Atlantis

Jack Howard Series, Book 1

By: David Gibbins

Narrated by: James Langton

Marine archaeologist Jack Howard has stumbled upon the keys to an ancient puzzle. With a crack team of scientific experts and ex-Special Forces commandos, he is heading for what he believes could be the greatest archaeological find of all time - the site of fabled Atlantis - while a ruthless adversary watches his every move and prepares to strike. But neither Jack nor his adversary could have imagined what awaits them in the murky depths - not only a shocking truth about a lost world but an explosive secret that could have devastating consequences today. Jack is determined to stop the legacy of Atlantis from falling into the wrong hands, whatever the cost. But first he must do battle to prevent a global catastrophe.

©2006 David Gibbins (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"The historical conspiracy angle gives the book Da Vinci-esque appeal, and the intense visual details of the team's marine discoveries make it naturally cinematic." ---Publishers Weekly

Not worth the time

What did you like best about Atlantis? What did you like least?

Interesting concept, but dragged out. Reader could not hold my attention. Definitely will not follow up on the series............wish I could return this one.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Not sure what was wrong, but he just wasn't right for this book.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No.

Solid plausible fiction -- a touch too technical

Atlantis is centered around finding the lost city of Atlantis. There are three big detractions from theplot. First, the first twenty-five percent of the is filled with techo-details -- too many. Instead of enhancing the story, these details distance the listener from the story. If Gibbins wanted realism then he went too far with these details. Second, there at least two major coincidences that weaken the overall plot. One of the coincidences, although playing a major plot role, could have been cut from the novel. Last, the sub-characters, especially Katya, were flat and needed rounding.

The explanation of the posed for the possibilities of the Altlantian civilization are the strong part of this novel. Gibbins put in place a fictional framework that could have happened. The story felt real during its telling. James Langton did and nice job narrating.

If you like historical-thriller fiction, it is worth the read. This is book one of a series. The first novel had enough redeeming value to give the second in the series a try.

Very technical!

I have a degree in nursing, and I love history and technology, but! Way over my head!😳

A decent science adventure

The plot is pretty good, along with the characters, maybe a little to on the noise with each character stereotype and the theory about Atlantis is great. What hurts it, for me, is the few times the author gets caught up in the science of something/someplace (sorry, don't want to be to spoilery) and I am thinking "shut up, we get it, you've talked about the same thing several times and your character is in mortal peril. I do not think now is the time he would get distracted by the unique science of whatever." Not a big deal, but it got annoying. I'm still likely to try others in the series.

highly detailed descriptions

I felt that the author's highly detailed descriptions were often too detailed, sometimes even boring rather than immersive.

Good story, but the ending brought it down.

I actually really enjoyed the majority of this book. my only real complaint is that the ((SPOILERS)) main baddy Aslan (not the Narnia one) gets killed with near 2 hours left. this leaves the last 2 hours being nothing but historical speculation and discovery, which while kind of interesting would have fit better earlier on with a more climactic death for Aslan later. written the way it was made me lose a lot of interest by the end. James Langston however is just as good as always and I'm giving book two a shot mainly for his narration and a love of this genre of stories.

Intelligent, fast - paced with good characters

I enjoyed this audio book but will read the next. It is a densely packed story and the audio format made it easy to occasionally miss something. Not my favorite narrator, but he did good job and helped to differentiate characters.

Ok

I always had a keen interest in the story of Atlantis even before I can remember. I believe eventually we will find it. This was good.

Mind wondered while listening

Had a hard time paying attention to much extraneous information maybe in book form could be better

Too much talk

I have studied the ancient Near East for many years, so the stories related by Jack Howard and others were interesting but far too much. It was like being in a lecture hall. The story seems to be mostly an add-on. I listened to the author's epilogue and his explanation of what was fiction and what was not. Regardless, the story is something only visited on occasion in between long episodes of different "experts" lecturing on historical information and "what it all means."

The narrator showed very little change in emotion throughout. I don't know if he was dragged down by the lack of a clear storyline or what. I listened to the entire book because I paid for it, but I could not recommend this to anyone.