What a trainwreck, truly exercised my eyebrow this one. The main character is such a Marty Stu, the bad guys are an American team and a "European" team, despite the fact that the good guys have Europeans on their side.

If the Capstone can't be returned to the Great Pyramid of Giza there will be catacalysm and doom, and the country who can put a soil in a right place and say the right things will gain power over the world for a thousand years.

There are some parts that are quite amusing but mostly it's a frenetic race to collect the tokens with cardboard characters. I've played some role-playing games that stunk with more believable characterisations. ( )

An easy read, with a fair amount of information alongside the plot; enjoyable as I get a hit of adventure combined with one of my favourite subjects - archaeology and ancient history. ( )

Pretty good. Nice twist in the end. ( )

I wasn't at all sure that I would like this book. A thriller in the Indiana Jones mode rather than my usual crime fiction diet, and I was a bit daunted by the length of time I would have to listen. At 15-20 minutes a journey, I calculated it would take me at least a month of travelling to and from work.

The story quickly: At one time, the Great Pyramid at Giza had a golden capstone with remarkable powers. And then it was broken into seven pieces and hidden for over 4,000 years. Each of the pieces is located with one of the lost seven ancient wonders of the world. The cataclysm that the capstone was originally created to prevent is about to happen again, and teams of ruthless men race around the world trying to find and take possession of them, so becoming the most powerful men in the world. The only clues are some ancient documents written in an almost untranslatable language, which only a child can read. The hiding places are booby trapped, created by one of Egypt's cleverest builders. The nation that retrieves and replaces the capstone on the Great Pyramid will, according to legend, rule for 1,000 years.

So, did I enjoy this? Well yes I did! The start was a bit gruesome and it did take a CD or two to work out what was going on. But then I found myself worried if the team of Jack West Jr., an Australian leading a small team with minimal resources, representing the 'small nations', was going to succeed or fail in preventing the US or European teams from gaining the power.

It did rather feel as if I was inside a Dungeons and Dragons game, or at the very least on the set of a Harrison Ford movie. But Sean Mangan's reading is first class. A measure of my enjoyment: tonight I borrowed AREA7, again by Matthew Reilly, and again read by Sean Mangan, to listen to in the car. 11 Cds, 13 hours 6 minutes. I'm a Matthew Reilly convert, at least in this format. ( )

Another great read from Matthew Reilly. I hope to see these characters in another book. ( )