The Atlantis Gene

Wonderfully Horrible

The plot makes no sense. There are Nazis. There is time travel. There are people escaping on hot air balloons with the bottom painted like the sky and the top painted like the forest so drones can't see them. There are bad guys who make deals and don't double cross. There's a love story between two the the flattest characters ever. There's a plague.
Stuff like the hot air balloons makes it almost worthwhile.

31 of 31 people found this review helpful

Pretty bad, but not the worst I've ever read

I'm afraid this review might go a bit negative, so I want to begin by saying, I didn't hate it. That being said, there are many glaring flaws that are difficult to overlook.

First, I imagine writing about the past is bothersome and time consuming. You would have to know what technologies were available in different years. This book covers over 100 years, but the author made the past and present sound the same. It was particularly obvious in the parts about the journal. A personal journal written 100 years ago is going to sound much more formal than one written today. But these had a more conversational tone, as is found in modern writing.

The characters are inconsistent and confusing. Other reviewers (on Amazon) have described them as cardboard cut-outs. They do not progress or grow in any way throughout the book. And the love story...ugh. It was as if he just threw that in there because he felt like that's what people expect.

I realize that it's already a rather long book, but I feel that the author could have taken a little more time with developing the plot and characters. People will stick to a long book if it's good.

There were also parts that were clearly taken straight out of Wikipedia. Just cut and paste. Not even reworded. (Explanation of Toba Catastrophe, for example.)

This book felt like someone trying to tell you about a really good dream they had. "I found myself in this building I'd never been in. There were people there that I didn't know. They asked me to follow them. I did, but I don't remember why. Then I was flying over the Grand Canyon because I needed to go rescue my Grandma from the alligator people." Yep. That's almost exactly what this book was like.

On a more positive note, I really do admire this guy for following his dream of being a writer, and self-publishing his books.

The ideas in the book could have been interesting if the writing hadn't been so amateurish. I'm giving the book three stars because, in the end, I was mildly entertained. And I hate giving one star when you can clearly tell that the author has risked everything to follow a dream.

191 of 213 people found this review helpful

A Thrill-Ride That Captures Minds and Hearts Alike

4.5 out of 5 stars

I've had this book on my "to be read" pile for a long time. I picked this up a couple years ago before I was really into audiobooks and even though I was enjoying it -- it just felt like it was dragging on so I stopped around 20-30% through. I picked this up the other day and I'm really glad that I gave it another chance. I knew that thousands of people loved Riddle and this series, so I wanted to give it another shot. I completely understand why now.

For people out there who aren't sure why people listen to audiobooks -- this is a great example. It was a book that I was enjoying, but for some reason, I couldn't find the "right" time to read it. Or it wasn't hitting me with the right pacing. I put the audiobook on and all of a sudden it's 1 AM30 and I should have been in bed hours ago.

It's pretty obvious that The Atlantis Gene is leading up to something. There is a great story arc that is almost completed by the end of the book -- but Riddle left it open. Normally this bothers me a bit, but I've had this series on my radar for some time and I'm not disappointed at all by a 15+ hour book.

The mixture of history and future in this book was fascinating to me. I don't want to give too much away (I know, the book is 3+ years old at this point) but I'm amazed at how many different genres that Riddle was able to intermix into this story without it feeling boring or overbearing. There really is a little bit for everyone in this. There's some mystery, adventure, thriller, technothriller, history, sci-fi, and medical thriller.

I'm extremely glad that I gave this a second chance. I picked it up because I cannot wait for Riddle's newest book: Pandemic (I pre-ordered it). I hope that he puts as much thought into that as he did into this book.

Overall, an enjoyable book with lots of twists and turns. A book with something for everyone to enjoy.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

What made me download this?

