Customer Reviews

Battle for Atlantis

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'll be frank: The conclusion to Greg Donegan's "Atlantis" series of books left me less than satisfied.

I did not appreciate having to wade through pages and pages of battle re-enactments (this time Gettysburg 1863 and southern Africa 1879) that had no surprising or "wow, gee-whiz" effect on the plot. The readers by now know that the crystal skulls are powered in unique ways, having learned this from previous novels. So why waste the time to devote a third of the concluding novel to battle re-enactments? Methinks the author has a penchant for writing about historical battles, and the "Atlantis" series - particularly the last two novels - were simply nice vehicles for partaking in this hobby of his. Hey, that's great, really. But I'm here to read about Atlantis, not Custer's last stand. Not about the machinations of Gettysburg. If I want that, Donegan, I shall gladly choose from one of the historical texts on my bookshelf.

Another impression I had was that Donegan seemed to be writing in a hurry, almost as if he wanted to get the "Atlantis" series over and done with so he could move on to other things (the Noseferatu series by Robert Doherty [aka Donegan] comes to mind here). Donegan spends a lot of time building up the Shadow over the six-book series, only to tie up their entire storyline in a span of 20 to 30 pages. I don't know if the words I'm using are conveying my meaning - basically, I felt the conclusion came way too abruptly.

All the negative stuff aside, I did appreciate a few things in the concluding book of Donegan's "Atlantis" series.

One, I enjoyed the alternate timeline set in 2078. Why did I like it? Because it was original. Donegan actually had to think about the environs of this timeline, rather than simply using an old battle (i.e. Gettysburg, Custer, etc.) to frame it with. In other words, he couldn't pull a history book out of his back pocket and go from there. He had to use his imagination.

Secondly, I rather enjoyed who the Shadow turned out to be. I would have liked to have had the opportunity to read more about them, and how they became so evil.

Thirdly, the role of cetaceans in the "Atlantis" series of books is pretty neat, although I did have a rather hard time suspending disbelief during some scenes. Nonetheless, it mostly "clicked" with me, if you get my drift.

Overall, I'd recommend this novel to anyone who's read the series so far, simply to get closure. If you're new to the series, rest assured that the first four novels are very good. It's up to you if you want to delve into the series after that point, knowing the last two novels aren't as strong (in my opinion, of course).

M. Keck

I have read all the Area 51 and Atlantis series. I gotta admit, this was the most disappointing book of 'em all.

Remember how the crystal skulls were charged during the previous book during Custers last stand? Well, we have 2 more of those things going on here...we need more charged crystals. One during the civil war, and one with a Zulu war. At least a 3rd of the book was a re-enactment and buildup of those 2 conflicts, similar to the Custer thing in the previous book.

I completely skipped them. Finished the book in about 2-3 hours. I knew what they were going to do, and unless you just want to read some history of the civil or Zulu war... the planning, execution, etc. of those battles was completely irrelevant to the story. They need charged skulls, and they need serious battles to get them. Just go to the battles and do it. I want to get involved in the storeyline of the shadow and us, not the civil war... That's why I've been reading the books.

Well, as you guessed...they finally (about 20 pages from end of book) get their charged skulls from those battles. Use up the charge in about half a page, do their thing in about 15 pages (wont tell u exactly what it is), and the book ends.

Extremely abrupt and unsatisfying ending. I found myself about 20 pages from the end thinking, they are going to have to continue this, damn.

Nope, story ends. Almost threw the book across the room. Never been so happy skipping such a large part of a book in my life. I have to give Donegan (or whoever he is) credit tho. He made it easy to skip. Each timeline chapter was well marked. Made it easy to skip civil war and zulu chapters...even tho, I found myself at the end pretty quick. I'd give him a half a star for that...but, they don't seem to give half stars here. I decided to round down, instead of up.

I woulda given this 1 star...but, the concepts and ideas portrayed in this series were pretty interesting. There was a future timeline portrayed in this book that was interesting as well.

Not worth your time. Really.

This is the final book in the Atlantis series by Greg Donegan/Robert Doherty etc. It is better than the previous, but weaker that the first ones.

1. It is nice that we finally find out who the Shadow and the Ones Before are. The Shadow identity was more or less expected by now, but the Ones Before were a nice surprise. The revelation takes place about 1/2 through the book and doesn't come quite as the surprise it should have been.

2. The ending feels rushed, very rushed. There is no emotional impact, despite the sacrifice of several characters.

3. Endless time spent in battle reenactments, as the other reviewers pointed out as well. Also, the first chapter is a repetition of the ending of the previous book... I skipped all those.

4. No character development and no strong characters. I enjoyed very much the book (don't remember which one in the series it was, though) with the viking and the Santorini (?) priestess. They were people you could care about, whose actions and sacrifices touched you deeply. The same is true for the book which featured the Spartan king Leonidas. But by this last book, the method of using istorical characters is overused and boring.

So, it could have been much better, if the whole series had been 2 or 3 books shorter.

The first four books occur in one timeline primarily and are focused on a single threat being made to the world and how to defend against it. These books are probably the easiest to follow and really build up the characters.

