
Add this book to your collection: Seven Wonders: Book 3: The Tomb of Shadows, by Peter Lerangis
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About the Author
Peter Lerangis’s books have sold over 5.5 million copies and been translated into 33 languages. Titles include seven N.Y. Times bestsellers: THE COLOSSUS RISES, LOST IN BABYLON, and THE TOMB OF SHADOWS in THE SEVEN WONDERS series; and THE SWORD THIEF, THE VIPER’S NEST, one-fourth of VESPERS RISING, and THE DEAD OF NIGHT in THE 39 CLUES series. His work also includes the YA novels SOMEBODY, PLEASE TELL ME WHO I AM (written with Harry Mazer and winner of the ALA Schneider Award and a Best Fiction for Young Adults book), SMILER’S BONES (a N. Y. Public Library Best Book for Teens); the YA thriller WTF; the WATCHERS and SPY X series; and the ANTARCTICA duo. He’ll gladly recite the rest of the list if you ask nicely. He’s also performed on Broadway, run a marathon, rock-climbed in Yosemite during a 6.1 earthquake, and, with his wife, sprouted and grown two sons in NYC.
PeterLerangis.com | SevenWondersBooks.com | Facebook | Twitter
Seven Wonders: Book 3: The Tomb of Shadows, by Peter Lerangis, was reviewed by Elizabeth Varadan. Discover more books like Seven Wonders: Book 3: The Tomb of Shadows by following along with our reviews and articles tagged with Peter Lerangis Books, Books with Action, and Zombies.