Customer Reviews

Atlantis

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I bought this book because I was getting on a plane in Italy to fly for about 9-10 hours to the states & I had only 20 pages left of my other -good- (Salvatore's - Exile) book. Well, let me tell you... It was a mistake. This was the only English language book at that airport that resembled anything remotely decent. Except the Da Vinci Code. And I didn't really wanna read that. I wish I had now. Anyways onto the book review.

What ticks me off about this book is that it is written more like a documentary. I mean why throw all that useless information at us when it's not needed. It is as if the author wants all the readers to know just how smart he is so he puts in every fact he can think of on every subject.

"Oh," the author says. "We are talking about Native Americans now? Well, did you know that they did this? And this? And that? Oh, and what about that?"

LEAVE THAT STUFF OUT!!! Geez. At one point the main characters were swimming through the underground cavern and: A.) The main character was about to run out of air. B.) He had a gunshot wound that possibly fractured his ribcage and not to mention left a gaping hole in his stomach. But what do these characters do? Do they swim as fast as they can to safety? No... They do exactly what normal people wouldn't do. They sit around and examine every possible artifact and give its history. I mean its not as if they cant come back once they get resupplied and sewed up.

The story is just so unrealistic its dumb. The guy named Costa could easily put MacGyver to shame. His backpack and belt pouch contained more cool gadgets than Batman's utility belt. Every subject that came up in the book he was a genius on. Except ancient writings. That was the woman's special skill. Oh, and she was an expert on guns. And submarines. And russian technology. And terrorism. And just about everything else...

All in all these three people, in which fate brought together to explore Atlantis are possibly the smartest people on the whole planet bar none. Yet I believe my greatest pet peeve of this story is that they never really had a challenge... Not really.

-I'm being followed by two helicopters that are armed to the brim with huge missiles = No problem. I'll pull out my rifle and show them who is boss.

-I'm afraid all our efforts to find Atlantis will be for nothing because we can't decipher the Atlantian symbol language. = No prob. We got a Blonde Scientist Lady who can read that in seconds. She -is- a genius remember.

-I've got a big gun wound in my stomach. = No problem I'll just swim in Icy cold water to numb the pain.

-I'm being held hostage at a huge military terrorist base & my guard is Arnold Schwarzenegger's twin. = No problem. I'll just judo punch him in the spinal cord when he's not looking and steal a helicopter right from under the flight manager's nose.

-The whole world has been looking for the city of Atlantis since its existence became known. The Russian's and other large military groups are looking for a Submarine that sank. = I find both at the same time.

-I'm stuck in Atlantis and the whole underground tunnel system is a maze that no ordinary man could ever escape. = No problem. You remember that disc I found last week, which just by coincidence doubles as the key to atlantis's front door? Well it also is a map of Atlantis too! Read the directions to me, my beautiful blonde scientist lady, who just as easily could have been in a James Bond Book.

I am truly sorry if I spoiled anything to future readers of this book. But, you know what. I am glad I spoiled it. Maybe now you won't want to read the thing. It is by far the worst book I have ever read. Don't believe me? I created this account on Amazon specifically just so I could warn all you people to never read or buy. This -is- my first review. Especially don't buy in a foreign country where the exchange rate is outrageous and you get charged like 2-3 times as much for it.

I did however have to give this book one star because the people here at Amazon believe no book is actually only worth 0 stars. So I'll give you one reason you should by this book: if you like books where the main character is -Indiana Jones - James Bond - & Chuck Norris - All rolled into one: then this is the book for you. Good Luck if you decide to buy.

Mathematicians hated Dan Brown's novel "Digital Fortress," claiming it wasn't realistic enough to be believable. On that basis, archeologists should love David Gibbins' "Atlantis," touted as an underwater "Da Vinci Code."

The cover art, subject matter, and author's background offer great potential for historical suspense, and clearly Gibbins has the ability to deliver such a story.

