Seven Ancient Wonders
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| 1st edition cover | |
| Author | Matthew Reilly |
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| Cover Artist | Wayne Haag |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Thriller |
| Publisher | Pan MacMillan |
| Released | October 2005 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 472 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 1-4050-3692-3 |
Seven Ancient Wonders ( Seven Deadly Wonders in the United States Of America) is a book written by the Australian author Matthew Reilly in 2005.
It features a new protagonist, Captain Jack West, Jr., an Australian. The story is about eight nations who try to combat the greediness of a military force of Europeans and that of an American force. The eight-nation alliance consists of Canada, Australia, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Jamaica, New Zealand, and later Israel. Their mission: to retrieve one of the greatest treasures known to man before the alignment of the Tartarus Rotation with the Earth, the single hottest point on the sun (a fictional event coming from the Greek word meaning the "abysmal regions where the Titans were confined.") and protect a young girl named Lily.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis and other information
The novel's plot revolves around a quote from hieroglyphics found at the summit of the Great Pyramid of Giza:
"Cower in fear, cry in despair, you wretched mortals, For that which giveth great power also takes it away. For lest the Benben be placed at sacred site on sacred ground, at sacred height, Within seven sunsets of the arrival of Ra's Prophet, At the high point of the seventh day, The fires of Ra's implacable Destroyer will devour us all."
Five millennia previously, a nine-foot golden capstone sat upon the Great Pyramid. Ra's Destroyer, a monstrous sunspot that occurs every 4,500 years, released an enormous amount of energy which was absorbed by crystal in the capstone. In 2006, seven days before the arrival of Ra's Destroyer, the pieces of the capstone are spread across the earth. Each of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World contains a piece of the capstone from the Great Pyramid in Egypt that was divided in the time of Alexander the Great. Each of the three forces tries to find the fragments of the capstone in order to complete one of two rituals, one for worldwide peace or one that ensures a single nation's worldwide domination for a millennia. Either ritual also protects the earth from cataclysmic destruction. In the case of the 11 Nation Alliance, the team races to protect the world from the other two groups and perform the ritual of peace.
The story opens with West's team racing the European Alliance into an abandoned mine in the Sudan. Hidden within is the Second Piece of the Capstone and the head of the Colossus of Rhodes. The mine is unique in its array of traps, ranging from a pool of Nile crocodiles to a false-floor chamber teeming with lethal bacteria, an enormous sliding-block in a slipway and pits of spikes. Emerging into the cavern, the team trigger the 'Master Snare', a cascading waterfall of oil which is ignited, making for an enormous shower of fire. West accompanies Lily, a ten year old girl into the inner chamber at the very top of the cavern and retrieves the Second Piece before the team escape. Upon exiting, Noddy is killed by an American sniper before the team is forced to hand the Second Piece over to Marshall Judah, leader of CIEF, the Commander-in-Chief's In Extremis Force. They are saved by the arrival of a European helicopter that attacks, giving them enough time to escape. After a brief chase through the upper reaches of the Nile river, West radios in Sky Monster, the final member of the Nine. Sky Monster pilots their very own plane, a modified Boeing 747, landing on a narrow road and opening the rear hatch. west drives their boat up onto the road and reels them in before they escape.
The story then occasions a flashback, detailing a mission to a volcano in Uganda ten years previously. There, a younger Jack West and Max Epper encounter Father Francisco del Piero, later to lead the European Coalition, and a group of French Paratroopers standing over a woman who gives birth. Taking her child, they leave the chamber and the woman to die. West, too late to save the woman discovers that she was, in fact, pregnant with twins. Preforming a grisly Caesarian, West and Epper are forced to run twenty metres over an inch-thick layer of lava to the exit, blocked by a shower of the molten rock. West sacrifices his left forearm to stop the trap, with Epper promising to build hima new arm and remarking that there had never before been two oracles of Siwa at the same time. The story skips ahead several months and details the meeting in which the Eight (Benjamin "Stretch" Choen was not a part of the meeting) were formed and their plan outlined: in ten years, the Tartarus Rotation would occur and the Americans and Europeans were putting together efforts to retrieve the seven Pieces of the Capstone and perform the ritual that would grant them one thousand years of unstoppable power. The story then proceeds to detail the early years of Lily's life at Victoria Station in Kenya.
