Atlantis Legacy

Jack Howard #11

by David Gibbins

Egypt, 1334 BC In a horrifying ritual never before performed, a pharaoh is mummified alive for rejecting the old gods and thinking that he holds the key to immortality. Unknown to his tormentors, he had hidden away a secret brought to Egypt thousands of years before by the survivors of a lost civilisation …

England, AD 1667 A richly laden merchantman is wrecked on the coast of Cornwall in one of the worst storms in memory. On board is a treasure map like no other, found in Rome and rescued from the ship by the captain - only for it to be lost again in one of the most forbidding places on earth.

Present-day Marine archaeologist Jack Howard and his friend Costas are on the trail of an extraordinary mystery - one that takes them from a pyramid in Egypt to a terrifying dive in a submerged mine and a remote island in the Atlantic, on the hunt for ancient knowledge that could benefit all of humanity.

ATLANTIS LEGACY is a thriller grounded in real-life archaeology and plausible scenarios - the hallmarks of an author whose own discoveries as an archaeologist and diver have provided the basis for twelve novels that have sold over three million copies and been published in 30 languages.

Genres: Adventure, Thriller

341 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 2, 2023

About the author

Canadian-born underwater archaeologist and novelist. Gibbins learned to scuba dive at the age of 15 in Canada, and dived under ice, on shipwrecks and in caves while he was still at school. He has led numerous underwater archaeology expeditions around the world, including five seasons excavating ancient Roman shipwrecks off Sicily and a survey of the submerged harbour of ancient Carthage. In 1999-2000 he was part of an international team excavating a 5th century BC shipwreck off Turkey. His many publications on ancient shipwreck sites have appeared in scientific journals, books and popular magazines. Most recently his fieldwork has taken him to the Arctic Ocean, to Mesoamerica and to the Great Lakes in Canada.
After holding a Research Fellowship at Cambridge, he spent most of the 1990s as a Lecturer in the School of Archaeology, Classics and Oriental Studies at the University of Liverpool. On leaving teaching he become a novelist, writing archaeological thrillers derived from his own background. His novels have sold over two million copies and have been London Sunday Times and New York Times bestsellers. His first novel, Atlantis, published in the UK in 2005 and the US in September 2006, has been published in 30 languages and is being made into a TV miniseries; since then he has written five further novels, published in more than 100 editions internationally. His novels form a series based on the fictional maritime archaeologist Jack Howard and his team, and are contemporary thrillers involving a plausible archaeological backdrop.

Reviews

[Brittney Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Star Rating: 5 stars
Date: 4/19/24 – 4/24/24

Note: This is the 11th book in the Jack Howard series so this will not be an in-depth review.

As I stated in my last review, my favorite genre when I decide to branch out of science fiction and fantasy is either historical fiction or archaeological thrillers, and that my favorite writer of these thrillers is David Gibbins, and that I had one more book in his Jack Howard series that I needed to get to, Atlantis Legacy. Well, my hold finally came into the library, and I was able to read it over the last few days, and I have to say it held up to expectations.

Although, many individuals in this genre write media that although entertaining is firmly in the realm of fiction, Gibbins is different. He is a practicing maritime archaeologist and uses his experience in his field to craft books that are full of many authentic historical facts and theories with as few embellishments as possible. To be honest, with the recent discoveries that his peers have been making, particularly around sites like Gobekli tepe, his theories may be even closer to the truth than he had even hoped when he first developed them in book 1 of this series, Atlantis. It is this plausibility that makes me love Gibbins’s work so much as his leaps into the unknown are logical and not out of the realm of possibility, and this makes his books so satisfying to me as a reader, especially one with a background and love for the subject matter.

Another thing that I like about this series is that since Gibbins is a practicing maritime archaeologist like his main character, when Howard goes on tangents about the importance of archaeology and preserving history, it feels authentic rather than cheap. You can feel the reverence because you know that Gibbins is pouring his own beliefs into the fictional version of himself (I always knew that Jack Howard was a fictional version of Gibbins, but it became even more apparent after reading his non-fiction that was just released.), and as someone who has a lot of the same reverence for history and archaeology, I really related to this and it really spoke to me on an emotional level.