Like "Da Vinci," an ancient puzzle holds clues that point to a civilization considered only mythical, until archaeologist Jack Howard and his team break the code and discover enough facts to lead them on an expedition to find the lost city of Atlantis.

Quicker than you can say "Clive Cussler," Jack and his team locate the exact locate of the sunken civilization, and fortunately, he and his team are experts in underwater archeology. They have all the latest equipment, miniature subs, robotic cameras, laser-driven cutting torches, sophisticated airlocks, and knowledge of all the current land, sea, and air-based weaponry.

That last bit comes in handy, since all sorts of weapon-toting adversaries are willing to do anything to steal away the find of the century.

If the story sounds a lot like Clive Cussler's "Atlantis Found," it may be because it is - the difference being Cussler's typical over-the-top dialogue, and Gibbins' writing that reads more like a tech-manual. Every character is an expert who explains everything in detail - Russian submarines, Greek hieroglyphics, Mediterranean hydrology - it doesn't matter. Everyone gets a chance to stand on a soapbox to spell out what the obscure facts mean to the Atlantis search.

Unfortunately, too much of a good thing tends to work against the result, and while Gibbins writes with the authority of the Cambridge PhD that he is, too much of the novel reads like a professor's lecture. "Atlantis" might be the perfect text for Marine Archeology 101.

WARNing DO NOT waste your money on this book!!!!!

I was given this book at the Atlana airport. I was in the airport bookstore and almost bought the book Crusader Gold by the same author. When another customer in the book store advised me against it. He then gave me his copy of Atlantis and said that I should throw it into a "rubbish bin" (trash can for us americans)when I got tired of trying to read it. Well, nine hours later, I was in London looking for the nearest rubbish bin to dump this dreck in.

Basically

The plotline started out pretty good, then turned stupid.

VeRRRRRY long winded dialog about places and science that nobody is interested in unless you are an archeological grad student.

The lead charactors are the three smartest bravest, toughest prettiest people alive. Not to mention incredibly rich. (even the female character was tougher than the terminator). when ever somebody needed to know something. the Girl genius was there with a 10 page explanation of how everything worked, why it worked and what it meant.

I had to force myself to continue reading it but after I finished the book, I kept asking my self why I bothered.

The book really was that bad.

The premise of this story is a good one. Underwater Archaeologist/Adventurer finds the lost City of Atlantis. Therein begins the adventure and the fireworks! Much like Tom Clancy, this author inundates his book with technical information regarding everything from ships to weapons. And as with Tom Clancy the extent of this bored me to tears. I kept wanting to say "get on with the story already". The story itself seems almost an after thought. I would very much liked to have seen the City of Atlantis and it's civilization fleshed out much more. Again, it was as if this was an after thought as well.

However, all that said, I believe this writer has a good future ahead and will grow in his skills immensely once he realizes what the true focus of his books is. e.g. A book with the title "Atlantis" should have much more excitement and discovery about a city called Atlantis.

I will continue to check this author's books in the future because he has such great promise.

From its jacket description, Atlantis holds promise for the thriller novel reader who enjoys an archaeological slant to the storyline- the quest for the city of Atlantis... one of the oldest mysteries in Western Civilization. The novel begins strong with keys to the mystery, villains rushing in to try to take over discovery sites-- everything that a thriller with archaeology should have. Introduction to the characters are a bit rushed, but that can be forgiven, depending on how the characters develop in the novel.

Unfortunately-- the novel then gets muddled with technobabble, steers into a completely different direction, and loses its way. Atlantis becomes an afterthought-- smatterings of an exciting discovery lost within chapters upon chapters of futuristic technology. The ending is a disappointment, almost making the reader feel tricked for thinking it would be one kind of novel (a search for and through the ruins of the past), when in fact, it's a political novel-- with terrorism rehashed from countless Tom Clancy novels.