Returning to the present, West wonders how the Americans knew where to look. Speculating that del Piero would have access to the Text that detailed the locations of the Wonders, West considers a traitor among their ranks, but cannot bring himself to believe it. Lily translates the second passage of the Word of Thoth and the Nine realise they have a break: the location, known as Halcimar's Refuge is only detailed in one of the Museion Scrolls, as salvaged by West and Epper in their previous travels. Using a carbon fibre glider, West surveys the coast of Tunisia and finds the markers that denote the entrance to the cavern. It is quickly discovered that the desert floor is false; the construction workers created a ceiling over the channel housing Halcimar's Refuge and built a false cliff, only to learn Marshall Judah is closing on them. Entering the Refuge, the Nine (save for the injured Fuzzy, Sky Monster and Noddy) discover a World War II U-boat in the shallows and proceed to climb up to a narrow ledge that leads deeper into the cavern. Judah arrives and gives chase along an identical ledge on the opposite side. It quickly becomes apparent the Americans are far more technologically adept, using liquid nitrogen to freeze superheated volcanic mud and a tunnel-boring machine to dig into the lower levels of the Refuge. West, Zoe and Lily manage to traverse over the waters of the cavern before they are cut off from the others, who provide cover-fire while the three run into the Refuge proper. There they find not one, but two Pieces, taken from the Lighthouse at Alexandria and the Masoluem at Halicarnassus. They also discover the bodies of a Nazi expedition party and a diary from one Heinrich Hessler, the leader of the expedition before being interrupted by Judah. The Americans take the Pieces, triggering a trap that spews volcanic mud throughout the room, separating West from Zoe and Lily. The women escape and meet the rest of the Nine, with West heading the opposite direction. Catching up with Judah's tunnel-borer, he sneaks aboard and manages to take photos of the two Pieces before jumping into a narrow channel and swimming back to the Refuge. Judah remarks West was easily the best he had ever taught.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, and with the possibility of a traitor among their ranks, the Nine consider their options. Ultimately, they concede that they are forced to employ the services of Mustahpa Zaheed, the world's foremost authority on the Capstone and a known terrorist. In a daring raid designed to look like a training exercise, the Nine perform a jailbreak at Guantanamo Bay, extracting Zaheed from his high-level cell and escaping to Jamacia. With his help, they trace the next two pieces: one hidden within the Lourve and the other in St. Peter's Basilica. Splitting up, West takes Stretch, Pooh Bear, Gunman and Lily to Paris, while Wizard with his priest's training takes Zoe and Fuzzy to the Vatican. The second team are apprehended, but not before Epper gets a chance to memorise the engravings on the Piece hidden in the altar of St. Peter's Basilica. The Paris team, meanwhile, raid the Lourve, taking one Piece from under the Winged Victory of Samothrace, formerly resting upon the Statue of Zeus. Stealing a double-decker bus, Stretch takes the to the Place de la Concorde and the Obelisk in the centre of Paris. Using Hessler's notebook, West is able to take co-ordinated from the Obelisk that will come into use when searching for the final piece. The French Army arrive and a chase ensues, with Stetch and West driving erratically - and dangerously - through Parisian traffic. Escaping as they drive off the Charles de Gaulle bridge, West's sub-team escape to Dijon via the TGV. Full of elation a tthe prospect of having successfully take a piece, they return to Victoria Station where disaster strikes. Judah's CIEF forces stage an ambush when the plane lands, resulting in the death of Big Ears and the loss of the Piece. Judah also executes Doris Epper, wife of Wizard, for warning Lily of the impending trap. Frustrated and angry, the remainder of the team make for Iraq on the advice of Zaheed.
