The Colossus Rises by Peter Lerangis - Review

Title: The Colossus Rises
Author: Peter Lerangis
Series: Seven Wonders
Book: 1
Format: Hardback
Pages: 348
Rating: 3/5

I had some high hopes for this book regardless of it being a Middle grade read. I try not to let things like that define how it makes the book feel. For example, Percy Jackson is a Middle grade book as well, but it doesn't read like that, it actually has an interesting story with humour and violence and it could appeal to almost anyone. The Colossus Rises is a Middle grade book and reads like one as well.

I knew right from the beginning that I wasn't going to fall in love with this book. The characters lack a certain something that makes them easy to connect to. Jack McKinley is the main character, he has a knack for coming up with complicated solutions to seemingly easy problems and he's dying. Not that he knows this as first, he doesn't find out until he's taken to an institution that helps people just like him...all three of the others. Each of the other major characters, Aly, Marco, and Cass, are all given odd little quirks as well. Aly is a computer genius that can hack like a professional, Marco is an athletic star, and Cass is a mental genius with the ability to remember seemingly everything.

This book had such great potential, but even for a fantasy book it felt stretched a little thin. It throws odd scenarios with oddball names into a multitude of unlikely events that made my mind swirl a few times. While still maintaining a highly unique idea, it didn't seem like it really focused on the fact that these kids are all dying which for some reason doesn't phase any of them. That seems like a big deal to me, but clearly I've missed something more important than impending doom.