Atlantis Found (A Dirk Pitt Novel) |
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Clive Cussler
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Pages: 768 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0140287965
Pub: Penguin Books Ltd
Pub date: 2001-01-18
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 11598
Editorial Review:
Dirk Pitt, indestructible hero of 14 previous Clive Cussler novels and special projects director of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (which is something like the CIA of the ocean depths), makes James Bond look like a tuxedoed, martini-swilling poser. Pitt has raised the Titanic, escaped massive volcanic eruptions, ducked nuclear explosions, foiled criminal plans for world domination, saved everyone on Earth from germ warfare and mastered the ins and outs of various electronic gizmos and futuristic vehicles while evading every imaginable form of almost certain death. (Of course, he's also wildly successful with brilliant, beautiful women, but in an admirably circumspect, sensitive-guy way.) It stands to reason Pitt's the right man to handle a crisis of millennial proportions.
When mysterious black obsidian skulls and other artefacts of an exceedingly ancient culture begin to turn up in odd places, Pitt jumps in with both feet. It soon becomes dangerously apparent that a powerful, amoral group of fanatics calling itself the Fourth Empire wants the strange discoveries to remain underground. Pitt teams up with a beautiful red-haired expert in ancient languages to decipher the meaning of the artefacts. They were made 10 millennia ago in a then-temperate Antarctica by a seafaring civilization advanced enough to predict its own destruction by a comet impact. Now the Fourth Empire (whose literal and figurative progenitor comes as no surprise) is predicting a similar disaster in only a matter of months and preparing to take control of the Earth.
Cussler's known for hands-on research--his hobbies are the backbone of Pitt's adventures: Flying, climbing, diving, racing. His scientific and historical riffs that fill in the background of Atlantis Found are the weakest parts of the book--they're Pitt-less, and give every discovery in the book away early. But what the heck--Cussler's not the king of suspense, he's the emperor of non-stop action. Atlantis Found bounces along on a good-humoured techno-joyride and for Cussler's legion of fans, that will be more than enough. --Barrie Trinkle
Reader Reviews:
Good Mindless Entertainment (0/0 people found this helpful)
If when reading a book you want every character and situation to remain realistic and true to life, then this book isn't for you. On the other hand if you enjoy a fun, fast paced action adventure, then buy this book. Basically it's an Indian Jones/James Bond type story on steroids.
I could not recommend this book highly enough and it grabs you from page one and doesn't let go.
It was the first Dirk Pitt novel that i read and since then I've gone on to read the other books in this series, however Atlantis Found remains my firm favourite.
Fun adventure novel (0/0 people found this helpful)
I've been meaning to check out Cussler for years and "Atlantis Found" was the first book I finally read. It's a very fun adventure novel and Cussler tells it with enough enthusiasm for me to be able to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the admittedly very implausible plot. My only minor complaint is that he sometimes spent a bit too much time describing details that weren't relevant. The pace would have been faster if some of this was edited down, but overall, it's a fun read and I'll definitely read more of his books. Recommended.
Politically incorrect, historically questionable, but fun! (7/7 people found this helpful)
I hadn't read any Cussler, let alone any Dirk Pitt novels before. This one caught my attention because the Atlantis theme coincides with my interest in humankind's prehistory.
Fairly early on though I decided I would need to set my disbelief to one side and just go with the flow if I wanted to derive any enjoyment from this book. Anthropologists will surely hurl this pot boiler across the room and issue indignant snorts at the notion that almost the entire human race was wiped out in 7,000 B.C. Furthermore, during the denouement, the tactics employed to thwart the villains are somewhat farcical when a simpler solution is staring us in the face!
But Cussler never intended to give us an accurate history lesson, and let's get onto the plot! This is a rollicking adventure where our rugged and handsome hero knocks the preverbial out of sinister foreigners with funny accents and discovers the lost continent of Atlantis, almost without breaking sweat. Dirk Pitt is definitely up there with Indiana Jones and James Bond and probably hasn't got far to go to give Superman a run for his money. He's the kind of mega-tough guy who, if his lungs start to hurt when the going gets tough, he spits them out and gets on with saving civilisation as we know it. He always has a witty line in repartee on his tongue too, and don't the ladies just lap it up! In real life he would probably come over as Leisure Suit Larry's more dangerous brother and would be regarded as rather corny by any streetwise modern woman. The womem in Dirk Pitt's world however are invariably beautiful and frequently in need of rescue by our invincible square-jawed hero, which, of course, he invariably accomplishes in the nick of time.
But enough irony and nitpicking! The action (and boy, is there plenty of that!) is very competently described and I defy anyone not to devour this hefty tome (500+ pages) in a flurry of undemanding but enjoyable page turning. I swear you will shiver as Cussler depicts the numbing effects of wind-chill on our hero!
So, classic literature this ain't, but I enjoyed it all the same and have no regrets about buying my first ticket into the rather simplistic but pretty damn entertaining world of Dirk Pitt.
Very disappointing ... (1/4 people found this helpful)
I read all kinds of books, am very open minded and enjoy an hour or two ofescapism as much as anyone. This book just made me dizzy and wishing forthe torture to end! They say too much of a good thing is bad for you andin this case, it's just too much of everything. I shall stick to authorslike Michael Cordy, Robert Doherty and James Rollins from now on!
Cracking Adventure (1/2 people found this helpful)
I've been a fan of Clive Cussler and his main hero Dirk Pitt, since i picked up a copy of "Inca Gold" a few years back, and i've been steadily going through his back catalogue (which are all good by the way) ever since.
I finally got up to "Atlantis Found" and it's by way and afar the best one yet. The opening teaser chapters are just fantastic, setting up an intriguing premise that you are trying to work out all the way through the novel, with the help of a few clues laid down along the way by Mr Cussler. Dirk is as heroic as ever along with his best pal Giordino, and its a guaranteed page turner.It's so film like in it's storytelling, that as I was reading it I could just imagine it up on the big screen with all it's glorious set pieces and action scenes. The finale, on the ice plateaus of Antartica, is just one of the best endings of a book ever. I literally couldn't put it down. In fact i've already re-read it.
If you love a good action adventure novel, then this is it.
I recommend this with no hesitation, go buy it now and enjoy.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> C -> Cussler, Clive
Books -> Subjects -> Fiction -> General
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Age (feature_two_browse-bin)
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Paperback