AJ Coutu

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AJ Coutu
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World Of Ares

Arts & Culture > Poetry & Prose > Opening Atlantis by Harry Turtledove
 

Opening Atlantis by Harry Turtledove


I think I have posted some reviews about some of the books I have read in the past by Harry Turtledove. For those of you unfamiliar with him, he is basically the king of writing alternate histories. His stories are rich with description and a number of primary characters that expose the reader to what might have been no matter what the story is about.

This book is the first in what is expected to be a trilogy that centers around the lost continent of Atlantis. It is broken down into three sections, with each focusing on a different time period in the continent's history. Tying all of them together is the interesting Radcliff(e) family and its various branches.

The first tale focuses on Edward Radcliffe, an successful English fisherman from the town of Hastings, in the year 1673. He runs into a Breton (from Brittany, and independent country from France in this timeline)fisherman who brags about a wonderful fish catch he recently made. After promising to award the Breton a third of his catch upon arrival in the area, Radcliffe trails him to what turns out to be the virtual paradise of Atlantis. It does not take him long to decide that he wants to settle there, and he convinces his family and a number of other English families to join him. They found New Hastings and the basis for future settlements.

Two hundred years later, we lean that the family has continued to grow and prosper even as they have repelled the influence of the repressive British nobility. On the western side of Atlantis, pirates have settled into the beautiful cove of Avalon. As you can imagine, the respectable Atlanteans are not thrille by this, and the Radcliff(e) family is at the core of wdefining what will happen to the future of piracy on the island.

The final section deals with the fact that multiple nations have now settled people on the continent, including England, a now united France, and Spain, and there is going to be a fight for who will eventually gain ultimate control of the continent.

If you look at the book cover, yu will notice an interesting fact about the geography of Turtledove's Atlantis, and considering faultlines, it is one that could have been entirely possible. I wish I had been able to devote more time to reading this because I was really enjoying it, but I was so busy this weekend that I had to do it in fits and spurts. Ultimately, it was worth it, though I can't wait for volume two in the trilogy to come out!

posted on May 20, 2008 9:26 AM ()

Comments:

This sounds like a real interesting thing for me to add to my list. (I'm never going to get through that list if you keep giving me good things to add to it and because I've had to slow down a bit, only reading one book at a time now and not always getting to it on some days.)
comment by donnamarie on May 26, 2008 11:28 PM ()
Alternative histories can be most interesting.. i read one where lighter than air aircraft had been developed instead of our wasteful heavier than air monsters... excellent. I'd like to read one where science hadn't taken hold -- but where reason still prevailed over myth. I find myself saying "if only" too often lately. it seems as if every time there's an important decision to be made, governments [and people] deliberately choose the worst possible option.
comment by clovis on May 21, 2008 11:05 PM ()
he is a good writer. I read "Guns of the South", which was excellent and now am starting "Blood and Iron". Alternate history is fascinating.

reguards
yer breathlessy page turning pal
bugg
comment by honeybugg on May 20, 2008 3:29 PM ()

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