Atlantis

By: David Gibbins

Narrated by: James Langton

Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's Summary

Marine archaeologist Jack Howard has stumbled upon the keys to an ancient puzzle. With a crack team of scientific experts and ex-Special Forces commandos, he is heading for what he believes could be the greatest archaeological find of all time - the site of fabled Atlantis - while a ruthless adversary watches his every move and prepares to strike. But neither Jack nor his adversary could have imagined what awaits them in the murky depths - not only a shocking truth about a lost world but an explosive secret that could have devastating consequences today. Jack is determined to stop the legacy of Atlantis from falling into the wrong hands, whatever the cost. But first he must do battle to prevent a global catastrophe.

©2006 David Gibbins (P)2014 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"The historical conspiracy angle gives the book Da Vinci-esque appeal, and the intense visual details of the team's marine discoveries make it naturally cinematic." ---Publishers Weekly

Solid plausible fiction -- a touch too technical

Atlantis is centered around finding the lost city of Atlantis. There are three big detractions from theplot. First, the first twenty-five percent of the is filled with techo-details -- too many. Instead of enhancing the story, these details distance the listener from the story. If Gibbins wanted realism then he went too far with these details. Second, there at least two major coincidences that weaken the overall plot. One of the coincidences, although playing a major plot role, could have been cut from the novel. Last, the sub-characters, especially Katya, were flat and needed rounding.

The explanation of the posed for the possibilities of the Altlantian civilization are the strong part of this novel. Gibbins put in place a fictional framework that could have happened. The story felt real during its telling. James Langton did and nice job narrating.

If you like historical-thriller fiction, it is worth the read. This is book one of a series. The first novel had enough redeeming value to give the second in the series a try.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

So much hope, so much disappointment

I was excited and eager to listen to Atlantis by David Gibbins hoping to find a new series.

The first few chapters were promising with some plausible theories about the Atlantis story. Then our team of archeologists/navy seals meets the ridiculously well-funded baddie who would make a Bond villain blush. With no build up or suspense, suddenly our heroes have discovered and explored Atlantis. Whenever they are faced with a technical problem they just happen to have a prototype of some science fiction tool onboard that handles it. Deus ex Machina indeed.

From there the book devolves into a narrative form of the Jane’s military almanac. Every weapon, vessel, and tool is tediously described while the dialogue and plot come to a near halt.

Why can’t we just have an adventure novel? Why does every villain have to be a billionaire terrorist at the head of secret global syndicate of infinite resources? Why does every hero have to be a cross between Capitan Kirk and Rambo?

If you are a fan of over-the-top “action” novels like those pumped out by Clive Cussler, then you’ll probably enjoy Atlantis, its cardboard characters, forgettable plot, and ludicrous paramilitary technical babble. If you are looking for believable characters with interesting motivations, well-crafted environments, and exciting and compelling storytelling then give this a pass.

One redeeming feature of the audio book is the excellent voice acting work of James Langton. It’s a shame the text isn’t anywhere near as good as his performance.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Not worth the time

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

Interesting concept, but dragged out. Reader could not hold my attention. Definitely will not follow up on the series............wish I could return this one.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Not sure what was wrong, but he just wasn't right for this book.

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

No.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Good story, but the ending brought it down.

I actually really enjoyed the majority of this book. my only real complaint is that the ((SPOILERS)) main baddy Aslan (not the Narnia one) gets killed with near 2 hours left. this leaves the last 2 hours being nothing but historical speculation and discovery, which while kind of interesting would have fit better earlier on with a more climactic death for Aslan later. written the way it was made me lose a lot of interest by the end. James Langston however is just as good as always and I'm giving book two a shot mainly for his narration and a love of this genre of stories.

Intelligent, fast - paced with good characters

I enjoyed this audio book but will read the next. It is a densely packed story and the audio format made it easy to occasionally miss something. Not my favorite narrator, but he did good job and helped to differentiate characters.

Boring!!

I am only a 3 and a half hours in but oh my this is boring!! I'm moving on to something else. Maybe I'll come back and hope it will actually be interesting.

A decent science adventure

The plot is pretty good, along with the characters, maybe a little to on the noise with each character stereotype and the theory about Atlantis is great. What hurts it, for me, is the few times the author gets caught up in the science of something/someplace (sorry, don't want to be to spoilery) and I am thinking "shut up, we get it, you've talked about the same thing several times and your character is in mortal peril. I do not think now is the time he would get distracted by the unique science of whatever." Not a big deal, but it got annoying. I'm still likely to try others in the series.