Atlantia Books In Order

Publication Order of Atlantia Books

The Atlantia is a Series by Ally Condie and falls under the genre mash-up of science fiction and fantasy. It’s however not bogged down to the complex world building neither does it suffer from the over-abundance of traditional world wonders. It’s more contemporary, easy, and captivating. The book is recommended for young novel readers ages 12 and above, and is told from a perspective of Rio, a young girl from the underwater city, named Atlantia. The city was built generations earlier when air quality above forced people to look for other means of survival. They built a city on the floor of the ocean, more like connected bubbles and used to send their loved ones to live there. Atlantia is beautiful, self-sustaining, and actually sounds a lot like half paradise.

Every year, the young ones had to decide whether to stay in Atlantia or go above the surface, where they would be cut short of poor air quality. Condie has masterfully planned this story about life on the underworld and the above world that Rio desperately wants.

The story begins when Rio went to a function of the Divide. Rio has always wanted to go aboveground, but she tries to convince her fraternal twin sister to Bay Conwy that she will stay Below when her Mother unexpectedly dies six months before the ceremony of the divide. Bay surprises Rio when she decides to go above, and there is no time for goodbyes as she and other who choose to go above are put into transport and taken above. Rio, who now live below, is left reeling and alone, and she is so devastated why her sister would do something like that without informing her in advance. She had to hold her end of the bargain for quite long, but her sister doesn’t care. She is now even more determined to go above.

She desperately looks for written explanation as to what Bay has done, she scrounged through her room, walks to the swimming lanes where Bay often used to be, but there’s no clue whatsoever that can solve the Mystery. To distract herself she offers herself to take Bay’s place in the swimming race.

Here she meets her mother’s estranged sister Maire, who she never even saw at her Mother’s funeral. Maire had heard her speak at the traditional ceremony and wants to help her go above. Rio also meets Beck whose best friend Fen also went above and through their losses; they are able to develop a friendship. Beck insisted that they help each other to solve the enigma of Bay and Fens mysterious departure, but Rio rejects the offer when she changes her mind, she found True gone.

Rio is able to uncover some of the dynamics and politics of the cities above and Atlantia, which complicates things even more, she realizes that the whole mystery is more than just her.

Condie the Author of the book, at this point shows Rio’s real character traits. She is portrayed as a stubborn, very persistent, with daredevil personality. In an interview, Condie says “there is just a lot about her (Rio).” The inherent layer of her personality is clearly shown by how and what she decides or chooses to share with other people. She is very quiet, and people undervalue her, but the inner louder voice inside her drives her to reach her goals no matter what it takes. She is seen as a good person, a hard worker, other times portrayed as reckless.

The other interesting character is Rio’s Aunt Marie, who is a powerful siren. Siren voices are very powerful; they can even be used as a weapon. Sirens were rare, and only she and Rio had one, which even puts Rio in More danger. You cannot know whether Marlie is deceptive or just tries to help Rio solve her mystery. It becomes hard for Rio to trust anyone, not even her aunt who tries to take her under her wings and mentor her, but she is definitely shady, you can tell from far. Everyone around Rio is shady.

She, however, is able to formulate a plan, that leads to even more treacherous questions about how her mother died, her own true destiny, and the complex political system that governs the two cities. Her life and that of her city depend on her ability to listen to the voices of the past and the unspoken hidden truths.

Condie brings tremendous depth in her world building of Atlantia, creates terrific details in a culture that helps people to survive, or keep them under control for that case. She creates an adventurous tale in a richly drawn future that for sure is immensely popular among teens. The plot is well served by her intruding characters and fine writing.

Atlantia is the first book in this series, which makes any reader, eager to know what will happen in the next one. The style of writing is unique even in her previous book Matched Trilogy and several others. It has a dragging, introspective qualities attached to it.

About Ally Condie

Ally Condie is a well- known author of several novels one of which has been named as best children’s book of 2010. She is a New York Times as well as an international bestseller. Her writing has been in Enthralled, a collaborative anthology of paranormal stories for teens. Some of her writing have also appeared in the Moms Club diaries, pacifier and Poignant moments.

She was born in southern Utah; spend her young years with her mother an artist who has been of great influence to her creative writing. Being a religious mother of three, her inspiration for Atlantia, come from her observation of how young women in her church were smart, but were inundated by societal messages on how their body is worth, rather than listening to their voices.

The Atlantia book series have received acclaims from readers and critics alike, but it hasn’t yet approached the success of her previous books. Reviewers praise her elegant world-building style and engaging style. It’s a fresh story, wild and engrossing.