Author: Ally Condie
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Release Date:October 28th 2014
Pages: Hardcover, 298 pages
Source: Library
Summary from Goodreads:
Can you hear Atlantia breathing?
For as long as she can remember, Rio has dreamt of the sand and sky Above—of life beyond her underwater city of Atlantia. But in a single moment, all her plans for the future are thwarted when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected decision, stranding Rio Below. Alone, ripped away from the last person who knew Rio’s true self—and the powerful siren voice she has long hidden—she has nothing left to lose.
Guided by a dangerous and unlikely mentor, Rio formulates a plan that leads to increasingly treacherous questions about her mother’s death, her own destiny, and the complex system constructed to govern the divide between land and sea. Her life and her city depend on Rio to listen to the voices of the past and to speak long-hidden truths.
Can you hear Atlantia breathing?
For as long as she can remember, Rio has dreamt of the sand and sky Above—of life beyond her underwater city of Atlantia. But in a single moment, all her plans for the future are thwarted when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected decision, stranding Rio Below. Alone, ripped away from the last person who knew Rio’s true self—and the powerful siren voice she has long hidden—she has nothing left to lose.
Guided by a dangerous and unlikely mentor, Rio formulates a plan that leads to increasingly treacherous questions about her mother’s death, her own destiny, and the complex system constructed to govern the divide between land and sea. Her life and her city depend on Rio to listen to the voices of the past and to speak long-hidden truths.
Review
I have not read any of Ally Condie's other work; there are quite a number of mixed reviews so I have stayed away but Atlantia peeked my interest so I thought I would give it a try. Atlantia was not for me. By a quarter of the way in, I was already struggling and starting to really lose interest in the characters. I actually decided to listen to the audiobook since the narrator is the same person that reads The Lunar Chronicles which are FANTASTIC audio books. Even her awesome narration could not save the book for me.The world building was rough, there is the below where most of the story takes place and the above is the mysterious, desirable place. (A bit like Little Mermaid) Though the details of how exactly they were living underwater, walking/swimming I seemed to have read right over them or they were not there because I could barely visualize the below. On top of the rough world building, you have predictable characters. The lack of originality in some of the plot points just had me losing more and more interest as the story progressed. The pacing was slow and boring until the last couple chapters which then brought on more predictable scenes.
Unfortunately, Atlantia's promise of a unique underwater world full of sirens and politics just fell incredibly flat for me. The world, the characters, the supernatural aspects, and even the love story were just mediocre and boring at times.
.png)