I usually trust reviewers...and this book is certainly receiving the reviews it deserves (for the most part). So I can't imagine what made me download it! Was it a recommended audible book? It seems impossible...Alas, download I did. And it was terrible. At one point, I actually double-checked that I had not downloaded Book II by mistake (soooooo much time had gone by with no clear clue as to what the 'mystery' was about or what was really going on...or what could remotely connect all these widely disparate characters and events). I guess the 'promise' of that mystery must have been tempting (so the author gets one star for that), but after an hour or so on the SECOND downloaded half, I just stopped caring. Wish one of the other reviewers had a 'spoiler' and would tell me what (if anything) ended up happening. Did they all die? Did the world end? Meh. Will attempt to get my credit back on this one.

104 of 119 people found this review helpful

Dear Author: Ever heard the saying Less is More?

STORY (suspense) - If you read the summary of the story, you can see where it might be quite good...but it's just okay. There's just too many characters, too many time lines, too many subplots. ENOUGH! It's fairly long (15:44) and there's a lot to think about and keep straight. For the first 11 or 12 hours I was entertained, but then it just seemed to drag on and I stopped caring. I will give the author an A for imagination, but that's about all this book has going for it.

PERFORMANCE - Meh, he does okay. He doesn't do a very good job distinguishing characters, but it's not too much of a problem. Sometimes he drops his voice at the end of the line he's reading like the sentence is over, then he realizes there's more and tacks the rest on halfheartedly. All in all, the performance neither adds nor detracts from the book.

OVERALL - (Actual rating 2.5) No sex, minimal cursing. This is not an easy listen and you will have to pay close attention. The story isn't finished by the end of the book, so you will need to hear Book 2 to see how it ends. Personally, I don't care.

80 of 93 people found this review helpful

Messy story

in general a messy story and not to exhiting. Narrator was good, but the plot is too far out there. Buy something else.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Erich von Danken Meets Tom Clancy

What did you like best about The Atlantis Gene? What did you like least?

The story is fairly original, though the writing and genre are both fairly generic. The characters are bland, the writing style seems amateurish, and the relationships between the characters feel forced.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes. It's the perfect vehicle for a summer block buster. It has everything that that type of movie needs: shooting, explosions, a love story, and religious undertones. In fact, it would make a better block buster than it does a book. As a novel it is derivative in it's writing style and seems more like a paint-by-numbers spy novel than original piece of work. Though as I stated above, the idea of the story is pretty original, it is just the characters, dialogue, and action that are sub-par.

Any additional comments?

If you don't have anything better to read, you like Tom Clancy books, and are interested in Ancient Aliens, check this book out. It won't blow you away, but is an OK way to pass the time.

21 of 27 people found this review helpful

never caught my attention

bland story and characters. I have never abandoned an audio book before but I just couldn't continue this one. I stopped about half way through.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A Riddle

AG Riddle takes you on quite a journey! The multiple threaded plot twists and turns to a point where I thought it was quiet a riddle! One must really follow the characters carefully which I enjoyed. It kept me engaged and he really makes you want to believe in his take on the whole Atlantis theory. It's an ambitious plot. The pace was well executed and picks up as the story line starts to come together leading to a crescendo. (Considering this is a trilogy).
At first I thought that I was going to battle with Stephen Bel Davies's voice. He sounded almost too pronounced. This however faded and he actually does a damn good job! There was a number of accents to cover and he had to switch between them quickly at times. I think I heard him falter slightly once.

I downloaded book 2 but I took a break before starting. I've been waiting to have more time on hand so I can really tune in and listen.

9 of 12 people found this review helpful

Just to much dumb

I had such hopes for this book and kept reading it with the dream of that promise. It was not to be. The whole book is a series of unbelievable events and not the 'WOW that's unbelievable' but the 'that's ridiculous' kind. From the hero spy agency set up like a terror cell, to the arch villain in charge of a super secret billion dollar high tech organization who knows absolutely no science or engineering, to the head spy who's been in a country for years yet speaks none of the languages, to the super smart (as in highly highly educated) heroes who cant figure out a card reader. And those are just off the top of my head examples that aren't spoilers. The story is a fine regular suspension of disbelief conspiracy story that I normally don't have a problem with but when I'm saying just 'let it go' every ten minutes...well needless to say I found it to be a let down.

31 of 45 people found this review helpful