I got this paperback (also published as Seven Ancient Wonders) from the ongoing charity-sale shelves at a local Hannaford. It's a fast-moving, violent, and often hilariously over-the-top book about a team of skilled soldiers - plus one child-oracle - who are trying to locate the fragments of the magical golden capstone of the Great Pyramid, which have somehow been distributed around the world in the company of remnants of the other wonders of the ancient world. [No, it doesn't make any sense. The author admits as much, describing his work as a "modern real-world fantasy novel", and has no problem with pseudo-technology meeting cosmic mysticism.]

The story is presented as a series of chases through trap-filled settings, with illustrations to show all the dungeon levels - er, the routes our heroes must take. While doing this they have to beat and/or evade rival teams, a European one and (the Big Bads of this novel) an American team that's in take-no-prisoners mode. (West, the leader of this team, is Australian; his team is international.) I found the descriptions to be a mix of "detailed dungeon-crawl scenario written out", and "fast-paced conspiracy/action/thriller" - enjoyable if you don't ask too many questions. The character interactions are fun, though again it's best not to ask how they survive all this stuff while having time to quip at each other!

There are flashbacks about main character West, young oracle Lily, and other elements of the story, and each section includes a history of the ancient wonder currently being explored/invaded/disinterred. (I enjoyed those, but for my taste, Steven Saylor's The Seven Wonders was a better use of said wonders as plot devices.)

Overall, I found this a pretty goofy story, entertaining and often funny, but seriously unbelievable. The very first series of traps was supposedly just sitting there for millennia and still worked flawlessly; once I got past the eye-rolling stage about that, it was quite fun, but it does seem to require some serious preservation magic!

[There's a TV Tropes page on the author and his works, including this one, with some entertaining tidbits.]

I left this propped up on the railing of the gazebo in the town square on this warm day; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]