Scuba is still pondering the Atlantis Myth (Atlantis Found - Clive Cussler)

Member Name: scuba_angel

Product:	Atlantis Found - Clive Cussler
Date:	29/06/07 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: it'll keep you occupied

Disadvantages: not great

Well as I used this as a comparison in one of my recent reviews it is time to dust off this book and try to remember why I bought it in the first place.

Clive Cussler is a rather prolific author who in recent months has begun to write with other writers thus increasing his output, meaning it is rare that when purusing the new books on the shelf at most supermarkets you wont find one of his books on offer (an amazon search brings up almost 500 options).

Atlantis Found as with so many books explores the possibilities of mythical Atlantis being discovered. As with many of Cusslers other books it features Dirk Pitt and his friend Al Giordino, two men who work for the American based NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency). They are typical all american action men, both having a military background and a love of the oceans (and good tequila).

The clues to the location of Atlantis of course lie in the most inaccessable places, like on a old ship in the Antarctic, and are also being hunted by a mysterious yet mega rich group of Nazis. The book is action packed and does make use of some very far fetched (or possinby top secret) technology, yet contains more human touches though not so many as to make the characters feel any more than 2 dimensional, though again if you read some of the other books this is a problem in many, most likely because of the sheer volume of work that Cussler is churning out.

As mentioned in the other review(Atlantis by David Gibbins) the two books have similar plots and the characters could almost be transplanted between the two, but after reading the Gibbins book it only highlighted the failings of this slightly older book in his book the characters are more 3 dimensional (not perfect but more so than in Cusslers book), and there is a degree of believability which is missing from this.

Also which is irritating is Cusslers insertion of himself in the story this occurs in almost all of his books and where the first few times can be taken as a joke by the co-writers in books like this where he is the soley credited writer it strikes me as being arrogant. Other things about the series which have begun to annoy me is the way that Loren, Dirks girlfriend knows all about cars (he collects old cars) and that in reallife Cussler both collects old cars and is the founder of the reallife NUMA (an organisation which is in dispute with many other marine companies over their claims to have discovered shipwrecks). Also the physical descriptions on Dirk Pitt closely match the features shown to belong to Cussler - 'vivid green opaline eyes a wide smile and even spaced white teeth' (description of Pitt from Atlantis Found- google Clive Cussler for comparison pic).

Overall this is probably a good book for anyone who is a fan of Cussler and his previous work but not a good place for a new reader to start try the earlier books for better written books by this author. It is quite long at 534 pages long written in a small typeface so isnt a quick read and it written in both Parts and Chapters leaving plenty of natural breaks in the narrative to stop for a while. It may be a good book to take on holiday as the length will keep many people occupied for at least a week or even longer. I bought my copy for £3.73 at Tesco but it can now be found online in the usual places at reasonable prices (my copy is currently listed at Amazon and green metropolis).

Summary: Dirk and Al look for Atlantis