The blend of real archaeology is fantastic-- had the novel stuck to the original premise, it would have been a home run. Like another reviewer, I will definitely keep an eye out for future works... I hope that with some experience, his great initial ideas will flesh into fantastic reads.

The blurb says it is an unputdownable read. The only way this is true is if it was glued to your hands. Even then I would be tempted to get out a saw. Chapter 6 ends on a boat. Chapter 7 acts like it is in continuity but they are all of a sudden in a helicopter?????? Gave up after chapter 8. By and large one of my worst purchases ever.

This fun book is part adventure, part history lesson, and part action thriller. Those who've always wondered whether Atlantis really existed, and if so, what part it played in civilization, will have a good time with hero Jack Howard and his smart gang uncovering secrets and mysteries in the depths of the Black Sea. Those who find themselves annoyed with Clive Cussler's over-the-top-dialog will find Howard much less insufferable than Dirk Pitt, and just as capable. Gibbins is the real deal in respects to archaeology and history, and undersea knowledge, and it shows. I do agree with other readers that at times so much information was thrown at me it seemed a bit like being in class, albeit a very interesting and informative one. The second half of the book is the big payoff, however, and for me it made it all worth the ride.

An ancient scroll with clues to Atlantis is found in an unlikely place, at the same time Jack Howard and his pal Costas and crew have found something in the Black Sea. Old friend Dillon and new friend Katya believe they've found what amounts to the most important historical discovery the world has ever known. Ancient symbols and artifacts lead Jack and crew deep in the Black Sea where they find discoveries that will reshape what we once held as historical truth. A missing Russian sub lies with Atlantis also, however, and dangerous factions who may have ties to Katya are roaming these seas and closing in fast. The excitement of discovery is palpable, but before long a life and death battle will ensue with an enemy as lethal as any the Mediterranean has ever seen.

The last third of this adventure is full of excitement and action as good as any in the genre. All the characters involved in Gibbins' Atlantis are experts in their fields of study, so at times it does seem a bit like a lecture as they go back and forth to map out a new history of civilization from what they've discovered. But those interested in the subject won't find it too much of a minus, as it will evolve into an old-fashioned page-turner. Meant to be a very fun ride it succeeds in this respect. A good patio or beach read for many, though it might prove a bit heavy on technical and historical information for some tastes. I liked it a lot, however, and will be joining Jack Howard again for another one.

Good concept and great potential for an adventure story but the author just doesn't manage to pull it off. Instead, Atlantis is a dull and laborious read. I found it quite a chore to get though and almost gave up several times. But, I persevered only to find out I really shouldn't have bothered afterall.

David Gibbins has worked in underwater archaeology all his professional life and is a world authority on sunken wrecks and cities. Well there's the problem: this book is far too technical for the lay person. The parts about Atlantis read like an academic thesis and not a novel. It's almost like Gibbins isn't telling a story but rather writing a thesis about Atlantis.

Take the discovery of Atlantis' location for instance: the writer dealt with this by having the main characters partake in a LONG LONG discussion about every possible Atlantis myth and about the gold disc they discovered that may reveal Atlantis' location. THAT'S IT!! It lasts several chapters (with a pointless bit of fight the evil terrorist in the middle that just doesn't fit in) and having decided they think they know where Atlantis is, off they go. No intrigue, no mystery, no adventure, NOTHING.... just dry academic discussion before reaching a conclusion and setting off to find the city. I found it very tiresome.

Ditto when they discover Atlantis. The main characters swim through the sunken city and pass academic comment on what they see.... again that's just about it. Endless descriptions of architecture, types of wood and metal used and how it was forged, how the doors work, etc and how amazing it all is. Well it may be amazing to the archaeologist but not necessarily to the lay person. I just kept wondering when something would actually happen.

When the secrets of Atlantis are revealed, it is done again through academic discussion by a bunch of experts. Furthermore, the big secret of Atlantis that was kept a mystery for thousands of year turned out to be something quite mundane. Again, it is something that may be awesome to an archaeologist but not to a lay person.

