Secrets of Atlantis

Atlantis #3

by Kate O'Hearn

From the author of the Pegasus series comes the third book in a spellbinding fantasy series for fans of Rick Riordan and Shannon Messenger, in which Riley must protect her family’s new life in Atlantis.

Life in Atlantis has always been unpredictable. But lately, the Community has finally started to feel like the stable home Riley hoped it could be—until the weather becomes anything but stable. After three Red Moons within a month, the latest of which brings an earthquake, it’s clear that something is wrong. But what is causing this change?

In addition to creating chaos, the storms are also damaging homes across the territories and escalating tensions between the groups. And when an encounter with the Underwater Territory goes badly, several of Riley’s friends are kidnapped! With no hope of reaching her friends on her own, Riley embarks on a quest—accompanied by Storm, Alfie, Maggie, Pea, and Kevin—to enter the Enchanted Territory and seek the Fairy Queen’s help.

But intrigue and secrets abound in Atlantis, and Riley is hopelessly unprepared for the ways that forgotten artifacts and ancient power struggles will disrupt her plans. Riley will have to learn to navigate the magical societies and finally learn the truth behind the island’s history if she is to have any chance at surviving the journey—let alone saving her friends.

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade

444 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 22, 2023

About the author

Kate O'Hearn was born in Toronto Canada, but raised in the heart of New York City and has lived in many places throughout her life. These days, she calls the south coast of England home. She has 3 brothers, no sisters and is passionate about animals and their causes and has many animal friends. (Pets)

Over the course of her life she has had several careers before finding her real love, writing children's books. Being the only girl in family of boys, she grew up a true tom-boy and always loved books with high adventure. But one of the problems she discovered was a lack of female leads in these adventure books.

When she started to write, Kate decided to address this imbalance and now writes high fantasy adventures with strong, compassionate and adventure loving girl heroes. There are plenty of boys in the story to keep it interesting and challenging, but she believes that a girl hero can be as brave, strong and adventurous as a boy.

She insists that adventures are for everyone!

So come and enjoy a few adventures with her...

Reviews

[Ocean Lombardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a great book even if the writing seemed a little hard to read at times and I really enjoyed it.

[Gideon Robison · Rating 1 out of 5]

Secrets of Atlantis has a lot of flaws. Not one of the characters even has a personality, and almost all of them seem to be fading out of the story, along with any connections to the two previous books. Everything from books 1 & 2 feels gone, replaced by the new Atlantis that erases all the old characters and the world you liked and fills them in with new characters and a new world that feels, no, is JUST WRONG. The new characters, mostly fairies, are super annoying and boring, so much so I wish some fairy plague would come and wipe them all out. Any characters that remain are completely blank slates with one single purpose. Quick character overview: Alfie. He’s only there to say the word “Creep”. Bastian. He exists to be in love with Riley. Jill. She doesn’t even have a purpose. I mean, literally all she does is hug Alfie at the end of the book. And it’s not just her. The amount of characters that are basically there to do nothing is innumerable. All of these likable side-characters have become basically the same person and the only trait that remains from the first books is a desire to help the main character, Riley. And even she is roped into this scheme to destroy the main plot created by the series. All of sudden, she’s becoming a fairy and is suddenly the sole hope of defeating an evil fairy threatening all of Atlantis. And all she wants is everything to be perfect and to be in love with her boyfriend. I realize that’s not a great way of saying it, but that’s her entire character. No ambition.
The stakes at the beginning and the end are both attention-span-threateningly low, and the conflict is unclear through the entire first half of the book. I mean, the battle at the end of the book is kind of cool, but it’s extremely short and super predictable. The entire plot is also as predictable as the final battle, and still feels dumb even at the end where everything is fulfilled and the good guys win. Honestly, I find myself wishing Mada had just killed Riley and gotten the book over with.
In the end, my suggestion is to read books 1 & 2 and skip this one. Book 2 doesn’t really leave any cliffhangers, and there are almost no loose ends. Plus, who’d want to read a book where the entire story is plot filler?

[Kaylee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very low three stars. Riley is suffering from boring main character disorder, and everyone else in the book is suffering from cardboard box side character with no personality disorder. This really sucks, because this series had a lot of potential. The second half of the book just didn’t feel like it was on Atlantis anymore, either. And the fairies are way overpowered. I was just left disappointed and empty, despite the happy ending where everyone wins and the bad guys lose.

There was no character to these people, and the ones that did have character died or completely lost it. Alfie is just a blank slate like everyone else now, and WHY DID IT TAKE THREE BOOKS FOR ME TO LEARN BASTION’S EYE COLOR? Riley, who has a serious crush on him and basically ends up dating him as of last book, just never mentions any physical features about this guy except that she find him attractive. He has no personality.

Atlantis isn’t a new setting to us anymore, and even though the Enchanted Territories were new, they didn’t even feel like they belonged in this world. Magic and fairies and spells? I liked Atlantis better when it was a mystery, because it added agency to the setting that was immediately lost when it was all explained away in Exposition Dump Number 8. And without a crazy awesome setting with mysterious workings, or a lot of built-in challenges for the characters, all personality is lost and we have a bland, boring story where everything happens exactly as you’d expect it too.
I’ve been wanting to try the Valkyrie series for a while but after this letdown I don’t think I will. I’m continuously disappointed in how Kate O’Hearn’s series regress as they go, and I’m not in the mood to do it again.

Overall, this was a fun series with a lot of potential that unfortunately got continuously worse. I’d stop after the second book, personally, since there’s no real cliffhanger there, just a few unfinished threads.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
book 3 in series
The weather in Atlantis is getting worse, including an earthquake so bad that Riley, her unicorn, and a few others need to go stay with the gargoyles while repairs are made to the ship. While there, things go terribly wrong!
While there is a conclusion to certain elements of the story, it opens up new elements so there is a possibility of a 4th book. The addition of fairies does not quite fit into my idea of Atlantis but it does keep the series going.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter has enjoyed all of Kate O'hearns books, but she said the Atlantis series is not one to read at bed time. She still says "A good book."

[PottWab Regional Library]

SM

[Lylah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a third Red Moon in a month occurs it brings an earthquake that threatens the Queen of Bermuda. The aftermath leads them caught in the middle of a battle between two powerful evil forces.

I found myself constantly pausing to remember who was what creature.

Fave Scenes: the crucible library, water volleyball, sneaking away and Riley confronting Lola-Rose.