The sixth Piece to be collected is also the most difficult, the existence of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon being called into question. Using some of Zaheed's research, collected during a brief stop-over in Saudi Arabia, West locates the Gardens on the Iran/Iraq border. Pursued by Judah's biggest force yet, they find the Gardens hidden behind a series of tiered waterfalls. Again they encounter traps, including quicksand, before being apprehended by an Israeli strike team. It is here Stretch reveals that he was sent by Israel to secure one Piece to be used as a bargaining chip in world politics. West is forced to lead the Israelis to the Hanging Gardens themselves; an enormous stalactite handing over a ziggaraut. Climbing to the very top of the fifteen-story rock formation, West and Pooh Bear are forced to climb out on a set of handrungs five hundred feet above the world. Securing the sixth Piece - the most difficult to reach - the Israelis leave them behind, destroying the only way out as the Americans arrive and destroy the wall that hid the gardens from the world. Seizing their chance, West and Pooh Bear release themselves from the roof, plummeting back towards earth before using a cable fired from a gun to swing under one of Judah's helicopters. As the Israelis escape, Lily becomes caught in a trap that quickly fills with quicksand. Strecth abandons his countrymen to save her, holding her above the level of quicksand and using the barrel of his sniper rifle as a snorkel. Outside, the Israelis are executed and the Piece taken. West and Pooh Bear flee into the ziggaraut as Judah fires on the Hanging gardens, bringing the stalactite down and crushing the ziggaraut. Trying to escape the collapsing tunnels, West and Pooh Bear become trapped in a pool of snkae-filled quicksand. With Horus' help, they escape, and West realises the truth: he was betraying them all along. Involved in a series of wargames hosted by Marshall Judah, west had been knocked unconscious during a helicopter crash and a locator chip implanted in his neck. He destroys the chip, Judah believing him to be dead.
Francisco del Piero escorts his hostages to Cairo with his lone Piece - taken from St. Peter's Basilica - ambushing Judah's men as they unload their five Pieces. Judah, however, gets the upperhand in a counter-ambush of his own and taking Zoe, Wizard and Fuzzy hostage again. It is here Lily meets her twin brother, Alexander, raised by del Piero to rule the world. Alexander accuses Lily of being soft, claiming that it was their birthright to rule the world. Judah proceeds to take them to Hatshepsut's Mortuary, and with the aid of Heinrich Hessler, former Nazi war criminal now working for America, they recreate the measurements taken from the Paris Obelisk to find the tomb of Alexander the great and the final piece of the Capstone before going to Giza on the day of the Tartarus Rotation. With the aid of the Egyptian Government (not know what is truly happening), the Americans are given clearance to use the pyramid at giza and the Capstone is finally put back together after 4500 years. As noon - the designated time for the ritual - approaches, Judah forces Alexander into a chamber under the Capstone with 100 grams of American soil. It is then that Jack West returns, using the carbon fibre glider to attack from one side a tthe Halicarnassus attacks from the other. It is here that Sky Monster engages the 747's most notable feature: a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) system. In the following fight, Zoe, Stretch, Wizard and Fuzzy break free of their captors and join in the attack. They are unsuccessful, with Judah triumphantly completing the ritual. However, nothing happens, as Alexander is seen crawling away. It is then that Mustapha Zaheed jumps from the 747, seizing Alexander, who believes he will die if he enters the crawlspace. Lily tells him to take her instead, having worked out the meaning of a cryptic message in the chamber she was born in.
