Corydon and the Fall of Atlantis

Corydon #2

by Tobias Druitt

In this second book in the Corydon trilogy, trouble has invaded the Island of Monsters once again. The peace-loving Minotaur has been
kidnapped! Signs suggest he's been taken to the city of Atlantis, and so Corydon and his fellow monsters set sail to rescue their friend. Their travels across Poseidon's treacherous waters involve one narrow escape after another—from the volcanic forge of Hephaistos, and the seductive song of the Sirens, from the licentious lair of Dionysos, and the grasping tentacles of the Kraken—until at last they reach Atlantis. And Atlantis turns out to be more seductive, monstrous, and volatile than anything they've encountered yet.

Genres: Fantasy, Mythology, Young Adult

352 pages, Hardcover

First published July 3, 2006

About the author

Tobias Druitt is a pen name for the mother-and-son writing team of Diane Purkiss and Michael Dowling. Purkiss is on the faculty of Oxford University, and Dowling attends the prestigious Dragon School. They both live in Oxford, England.

Reviews

[Tigerlily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say that I have NO idea why the cover art is so weird...

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book and didn’t like it. I felt that even if I read the first book before this one, I wouldn’t like it. I appreciate the effort put into the worldbuilding, and all the cool Greek mythology stuff. The protagonist is even named Corydon, which is a stock protagonist name in classical works. Sadly, I don’t think Corydon was a good character. He is a bit of a cowardly wuss, uninteresting, and felt more like the sidekick.

Gorgos, a side character, is more interesting but he is also annoying. He probably should be the main character, if only because he fits so many hero cliches. He is reckless, foolhardy, and a jerk. He is the son of Perseus and Medusa, and looks twelve even though he’s actually a toddler. He’s an utter cliche. Another cliche is the monsters being good and the gods being bad. This sort of morality swap is overdone and I would actual prefer traditional morality in stories sometimes.

This book had a lot of missed potential, and I probably should have read the first book before this one. But there’s a lot of bad about this book that I wouldn’t like anyway. The writing was melodramatic and distracting, and the characters are cliches. This book was utterly mediocre and not even the mythology theme saved it.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Corydon’s new-found family of monsters is threatened when the Minotaur is kidnapped. In an inversion of a heroic quest, the monsters set out for Atlantis to find their friend, hampered rather than helped by the Olympian gods. There are some traditional Greek mythological obstacles along the way – I was happy to see the Clashing Rocks – and then some new dangers on Atlantis, where Druitt combines Greek and other mythologies to create a hybrid culture (e.g., katabathos, Vreckan, and the Morge). I felt that this one really dragged in the middle, though, and suffered from an extended stay on Atlantis while Corydon tried to figure out what to do.

[Luisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book, I liked it better than the first. A very good plot. It was very exciting and the characters are great, but I think'll forget it pretty fast