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Shades of Atlantis The Shades Series Carol Oates Books

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Shades of Atlantis The Shades Series Carol Oates Books

4.5 stars

A fabulous mythology, rich history, a great love story mixed with some great action scenes makes Shades of Atlantis a wonderful gem of a read.

There were a couple times while reading this story I couldn't help but think of another well known YA book, BUT the way in which Carol writes and owns her unique, refreshing story quickly pulled me right back into the story. I enjoyed the world building and the setting which goes from the east coast, to London and then to Ireland. Let's talk about the romance! Though at times it may seem cheesy, the chemistry between Triona and Caleb is sizzling, intense and captivating. I loved the theme of soul mates and destiny.

I really enjoyed the characters, not just Triona and Caleb, as all the characters have their flaws and that's what makes them seem normal and real, even though some of the characters have been around for decades. They make mistakes, they learn from their mistakes and move on. What I liked most about Triona is how strong willed she is, though I suppose she could be deemed stubborn. It helped her live up to what her character has to face. Caleb is like a knight in shinning armor, as he will do anything for Triona, especially risking his own life to protect her. Don't roll your eyes at that just yet, as this trait of nobility is so fitting of Caleb and is one of the things I loved most about his character.

I'm a huge sucker for history and I loved the rich history Carol gave her story with her spin on the lost city of Atlantis, King Arthur and Merlin. Carol makes her story even more fascinating by adding her Celtic lore, which I really enjoyed. Shades of Atlantis is a fabulous love story with a rich history and thrilling action. This is a book I highly recommend picking up!


Tags : Amazon.com: Shades of Atlantis (The Shades Series) (9781936305445): Carol Oates: Books,Carol Oates,Shades of Atlantis (The Shades Series),Omnific Publishing,1936305445,Legends, Myths, Fables - Arthurian,Romance - General,Children's BooksAll Ages,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9),JUVENILE FICTION Legends, Myths, Fables Arthurian,JUVENILE FICTION Love & Romance,JUVENILE FICTION Paranormal, Occult & Supernatural,Juvenile Fiction : Legends, Myths, & Fables - Arthurian,Juvenile FictionFantasy & Magic,Juvenile FictionLegends, Myths, Fables - Arthurian,Juvenile FictionParanormal, Occult & Supernatural,Legends, Myths, & Fables - Arthurian,Love & Romance,Paranormal,Romance & relationships stories (Children's Teenage),YOUNG ADULT FICTION,Young Adult Fiction Legends, Myths, Fables Arthurian,Young Adult Fiction Romance General

Shades of Atlantis The Shades Series Carol Oates Books Reviews

Purchased 3½ stars/5 stars

I have always maintained that a good set of characters can carry a mediocre plot right on through to the end. I honestly never imagined that I would come across a book with just the opposite scenario. I did however find this to be true with Carol Oates Shades of Atlantis.

From the beginning I knew I was in for something pretty sweet - the title alone had me hooked as I love all things related to the Atlantis legend. (Lynsay Sands anyone??) I was right; the plot for Shades is really good and hands down the novel's greatest aspect. There is lots of action, drama, and some very, very intense romance. To be completely fair, the combination of action, drama, and romance is sort of like a perfect storm and really keeps the reader moving through the book at near lightning speed from beginning to end. The super quick summary includes
1) Triona and Caleb are crazy, scary in love after only a few days of knowing
one another; this part of the story gets really intense
2) Caleb and his family are something other than human; it takes Oates
quite a while to get to the explanation of what the "other" actually is but the dragging out of the big reveal worked quite nicely
3) There's a nasty little prophecy floating around that Triona may be the
beginning of the end for Caleb and his kind
4) As you may of guessed from #3 above there is a group of super-bad guys that will do whatever it takes to prevent Triona from fulfilling the prophecy - nastiness ensues!

