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Atlas Cycle #1
Children of Atlas
In the dome cities of the failed space colony Atlas, mankind has finally clawed its way out of a second dark ages. Julian Reeves was born in the lawless second ring and left it behind for the budding city state of New-Lexington. Now he's the lead reporter for the station's first ever newspaper, printed on an old, movable-type printing press. When Julian is framed for murder and flees the city with the very man responsible, he will have to put aside his newfound humanity and take up the old ways to survive. ~120k words This is the first book in the Atlas Cycle More writing and Art by Dustin Porta at www.dustinporta.com
307 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 14, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 30, 2017
To me it seemed very convoluted and disjointed. I started skimming ahead looking for something to like. The protagonist seemed likable enough to start, but soon the empathy failed and there turned out to be multiple protagonist lines and eventually I started hoping everyone would just die. Sorry about that.
I know several people out there like this kind of story, but I'm not one of them. Written well enough, just no characters to latch onto and get the feels for [for me anyway].
I know several people out there like this kind of story, but I'm not one of them. Written well enough, just no characters to latch onto and get the feels for [for me anyway].
August 26, 2019
This was pretty good. Much better than I expected it to be at first. The characters are pretty well fleshed out and no one is perfect or perfectly bad (as in morality). This futuristic world has shaped them and it trails along the story well to learn what those things are that shaped them and learn more and more about the world they live in. I was quite captivated through the story and it gave me a bit of what I felt when I read Wool. Not quite as much as I felt reading the first one, but as that series continued on. I will very likely continue reading this series.
April 3, 2020
Loved this tale, the environment was one of the major selling points for me and the characters actually have character ( which is sadly not the case in a lot of books i have read of late ). The setting is truly fantastic though. Not only have humans managed to completely bugger up planet earth they've gone and done exactly the same thing to the only inhabitable space station that was built to house the ever expanding population. If you love your sci-fi and your adventure with plenty of grit this is a winner.
July 18, 2019
Fun and adventurous
Imaging a world so large with different domes and inter connecting hallways with the remnants and civilizations of earth from very very long ago. This book series follows different characters and their survival in the different cultures and wildlife they need to pass through. Read this book. I'm sure you've never been here before?
Imaging a world so large with different domes and inter connecting hallways with the remnants and civilizations of earth from very very long ago. This book series follows different characters and their survival in the different cultures and wildlife they need to pass through. Read this book. I'm sure you've never been here before?
October 19, 2017
Children of Atlas
I really didn’t like this story. Too much jumping around with introducing the characters caused me to lose interest in them and made them feel mechanical. I’m still not sure where the story was going or if it ever got there. Definitely not my cup of tea.
I really didn’t like this story. Too much jumping around with introducing the characters caused me to lose interest in them and made them feel mechanical. I’m still not sure where the story was going or if it ever got there. Definitely not my cup of tea.
December 31, 2020
There needs to be a sequel.
March 25, 2016
Children of Atlas is a story about a stranded—or maybe derelict—gigantic, space station. It’s hundreds of kilometres long! After many centuries, its people have lost all contact with Earth. Also, there was a sort of civil war and some idiot nuked a third of the station, as a result of which civilisation collapsed. Parts of the station have turned into places populated by savages. In them, civilisation has returned to the stone-age days—despite the station’s technology. Packs of dogs and apes attack travellers in the stations corridors, and civilisation exists only in few cities.
Nobody knows how to control the station anymore, and it’s only by sheer luck that many of its systems still function in automatic mode. The world building is awesome! I can even think of the movie based in the story of this half-destroyed space station.
The plot is good, but without being as magnificent as the world building. However, the story’s greatest flaw is its characters. Not all of them, of course, I’d be unfair if I say all the characters are flawed. However there’s something missing in some of them. There’s something that is preventing me to suspend disbelief. E.g. the very main character keeps helping another one whom he should have otherwise killed or abandoned. His motivations are not quite clear.
A pair of Siamese brothers, part of the main characters, need more development in order to turn into multidimensional people. The way they are presented, the interaction between the two of them is a bit farfetched.
Finally, there’s quite an amount of typos and edition issues, but I’m not worrying about them. I’m sure the author will take of them and the next edition available will be typo-free.
I'd recommend this story to all readers who enjoy space operas and soft sci-fi. The world building is so awesome that true fans will turn a blind eye towards the issues I pointed at above.
Nobody knows how to control the station anymore, and it’s only by sheer luck that many of its systems still function in automatic mode. The world building is awesome! I can even think of the movie based in the story of this half-destroyed space station.
The plot is good, but without being as magnificent as the world building. However, the story’s greatest flaw is its characters. Not all of them, of course, I’d be unfair if I say all the characters are flawed. However there’s something missing in some of them. There’s something that is preventing me to suspend disbelief. E.g. the very main character keeps helping another one whom he should have otherwise killed or abandoned. His motivations are not quite clear.
A pair of Siamese brothers, part of the main characters, need more development in order to turn into multidimensional people. The way they are presented, the interaction between the two of them is a bit farfetched.
Finally, there’s quite an amount of typos and edition issues, but I’m not worrying about them. I’m sure the author will take of them and the next edition available will be typo-free.
I'd recommend this story to all readers who enjoy space operas and soft sci-fi. The world building is so awesome that true fans will turn a blind eye towards the issues I pointed at above.
October 19, 2016
A remarkably good story.
A fascinating dystopian world exists within this massive, slowly deteriorating space station. It may be dystopian, but it is far from dark and oppressive; there's a lightness of hand by the author in the telling of this tale which dissipates most of the sombreness which usually exists in stories of this genre.
It's a particularly fascinating read following the characters as they traverse this dilapidated and in parts, highly dangerous, space station on their individual journeys.
There are some very different characters to the norm and all grow and develop throughout the story. Some of them are truly unique, but all are remarkably real, three dimensional and intensely likeable.
A clever and unusual environment, groups with differing mores and occupations has been created by the author, which adds to the richness of the story and ultimately its impact on the reader.
Looking forward very much to the next book of the Helikon series appearing, because it's definitely one worth following.
Highly recommended.
A fascinating dystopian world exists within this massive, slowly deteriorating space station. It may be dystopian, but it is far from dark and oppressive; there's a lightness of hand by the author in the telling of this tale which dissipates most of the sombreness which usually exists in stories of this genre.
It's a particularly fascinating read following the characters as they traverse this dilapidated and in parts, highly dangerous, space station on their individual journeys.
There are some very different characters to the norm and all grow and develop throughout the story. Some of them are truly unique, but all are remarkably real, three dimensional and intensely likeable.
A clever and unusual environment, groups with differing mores and occupations has been created by the author, which adds to the richness of the story and ultimately its impact on the reader.
Looking forward very much to the next book of the Helikon series appearing, because it's definitely one worth following.
Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews