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    Opening Atlantis: A Novel of Alternate History
    Opening Atlantis: A Novel of Alternate History
    Opening Atlantis: A Novel of Alternate History
    Audiobook16 hours

    Opening Atlantis: A Novel of Alternate History

    Written by Harry Turtledove

    Narrated by Todd McLaren

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    New York Times bestselling 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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateDec 18, 2007
    ISBN9781400175543
    Opening Atlantis: A Novel of Alternate History
    Author

    Harry Turtledove

    Harry Turtledove is an American novelist of science fiction, historical fiction, and fantasy. Publishers Weekly has called him the “master of alternate history,” and he is best known for his work in that genre. Some of his most popular titles include The Guns of the South, the novels of the Worldwar series, and the books in the Great War trilogy. In addition to many other honors and nominations, Turtledove has received the Hugo Award, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History, and the Prometheus Award. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles, earning a PhD in Byzantine history. Turtledove is married to mystery writer Laura Frankos, and together they have three daughters. The family lives in Southern California.

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    Reviews for Opening Atlantis

    4/5

    18 ratings7 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I found this book interesting but a bit tedious at times. The time periods covered are varied and give a good insight to the dominate family in the book, English settlers Ratcliffe. The family split in the second period covered with the respectable side dropping the "e" of the family name. A colorful tale with interesting characters make it a book worth reading and it does set up nicely for the sequel.
    • 4/5
      The premise of the book seems to be that part of North American (everything east of the Mississippi, judging from the cover art) broke off from the main continent. This landmass is much closer to Europe than the New World was, and thus is discovered and colonized much quicker (1451).Part 1 of the book covers the discovery of the new continent, which is quickly dubbed "Atlantis." Breton fishermen know of the existence of Atlantis, and give this knowledge to an English fisherman in exchange for a third of his catch. The Englishmen see Atlantis as a place ripe for colonization, and move quickly to start a settlement there.Things go quite well for them, even as French and Spanish colonies are founded on the coast south of the English. Atlantis is, after all, big enough for everyone. Until an English noble who backed the wrong people in the Wars of the Roses is exiled to Atlantis, and decides to make it his own kingdom.Part 1 has definite American Revolution overtones, with it's rejection of unfairly-imposed taxation. It also sets the stage for settler/European conflict which dots the rest of the book. Part 1 does it's job, though; it sets the stage for the book (and the trilogy, for that matter), and introduces us to the family whose history we will be following -- the Radcliffes.Part 2 shows Atlantis 200 years later, and a conflict between pirates led by Red Rodney Radcliffe and the English settlers of Stuart led by his cousin William Radcliff. Red Rodney has been preying on all manner of shipping around Atlantis, and this has made him some enemies. The settlers ally themselves with English and Dutch sailors to fight the pirates.We see more tension between Atlanteans and Europeans in part 2. This section parallels the battles with privateers and pirates in our own timeline in the 1600s. We start to see that Atlanteans view themselves as independent, and that their European cousins see them as backwoods bumpkins who certainly aren't proper subjects of the Crown.Part 3 gives us this timeline's version of the French and Indian War. This is one of the things that I really don't enjoy in alternate history, and it's a weakness that I found in Turtledove's Great War/Settling Accounts saga -- the determination to present parallels to wars that were fought in our own timeline. It becomes very predictable, and you end up reading to see which character is going to be the new timeline's Lincoln, or Washington, or Rommel, etc. The account of English Atlantean guerilla warfare in French and Spanish territory was interesting, but I'm hoping that the next book in the series doesn't start out with a meeting of a doppleganger Continental Congress getting ready to declare independence from England.I really liked the fact that Turtledove is focusing on one family as the movers and shakers of English Atlantis. That's something new for him, and I think it works well. The book was enjoyable, with a couple of reservations that I've mentioned above. I wish there was an actual map of Atlantis in the book, though that is a possibility for the second book, I'm sure. There are some anachronisms in the book, which reviewers on Amazon.com have been quick to point out, but those aren't glaring to me. I was amazed at the ability of the English to start a successful settlement right away in Atlantis, but these settlers did not face many of the challenges that the first settlers in North America faced when they arrived here. Opening Atlantis is not up to Turtledove's usual standards, and is far inferior to Ruled Britannia, but is still worth reading. I'll have to read the second book of this trilogy to see if it really has any promise, though.
    • 4/5
      An interesting and original speculation on what the world might be like if the eastern coast of the US was an island in the Atlantic. The book contains three short novels describing three eras (discovery to colonization). This is the first of several books I'm sure and should be an interesting series to follow. It's an OK (slow and tad boring in some spots) book as a stand alone, but I think some interesting themes and story lines will come out of the series as whole. I shall await the next book in the series.