As West is busy fighting Judah's second-in-command, Zaheed recites the incantation, culminating as both Judah and West come to stare at each other down the barrel of the other's gun. Both stop in horror as the incantation truly works, the rays of the sun redoubling in intensity. Believing himself invincible, Zaheed dares West to try to kill him. West shoots Zaheed, explaining to the terrorist that he knew Zaheed would never miss the opportunity to attempt to use the Capstone and allowed him to stow away on-board the Halicarnassus, but not before switching Zaheed's soil - collected during the stopover in Saudi Arabia - for West's, thus giving a millennia of invincibility to Australia. Disbeliving, Zaheed dies. Judah rounds on West, levelling an M-16 at his former student and attempts to kill him, only to have the gun explode in his hands, the effects of the incantation protecting West. The Australian unclips Judah's safety line, explaining to him that whie he could forgive Judah for using him to find the Pieces and for killing his soldiers, West would never forgive him for the cold-blooded execution of Doris Epper. Judah watches on in horror as West throughs the cable into one of the engines of the Halicarnassus, sucking him in along with it. It is then that West realises the price of their success: Lily is unmoving in the crawlspace. Believing her to be dead, he breaks down, before Lily regains consciousness and explains to him what she had learnt. If she had gone into the crawlspace against her will, she would have died, but if she had have gone in voluntarily, she would survive. Climbing back aboard the Halicarnassus, the Nine gather the Capstone and fly away, leaving the Egyptian government to clean up after them.
The epilogue takes place three weeks later, with Wizard and Zoe accompanying Lily across north-western New South Wales. Following a riddle left by West, the three set out to find him beyond the remote town of Death Valley. Upon arrival, they find West intends to bury the Capstone in the abandoned mines and will make future expeditions to recover the pieces of the Masoluem, Lighthouse and Colossus from their hiding places. They also agree to lie about the events at Giza, describing how they had successfully managed to perform an alternative ritual that would save the world from Tartarus without making any single country invincible.
[edit] Characters
The emotional representation of the characters in Seven Ancient Wonders is one of few times Matthew Reilly has shown such a family-style approach to representing his characters. Although it could be argued that the military teams in previous novels (led by Captain Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield of the US Marine Corps) are like a family of soldiers. A long-lasting emotional attachment (both by characters in the book and fans of Reilly) has only been obviously seen on two occasions; the death of Sergeant "Book" Rielly (leading to the introduction of "Book 2" (Book's son) in Area 7), and the death of Libby "Fox" Gant, a fellow Marine Corps Soldier and Scarecrow's girlfriend, a particularly gory death by guillotine in Scarecrow. The emotional ties in Seven Ancient Wonders is mainly due to the inclusion of a small girl to the group of soldiers, which leads to the attachment of childish call-signs given to members and much discussion over the death of loved team members.
[edit] The Nine
[edit] Jack West, Jr.
The leader of the Nine's expedition, Jack West is the son of an American and an Australian who cannot recall four days of his life. A member of the Australian SAS, West was the only non-American to be included on the Pentagon's list of top ten soldiers. Left for dead in Basra during Desert Storm, West escaped by stealing the Halicarnassus, a 747 owned by Saddam Hussein. Shortly after the incident, he left the military and joined Professor Max Epper and Zoe Kissane at Trinity College. Along with Epper, West recovered the Museion Scrolls from the Atlas Mountains and traced the Oracle of Siwa's pregnant wife. Beaten by Father Fransisco del Piero and the Europeans, West is too late to save the woman when the Europeans force her to give birth. Apporaching her body, West realises the Europeans missed the fact that the woman was pregnant with twins. Performing a Caesarian on the dead woman in a volcano, West sacrifices his own arm in a lava trap to secure their release (Epper later builds a mechanical replacement). Shortly afterwards, he and Epper call forth a coalition of nations with the aim of saving the world from Tartarus. Along the way he encounters his former mentor, Marshall Judah, and becomes a father figure to Lily.
[edit] Lily
One of the two present-day Orcales of Siwa, Lily is one of only two people on the face of the earth who can read the mystical Word of Thoth language. She becomes essential to the Nine's plans as she is their only way of tracing and identifying the Pieces of the Capstone. She bonds with each member of the Nine, essentially making them a family unit. When she is captured by Judah's forces, she willingly sacrifices herself to stop him.
