The Atlantis Gene: The Origin Mystery, Book 1
Written by: A. G. Riddle
Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies
Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
Series: The Origin Mystery, Book 1
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date: 03-18-14
Publisher: Audible Studios
The Atlantis Gene is the debut novel of author A.G.Riddle and it successfully combines history, science, conspiracy theories, tech, evolution, and thrilling action into one. It isn’t perfect by any means, but contrary to some of the other reviews I’ve read I found it to be a very enjoyable audiobook.
Some of the reviews I’ve seen were really funny to me for several reasons. For example, they complain about how the beginning is too confusing with all the different subplots ‘thrown’ at the reader. Uhm, hello? Have you not read a thriller in your life before? This isn’t something that hasn’t been done before and in fact it’s a classic formula for the genre. If it’s too confusing for you maybe you should start with something easier, like, I don’t know, the alphabet?
“Ooooh, the characters were flat and didn’t develop throughout the story” – (read in a whiny voice). Are you serious? It’s a techno-thriller for crying out loud! Seriously, what kind of deep character development do you expect from such a book and why would you? That’s an example of unrealistic expectations if I’ve ever seen one.
OK, moving on with more positive things. I actually liked the beginning of the audiobook – each of the different POVs introduced was intriguing and made me read on. As it is usually the case with such books, it all starts to make sense the more you read. A thing that irritates me in books is unrealistic representation of technology. Well, that wans’t the case here which I think has to do with Riddle’s tech background. The accurate representation of cryptography and the way it was embedded in the story was very pleasing for me and I’m sure it’s going to be that way for lots of geeks out there.
The science and especially the biology part of it was also accurate and well explained without being overwhelming if you’re not into that, I think (but if you aren’t why would you even read this book?). I have to confess that for maybe the first half of the audiobook there was a little voice in the back of my head saying ‘Oh, here we go again, just another action roller coaster with secret organizations, questionable science and conspiracies.’ Good job Mr.Riddle – you proved me wrong with some very nice plot twists. Overall, the story didn’t go in the direction I suspected it would, which kept me guessing until the end.
The narration was the other major aspect of this audiobook I liked. Stephen Bel Davies’ voice really blends in with the story to the point you don’t notice him, if you know what I mean. He’s just good at it – the female voices, the British and German accents – such a pleasure to listen to.
By the way, when I started listening the audiobook, I somehow missed the fact that it’s the first in a series – The Origin Mystery series to be exact, so the cliffhanger ending really got me by surprise and got a ‘Oh, no he didn’t!’ reaction out of me. Well, at least they included a preview of the next installment in the series to sooth the pain. To be honest, however cool and fun the story is, I’m wondering if it’s possible to stretch it out in more than two books without watering it down. But I’ll give A.G.Riddle the benefit of the doubt – he might just surprise us.
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