The Atlantis Plague – A. G. Riddle
The Atlantis Plague is the second book in the Origin Mystery series by A. G. Riddle. I read the first one awhile ago and liked it so much that I immediately bought this one, but I made the mistake of not immediately reading it. I’ll be totally honest here. I’ve been working on this review for a long time, longer than the quality of the book should warrant, but I’ve been having the hardest time forcing myself to write this review.
To set the stage (without giving too much away) The Atlantis Plague is a continuation on The Atlantis Gene, which takes place around Dr. Kate Warner, her research, and as it turns out, her DNA. I absolutely love the premise that this series is based upon. Long ago, before we were the Homo sapiens we are today, a group of “people” were here studying us to see if we had the potential to become the people that we are today. However, an unexpected, Earth shattering event occurred that just about wiped us all out. The scientists took it upon themselves to intervene and save us, but in doing so altered our DNA. Some people are trying to use that genetic oddity as a weapon, and some are trying to use it to protect us.
The first book takes us through Kate’s discovery of these events and how everyone around her is involved, including herself. I would highly recommend reading The Atlantis Gene. I found it very thrilling and compelling. I thought that the concepts were fascinating and the story kept me highly entertained the entire time.
However, The Atlantis Plague starts off at 100 mph and just keeps going. As I mentioned before, I don’t know if I just forgot what was going on, or if it really was a big departure from the first, but man, it was hard to catch up. We are immediately thrust right back into the action of following Kate on all her expeditions and I immediately started to question if I wanted to keep reading.
We were going so fast that Kate and the other main characters started to become trusting of everyone in an attempt to keep the story going. It was as if questioning someone’s motives (in an action/thriller/mystery no less) was against the rules and would only hinder the reader from getting to the next plot point. It was aggravating. I suppose one could argue that the state of the world and all that was transpiring at the time would lend itself to making rash decisions, but if the first book taught us anything, it was that the people we are following are smart. Highly intelligent individuals that are involved in highly confidential secrets of the world. These aren’t your everyday Joe’s that just so happen to be in the right place. It was so hard for me to watch the characters make such obvious mistakes.
There comes a point in the book where all of our characters (the alive ones anyway) are all together on a speedboat (keeping with the theme here) running from the bad guys. Ok sure. We’ve all seen this kind of scene before. Next we’ll find ourselves in some bad ass chase. Bullets and fire, smoke and blood! Annnnnnnnd we come to a grinding halt. We were hauling serious ass for most of the book, and just when we are on a literal and metaphorical boat to salvation, we stop.
Well ok.. now all our characters are back to being smart again. “Wait, guys. We really should think this through.” Ugh. It even gets to the point where the only actual brute force action hero turns into a history buff with a PhD in World History between 1362-1799 and somehow knows all the details that could possibly pertain to the most immediate problem. I mean, wtf. Sure, I guess. Not to mention the totally unnecessary sex scenes between he and Kate. I mean, they’ve only known each other for about a year and they both thought the other was dead and they’ve only seen each other for about five minutes and it’s not like they’re being chased!! He almost lost me, but after we get off the boat, we enter into the finale.
The end of the The Atlantis Plague gets back on the gas and starts to burn rubber. Death, twists, characters revealing themselves, the whole shebang. For about 100 pages (or like 25% since I’m on a Kindle) I was back in. All in. I wanted to know what was going to happen and who was going to do it. I kept flipping the page hoping that any number of my questions would be answered. It was at this point I remembered why I liked the first book so much. Every page captured my attention and kept me guessing. THAT is what made The Atlantis Gene so good. The mysteries set up and the revelations made throughout that kept you coming back for more. It almost makes up for the rest of the book…
Big question then, will I finish the series and read The Atlantis World? I think I have to.
I don’t know if I can live with myself not knowing what happens. As relatively short as these books are (compared to the epic fantasy I usually read), it’s probably worth the week or two it would take to finish it out. Like I mentioned before, the theoretical history and scientific fiction really is entertaining. Perhaps this book was more of a way to get us from one place to another, one time period to the next? I guess I’ll find out when I read the last one.
★★★☆☆
