Book Review – The Atlantis World by A. G. Riddle

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TITLE:  The Atlantis World

SERIES:  Book 3 of The Origin Mystery Trilogy

AUTHOR:  A. G. Riddle

GOODREADS’ AVG. RATING:  3.92 out of 5 stars; 2,208 ratings

SYNOPSIS PROVIDED:

With humanity’s back against the wall…
A signal from space could be the key to saving the human race…

As the clock ticks down, a team of scientists will risk it all to unravel the secrets of the Atlantis World.
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Northern Morocco: Dr. Kate Warner cured a global pandemic, and she thought she could cure herself. She was wrong. And she was wrong about the scope of the Atlantis conspiracy. Humanity faces a new threat, an enemy beyond imagination. With her own time running out and the utter collapse of human civilization looming, a new hope arrives: a signal from a potential ally.

Arecibo Observatory:  Mary Caldwell has spent her life waiting, watching the stars, looking for signs of intelligent life beyond our world. When that day comes, Mary finds herself in the middle of a struggle older than the human race, with far greater stakes. She must decide who to trust, because there’s nowhere to hide.

Antarctica: In the wake of the Atlantis Plague, Dorian Sloane finds himself a puppet to Ares’ mysterious agenda. As Dorian prepares to take control of the situation, Ares unleashes a cataclysm that changes everything. As the catastrophe circles the globe, Ares reveals the true nature of the threat to humanity, and Dorian agrees to one last mission: find and kill David Vale and Kate Warner. There will be no prisoners this time. The orders are seek and destroy, and Dorian has been promised that his own answers and salvation lie on the other side.

With Dorian in pursuit, Kate, David, and their team race through the ruins of the Atlantean ship left on Earth, across Atlantean science stations throughout the galaxy, and into the past of a mysterious culture whose secrets could save humanity in its darkest hour. With their own lives on the line and time slipping away, Kate, David and Dorian are put to the ultimate test.

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MY REVIEW:

I finished reading The Atlantis World and I was left with mixed feelings of sort, mostly I was disappointed at having finally come to the end of the story.  I really found myself to be immersed in David and Kate’s world, the world Riddle created, and I was sad to find that I would be leaving it.  There was just so much about their world, their understanding of existence, and their strength of character which just resonated with me.

Kate had such a deep seeded connection and understanding of what it truly meant to act in the interest of the greater good, ultimately knowing and accepting that the risk to her as an individual could not out weigh the continued existence of an entire race.  Yet, learning that her entire drive towards saving humanity was motivated by her Atlantean counterpart’s deep seeded guilt was just heart wrenching.  It had been hinted at that Isis, Kate’s Atlantean counterpart, had done something which led to the mass destruction of her home and ultimately her people.  Isis’s actions weren’t done with the intention to hurt or harm anyone, she acted in what she thought to be in the best interest of her people with the information she had available to her.  This is the majority of Kate’s character; her intelligence, her ability to love, and her selflessness…she is a protagonist who has her most prominent and positive features consistently used against her and yet she doesn’t give up or compromise who she is for the sake of convenience.  Kate has a strength of character that I can only respect and hope to achieve on some level.

When talking about Kate, my thoughts can’t help but wander to thinking on David and his character.  At first, I wasn’t impressed with David because I felt like his character lacked depth; it felt as if the entirety of his character was based upon the single defining characteristic of him protecting Kate.  While his protection of Kate was of paramount importance, what becomes fascinating about David’s character is his strength and his will to survive.  David has always been a fighter, a survivor…this very defining integral characteristic ultimately is what allows for the continued existence of humanity.  His inability to do anything but survive, that sheer strength of will and willingness to fight rather than allowing himself to be absorbed into the hive mind of the Serpentine is just an amount of strength that I can’t even begin to fathom.  Yet David isn’t entirely muscle and strength of will, in fact, he is also incredibly intelligent and well versed in history!  While I enjoy characters who are multi-faceted and have a certain level of depth, I almost couldn’t help but wonder if David’s possessing this knowledge was strictly a matter of convenience for the author.  It begs the question of whether or not another character could have possibly benefited from further fleshing out and this intelligence or if David is supposed to be the epitome of what it means to be human.  Regardless, this didn’t take away from my experience with this trilogy.

TL;DR REVIEW:  4 out of 5 stars.  Overall, I am incredibly pleased with this novel and its counterparts.  A. G. Riddle’s The Origin Mystery Trilogy has been an incredible find for me and I am extremely pleased with it.  I know there are readers who may be nervous to take a risk on an unknown writer, but I am glad that I took the chance on this trilogy.  I feel as if this story is an excellent example of finding value in yourself, in finding self worth in the face of great adversity and being confident enough in it and yourself to make a difference.  That is what I came away with from reading this trilogy, an understanding of knowing who I am and being confident in it…knowing it is okay to just be me and that is important.