The last two books deal with how to defeat the threat being made. These books have two or even three stories going at once and are a bit confusing at times. I think the biggest issues is that sometimes the concurrent stories are given to much precedence in comparison with the main story. There is great detail given to some aspect of these stories that could be better used progressing the main story line.

I found the ending to the entire conflict to be a little short. It's pretty clear what happens to most of the main characters but nothing is really mentioned about the conflict as a whole other than it is finished.

The series as a whole is quite interesting though. There wasn't as much in respect to Atlantis as I figured there would be when I started the series but it still works. If you like a story that takes place over different times, deals with places like the Bermuda Triangle and the Nazca Lines, and maybe even takes you to other worlds then this is a series that would probably interest you.

This Atlantis series is the first I have read by Mr. Mayer/Doherty/Donegan and, while I found much of it enjoyable, it was far, far too long.

For me, the most artful portions of the books were the battle descriptions. The author has developed the ability to convey a sense of the unfolding action "on the ground," so to speak. I felt present most of the time yet not overwhelmed with words. These portions of the books were quite well done. While I know little to nothing of some of the historical events, I am hopeful they are grounded in the facts as we know them today. I also enjoyed learning a bit more about the earth's geology; again, I am hopeful this is accurate.

As a six-book series, however, the length was probably the most serious issue. These books needed a hard-nosed editor (a Sgt. Major, as it were) to help the author better tell his story. At most it should have been a trilogy; even better, a long book with three parts. One annoying problem that resulted from the length was the author's decision to repeat extensive sections across several books so that each book could stand on its own. But authors of other series have found ways of managing this problem without being obvious. A single book could avoid this issue completely. Furthermore, not all of the many scenes really were necessary; in fact, sometimes it would have been more compelling and easier to follow if the events in a given setting were allowed to run their course instead of being broken up repeatedly. A few times, the protagonist (Dane) was set up to ask questions simply to provide a way of introducing a long description of technical information. This was awkward and broke the flow of the narrative when it occurred. An objective editor would have lined this out.

Other issues: I found the so-called "in between" places hard to grasp and I was never completely convinced they worked very well, particularly when it came to people being able to eke an existence. And time is supposed to pass in a timeless fashion? The Valkyries' choice of weapons seemed sometimes to be arbitrary; why not zap any and all who were getting the upper hand with the Narnia-like "turn-them-into-stone" ray gun? A minor but annoying tendency was to switch back and forth between the metric and the English system of measurements ... sometimes virtually in the same paragraph.

So, parts of this series were highly enjoyable, compelling, and illuminating. But it should have been much, much shorter. Perhaps the author with several names could revise this series and publish a seventh book in the series, but lucky number seven would be a far briefer retelling of the previous six. I'd buy it.

It had been a few months since I read the last book in the series. So when I picked this up and started reading about the earth being in trouble because of the lack of ozone and the radiation in Russia I thought I had picked up the wrong book and was reading it again. I had to hop around a bit to realize it is the same story as Assualt on Atlatis; but told from different perspectives. I thought it was better than Assault on Atlantis in that regards however, there was very little new stuff (which I'm not sure the last book left room for anyways) but I think the author could have combined these last 2 books and made one good series ending book. There is stuff covered in the last book that is not covered here, however of the two I think this one is better.

Okay- I never do like it when a series such as this comes to an end, but I am always curious as to how the author is going to do it. The storyline starts out strong and has all the look and feel of the previous Atlantis books. Yet after reading this book I got the feeling that the author was trying to wrap up a series he was tired of writing. It was entertaining, however it did leave certain areas unclear. A little more clarity and a little more explanation of the different worlds other than those involving the Civil War and Zulus would have provided a better rounded story. In the end everything got wrapped up quite efficiently but I was left hanging. All things must come to an end but it could have been better. If you need 'closure' in the series, then buy this, if not...you might be better off moving on.

Greg

Great ending! I could not put the book done. I loved it because is closed the whole story and saved are timeline. Also I loved who the Shadows are. Read and enjoy to all!!!

I've read many of Bob Mayer's books before and enjoyed them. I am half way through the Gate series and it's a good read BUT the proof reading is non-existent and it effects the readability of the text greatly in some places. I don't know if it's Mr. mayer's, fault or Amazon's bit it's not acceptable. It's so bad on occasions that it takes 3-4 read throughs to understand what's actually being written. I don't care that this is an ebook format, no-one paying for a book should have to accept that poor level of quality. You certainly wouldn't with a printed copy. Proof read before publishing please!

I've read each installment as it's been released, and have enjoyed the ride. I do think the story was about played out, though, and it was good to come to the conclusion. It could have been more satisfying but overall the imaginative plot carried me through without tiring of it. This was an unusual series for me, because I do not like fantasy but do like believable, near-future science fiction. It managed to convey just enough believabilty in the beginning to snare me. This made me more tolerant of the fantasy elements. Certainly I would recommend reading these books in order and not skipping any, as the story is progressive. It is good entertainment.