Customer Reviews

Raising Atlantis

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

Raising Atlantis is Thomas Greanias first novel and although there was a lot of hype surrounding its release in paperback form (since it first came out as an e-book) the book somewhat falls short. First of all, the characters are all one dimensional and sometimes even corny. The book completely lacks symbolism as the mains characters seem empty and stereotyped. Right from the beginning, the author explains their profound motivations so there is a complete lack of intrigue. Also, I am an archaeologist, so I was quite amused once again by the popular belief that archaeologists now everything about every culture in the world. The main character is an Egyptologist and at the same time a Mesoamerican specialist! I mean common, I expected more realism from Greanias especially since he had supposedly done quite a lot of research. What was even funnier was the ability of Dr Conrad to calculate angles and astrological alignment without the aid of any computer. Now that's fiction! At least the plot is interesting but then again, It seam as though the author watched too many times the NBC special ''Atlantis, the search for the lost continent'' that aired in 1996. Mister Thomas Greanias, you can't just watch a documentary and read a couple of book, use their content as background, invent a few empty characters and call it a book. I was quite disappointed by this book. But even with all its flaws, it's still not bad. It's entertaining. Period. And that's what I think was disappointing, especially since it's based upon facts that question the true origins of our race. Read it to be entertained and don't expect anything else.

Raising Atlantis is Thomas Greanias first novel and although there was a lot of hype surrounding its release in paperback form (since it first came out as an e-book) the book somewhat falls short. First of all, the characters are all one dimensional and sometimes even corny. The book completely lacks symbolism as the mains characters seem empty and stereotyped. Right from the beginning, the author explains their profound motivations so there is a complete lack of intrigue. Also, I am an archaeologist, so I was quite amused once again by the popular belief that archaeologists know everything about every culture in the world. The main character is an Egyptologist and at the same time a Mesoamerican specialist! I mean common, I expected more realism from Greanias especially since he had supposedly done quite a lot of research. What was even funnier was the ability of Dr Conrad to calculate angles and astrological alignment without the aid of any computer. Now that's fiction! At least the plot is interesting but then again, It seam as though the author watched too many times the NBC special ''Atlantis, the search for the lost continent'' that aired in 1996. Mister Thomas Greanias, you can't just watch a documentary and read a couple of book, use their content as background, invent a few empty characters and call it a book. I was quite disappointed by this book. But even with all its flaws, it's still not bad. It's entertaining. Period. And that's what I think was disappointing, especially since it's based upon facts that question the true origins of our race. Read it to be entertained and don't expect anything else.

I have worked with both the Naitonal Science Foundation in Antarctica and served with the U.S. Navy. The detail in RAISING ATLANTIS is Tom Clancy-level. Most impressive. Mr. Greanias must have some background in the military. Those ignoramuses below don't know what the hell they are talking about. RAISING ATLANTIS came out as an e-book before both Cussler's ATLANTIS FOUND, which is another excellent thriller, and Steve Pavlou's DECIPHER, which is not. That's how I and many other military types first read RAISING ATLANTIS, on our computer screens. The paperback is even better, and it's ashame that third-rate readers who fancy themselves critics feel compelled to call something as original and wll-researched as RAISING ATLANTIS a copycat. Other way around. But it doesn't surprise me that if you have read either of the other two novels first you would not like RAISING ATLANTIS. But if you haven't, RAISING ATLANTIS is the one. An all-American winner.

Great title. Great story. Great characters. Great writing. This is the kind of book you are going to find on the shelf in the guest room of that beach house you are staying at twenty years from now. It is that good. Timeless adventure. Up there with Treasure Island, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Moby Dick. Facts, politics and language change with time, but mythic tales like Raising Atlantis take a hold in the popular imagination and last for generations.

I didn't like author's negative depiction of the oil industry when he introduced the environmentalist nun. But I suppose that was for effect. I also didn't like the liberties he intentionally took with some technical details. But I suppose he thought nobody would notice. But anybody with a military background would know that's a C-130 "Herc" turbo-prop that goes down near the beginning of the story and not a C-141 jet. The author knows it, too, because I get those @lantisTV emails that round up news reports for subscribers. Other high-tech details near the end of the novel in one subplot are insanely accurate and I'm almost certain based on classified source schematics, which makes the earlier inaccuracies all the more infuriating.

