Opening Atlantis

A Novel of Alternate History

By: Harry Turtledove

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author Harry Turtledove has intrigued readers with such thought-provoking "what if..." scenarios as a conquered Elizabethan England in Ruled Britannia and a Japanese occupation of Hawaii in Days of Infamy and End of the Beginning. Now, in the first of a brand-new trilogy, he rewrites the history of the world with the existence of an eighth continent.

Atlantis lies between Europe and the East Coast of Terranova. For many years, this land of opportunity lured dreamers from around the globe with its natural resources, offering a new beginning for those willing to brave the wonders of the unexplored land.

©2007 Harry Turtledove (P)2007 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Turtledove excels in alternate history." ( Library Journal)
"Harry Turtledove is probably the best practitioner of the classic alternate-history story since L. Sprague de Camp." ( Locus)

1st half good, but then...

I really liked the first half of this book, but about half way through the story jumps forward 200-300 years and I completely lost interest. 4 stars for the first half, 2 stars for the second half equals 3 overall stars.
The reader did a good job, but it was edited together so that you couldn't easily tell when the story jumped from one group of people to another and you are left wondering what just happened until you realize you are on another line of the story.

love it

Love it except the 200 year jump in time line. it pulls on your imagination.

Opening Atlantis.

A great book! But, Harry Turtledove books usually are. Looking forward to a sequel.

Good. Boring. Meh.

The first story is good. The second story is boring. The third story is meh. The narration is very good throughout (despite many mispronunciations).
I wouldn't recommend spending a credit for Finding Atlantis, but if it's free with Audible Plus grab it for the first story and skip the rest.

Fun

This was a fun book. Since the book steps forward in time at least twice, I wish in the audio version there was a distinct division here, such as "Book 1, Book 2, Book 3" No big deal, but it would make it easier to follow.

The characters were vivid and narration was excellent.

Good book, great narration

I enjoyed the book, not the best, but very good. The narrator really helped keep the book alive with his voice and cadence. This book is actually 3 shorter books, the 2nd being my least favorite. My only complaint was that just as I was getting into the original characters, the story was finished and I had to get to know new ones.

I don't think I'll read the next books in this series, but this was a good buy.

Alternate history due to alternate geography

Harry Turtledove’s Opening Atlantis offers an alternate history tale based on geography distinct from our current world. Atlantis is a continent further east from North America due to an earlier split from North America. As such fishermen, manage to find the land. An English colony is soon established, followed by French and Spanish. The initial years were marked by colonial isolation. This is followed by an attempt for an English lord to establish his personal fiefdom, resulting in a revolt. A generation later involves a pirate enclave that wreaks havoc for the region necessitating a familial resolution. Finally, European hostilities seep over into Atlantis resulting in open warfare.

Turtledove crafts an engaging story that loosely follows our own history , but with subtle distinctions due to geography. At each historical period, a central English family (the original settlers) play crucial roles in eventual resolution.

The narration is well done with solid character distinction. Pacing is smooth and brisk.

Now what I expected

I am a fan of Turtledove's alternate history stories, but not this one. I do not know what happened here. My first question was "what was this a alternate history of?" (poor grammar, but you get the point. The story was boring and seemed to drag on forever. Even when there was "action," it was flat. Part of the problem was the narrator. I do not want to disparage anyone's work, but there was very little emotion, and it was difficult to tell the character's apart by their "voice."

This was discouraging. This has also modified my future purchases in terms of both the author and narrator.

poor writing/boring reader

The writing is overly simple with little character development. The writer would have been better off slowing things down and putting more effort into colorful descriptions of the settings, developing the plot and the characters. Occasionaly the writer got lazy and used modern terms that were not in use at that time which was quite distracting. The reader used the same tone when going from one character to another which made for a very boring listen.

The worst one I've read by Turtledove.

Would you try another book from Harry Turtledove and/or Todd McLaren?

I will since I've read other good ones but not if this were my first.

What was most disappointing about Harry Turtledove’s story?

Poor all around.

Which character – as performed by Todd McLaren – was your favorite?

None

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The cover was nice.

Any additional comments?

I am considering not finishing the other 10 hours and see if I can return it to Audible. Glad it wasn't my first of his to try.