The Atlantis Gene

The Origin Mystery, Book 1

By: A.G. Riddle

Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies

Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's Summary

The greatest mystery of all time...the history of human origins...will be revealed.

Seventy thousand years ago, the human race almost went extinct. We survived, but no one knows how.

Until now.

The countdown to the next stage of human evolution is about to begin, and humanity might not survive this time.

The Immari are good at keeping secrets. For 2,000 years, they've hidden the truth about human evolution. They've also searched for an ancient enemy - a threat that could wipe out the human race. Now the search is over.

Off the coast of Antarctica, a research vessel discovers a mysterious structure buried deep in an iceberg. It has been there for thousands of years, and something is guarding it. As the Immari rush to execute their plan, a brilliant geneticist makes a discovery that could change everything.

Dr. Kate Warner moved to Jakarta, Indonesia to escape her past. She hasn't recovered from what happened to her, but she has made an incredible breakthrough: a cure for autism. Or so she thinks. What she has found is far more dangerous - for her and the entire human race. Her work could be the key to the next stage of human evolution. In the hands of the Immari, it would mean the end of humanity as we know it.

Agent David Vale has spent 10 years trying to stop the Immari. Now he's out of time. His informant is dead. His organization has been infiltrated. His enemy is hunting him. But when David receives a coded message related to the Immari attack, he risks everything to save the one person that can help him solve it: Dr. Kate Warner.

Together, Kate and David must race to unravel a global conspiracy and learn the truth about the Atlantis Gene...and human origins. Their journey takes them to the far corners of the globe and into the secrets of their pasts. The Immari are close on their heels and will stop at nothing to obtain Kate's research and force the next stage of human evolution - even if it means killing 99.9% of the world's population. David and Kate can stop them...if they can trust each other. And stay alive.

©2013 A.G. Riddle (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Good but slow

A very deep thoroughly written book. However the extreme amount of detail and the many interwoven stories make it a very slow tedious read.

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.

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.

don't listen, just read it

The narration of this book is terrible. I gave it several tries and just couldn't taken it any loner. The narrator just didn't do a good job portraying each of the characters which made it difficult to follow. Decided to read the book instead and turns out the book is very good.

Promises much but?

What made the experience of listening to The Atlantis Gene the most enjoyable?

As a science fiction novel it promised much, but only just about delivered. The story was at times patchy and the characters at times barely believable. Overall it left me not thinking that I wanted to read the follow on's and was fairly pleased that I got to the end

What other book might you compare The Atlantis Gene to, and why?

I wouldn't want to compare this to any other book, other than to say it was a mish mash of so many stories, trying to convince the reader that we are not alone and that its just a matter of time unfortunately I don't want to spend the time finding out what happens next as this story was lumbering and almost pointless at times

What three words best describe Stephen Bel Davies’s performance?

Unconvincing, robotic, passionless

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No this is a long book, and not one that really held my interest

Any additional comments?

There really are just too many holes in the story for it to hold together the spoken word is sometimes not accurate to the written book and overall it struck me as a cheap novel!

Dull and uninspiring

recently listened to "the martian" the "wool" trilogy and "hollow world" all gripping well rounded stories that pull you in. i mention these so that if you have listened to any of these you'll know where I'm coming from. this story was dull, confusing at times and just didn't grab me at all. nothing new or interesting here. skip this and listen to any of the above if you haven't allready

Couldn't make it through

Any additional comments?

Story built on an interesting premise, but then everything from Nazis to aliens were thrown at it. That might still have been ok, but the characters are so flat and one dimensional, their responses so unbelievable, that I couldn't suspend disbelief long enough to get through the book.

I am no writer, but an avid reader and the quality of the writing here is way below what I expect.

Brilliantly written and developed story

This book is great. Where some authors stuff the middle of a story with boring filler, this book is different. It is a steady burner and the mystery is unveiled as it progresses. It is dramatic and dynamic a very entertaining listen. You'll find it hard to pause listening.

Engaging story but does jump about a bit.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I'd recommend this book but the style of writing doesn't suit dipping in and out. There are lots of small chapters that bounce between characters and can make following the exact details a little tricky. But that is probably as much because I listen to 30-60mins at night before I got to sleep.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I enjoyed this story but some of the chapters were just to small and used to forward different story lines simultaneously. This meant that there were lots of pauses and 'Chapter xxx' being read out.

What aspect of Stephen Bel Davies’s performance might you have changed?

Stephen was pretty good, clear understandable and gave a little personality to the characters.

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

I think if this got a film adaptation then there would be a lot of story left out. It is practically a trilogy in it's own right never mind the next two books.

A book I had to put down

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A better narration, I found the narrator very uninspired. The sentences and paragraphs were all read in a sort of monotone feel. No emphasis on the pace of the story or situation.
Completely ruined the book for me, with this sort of reading I don't see anyone lasting more than 30 minutes at a time.

How could the performance have been better?

Getting a narrator who seems to be remotely interested in the story line.

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The story seems to be quite an interesting one, but I think I will read the hardcopy of this.

Any additional comments?

It is a good cure for insomnia

ABOMINABLE NARRATION, LUDICROUS STORY

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Pretty much everything. I have to trust that the science is good but I was not convinced. Silly 2 paragraph chapters clearly written as a TV series for some really obscure channel with 3.5 viewers,

If you’ve listened to books by A. G. Riddle before, how does this one compare?

No and I will avoid anything else written by this person

What didn’t you like about Stephen Bel Davies’s performance?

Flat, nasal delivery, no characterisation, poor pronunciation. Marbella? Per-lease. It's Spanish not Italian.

Was The Atlantis Gene worth the listening time?

Not really except, unlike books I have enjoyed I did not let it seep into valuable time and stuck to listening on public transport. On the plus side however the juvenile storyline was at least uncomplicated and the narration whilst dreary and flat was utterly clear.

Any additional comments?

I did make it to the end and somewhere in there is the germ of a potentially good sci-fi yarn. Shame it did not fulfil its potential

Great book couldn't wait to

great book couldn't wait to get stuck into the next book in the series.

Global conspiracy, world domination contorted plot

If you could sum up The Atlantis Gene in three words, what would they be?

We're doomed. Perhaps.

Would you recommend The Atlantis Gene to your friends? Why or why not?

I would recommend this to anyone who likes science fiction that is set in the present and builds on past facts. The blending of future tech with present context is done well. However, while the overall premise is consistent the character events feel contorted and the coincidences sometime a stretch too far.

What about Stephen Bel Davies’s performance did you like?

His delivery conveys the urgency and tension effectively. This is particularly true in the action sequences.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Moved no, its not that sort of book. It is not particularly though provoking either just a good bit of sci-fi.

Riviting read

Great story, intriguing thriller only let down by the lack of voice characterisations.
That aside this is a story that keeps you hooked on many levels. Well worth it if you want a book which delivers a different flavour of a thriller and sci fi blend.