The Colossus Crisis
by Katherine Roberts
Published on September 21st
Sixth in the series of 'The Seven Fabulous Wonders,' The Colossus Crisis tells the story of Aura, a half-human, half-Telchine girl. Telchine? Well Katherine Roberts did not make these up; they were reputed to be the primordial inhabitants of the island of Rhodes . She yanks them forward from the time of myth, before Rhodes was populated, to historical 227BC when an earthquake toppled the famous Colossus. And her Telchines are not destroyers like their mythical Greek counterparts but rather gentle underwater-breathing, sponge-eating fat people, with clouds of silver hair.
The Colossus - one of the seven wonders of the ancient world - was a massive bronze statue of Helios the Sun God, reputedly built by Chares. In The Colossus Crisis, Katherine Roberts has engineered it that Chares is Aura's grandfather. The link between them, Leonidus, Aura's human father, is a wanted man. The plot is very complex and not easily summarised but the action positively rollicks along, with chase and capture, thieves and priests, romance and adventure skilfully entwined. This series deserves to be better known and will come to a triumphant finale next year with The Cleopatra Curse. I can't wait to see what this multi-talented writer will do with the Pharos at Alexandria.
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