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The Journey of Atlantis: Leaving Home
The solar system will meet its doom in 84 years!
Captain Levi Metcalfe is the unwilling leader of the first (and only) Ark class vessel charged with saving a sampling of Earth’s lifeforms before the neutron star arrives. But first it has to be built! It’s a race against time and not everyone is for the Project.
“The Journey of Atlantis” is an impossible problem set in the very near future tasked with overcoming terrible obstacles. How will the consortium ever get cooperation from the squabbling nations of Earth to build this Ark? And even if it is built, where will we go? Space is a dangerous place and the humans will just have to learn along the way in this roller coaster adventure.
Captain Levi Metcalfe is the unwilling leader of the first (and only) Ark class vessel charged with saving a sampling of Earth’s lifeforms before the neutron star arrives. But first it has to be built! It’s a race against time and not everyone is for the Project.
“The Journey of Atlantis” is an impossible problem set in the very near future tasked with overcoming terrible obstacles. How will the consortium ever get cooperation from the squabbling nations of Earth to build this Ark? And even if it is built, where will we go? Space is a dangerous place and the humans will just have to learn along the way in this roller coaster adventure.
188 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 29, 2016
About the author
Jeff Knoblauch
4 books2 followersJeffery Knoblauch is the author of the Journey of Atlantis hard science-fiction series. His work focuses on the realities of long-duration spaceflight, where survival depends on managing finite systems rather than relying on narrative convenience.
In his stories, radiation exposure is mitigated but never erased, life-support systems remain fragile, and isolation shapes decision-making over time. Artificial intelligence and alien contact operate within physical and informational limits instead of cinematic shortcuts.
He writes science fiction for readers who care about scientific consistency, systems-level thinking, and consequences that persist across missions and years.
In his stories, radiation exposure is mitigated but never erased, life-support systems remain fragile, and isolation shapes decision-making over time. Artificial intelligence and alien contact operate within physical and informational limits instead of cinematic shortcuts.
He writes science fiction for readers who care about scientific consistency, systems-level thinking, and consequences that persist across missions and years.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 10, 2020
Review: THE JOURNEY OF ATLANTIS: LEAVING HOME by Jeff Knoblauch
To be true to its nature, Science Fiction must examine real possibilities, and this novella chooses one of the most implacably terrifying: on course directly for Earth is a Neutron Star! Since the human race sloughed off on space travel, of course there are no colony ships and no inhabitable planets as yet known. Even if one colony ship can be constructed, 99% will be left to die in the complete devastation of the Earth. Thought-provoking and compelling, both individually (What would “I” do?) and in terms of humanity (how should humanity plan in advance for such potentials?), THE JOURNEY OF ATLANTIS: LEAVING HOME will inspire more than a few sleepless nights.
To be true to its nature, Science Fiction must examine real possibilities, and this novella chooses one of the most implacably terrifying: on course directly for Earth is a Neutron Star! Since the human race sloughed off on space travel, of course there are no colony ships and no inhabitable planets as yet known. Even if one colony ship can be constructed, 99% will be left to die in the complete devastation of the Earth. Thought-provoking and compelling, both individually (What would “I” do?) and in terms of humanity (how should humanity plan in advance for such potentials?), THE JOURNEY OF ATLANTIS: LEAVING HOME will inspire more than a few sleepless nights.
July 2, 2020
This was not really a book. It was more like reading what people talked about at the formal meeting regarding the end of the world and what will be done to save mankind. It was surprisingly interesting if a bit simplistic.
Published September 29th 2016, it only had two ratings on Goodreads so i was hesitant to read it. I'll give it 50 pages. There's no main character and the dialogue is mostly in the boardroom with the heads of the divisions discussing the building of the ship, logistics, security, who gets to go and all the other problems trying to get 15 million people off Earth and onto another planet light years away. Chapters jump 10 to 15 years so you don't get to know the characters. The boardroom scenes became repetitive, Only 220 pages a very quick read. I'll give book 2 a try.
Published September 29th 2016, it only had two ratings on Goodreads so i was hesitant to read it. I'll give it 50 pages. There's no main character and the dialogue is mostly in the boardroom with the heads of the divisions discussing the building of the ship, logistics, security, who gets to go and all the other problems trying to get 15 million people off Earth and onto another planet light years away. Chapters jump 10 to 15 years so you don't get to know the characters. The boardroom scenes became repetitive, Only 220 pages a very quick read. I'll give book 2 a try.
July 13, 2020
Jeff Knoblauch’s The Journey of Atlantis is a refreshing spin on an old formula. Two astronomers have discovered that a neutron star is on a collision course with the Earth. . . leaving 89 years until impact. The earth has assembled a team of experts in their respective fields to devise a plan to save mankind. Can humanity put aside their differences in order to escape Earth and save themselves?