[edit] Max Epper
The Canadian representative of the Nine, Epper is one of two civilian members of the team. Code-named Wizard, he is known for his inventions which help the team out. He is heartbroken when Judah executes his wife in Kenya, but takes Lily on as a granddaughter.
[edit] Zoe Kissane
Originally known as Bloody Mary, Zoe is re-named Princess Zoe by Lily. The only twenty-something female that Lily knows during her childhood, Zoe is idolised by the young girl. Blonde-haired and blue-eyed, the Irish woman is tougher and smarter than most of the Nine. Captured with Fuzzy and Wizard by the Europeans and then the Americans, Zoe co-ordinates their escape at the Pyramid of Giza.
[edit] Liam Kissane
The brother of Zoe Kissane, Liam is the one member of the team Lily bonds with the most. Described as "not too smart, but a great commando", he specialises in hostage rescue and bomb disposal. Known as Big Ears, he is easily the largest member of the team, he usually carries Lily and the Pieces of the Capstone with them. He is killed when Judah's forces attack the homestead in Kenya.
[edit] Benjamin Cohen
Not originally a member of the Nine, Cohen is sent by Israel to assist West's efforts. As a sniper, he is invaluable, able to shoot rocket-propelled grenades out of the air to buy the Nine enough time to escape. He ultimately betrays them, giving the Hanging Gardens Piece and Lily to Israel, only to turn around and betray his home country to save her. Originally known as Archer, he is renamed Stretch by Lily.
[edit] Aziz al Anzar
Hailing from the United Arab Emirates and the son of the nation's ruler, Aziz al Anzar - or Saladin as he is known - is the Nine's explosives and demolitions man. Initially thought to be killed in the Sudan, he manages to out-run one of the traps and aid the team in escaping. Initially, he does not like Stretch, but forms a friendship with him when they are forced to work together. He is also known as Pooh Bear for his "cuddly nature".
[edit] V.J Weatherly
Nicknamed Fuzzy for his deadlocks, Weatherly is a Jamacian commando injured in the Sudan and forced to sit out the mission to Halcimar's Refuge in Libya. He is later captured with Zoe and Wizard in the Vatican and handed over to the Americans.
[edit] Sky Monster
Sky Monster is a New Zealand Air Force pilot who flies the Halicarnassus. His real name is not given and he is the only member of the team not to be re-named by Lily - Sky Monster was his call-sign before the mission.
[edit] Enrique Velacruz
Spain's representative to the Nine, Velacruz is described as "looking like Ricky Martin, only tougher". Nicknamed Noddy, he is a good friend of Big Ears, and the team's first casualty, killed by an American sniper escaping from the Sudan.
[edit] Horus
A peregrine falcon, formerly owned by Marshall Judah. After witnessing Judah abusing her at the Coronado Exercises, West stole her from Judah. She is useful when a smaller person is needed to aid in a dangerous situation, as proved at the Hanging Gardens.
[edit] CIEF
[edit] Marshall Judah
West's one-time mentor, now in command of CIEF, the Commander-In-Chief's In Extremis Force with an unusual fear of heights. Always the last to arrive at one of the wonders, he usually has a superior force under his command and prefers to wait until the Nine or the Europeans have retrieved a Piece before stealing it from them. Believes Jack West to be his best student, though disagrees with him on several points. He was killed by West when the Australian threw Judah's safety line into one of the engines of the Halicarnassus for executing Doris Epper. His notable feature is his nose, which appears to have been cut off.
[edit] Cal Kallis
Judah's right-hand man who once worked with West, who considers him to be psychotic. Took pleasure in the execution of the Israeli force sent to intercept West's team at the Hanging Gardens and later taunted the Australian over the execution of Big Ears. West hit him so hard with his mechanical arm that Kallis's nose was forced several inches back into his skull before he fell from the Pyramid at Giza onto the still-spinning rotor blades of a crashed helicopter.