Here's the downside for me I am a strong character lover and Shades just really didn't deliver for me in this respect. Here's the skinny on the characters for me
1) Triona if ever there was a case of someone needing to be told "suck it up buttercup", Triona is that girl; at some point, I just got used to the fact that no matter what the situation, big or small, Triona was going to break down into tears
2) Caleb although delightfully lickable in terms of his looks, as my grandmother used to say "pretty is as pretty does". Caleb, while well-intentioned, is really kind of an idiot! Caleb's trouble all begins when he tries thinking for everyone else and determines that everyone, especially Triona is better off not knowing everything about the über-dangerous situation they are all in. Add to this the fact that Caleb totally wimps out and runs away at a critical moment and you have a recipe for a wreck!! All of Caleb's credibility and likability pretty much goes out the window after all the mistakes.
3) The characters that were pretty awesome for me are Triona's brother Ben, her BFF Amanda, and the super-awesome, lie detector Eila. For me, none of these characters were present enough. Each of these characters were the by far the strongest, most straight-forward and forthright in the novel and I really, really wish there would have been a lot more of all them in this story. Ben is strong, courageous, and loyal; Amanda is faithful, kind, and brutally honest and; Eila is beautiful, strong, and compassionate all while being a super-human lie detector. It's a pretty sweet super-power '

The bottom line I really am torn over this book as it had such a great plot but characters that sadly fell short for me. The plot in this novel is strong enough to carry the weaker characters and I think the book will actually play well with readers who are fans of super-intense, love at first sight romance reads. This is a YA novel but I would be remiss if I recommended it to the younger end of the YA reader spectrum as the romance is certainly not sexually explicit but it is quite intense.
This is a 3.5 for me after looking at the books I have given four stars to. The storyline is really good and different. It was really brilliant that the author gives the reader the short two page preface where it tells of a baby girl born in a cave with a battle raging outside with the sounds of swords clanging. The baby is handed to a waiting man by the midwife who is the mother's sister. The midwife hands him a leather bound packet and they say their good-byes, obviously caring deeply for each other. When asked where he will take the baby, he answers, "I only know who waits to take her from me, not of her journey's end."

This preface is important to the reading of the book, because the book begins in present time and is told in the first person by Triona, a high school senior who works at a restaurant part time. Triona has barely met the third of the brothers, Caleb, who own the restaurant. She is very attracted to him and her best friend Amanda teases her about it. I personally in books am not real fond of the "instant attraction" and the idea of being deeply in love before the couple even knows each other, and this was a drawback to me for this book. From this point for far too many pages, it pretty much goes on to a great deal of sensual kissing and losing themselves in each other (no real sex and it is not graphic - I would consider the book YA). I have read some other books that IMO make the mistake of having too many scenes like this and too often using the same phrases over and over - a bit too much of thundering heartbeats and such. There is of course a mystery about Caleb, and while Triona is troubled about the secrets he obviously is keeping from her, the reader is trying to decide just what Caleb really is. I won't do a spoiler on that because I jumped from one idea to another and I think that was a fun part of the book - the mystery of what is really going on.

The last third or so of the book was the best part, but somehow it never really drew me in like I had hoped it would. The premise of what Caleb and his family really are and the tie to the preface (which I went back and read probably a dozen times to get clues) are really the most interesting part of the book. For me it just took too long to get there. There are some other good characters in the book although I thought they were a little vague (except Amanda) even Triona's brother, Ben didn't really come to life for me until close to the end. Good story but probably would have been better with a lot less pages. It's 307 pages but another negative for me - small print.
4.5 stars

A fabulous mythology, rich history, a great love story mixed with some great action scenes makes Shades of Atlantis a wonderful gem of a read.

There were a couple times while reading this story I couldn't help but think of another well known YA book, BUT the way in which Carol writes and owns her unique, refreshing story quickly pulled me right back into the story. I enjoyed the world building and the setting which goes from the east coast, to London and then to Ireland. Let's talk about the romance! Though at times it may seem cheesy, the chemistry between Triona and Caleb is sizzling, intense and captivating. I loved the theme of soul mates and destiny.

I really enjoyed the characters, not just Triona and Caleb, as all the characters have their flaws and that's what makes them seem normal and real, even though some of the characters have been around for decades. They make mistakes, they learn from their mistakes and move on. What I liked most about Triona is how strong willed she is, though I suppose she could be deemed stubborn. It helped her live up to what her character has to face. Caleb is like a knight in shinning armor, as he will do anything for Triona, especially risking his own life to protect her. Don't roll your eyes at that just yet, as this trait of nobility is so fitting of Caleb and is one of the things I loved most about his character.

I'm a huge sucker for history and I loved the rich history Carol gave her story with her spin on the lost city of Atlantis, King Arthur and Merlin. Carol makes her story even more fascinating by adding her Celtic lore, which I really enjoyed. Shades of Atlantis is a fabulous love story with a rich history and thrilling action. This is a book I highly recommend picking up!