I don’t know about you but I love a good hard SciFi novel: especially one with the technical feats required to build an interstellar spaceship with the capacity for 15 million of humanity’s finest. And that’s exactly what The Journey of Atlantis delivers. After we learn that humanity has 89 years to leave the earth, we follow “the Project” through status updates from quarterly meetings amongst the different technical heads - dubbed the “Consortium”. The Consortium includes the heads of obvious departments such as construction, mining, project security, and logistics. One of the departments that I thought was interesting were “Plant, Animal, and Materials collection” which is responsible for gathering and storing as many of Earth’s species for the trip to the new home. Another department I enjoyed hearing from was the Selection Committee, which was responsible for selecting the 15 million humans lucky enough to make the trip. . . quite the moral dilemma.
Another aspect of this book that I really enjoyed was the Consortium’s feelings about Sonny and Alice - the A.I.s created to help the Project. Sonny and Alice are consistently vague about their methods and motivations. This leaves the Consortium, as well as the reader, trying to determine if the benefit of having a benevolent and seemingly-all-knowing ally outweighs the risk of a potentially self-concerned and all-powerful demon.
My only real complaints about this novel was the abundance of gramatical errors as well as the characters kind of sounding like they are reading a script. Nothing against the plot elements, but Knoblauch should really consider using an editor/publisher next time.
Note: I did receive a free copy of this book to review. This did not influence my review.
I don’t know about you but I love a good hard SciFi novel: especially one with the technical feats required to build an interstellar spaceship with the capacity for 15 million of humanity’s finest. And that’s exactly what The Journey of Atlantis delivers. After we learn that humanity has 89 years to leave the earth, we follow “the Project” through status updates from quarterly meetings amongst the different technical heads - dubbed the “Consortium”. The Consortium includes the heads of obvious departments such as construction, mining, project security, and logistics. One of the departments that I thought was interesting were “Plant, Animal, and Materials collection” which is responsible for gathering and storing as many of Earth’s species for the trip to the new home. Another department I enjoyed hearing from was the Selection Committee, which was responsible for selecting the 15 million humans lucky enough to make the trip. . . quite the moral dilemma.
Another aspect of this book that I really enjoyed was the Consortium’s feelings about Sonny and Alice - the A.I.s created to help the Project. Sonny and Alice are consistently vague about their methods and motivations. This leaves the Consortium, as well as the reader, trying to determine if the benefit of having a benevolent and seemingly-all-knowing ally outweighs the risk of a potentially self-concerned and all-powerful demon.
My only real complaints about this novel was the abundance of gramatical errors as well as the characters kind of sounding like they are reading a script. Nothing against the plot elements, but Knoblauch should really consider using an editor/publisher next time.
Note: I did receive a free copy of this book to review. This did not influence my review.
January 17, 2018
[Edit - August 2020 - the author revised this book and I have edited this review to reflect those revisions. Items, 2,3,4 and 5 have been largely addressed by the author's revisions, and the primary criticisms are moot, though other ancillary observations remain accurate.]
[Note: I was given an electronic copy and asked to read and review this book by the author. I was also provided a copy of the revised version of this book.]
I liked this book, and look forward to the sequel. It is worth your time to read. This is the author’s first attempt at a book, and at that, it shows good promise.
I admit to wanting to like it more than I did. I discovered some nagging flaws as I read it. None of them tempted me to stop reading or prevented me from gladly finishing the book, and I remain eager to read the sequel(s.) I suspect many of you won't be bothered by the things that bothered me. As they say, YMMV.
The book has a great premise - though scarcely one that hasn't been visited before by other authors. Nevertheless, it holds its own among stories that explore similar scenarios (a threat to Earth requiring humanity to move out of the solar system.) The mix of politics, ethics, and science is intriguing and thought out. The issue of fully-enabled AI and human interaction is explored at length, but isn't resolved and will need to play out in the remaining book(s) of the series.
Here are my issues:
1. Many of the characters are somewhat shallow. They have personalities, but there's not a lot of background to explain how they became who they are, and we don't really get to know many of them all that well, except for a select few, and even those are not that deep. Considering the time span the book needed to cover, I can understand how some sacrifices were necessary.
2. [August 2020 - the author has successfully addressed the flow and style of the "meetings.] Speaking of necessary sacrifices, the first two chapters, which setup the story, represent about 10% of the book, and have some action. The remaining 90% of the book consists of short action chapters that move along the timeline between meetings which are all talk. These meetings are part info-dump and part ethical/philosophical explorations. But, simply as discussions and reports, rather than related as first-person or third-person narratives, they become sort of ethic/moral-dumps. At first, the idea of these meetings happening every decade or so along the timeline as the project progresses is sort of fun to read. After a while, they lose their novelty as a writing technique and feel more like the transparent info-dumps and ethical/moral-dumps. I will again admit that, considering the time span of the book and the immensity of the project, I’m not sure what a good alternative might have been. Many other sci-fi books cover long time periods in a single book (many far, far longer than the 75 years or so in this book) and don’t seem to struggle to find appropriate writing devices to make that work. Perhaps it is the relatively short time span of this book, combined with the very steep progress in the technology curve the plot requires, that is the stumbling block. Perhaps the social changes don’t require as much explanation, though they do play strongly into the ethical and moral issues raised by the project. Maybe a longer interval between timeline samples of the changes would suffice?