Small stuff aside, this is a most excellent adventure with a plot that pulls you through inspired, suburbly realized set pieces. The characters grate on you at times, but so do most team members on real missions. I liked both Conrad and Serena, but some answers came too easily for him and she was too good to be true. A rock-climbing, chopper-flying, supermodel nun with size DDs and a heart for orphans and the environment? Please. Give me her phone number. The dad, General Yeats, seemed to come out of central casting from "Top Gun" until the end when he revealed a motivation I found realistic and almost humanizing. Wish I could say the same for some of the other military stick figures. But in the end this is a story about three people, and the starkness of Antarctica and everything else brought that to the fore. Like a space shuttle mission, this thriller lost a tile or two during liftoff but went up and touched down with spectacular power. Poetry in motion.

The four geopolitical corners of the earth come together along with the beginning and end of time in a rousing, 21st century action-adventure. Lovable rogue archeaologist Conrad Yeats and babilicious Vatican linguist Serena Serghetti are a knockout duo. The sparks that fly when they're together could alone melt Antarctica. Only complaint was that it ended too soon. Sequel?

I just read the all-new paperback of RAISING ATLANTIS, which I got at the Comic-Con expo in San Diego. I must say it is vastly superior to the original No. 1 bestselling eBook version, which I also liked but not nearly as much. Somehow the story is tighter and moves faster, yet focuses more on the characters and their relationships. The stakes are as high as ever and technical detail jaw-dropping to boot, but it's the inner journey here that satisfies as much as anything. Conrad Yeats and Serena Serghetti are here to stay. More!

I've seen RAISING ATLANTIS on the bestseller racks at my local Barnes & Noble week after week this summer. Each week it moves up to a higher ranking from the week before. Last Friday I finally cracked and bought myself a copy to see what all the fuss is about. I finished it over the weekend.

I see now why RAISING ATLANTIS is a bestseller. I also see why the minority of reviewers below who hate it hate it so much and why the majority of reviewers who like it enjoy it so much. They are all correct. Bestsellers like DA VINCI CODE and RAISING ATLANTIS are not books. They are phenomena. The RAISING ATLANTIS phenomenon, however, unlike DA VINCI CODE, is neither pretentious nor boring. For me it has a more intriguing premise with its ruins under the ice in Antarctica, or is it Atlantis? I also like the characters better. Conrad the archaeologist is less than ideal, but I find him far more personable than know-it-alls like Robert Langdon. Serena the nun is a bit much, but she has an intelligent head on her attractive body and is just as integral to the action as Conrad, unlike the female eye candy in other fiction of this type. Last but not least, like all the angry critics, I, too, could not help but finish this book! We all finished this book. RAISING ATLANTIS is in the best sense of the word "a page-turner." Kudos to Mr. Greanias.

So my recommendation is that if you like books like DA VINCI CODE or RULE OF FOUR and bestsellers of this type, you will love RAISING ATLANTIS, because it is better and more mainstream. But if you read hard-core adventure thrillers like those from Cussler, DeMille, Rollins or Reilly, then you might have certain expectations and feel some disappointment, despite the endorsements of such authors for RAISING ATLANTIS. As for me, I find myself still thinking about RAISING ATLANTIS and have recommended it to two friends and even written this review. That's what bestsellers are made of.

Being interested in "Alternative History" this book really hit a home run for me. If you are a fan of Grahm Hancock, Robert Buval, Robert Doherty (Area 51 Books) then this is right up your alley. Thomas Greanais has come out of nowhere and wrote a really quick paced novel simialr in vein to Robert Doherty's Area 51 books. You can read what the story is about from the overview and sample a chapter at Raising Atlantis website
[...]
you will be hooked just reading the first chapter. The only drawback to this novel is that it is based on a lot of alternative history background that is not explained in detail for anyone not familiar with the subject. For the initiate into this realm of alternate history it may very well bring some new fans to the realm.
Also check out www.thedailygrail.com for new information each day in the alternate history scene.

I usually don't bother writing reviews for books I love and suspect that is true for the millions of Americans who have made Raising Atlantis by Thomas Greanis a big bestseller. So I am not surprised to see the cranks and critics sound off first, especially as this big book, and such a successful big book, is an inviting target. But its success is well-deserved. The characters are passionate, alive with their obsessions. I adore the Serena Sergthetti character, as I'm sure most women do, even more than the hero Conrad. The plotting keeps you turning the pages. The writing is imbued with humor, warmth and grace. Like other reviewers have noted, I, too, abandoned my husband and children for two days to finish this adventure. I so relish the thought of the next adventure for Conrad and Serena.