[edit] European Coalition
[edit] Father Francisco del Piero
A former acquaintance of Max Epper and Jack West, del Piero is a Vatican priest with designs on utilising the Capstone's powers. Together with French paratroopers and German engineers, it was del Piero who presided over the birth of the two Oracles of Siwa. He is later murdered by Marshall Judah.
[edit] Alexander
Lily's twin brother, the older by a few minutes. He was raised by del Piero from birth and groomed to be the world's leader. Named after the only man to have ever harnessed the power of the Capstone - Alexander the Great - the child Alexander has no understanding of the family unit, believing Lily to be soft when she reveals that she enjoys living with her family and helping them out. Judah forces Alexander into a crawlspace under the Capstone atop the Great Pyramid and comes very close to successfully conducting the ritual to give America a millennium of power, only to find Alexander crawled back out. At the conclusion of the book, Alexander is integrated into a normal family.
[edit] Others
[edit] Mustapha Zaheed
Alias the Black Priest of Kabul, Zaheed is the world's leading expert on the Capstone and its properties. Born in Saudi Arabia, he was in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion, an event which badly damaged his leg. He tutored himself in the Word of Thoth and was preparing an attempt to find the Capstone, only to be captured in the US invasion of Afghanistan and detained at Guantanamo Bay. A known terrorist, West is reluctant to enlist his help, but finds he has no choice. In a daring raid of Guantanamo Bay, West and Zoe break Zaheed out of prison. As expected, Zaheed later turns on them, stowing away aboard the Halicarnassus and attempting to perform the ritual for power himself. Using Lily, he succeeds, and dares West to try and kill him. However, West is successful and reveals to Zaheed that he switched the terrorist's home soil for his own before Zaheed dies.
[edit] Technology and Equipment
[edit] The Capstone
Created by the ancient Egyptians as a means of preventing the Tartarus Rotation, the Capstone was used by Alexander the Great to conquer the world. Bestowing the user with invulnerability for a millennium, the Capstone was divided into seven pieces and hidden with the Seven Ancient Wonders. Appearing as a golden pyramidion with a crystal array through its centre, the Capstone can be used as a solar polariser and prevent the effects of Tartarus, or to grant one's nation invincibility.
[edit] Mechanical Arm
Created by Wizard for Jack West after West sacrificed his arm during Lily's birth. Allows West to grip with and use more strength than his normal arm would allow, as demonstrated on Cal Kallis at Giza.
[edit] Warblers
Developed by Wizard for Raytheon, Warblers generate a high-powered electromagnetic field that can divert the course of bullets and, to a lesser extent, crossbow bolts. However, rocket-propelled grenades are too heavy to be affected by the field created by the Warblers. Used by the Nine throughout the events of the week.
[edit] Glider Wing
A one-piece carbon fibre wing similar to that used by Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner. Using compressed-air thrusters, the glider wing allows a user to maintain a natural gliding pattern and due to its small shape, cannot be detected by radar. Jack West uses one to scout the coast of Tunisia, and later with the aid of Zoe Kissane to break Zaheed from Guantanamo Bay and at the climax in an assault on Giza.
[edit] The Halicarnassus
Formerly owned by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the Halicarnassus was stolen by Jack West when he was left for dead in Basra during Gulf Storm. A Boeing 747-700, it is outfitted with a variety of non-factory components including missile pods, turret-mounted machine guns, black radar-absorbent paint and a vertical take-off and landing system.
[edit] Tunnel-Boring Vehicle
An armoured personnel carrier re-fitted to drill through solid rock. Used by Marshall Judah's CIEF forces at Halcimar's Refuge to remove two of the largest pieces of the Capstone.
[edit] Glowsticks
Used by both the Nine and CIEF as a means of illuminating caverns.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- MatthewReilly.com - homepage of author
- SevenDeadlyWonders.com - official website
