The League of Seven, by Alan Gratz, was published in 2014 by Tor.
Young Archie Dent knows there really are monsters in the world. His parents are members of the secret Septemberist Society, whose job it is to protect humanity from hideous giants called the Mangleborn. Trapped in underground prisons for a thousand years, the giant monsters have been all but forgotten—until now. Evil genius Thomas Alva Edison and his experiments in the forbidden science of electricity have awakened Malacar Ahasherat, the Swarm Queen, in the swamps of Florida. When the monster brainwashes Archie’s parents and the rest of the Septemberists, it is up to Archie and his loyal Tik Tok servant, Mr. Rivets, to assemble a team of seven young heroes to save the world: the League of Seven.
Rating: 3/5
The League of Seven takes place in an alternate, steampunk America with a healthy dose of fantasy/horror elements thrown in as well. The worldbuilding is good; things are explained at their own pace yet the development never seems too fast or too slow. Some of the stranger things are handwaved a little, such as Fergus’s circuits, but overall it’s a rich world, with plenty of room for expansion in the following books.
The characters and plot are pretty good, too. I loved the twist involving the roles of the League of Seven and how it made the book deviate from the norm for this type of plot. I loved Hachi’s circus and Hachi, Fergus, and Archie are pretty good characters and mesh well together as a group. Sometimes group mechanics can be rushed, but this one was developed realistically, I thought.
However, despite all the praise I’ve given the book, The League of Seven just wasn’t particularly exciting enough for me. It was good, yes, but some of the writing and just the overall pace and development of the book made it trudge on in places that should have been exciting. I liked almost everything about the book, but the excitement level itself was not there for me. I didn’t find myself eager to rush out and get the next book. Instead, I’m left with an “Eh, I might get the next book if I remember” and that’s not really a good thought with which to leave a book. I can’t even pin down what, exactly, made it so difficult for me to enjoy The League of Seven. I suppose it just comes down to the things that I like in stories, and this book lacked some of those.
Recommended Age Range: 12+
Warnings: None.
Genre: Steampunk, Middle Grade
Archie crept closer and closer to where the insects poured over the wall, then peeked over.
The abyss was covered with an enormous stone, like a lid. No, two stones: half circles that met in the middle, each with a huge letter X on it. XX. It was a door. A seal. An old one, with cracks in the stone. That’s wehre the bugs were going. They wiggled and pushed and scrunched odwn through the cracks to whatever was below.
THOOM. The ground trembled. Was it an earthquake?
THOOM. Dust and rubble shook loose from the ceiling.
THOOM. The stone seal on the wall shuddered, knocking insects onto their backs.
There was something inside the well. Underneath the stone seals.
Something trying to get out.
Leaf's Reviews 