Add to all this academic discussion some occasional fighting with an evil warlord from Kazakhstan coupled with some ridiculous clichés (all the heroes are handsome/beautiful and all the bad guys are deformed and ugly) and there you have Atlantis. It is a book that cannot decide what it wants to be: part academic discussion and part implausible bang bang kill the warlord and it just doesn't fit together or work.

Gibbins should stick to writing academic papers and lecturing in archaeology. This novel is something that may intrigue the archaeologist but for the ordinary reader, it just isn't enough. In fiction writing you have to do better then endless, dry academic observation which is pretty much all there is about the lost city of Atlantis in this book. There's no real story and it badly paced and badly put together.

I really loved the premise of this book. The main character is a marine archeologist and gathers a team of experts in response to a find that seems to lead toward the discovery of the lost Atlantis. And I knew if I liked the book there were at least three more by the same author and with the same protagonist. The author himself is a professor of archeology at Cambridge for crying out loud and has led numerous underwater excavations and written extensively on the topic. What could go wrong?

Well, this is the hazard of buying a book by its cover. If I had looked at the Amazon ratings for all four books by David Gibbons I would certainly have looked elsewhere as I have rarely seen so many negative reviews for one author. It's easy to see why. The book had such promise and fell soooo short. To begin with, Mr Gibbons may be a great professor but he hasn't a clue about what makes a quality novel. My most important criteria for a good read is characterization. Characters have to be multi-dimensional and go through changes (either positively or negatively) somehow within the course of the novel. The main three characters in this book started out perfect and ended up perfect. The first half of the book was devoted to the three of them showing off their knowledge to each other, sounding like professors in a classroom. I realize that there is a lot of information that the reader will have to know in order to make any sense of the events that come later, but Mr Gibbons goes way overboard here. Way to many facts that, while interesting on their own, were just not necessary for good story telling.

And the plot was simply not believable. In the space of about two days, the characters solved numerous archeological puzzles that have been around for eons, one dicovery leading to another and among the three of them they always managed to have the expertise required to answer the puzzle before them. And then half way through the book we get the thriller part thrust upon us in the form of a sunken Russian nuclear submarine and assorted bad guys to interfere with the archeological parts of the novel.

Preposterous plotting abounds. The main character gets shot and is in dire peril of losing his life but three pages later it's as if that never happened. We get to see him shooting down a helicopter with a gun (of course he happens to know the weak spots of that particular helicopter and can adjust to the 200 mile per hour winds so he knows just where to aim). Truly Mr Gibbons seems less comfortable with the action parts of the plot and it shows in it's choppy presentation. The "edge of your seat" thriller aspect of this novel was more like "why do I care what happens to these people?" As soon as he can he wraps up that portion of the novel and the characters go back to their professorial discussions and one-upsmanship.

It's too bad. I think Mr Gibbons has potential as a writer but this one seems like yet another attempt to capitalize on the success of "The DaVinci Code" style of novel. Hopefully he can learn how to build suspense, hold his audience, and most importantly, create characters to which the reader can relate and come to care about. Unfortunately, given the ratings he has received on his other books, it seems he has not learned these lessons and thus will be limited to impulse buyers who are attracted to the cool covers of his novels.

This book is completely ridiculous. I really like the ideas of what happened to Atlantis, but beyond that, the book had its head in the clouds. The author spent pages and pages of each chapter describing technical mumbo-jumbo that was impossible to understand and didn't contribute to the novel. But probably my biggest problem was that the main characters lived to the end! They should have been dead half-way through the book, but apparently disarming a warhead, sinking to the bottom of the ocean, being shot, running out of oxygen, being fired at with missiles, jumping out of flaming helicopters, being attacked by a tiny submarine, and escaping a terrorist prison are all just in a day's work for these people.