The Atlantis Plague Review

April 29, 2014 Reviews 0 ★★★

The Atlantis Plague ReviewThe Atlantis Plague by A.G. Riddle
Series: The Origin Mystery #2
Published by Amazon Digital Services Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction
Format: Audiobook


In Marbella, Spain, Dr. Kate Warner awakens to a horrifying reality: the human race stands on the brink of extinction. A pandemic unlike any before it has swept the globe. Nearly a billion people are dead--and those the Atlantis Plague doesn't kill, it transforms at the genetic level. A few rapidly evolve. The remainder devolve.


Immari International offers a different approach: do nothing. Let the plague run its course. The Immari envision a world populated by the genetically superior survivors--a new human race, ready to fulfill its destiny.

With control of the world population hanging in the balance, the Orchid Alliance and the Immari descend into open warfare. Now humanity's last hope is to find a cure, and Kate alone holds the key to unraveling the mystery surrounding the Atlantis Plague. The answer may lie in understanding pivotal events in human history--events when the human genome mysteriously changed. Kate's journey takes her across the barren wastelands of Europe and northern Africa, but it's her research into the past that takes her where she never expected to go. She soon discovers that the history of human evolution is not what it seems--and setting it right may require a sacrifice she never imagined.

The Atlantis Plague is the sequel to the Atlantis Gene. In this novel, the world is being decimated by the disease unleashed by the bell. Kate works to try to find a cure before it is too late.

I had the opportunity to review the Audible version of this book. The narrator is the same as the first book. He does a pretty good job of doing different voices. Sometimes he uses the wrong voice and it is confusing who is speaking. He also has a very unique way of speaking…almost like every sentence is a question. Ultimately though I found him easy to follow.

Overall it is a pretty decent story marred by bad execution. The book is simply too long and too winded. It takes forever to make a point and often gets sidetracked by long diatribes. Characters repeat things over and over and often stop to take a break and go into a 30 minute recap of their thoughts. The audible version of the book is over 13 hours long and I often found myself losing interest and just wishing they would get done with their babbling and get on with the plot. There should have been more doing and less telling, and more action. And how many times does the author use the phase “brain wiring” in this book? Its a ton.

There isn’t a lot of character development, or at least not any good character development. David suddenly becomes a super-learned historian. Sloan and Ares continue to be one dimensional. Sloan accidentally becomes nuanced and interesting after a helicopter crash, but the author quickly puts an end to that. Sloan does regularly have temper tantrums which is actually quite amusing. Kate spends most of the book going in circles and only becomes interesting in the end parts of the novel. Martin spends the entire novel saying “Kate, there is something important I need to tell you”, but he never does. There are a few really interesting reveals about some new characters and it was interesting to keep guessing their motivations and intent. The two special gifted children don’t matter in this novel. And not to spoil anything, but there is a murder on a boat. Kate and David can’t figure out who did it, so they just spend most of the time in bed together while the killer remains free on the boat.

As far as the plague, I really found it quite boring and I just didn’t care at all. What I did care about was the Atlantis backstory and the gene manipulation, and ultimately I think that is why I found the story rewarding. The book really meandered and got lost for a good portion, but then near the end it really started getting good (finally).

Overall, there are quite a few parts that save the story and make it worth reading. I just wished it was maybe half of the length, with all the boring and repetitive stuff removed.

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