Atlantis Awakening, by Alyssa Day

As you see, I’m still on a Warriors of Poseidon kick-these books make for compelling reads, let me tell you. Atlantis Awakening is the third title in the series. The warriors of Poseidon are an elite group of Atlanteans who accept their god’s calling to protect humanity, and their stories are entwined with humanity’s fight against evil.

This novel follows Ven (aka Lord Vengeance, younger brother and heir to Conlan, High Prince of Atlantis) and his relationship with Erin Connors, witch and gem singer, while continuing the overarching storyline.

As I mentioned in my review of Atlantis Rising, a number of mythologies are amalgamated to create the framework of this universe, although the predominant mythos is the Greek pantheon.

But I’m getting ahead of myself-here’s the back cover blurb:

To rescue the world from an overwhelming evil, Poseidon’s warriors have risen from Atlantis. Chief among them is Ven, serving as the King’s Vengeance by birthright and by battle challenge. None can conquer him-except perhaps for one human female.

The warrior…

Ven’s mind is filled with duty. He must serve as Atlantean liaison to the humans in a war waged against the vampires. A sword is his weapon-not diplomacy. But on a mission to recover the Nereid’s Heart-a ruby of immense power-it will take every ounce of strength he possesses to resist the sexual allure of the beautiful witch chosen to work with him.

And the witch…

Erin’s heart is filled with vengeance. She lives only for the chance to punish those who murdered her family. Now she must partner with a legendary Atlantean warrior whose dark desire threatens to crash through the barriers she built around her emotions-and her heart. Caught in a trap of shifting alliances, how long can Ven and Erin resist their awakening passion?

Dark forces beware: Atlantis is awakening.

The first thing I have to say is that I love the covers for this series. Yes, there’s mantitty (credit: Smart Bitches) but there’s more than that. So far the covers for both full length novels reflect the action and the emotion of the story within. Congrats to Ms Day for being blessed by the cover gods! 😀

Second, I like this heroine much more than I did Riley from Atlantis Rising (though I also like Riley better this time around). Erin is quite a powerful witch for her age. Barely in her mid-twenties, she has a bit over ten years of training under her belt and the innate ability of calling a particularly powerful kind of magic to her will. As part of an organized coven, though, she must control her power and suppress part of her natural magic. Added to this, there is Erin’s internal conflict. She is driven to avenge her family, true, but she is also aware of her own inadequacies and fears. In other words, Erin is much more realistic than Riley was.

While Ven is in many ways your stereotypical alpha/warrior/caveman, the relationship’s development is all the more interesting here because Erin is no wilting flower. There is a lot of in-built conflict between Ven’s possessive reaction to her, his protective instincts, and her independence.

I liked that, contrary to many of the ‘fated mate’ stories out there, Ms Day emphasizes that the characters in her universe have free will. Yes, they may feel miserable if/when they negate their attraction to each other *coughQuinnandAlariccough* but so are people outside of books who do so. And while part of the attraction of a paranormal romance is the gigantic scope of the characters’ feelings for each other, it is a much welcomed change to have the structure of the world guarantee that most basic of rights, the freedom to choose, that women haven’t always enjoyed.

I liked the scenes set in Atlantis, because they made Riley’s pregnancy and its complications more pressing, more real, both to Erin and to the reader. There are a couple of scenes showing Conlan’s feelings for Riley that are, honestly, quite moving. Plus, along with other secondary plot lines, such as the aforementioned Quinn and Alaric, I liked the further development of Lord Justice’s backstory, as well as the glimpses into both Jack’s and Daniel/Dracos’ feelings.

Something I didn’t mention in my previous review is how humourous some of the internal dialogue is. It is not, generally speaking, a Three Stooges kind of humour, but instead a dry, wry sense of the ridiculous comes through some of the characters’ musings.

Now, about the world building… I confess, I am still a bit confused. There are some things, such as the Wilding and some of the aspects of gem singing, that are not clear to me. I am hoping that some of these loose threads will be picked up and explained as the series progresses, because my interest is piqued.

There were also a few moments where I wondered if I had lost track of things. For example, by mid book Ven and Erin had done the deed-no, not that deed (though they did that, too) but the soul melding deed-yet at one point she looks at him and wonders whether he “may have feelings for her.”  Um… excuse me? Didn’t you just see into his soul?

All in all, I still have issues with the world building, and some quibbles with the execution of the narrative, but I find the characters and their world quite compelling, and I’m looking forward to the next two books-I want to know what happens with Justice, with Quinn, with Deirdre, with Jack and with Daniel, just to name a few.

And I want to know exactly what will happen when all the stones taken from Poseidon’s Trident are found 😀

Atlantis Awakening gets 7.25 out of 10

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Oh and a heads up: Atlantis Unleashed, the next book (Justice’s story) comes out today. Jest saying…