The Atlantis World – A. G. Riddle
I couldn’t not read it. I’m a completionist, I had to. Based on my other reviews, I thought it would be ok, but I was wrong.
The Atlantis World is the last in the Origins Mystery series by A. G. Riddle. The first novel, The Atlantis Gene, was fantastic and I really enjoyed it, the second, The Atlantis Plague, had its moments, some good, some bad. The finale though…
Just to back track a little. The first novel in the series is a really fun, action-filled, mystery in which we are thrust into without much to go on, and as the story progresses, we slowly start to put the pieces together. The characters are diverse and entertaining, and the pace is fast enough to keep you engaged without leaving out too many details. Ok, good.
The second book in the series definitely picks up the pace and we start to lose out on deep character development, but in the end the mystery is still very much alive. We learn new things that help flesh out the story and continue down a logical path. Are there some weird decisions, weird dialogue, and weird pacing issues? Yes. Is it still worth reading? If you liked the first one, yes.
Ok so now forget everything about those. That’s The Atlantis World. Or at least, that’s how it felt. The only reason I knew I was still in the same story were the names of the characters. Surprise, The Atlantis World takes place in space.
I’m not sure where to even begin here given the complexity of the plot involved, so, SPOILERS. Basically, because Kate merged with one of the ancient Atlanteans, she spends most of her time accessing those memories in one of their space ships. However, she has come down with “Resurrection Sickness,” of which there is no cure. David finds out, even though she didn’t want him to know, and they decide they will never, ever, in a million years, ever be apart ever again. Ok.
Ares (the baddest guy) turned Dorain (the second baddest guy) into his puppet, but won’t tell him what’s going on. Long story short, by unleashing the gene into the world, and sending a signal out of a ship, Kate unknowingly signaled for the Atlantean enemy to come to Earth and destroy it. Ok.
The gang goes to space to try and track down why Kate’s Atlantean mind-meld partner hid the memories from her in certain locations throughout the galaxy, all while being followed by Dorian. Sure, makes sense. Along the way, they find out that there is a master race out there that destroys any alien race when they ascend to a certain level, trying to complete some sort kind of daisy chain of beings. The Atlanteans tried to fight them, lost terribly, hid, and vowed to never return to that state of technology. Ares was the one of the only survivors and was their de facto leader. That’s why he’s so pissed, apparently.
There was an uprising and the workers were like, yo, we want a good life too, we’re out of here. And left the planet. Problem is, they would eventually ascend to the level of technology and yada yada.. You get the point.
In the end, David gets captured and in resisting the assimilation process (with his mind no less), destroys the entire ultimate, highest power in the universe for millions of years, bad army in its entirety. Whatever.
I didn’t hate it, but I was really disappointed. The series started off so good. The whole experience made me feel like I had jumped off a 70 story building, The Atlantis Plague being the part in the middle on the way down when there’s still hope, and The Atlantis World being the sudden stop when you meet the ground. Why did I put myself through that?
The writing was ok. I feel like I talked about it in my review of The Atlantis Plague, so I won’t go into it again here except to say that it didn’t get much better. At the end of the book, though, there was a brief snippet from the author explaining how he wanted to write a sci-fi novel, and he knows it’s a departure from the rest of the series, but he wanted to swing for the fences! To write a book that the fans would “love” and not just “like.”
Ok, dude. Don’t do that? If you’re self aware enough to know that it doesn’t fit with the series, then be self aware enough to know that it’s not good. Save it for another time. The Martian Plague? I don’t know, but don’t deliberately waste my time. That’s a strikeout, not a walk off.