3. [August 2020 - the author has successfully addressed this observation in the revised] edition.These "Consortium" meetings contain oral reports which take but a few minutes to read, yet supposedly by the time a few reports are read, it's time to break for lunch or dinner. There's nothing in the text to explain how hours of meeting have passed with only a few minutes worth of oral reporting. After enough of this, one's willing suspension of disbelief for the sake of the story becomes challenged. Some sort of simple descriptive devices to indicate passing of time would go a long way to fix this. So rather than simply going from "thank you, Dr. So-and-So for your report, and now Ms. Suitably-Interesting-Name, you're up" if the author had simply said things like "After this, Dr. So-and-So presented some slides, and then the committee reviewed the reports that he had handed out, asking questions as necessary. Then it was time to move on, so the chairman called on Ms. Suitably-Interesting-Name." This would have made for an easier time believing that meetings were breaking for meals after hours rather than minutes. Of course, as is often true in our society, many important things happened during these breaks and meals. I kept hoping for more break discussions than endless meeting reports.
5. [August 2020 - the author has fully addressed this concern.] Sloppy proofreading. This is a pet peeve of mine. I found over 50 errors/typos/missing words/extra words/grammatical mistakes in a single first reading. The author ought to consider more editorial and proofreading assistance. Though it adds to the cost of publication, I think it well serves any author.
6. The science, particularly behind the FTL, is a bit thinner than I'd like. The hibernation processes had a slightly stronger basis, but still thin for my tastes. The future-casting of potential technologies is interesting, though again, the science behind it isn't really spelled out.
I'll repeat once more than I did enjoy the book, and do look forward to the sequel(s.) I'm a picky reviewer, so decide for yourself if these comments are helpful to you. They are not intended to dissuade you from reading the book - please, do consider buying and reading this book. My thoughts are merely to let you know my own reactions to it.
[Note: I was given an electronic copy and asked to read and review this book by the author. I was also provided a copy of the revised version of this book.]
I liked this book, and look forward to the sequel. It is worth your time to read. This is the author’s first attempt at a book, and at that, it shows good promise.
I admit to wanting to like it more than I did. I discovered some nagging flaws as I read it. None of them tempted me to stop reading or prevented me from gladly finishing the book, and I remain eager to read the sequel(s.) I suspect many of you won't be bothered by the things that bothered me. As they say, YMMV.
The book has a great premise - though scarcely one that hasn't been visited before by other authors. Nevertheless, it holds its own among stories that explore similar scenarios (a threat to Earth requiring humanity to move out of the solar system.) The mix of politics, ethics, and science is intriguing and thought out. The issue of fully-enabled AI and human interaction is explored at length, but isn't resolved and will need to play out in the remaining book(s) of the series.
Here are my issues:
1. Many of the characters are somewhat shallow. They have personalities, but there's not a lot of background to explain how they became who they are, and we don't really get to know many of them all that well, except for a select few, and even those are not that deep. Considering the time span the book needed to cover, I can understand how some sacrifices were necessary.
2. [August 2020 - the author has successfully addressed the flow and style of the "meetings.] Speaking of necessary sacrifices, the first two chapters, which setup the story, represent about 10% of the book, and have some action. The remaining 90% of the book consists of short action chapters that move along the timeline between meetings which are all talk. These meetings are part info-dump and part ethical/philosophical explorations. But, simply as discussions and reports, rather than related as first-person or third-person narratives, they become sort of ethic/moral-dumps. At first, the idea of these meetings happening every decade or so along the timeline as the project progresses is sort of fun to read. After a while, they lose their novelty as a writing technique and feel more like the transparent info-dumps and ethical/moral-dumps. I will again admit that, considering the time span of the book and the immensity of the project, I’m not sure what a good alternative might have been. Many other sci-fi books cover long time periods in a single book (many far, far longer than the 75 years or so in this book) and don’t seem to struggle to find appropriate writing devices to make that work. Perhaps it is the relatively short time span of this book, combined with the very steep progress in the technology curve the plot requires, that is the stumbling block. Perhaps the social changes don’t require as much explanation, though they do play strongly into the ethical and moral issues raised by the project. Maybe a longer interval between timeline samples of the changes would suffice?
