Customer Reviews

The Seventh Mountain: Chronicles of a Magi

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Don't get me wrong, I liked and enjoyed (in my case) listening to the book, but it was at times annoying to realize how much the story was like Harry Potter. The basic story line and premise it almost exactly the same. For those of you who read both books, you probably understand what I mean, for those of you who only know Harry Potter, here's a comparison:

Magi = Wizards
The 7th Mountain (a school for Magi) = Hogwarts (a school for wizards)
tribes (each student is chosen for a tribe at the beginning of their first year) = houses (each student is chosen for a house at the beginning of their first year)
Mark Young & friends (the hero and his friends) = Harry Potter and friends (the hero and his friends)
Slone and his bullies = Draco and his bullies
Benra (a bad magi wanting to kill Mark) = Voldemort (a bad wizard wanting to kill Harry)
Flags (a sport played by magi) = Quidditch (a sport played by wizards)
Mr.Diefenderfer & Mrs. Shadowitz (the warmhearted intelligent heads of the school) = Albus Dumledore and Minerva McGonagall (the warmhearted intelligent heads of the school)
Harmoniuous Thorpe (the ill-humored and spiteful teacher) = Severus Snape (the ill-humored and spiteful teacher)
a moat with weird creatures in it = a lake with weird creatures in it

see what I mean? ;-)

Anyways, if you enjoyed Harry Potter you'd probably like this book too. But I wish the writer had proven a bit more imaginative.

The Seventh Mountain by Gene Curtis is a story told well. While there are similarities between Seventh Mountain and Harry Potter it is not so exact as to be distracting. The author does a very good job telling this story. The writing is well done and the plot is compelling. This is one book that you will enjoy until the last pages.

Any fan of the Harry Potter series would enjoy The Seventh Mountain. There is nothing inappropriate in the content making this book a good one for readers of all ages.

It intrigued me from the first and I have to say, it's a darned good story. I believe some people will say that it's a Christian Harry Potter knock off but I can't say I agree. True, at first I wondered if it was indeed a re-telling of a Harry Potter type tale with a Christian twist but as I got deeper into the book I found it was something quite different.

Curtis does a good job on the magic system in the Magi world, making it understandable and realistic. The setting of Seventh Mountain and it's surroundings is also very well developed. To be honest, the characters were a bit wooden at times and the dialog was awkward in places. I often felt that Mark understood concepts and acted far beyond the scope of his 12 years of age. Yet I was still engaged and my interest was held to the very last page.

There are enough questions in the book that you want to keep reading, want to find the answers. The bad guy is really bad and the good guys are really good. This work should appeal to a wide audience. It's young enough that a child will understand and enjoy it but it's got enough depth that an adult will enjoy their time reading it as well.

Bravo to Gene Curtis and well done on his first published novel. I look very forward to reading future installments of the Chronicles of a Magi series.

I love books with magi. Sort of addicted. This is a very well-written book. Totally got involved from start to finish. The characters are engaging and wonderful!

A delightful story in and of its own merit. With humor, suspense, and surprising twists! I simply refuse to compare apples to oranges...HP can also stand for Hewlett Packard, but again, two completely unrelated concepts. Even if you start out thinking the storyline seems familiar, by the end of the book Gene Curtis will certainly show he knows how to spin an incredible tale! A valiant effort for a first novel.

Very much like the Potter books and lacking the originality of, say, The King's Blade. But still a decent effort, though it took a little while to get going. The story is of a twelve-year-old boy who tells his parents about this dream that he has. The parents tell their child that he is to go to a special school and that he is in danger. Yawn.

After that the story progresses nicely though I can't help relating several things to the immenesly popular Potter books.

Still, it might be worth a shot. But if you're in the mood for something a bit more original you might want to try the book I recommended above.

I thought this was a well-written and fascinating story. The only possible disappointment I see is its extreme similarity to Harry Potter, at least on the surface. However, by the middle of the story it sets itself apart and draws you in. I can't wait for the next book, which Gene Curtis is working on.

As the author of, The Second Virgin Birth, I have to say that this book is very believable, with well developed-characters with amazing dialogue that surrounds an action-packed story that will keep you guessing the entire time. It's an easy read, and extremely well written. Yes, I thought that every now and then, this could be a Harry Potter story, but don't let that spoil a good read.

For twelve-year old Mark Young, it all begins with a strange, surreal, and somewhat frightening dream about long dark corridors and a booming voice that tells him, "You're going to die." The next day he relates the dream to his parents. To Mark's surprise, his parents were expecting this moment to arrive--the moment when he would have to face his destiny. Over a series of flashbacks, his parents tell Mark the bizarre circumstances of his birth. Soon Mark realizes that he is no ordinary boy, that he is being protected by a series of ancient beings, that he must go to a special school to learn his path, and that he is in danger.

The reader will follow Mark's adventures as he learns to be a Magi at the Seventh Mountain in the company of friends, who, like him, were born under the protection of other supernatural beings. Will he find his fate and fulfil his destiny?

Though the book is technically well written and edited, I found the beginning somewhat slow, probably because of all the flashbacks and explanations about what happened in the past. The real action doesn't begin to catch up until about page seventy, when the young protagonist goes to the Magi school. But perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this book is its resemblance to Harry Potter in terms of plot and characters. Indeed, the `copycat' plot doesn't do justice to the author's smooth prose, well-thought descriptions and natural dialogue. There are just too many similarities between the Magi school and the wizard school found in Potter's. Readers looking for an original story won't find it here. However, those who love Potter-like books will find Mark Young's adventures entertaining.

I had the pleasure of listening to the audiobook version of Gene Curtis's debut novel "The Seventh Mountain: Chronicles of a Magi" on a recent road trip. The narration was wonderful, and it held my attention for most of the trip. The story is quite similar to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" as one or two other reviewers have mentioned, but Gene is a gifted storyteller with a narrative voice all his own. Mark Young's story is shaded with quaint Southernisms that I found refreshing, unique, and original. I think that is when Gene is at his most interesting, and I look forward to seeing him develop further as a writer. Without a doubt, "The Seventh Mountain" is one of the best independently published books of 2006, and the signs are clear that this is a great writer in the making.

Stacey