Guardians of Atlantis

By: Rick Chesler

Narrated by: Dan Delgado

Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

A lost city.

An ill-fated historical expedition.

A modern day quest for one of history’s most enduring legends….

At the onset of the Second World War, Nazi Germany sends a multipurpose expedition to Antarctica. Not all of its members return.

Today in Egypt, hushed whispers in a Cairo bar hint of a long-lost second Sphinx hidden beneath the sands of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Boozy talk of a map therein to the lost city of Atlantis convinces a ragtag band of local tour guides with mixed motives to take matters into their own hands. To find out if the rumors are true, without going through proper archaeological channels, they hastily descend beneath the traditional landmarks they think they know so well.

When complacence bred by their familiarity leads them to a place much darker than expected—both literally and figuratively—the surviving explorers are thrust into a perilous journey spanning the blistering sands of Egypt to the frigid ice of Antarctica as they search for physical proof of the legendary society.

But as they follow an astonishing and deadly trail of clues, funded by an enigmatic and dangerously unpredictable Arab billionaire, the adventurers discover that Atlantis harbors secrets beyond its mere location.

Atlantis, to this day, has guardians. And they are not human.

©2022 Rick Chesler (P)2022 Rick Chesler

Guardians of Atlantis

A good read . There are a lot of Atlantis stories about, and this one is up there with the best.
Great narration that keeps the story flowing along nicely.

It was ok

This book was too long and wordy for me. I was losing interest as time went on. Dan Delgado was good th listen to as the narrator. Dan made this book for me.

Fun adventure thriller!

First, I loved the setting. The pyramids are fascinating, and the adventures these characters had were a lot of fun for me to read. It reminded me of Indiana Jones on several occasions. The hook at the end has me interested in the next book, but yet it didn't leave me hanging, which I appreciate.

The narrtion was excellent, clear and easy to understand, even in a noisy environment.

I expected more of the events in Antarctica

This is the first Rick Chesler novel I have read, and I generally enjoyed it. The storyline was interesting enough, and I was looking forward to the adventure and thrill. However, something was amiss, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It may have been that I am a bit disappointed at the events in Antarctica. After all the buildup, I thought the story petered out in the end. Sure, the book hints at a follow-on novel, but not necessarily back to Antarctica and what was briefly discovered there. I hope I am wrong. I probably would have liked to have rated this book 3.5 stars, but I gave the benefit to the author as the story may develop further.

I also did not enjoy the female character. She was way too whiney and acted like a petulant child towards the end. She was entirely dislikeable in the end. I listened to the audiobook on Audible, and the narrator, Dan Delgado, was excellent. Perhaps even too good, as he made her constant whining all too convincing.

Gripes aside, the book has interested me in the author's other works, and I will certainly read another. I am considering either The Yeti or Hotel Megalodon.

love it

loved it I love Atlantis and anything that is about it. really enjoyed reading it

I really enjoyed it.

This is quite outside my regular genre, but it was a fascinating adventure/alternate history. I'm glad I went for it. I've always been fascinated by all things Ancient Egypt, so tying that together with Antarctica and Atlantis was really interesting. (I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I won't go into further detail.) I found this book to be quite the wild ride with a fair bit of suspense. I look forward to listening to more in this series.

the writing left a little to desired.

the narration left me wondering why I didn't return it. The book was a set up for a series that I don't plan on reading.

Good grief, this is bad.

This is the first time I've written a review before I have finished the book. I'm 3 hours in, and I honestly don't know if I can make it to the finish line... And I've muscled my way through some pretty bad books.

Firstly, I'm not trying to be mean, but the writing is very amateurish. The dialog is awkward and stilted, and the descriptions are like a scenic tour of a thesaurus. It gives the impression that the writer is trying to impress me with his big vocabulary, which is a pet peeve, and the book suffers because of it. It doesn't feel natural, and there's no flow.

Speaking of bad dialog, here is an exchange from about 2.5 hours into the book: "You feeling like a rat in a maze yet?" "Hopefully the piece of cheese at the end is not a piece of cheese, but something we can use to get out of here."

Then there's the narrator. I haven't listened to anything else Dan Delgado has narrated, but I would humbly suggest that he should exclusively narrate children's books. He has an overexaggerated narration style that reminds me of a kindergarten teacher reading a picture book to small children. Listen to the sample, and you'll see exactly what I mean. I thought I would get used to it, but I was very wrong. It's awful.

Geez, I have *actual children's books* where the narration feels less condescending. For example, I have Goosebumps: The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (I was feeling nostalgic for the books of my childhood, don't judge me) which seems pretty similar in premise to this book so far. However, the narrator of that book manages to sound less patronizing and juvenile than Dan Delgado does in this one.

As of right now, I'm not enjoying anything about this book. I awarded an extra star for story because the description sounded interesting enough to sucker me. I don't have a clear picture of the story yet, so I can't really comment on it. If I can summon the strength to continue, I'll edit my review to add my thoughts.

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Edit: I managed to make it about 6 hours in, and I can't do it anymore. This is officially the first book I've ever returned, and I've been on Audible since 2014. I have almost 600 audiobooks, and I've never encountered one this bad.

The writing doesn't improve. The author spends a ridiculous amount of time on things that don't matter, and then breezes right through things that warrant some extra attention. The dialog is hilariously bad and painfully drawn-out.

The narrator also doesn't get any better. There are text-to-speech computer apps that sound more natural than Dan Delgado.

I had hope that the story would be decent enough to get me through. It wasn't. In fact, the author drags things out for so long, the story had barely gotten moving when I quit at the halfway mark. At 6 hours, this book was where a more competent book would have been at the 2 hour mark.

Look, I'm an adventure-genre addict. I *usually* love this kind of thing, but this was an atrocity. I just learned that Rick Chesler has written 30-odd books, and they all sound like the kind of adventure stories I typically go for... but I'm not stepping on the same booby-trap twice.

I'm going to be avoiding Rick Chesler's work like an angry ex-wife from now on.