Book Review: Atlantia (Ally Condie)

Book Cover

For as long as she can remember, Rio has dreamed of the sand and the sky Above-- of life beyond her underwater city of Atlantia. But in a single moment, all Rio's hopes for the future are shattered when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected choice, stranding Rio Below.

Alone, ripped away from the last person who knew Rio's true self- and the powerful siren voice she has long silenced-  she has nothing left to lose. Guided by a dangerous and unlikely mentor, Rio formulates a plan that leads to increasingly treacherous questions about her mother's death, her own destiny, and the corrupted system constructed to govern the Divide between land and sea.

Her life and her city depend on Rio to listen to the voices of the past and to speak long-hidden truths.

I was getting too paranoid with the tales of betrayal – I was expecting it at every turn of the book, starting off Atlantia with Bay’s plot of deceiving Rio had been a serious trigger. I really was, like, What the hell?!

It’s not like I didn’t like the book. I did.

The hint of betrayal was just so distracting that I didn’t thoroughly enjoyed it.

I experienced a nagging suspicion that every character is somehow involved with the ultimate plot and each actually harbors a secret relevant to the main character. I couldn’t take a revelation as an actual fact until supporting details gave proof and that the revelation in itself wasn’t just a first person thing.

There were a lot of secrets hinted, and Rio’s fresh perspective had somehow planted the mystery with her observations. There were the changes born from being separated from her sister, at the same time a renewed resolve to somehow leave from the city.

The first idea that came into mind was that of “Atlantis” – a civilization thriving in advanced technologies and, due to some circumstances, had allowed itself to be buried under the ocean. Atlantia was not Atlantis, not as far as I could see, as Atlantia exist in a timeline where the world deemed it necessary to divide the inhabitants into Above and Below. This necessity was further expounded with Rio’s quest for truth which ultimately led into the truth of the matter.

There were takeaways from the story as well as social implications.

That the conflict between two different civilizations could be rooted from the misconceptions that had been taken as fact rather than common knowledge. The knowledge could be passed off as superstitions and could be considered harmless unless acted negatively. Of course, it takes an open mind to accept that there are things which had not really what we’ve thought of, as it takes guts to admit it to oneself.

In relation to that, there’s also people’s tendency to accept things as they are just because the practice had been going on since the beginning of when we can remember. It’s a trait from where we can attribute the root of misconceived practices. It’s a trait that begets ignorance and that ignorance, from the universal perspective, could be found wrong, if not barbaric. Like the Human sacrificial rites from once long ago – it could be understood that as no one did questioned the practice (until someone ACTUALLY did), the practice is accepted and is considered ethical.

Then there’s the classic, “Do not judge a book by its cover,” just because a lot of people says so wouldn’t actually prove it correctly. Sometimes corrections are overlooked and prejudice often prevails over a plea for innocence. That Rio’s aunt was that type of person (mind you, I didn’t quite believe it until she proved herself – somewhere near the climax/end of the novel), an authentic aunt set on indulging on her only family left in Atlantia.

I liked how there were a lot to think about after the conclusion and how there are certain ends that were not spelled. At one point there is a sort of a happy ending. An open-ending in one.

At least depending on how you’ll look at it.