The Atlantis Plague is a fascinating novel. It blends little-known, niche scientific facts with thrilling science fiction to create a fast-paced, intense, and intellectually stimulating novel that thrives in the modern era. In creating this breathtaking series, author A.G. Riddle takes deep questions about humanity and life itself, manipulating them into a possible past and future that is immensely entertaining while being incredibly disconcerting. If the science behind the Atlantis gene is plausible, then this could be a possibility of the true nature of life (albeit a highly unlikely one). This very realism is one of the major reasons why the Origin Mystery series is so compelling.
This particular installment in the series, following The Atlantis Gene and preceding The Atlantis World, deals with the practical and ethical ramifications of forcing the human race to evolve. At the end of the last novel, the Immari dug up an ancient structure underneath Gibraltar, and the device guarding it unleashed the Atlantis Plague, a pandemic that kills most people but leaves some alive and even stronger than before they contracted the virus. These survivors are examples of the "survival of the fittest" crisis caused by the Atlantis plague. The world is divided on the subject of the justifiability of allowing this process to take place. Most people see it as a terrible atrocity, killing off the majority of the world in order to allow the remaining fraction to transcend the boundaries of typical humanity. This viewpoint leads to the efforts of Kate and her associates to find a cure for the virus and put a stop to this forced evolutionary development.
Others, however, take a very different approach to the issue. The Immari Corporation, a secret society that has come into the open and become an imposing military power, advocates simply standing by and watching the disease ravage the earth. They believe that evolution is inevitable, and opposing it is futile. It is rather more prudent to wait for the aftermath and ally yourself with the strong who survive and evolve as a result of the plague, those with an active Atlantis gene. This view is also held by the Atlantean Ares, inhabiting Dorian Sloane as well, who sees humanity as an experiment and as the potential for creating future superhumans. Those who have already survived the virus are, understandably, in favor of this course of action as well, as they would love to become the dominating class of the world, ruling over the earth by themselves.
It is against these forces that Kate, David, and their friends must fight in order to save humanity. This struggle is not only a practical one but an ideological one, and Riddle does a great job in making that fact obvious as well as demonstrating the ultimate triumph of morality in the character and actions of Kate. This novel sets up the final installment of the trilogy, The Atlantis World, where the ultimate showdown between good and evil will come.