    • 4/5
      In this alternative history, Atlantis is a sizable land mass that sits in the Atlantic ocean between England and Terra Nova. Multiple generations of the Radcliffe family are followed in this book, starting in the 1400s during the War of the Roses. In Part 1, Edward Radcliffe and his family are the first Englishman to settle in Atlantis. Part 2 is set a few generations later. The family has split and William Radcliff wants nothing to do with his pirate cousin Red Rodney Radcliffe. Part 3 makes another jump in time and we follow Victor Radcliffe as his society comes to terms with slavery.There was much to enjoy about this book. First, I really like how the author took this mythical land and made it a real place on the map, one to be discovered and settled in the 1400s. Since Atlantis has been isolated from other land masses for some time, there are some interesting critters. My inner biologist reveled in these details. Also, the flightless birds of various sizes made it easier for the new settlers to gain a foothold, the birds being easy to catch and cook. Yet there are some dangerous beasties as well, ones that can tear out a man’s vertebrae!Since the book is divided into three parts, it was more like reading three novellas set in the same land but during different time periods. Since I wasn’t aware of that going into the book, I think I got the most attached to Edward and his two sons, Henry and Richard, from Part 1. They make the discoveries, set the sailing route to and from England, and also negotiate the first settler rights of the land. Also, this was a time of exploring the land and getting to know the wildlife, which I thoroughly enjoyed.When we get to Part 2, Red Rodney’s daughter, Ethel, is the character that stole the show. She’s being raised by a roguish pirate and has aspirations of captaining her own pirate ship when she is grown. In fact, she is the only female character of note in the entire story. There are a few other ladies that get names; a few even get a few lines. While Ethel is a thoroughly enjoyable character, she doesn’t make up for the very obvious lack of integral female characters for the rest of the book.Part 3 takes on a pretty serious subject: human slavery. Victor struggles with what he knows of slaves and former slaves he has befriended and what he knows about the economics of the day. Victor truly believes that Atlantis cannot continue to be a financially independent country without slavery to run the plantations that make up the backbone of economy. The author doesn’t turn a blind eye to the nastier side of slavery but he also doesn’t revel in the brutality of the subject.Throughout the three parts, Atlantis is not solely British. The Spaniards and French also find their way to the large land mass and make settlements of their own. Eventually, there are clashes. Some of these rivalries are continuations of European wars; some of them are purely Atlantis squabbles. These interactions were mostly interesting and only sometimes got a little unwieldy, and hence, a little boring.The Narration: Todd McLaren did a good job. He had distinct voices for all the male characters and the few female characters that had lines. His various accents were well done. His voice for Ethel was great!
    • 4/5
      Opening Atlantis is the first book of a new speculative fiction series from Harry Turtledove. I hope the pacing of this novel is not an indication of what is to come: an extended work that could easily be told in one volume. I found the pacing for this book almost unbearably slow. That is not to say there is no action in the book/ In fact, there is quite a bit of action in the opening and the ending, it is just the middle that I found so ponderous.I know that speculative fiction or alternative history is supposed be present history as it never happened, but I have some problems with the foundation premise of this story. I have a hard time accepting a land mass the size of Turtledove’s Atlantis would have remained unknown for as long as it did. I also have a hard time that Portuguese fishermen would have stumbled onto this landmass and would not have claimed it and begun colonizing it. The time period for this happening coincides with the real beginning of the dominance of the Old World’s oceans and early colonization attempts by the Portuguese.What follows is a slightly altered history of the world from the fifteenth through the eighteenth century. The English still fight the French who fight the Spanish and the Portuguese are forgotten except when they fight the Dutch. A subtext of destroying the land through over development and over hunting / fishing is also laid down. As I said, very ponderous reading.The story ended just as I was starting to get into the politics of the characters. If I chance across and subsequent installments, I will probably read them. I did not find the story compelling enough to want to go out and pursue more of it. I do enjoy alternative history, I just did not find this story all that different.I’m going just above mediocre for my rating of this. If you are a fan of Harry Turtledove, you will probably want to get this for your collection. If you enjoy historical fiction, you might enjoy this. If you are looking for a more radical departure from history, this is not it; try His Majesty’s Dragon instead.
    • 3/5
      What if Atlantis was real, never sank into the ocean, but was uninhabited? Instead of discovering the New World, English, Spanish and French settlers discover Atlantis and settle there instead. Set in the 1400 - 1700's, this alternate history explores what might have happened if such a new territory existed. A fun read, but it read a lot like the history of the USA, without the native American issue.
    • 2/5
      I was really hoping/expecting more sci-fi (or fantasy), and instead it's just an alternate look at what might happen if there was a landmass between the New World and Europe. It starts with the founding of a colony there and follows with a couple of stories involving people descended from the founder.

      It's well written, but it's not something I would have read if not picked out for a book club.