All in all, if you like adventure stories, particularly ones that are more fact than fiction or at least possibly could be, then this is the book series for you. I recommend that you start at the beginning as this installment does have a lot of spoilers and connections from previous books and I think you need to start at the beginning to get the full impact. 5 stars and I hope he writes more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Brantley Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was disappointing. The story is there the plot is fine, but the writing just isn’t at the same level that previous books in the series have been.

From the publishing (Kindle Direct Publishing I presume), to the editing (mistakes, not just with grammar but sometimes counting, and research that just is slightly off for real historically verified events. This book doesn’t match the quality that I’ve come to expect from a David Gibbins book. It seems as if it was written with some amount of AI because it just doesn’t feel right.

Specific details that stuck out to me as needing editing include

The Nazi submarine that gets shoehorned in to the last 30 pages of the plot is given the identification number U-182 and the books says it’s a Type IVB but a quick search shows that the U-182 was a Type IVD. Is it a big or important difference? Not really, but it’s a simple mistake that I think a good editor would have spotted and corrected.

This helicopter holds 10 fully kitted troops (never mind the fact that Airbus states it holds 12+ pilots) proceeds to count out 8 and say yep that’s a full helicopter load (1 hostage and maybe the primary villain wouldn’t need as much spaced because they’re not kitted up)

[Paul Rivas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the characters and stories in this series!

The only thing bumping this down a star for me were the ending seeming a bit rushed and a handful of typos.

Still, a good read and I look forward to the next adventure in the series!

[Michael C]

Excellent new entry into the Jack Howard - Atlantis series. David Gibbins ability to intertwine historical and archaeological fact into these novels is unique and adds so much color to the stories and history itself. I have read the entire series and hope that it continues.

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the mix of adventure and archeology. As well as the further building on the Atlantis exodus.

[Ione DeOllos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was hard to get into. I like books that draw me in from the first. The plot did flow.together and the.topic was interesting. However, some of the "escapes" were hard to believe.

[Culturevsnews · Rating 5 out of 5]

"L'Héritage d'Atlantis" de David Gibbins est un roman qui nous plonge dans un passionnant mélange d'archéologie, d'histoire, de suspense et d'ésotérisme. L'histoire se déroule à la fois dans l'Égypte ancienne en 1334 av. J.-C. et de nos jours. Le roman suit les aventures de l'archéologue Jack Howard, qui tente de résoudre l'une des énigmes les plus fascinantes de l'histoire de l'humanité.

L'intrigue débute en Égypte ancienne, où le pharaon Akhenaton, dans sa quête du secret de la vie éternelle, profane le temple d'Isis. En représailles, les prêtres momifient Akhenaton vivant, mais avant sa mort, il transmet son savoir à son esclave le plus fidèle.

De nos jours, Jack Howard et son équipe découvrent de nouvelles preuves de l'existence de l'Atlantide, la cité légendaire. Leur objectif est de trouver où ont migré les Atlantes et de mettre la main sur l'orichalque, un métal fabuleux qui promet l'immortalité. Cette quête les entraîne dans un thriller haletant, les menant de la pyramide de Gizeh aux catacombes de Rome, en passant par l'épave d'un navire du XVIIe siècle au large des Cornouailles.

Ce roman de David Gibbins combine habilement histoire, mystère et aventures, offrant aux lecteurs une plongée captivante dans le monde de l'archéologie et de l'ésotérisme. Les personnages, en particulier Jack Howard, sont bien développés, et l'intrigue est riche en rebondissements.

[Sabine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Archeologie, plongée sous marine et theories sur la disparition de l Atlantide se mêlent dans ce roman d aventure au héros fort sympatique. Mais c est parfois un peu confu et tiré par les cheveux. On n embarque pas á fond comme il se doit.