3. [August 2020 - the author has successfully addressed this observation in the revised] edition.These "Consortium" meetings contain oral reports which take but a few minutes to read, yet supposedly by the time a few reports are read, it's time to break for lunch or dinner. There's nothing in the text to explain how hours of meeting have passed with only a few minutes worth of oral reporting. After enough of this, one's willing suspension of disbelief for the sake of the story becomes challenged. Some sort of simple descriptive devices to indicate passing of time would go a long way to fix this. So rather than simply going from "thank you, Dr. So-and-So for your report, and now Ms. Suitably-Interesting-Name, you're up" if the author had simply said things like "After this, Dr. So-and-So presented some slides, and then the committee reviewed the reports that he had handed out, asking questions as necessary. Then it was time to move on, so the chairman called on Ms. Suitably-Interesting-Name." This would have made for an easier time believing that meetings were breaking for meals after hours rather than minutes. Of course, as is often true in our society, many important things happened during these breaks and meals. I kept hoping for more break discussions than endless meeting reports.
5. [August 2020 - the author has fully addressed this concern.] Sloppy proofreading. This is a pet peeve of mine. I found over 50 errors/typos/missing words/extra words/grammatical mistakes in a single first reading. The author ought to consider more editorial and proofreading assistance. Though it adds to the cost of publication, I think it well serves any author.
6. The science, particularly behind the FTL, is a bit thinner than I'd like. The hibernation processes had a slightly stronger basis, but still thin for my tastes. The future-casting of potential technologies is interesting, though again, the science behind it isn't really spelled out.
I'll repeat once more than I did enjoy the book, and do look forward to the sequel(s.) I'm a picky reviewer, so decide for yourself if these comments are helpful to you. They are not intended to dissuade you from reading the book - please, do consider buying and reading this book. My thoughts are merely to let you know my own reactions to it.
September 20, 2026
Really cool concept, well thought out about how to get as many people off the planet as possible in a limited amount of time without too many seemingly crazy leaps in technology.
Needed a good consistency/timeline editor. Multiple parts of the book where there were seemingly two people having a conversation and suddenly everyone was there. Also forced conversations to explain info to the reader that felt really forced. Typos were a bit excessive.
Needed a good consistency/timeline editor. Multiple parts of the book where there were seemingly two people having a conversation and suddenly everyone was there. Also forced conversations to explain info to the reader that felt really forced. Typos were a bit excessive.
May 10, 2021
I really liked it
January 24, 2023
Jeff Knoblauch https://www.jeffknoblauch.com has published two novels. The Journey of Atlantis was published in 2017 and is the first book in his Atlantis series. This is the 10th book I completed reading in 2023.
I received an ARC of this book through https://www.netgalley.com with the expectation of a fair and honest review. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own! I categorize this book/novel as G.
Astronomers at the Keck Observatory discover a new neutron star. After some calculations, they determine that the star is on a trajectory that will take it through the Solar System. In just 84 years, life will be extinguished.
If humanity is to survive, the people of Earth must put aside their differences and cooperate. A ship must be built and launched that will carry the seeds of humanity to a new home. Most get behind the effort, but some dissenters protest and take action against the project. Compared to Earth’s population, only a hand full will be saved on the starship Atlantis.
The novel gives a series of snapshots of progress and problems as the project progresses. These are spaced about ten years apart. As the years pass, old characters die, and new ones are introduced. They struggle with science and engineering problems. The looming deadline of the neutron star’s catastrophic arrival drives them to complete the project.
I enjoyed the 8 hours I spent reading this 301-page science fiction novel. This novel is different. It deals with many different people over almost 100 years. The story is more of a high-level summary of the project than a detailed plot. I like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a rating of 4 out of 5.
You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).
I received an ARC of this book through https://www.netgalley.com with the expectation of a fair and honest review. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own! I categorize this book/novel as G.
Astronomers at the Keck Observatory discover a new neutron star. After some calculations, they determine that the star is on a trajectory that will take it through the Solar System. In just 84 years, life will be extinguished.
If humanity is to survive, the people of Earth must put aside their differences and cooperate. A ship must be built and launched that will carry the seeds of humanity to a new home. Most get behind the effort, but some dissenters protest and take action against the project. Compared to Earth’s population, only a hand full will be saved on the starship Atlantis.
The novel gives a series of snapshots of progress and problems as the project progresses. These are spaced about ten years apart. As the years pass, old characters die, and new ones are introduced. They struggle with science and engineering problems. The looming deadline of the neutron star’s catastrophic arrival drives them to complete the project.
I enjoyed the 8 hours I spent reading this 301-page science fiction novel. This novel is different. It deals with many different people over almost 100 years. The story is more of a high-level summary of the project than a detailed plot. I like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a rating of 4 out of 5.
You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews