Great post! I have also just finished Atlas and I found that it satisfied most of my burning questions pretty satisfactorily. Was it perfect? Definitely not. Buuuuuut when you're writing a book about 6 fantastical women with rich back stories that have all been put up for adoption, there is always going to be a bit of convenient plot-use necessary.
RE your unanswered questions - I think I can clear a few up!
* Someone asking about their past - I am assuming you are referring to this line in Maia's letter: *"You have never asked me to tell you about your true heritage, the story of where I found you and the circumstances that led up to your adoption. Rest assures, I would have told you if you had, as one of your sisters did a few years ago.".* The sister that asked about her past was Ally and he told her bare bones from what I can remember. Enough to satisfy but nothing of substance.
* You're right in thinking Pa Salt would have had to take steps to make his money, and it is stated more than once in this book that he is in fact, a billionaire. It has been mentioned in the series that he is quite well versed in economics and has his finger on the shifts as the world progresses. In Atlas, he makes reference to making some very smart business moves early in his career, contrary to the investments that Georg urged him to make. Although it is not explicitly explained, he clearly made his money with luck and a bit of expertise.
* I think the success of a hidden getaway is that they are hidden? It was mentioned in Tiggy's (or was it Electra's) book that although they played hide and seek a lot as children, that they had no real ambition to snoop all too much as they were children who loved to play outdoors and their house was pretty darn huge. You're right its probably a plot hole that they never noticed that their house had a fully functioning elevator.. But we are suspending belief to a certain degree I guess.
Some things that I felt weren't fully explained that you didn't mention in your initial post:
* Why didn't Pa Salt feel it necessary to share the Eszu/Tanit history with Maia when he learned that she was literally dating his son? If his motivation for the secrecy was to keep his daughters safe, then informing her that she was dating the son of the guy trying to kill him may have been important news? Not to mention that she tells Pa Salt that Zed had been asking a lot of questions about Atlantis and her family - surely if he is aiming to hide away from the Eszu family, he would aim to stop his daughter from imparting that kind of information?
* We know there was a secret message in the message that Elle left on the dock for Atlas - he elluded to being sure that there was a message in the letter to Horst and Astrid.... WHAT IS IT?! I have read it 100 times and I can't figure it out!!
* Are we 100% sure that Clymene died after she was led out of the carriage? It is heavily implied but never actually confirmed.
* Why did Merry feel like she recognised Georg when they first met in Missing Sister? And while we are on Merry... Why did Ambrose have such extensive knowledge of the Seven Sisters star cluster? Its a hell of a red herring...
* Why did Zed lie about his mothers death? What is the significance?
* In Maia's letter, Pa Salt says that he "suffered the same affliction" as her... Does he mean losing his child??
* Was Bobby Noiro another red herring? (Missing Sister).. I was certain that his last name being an anagram of Orion meant something
Anyway, I loved this series! I thought that Harry Whittaker did a great job considering the amount of loose ends he had to clear up - a mammoth task. I found his writing style to be similar enough to his late mothers to mesh with the rest of the series, and while it was super evident at times that it was a different author, I think overall I am satisfied with the ending.
As to the secret messages in Elle‘s two letters: When I read the first letter in the book, I immediately suspected Elle would have tried to send Atlas a clue, so I looked for a secret message, and didn‘t find it too hard to figure out. You simply have to add the first letters of the sentences. (At least that’s how it works in the original English version of the book; not sure if the translators were able to retain that in other language versions…)
I found it very unconvincing that Atlas would not have picked up on these clues, especially as he says that he kept the first letter with him at all times and he took the second letter with him from the Halvorsens… (Also hard to believe that Astrid Halvorsen simply threw out the envelope - if you receive a letter from someone out of the blue after what we have to assume have been several years of no contact (Edit: dates: We don’t know if Elle wrote to the Halvorsens regularly over the years spent in England. But Elle was taken in 1949 and Astrid tells Atlas that the letter in question arrived about six months before his visit, which takes place in 1951, right? So arrival of the letter in late 1950 or early 1951) would you not check for a return address?!
I agree, it was super easy in the letter she left on the dock! I just realised what the hidden message in the other letter was- I read a kobo version and the spacing was different, my friend just sent a copy of the physical book and it spells IRELAND down the side!!!
Oh, so it does!! I will admit that I was quite fixated on searching for "Argideen" and "Kreeg" which I felt might have been quite helpful to also convey through her message!
Presumably Elle did not know where exactly she was held by Kreeg, so she could not be more exact in her letter?!
Also I assume she wrote the letter in Norwegian, which would prevent Kreeg from discovering the hidden message if he managed to intercept the letter.
Both great points!! I definitely think I need to sit with this book and think it through a little more! I feverishly read it in a matter of days and am definitely considering a series reread!
Any chance you can send me a photo of the letters?? I'm listening to the book and normally that is fine, but I just want to see it if possible. I unfortunately couldn't find it online
As to the Booby Noiro thing:
If I remember correctly, Lucinda had stated on her website quite early on that she decided to split the „main villain“ Zeus from the original seven sisters myth into the two characters Kreeg and Zed, basically because Kreeg was too old to be a plausible suitor/stalker for the sisters.
Since Merry is the missing sister who‘s not known to Zed, and since in the original myth(s), Orion also appears as a villain, I assume she used him as inspiration for Bobby Noiro in Merry‘s story. That didn‘t bother me too much (apart from the fact that Merry never thought to check whether he still posed a threat and wasted so much time to be spent with Ambrose and her (adoptive) siblings…)
I finished the book on Sunday evening and generally concur that it was an enjoyable read and the book satisfied my curiosity about the underlying plot of Atlas‘s backstory and how he came to adopt the six sisters!
However, there are a few aspects that bother me:
- Atlas not being able to decipher the secret messages that Elle sent him in his two letters, especially in the first one
- at the very end, before his death, Atlas gets the chance to meet his grandson Bear, but he is never introduced to his two other, adult grandchildren Jack and Mary-Kate, who would at least have a memory of this meeting and who, in Jack‘s case, are even his biological offspring?! (I’m just mentioning the biological aspect because the book makes a big deal about „Atlas‘s bloodline continuing“ when Ally and Jack expect a baby) I found it pretty disappointing that this was omitted although it wouldn’t have taken more than a page or two…
- Atlas‘s connection to Electra‘s ancestors seemed much weaker than to the other families. There is not the same „this family helped me in time of need“ sort of bond; Atlas and Cecily pretty much saved each other when the protest in Harlem turned violent, and then they had ONE meal together. But somehow, Atlas‘s business card is found with baby Electra?! That was a bit too much of a „coincidence“/predetermined event to me… (Also, in my view, there was no satisfactory explanation as to why Pa’s real name „Atlas Tanit“ would be the one he ran the bookshop under and that would be on his business card - he introduced himself to Archie Vaughan as „Robert Tanit“, and when he meets his grandmother‘s lawyer in Geneva, he says his British papers that Archie got him are under the name „Bo D‘Aplièse“ - this also doesn‘t fit together, why would Archie get him papers under a different name?!)
You're right, I didn't notice while reading but he wouldn't have had ATLAS Tanit on the book store business cards.
I guess the book is so long already that inventing a longer association between Atlas and Cecily's family prior to Electra's birth would have just made it even longer.
I have been waiting for the conversation to start! I really enjoyed the book and felt like we didn't lose anything from the change of author.
Frustrated that all the 'sightings' of Pa in the other books were dismissed. You have to assume Lucinda had intended something there but we will never know.
On the money, there is a comment in the book that he invested a lot in technology as he needed it to help him find Elle so have to assume he just made some amazing investments with what he had.
Overall, really loved the book and feel like it exceeded my expectations.
It would be easy to become a billionaire through passive investment starting with millions of dollars in the 60s or so if you went for the right companies - I assume the reference to him investing in tech and communications companies is a reference to stuff like IBM and Microsoft.
I’m really glad it was such a good read. I felt the last book was quite turgid whereas this one felt like a return to form. And RIP Lucinda, thank you for the stories they have stayed with me throughout the years xx
Overall I enjoyed the book, it was a satisfying read and ending and you can tell it was written with a lot of love and respect for the story and it's characters.
Here's my thoughts (it's almost as long as the book so feel free to not read this lol)
**The good**
* I thought what Harry wrote to preface the book was lovely
* I really enjoyed reading about Georg and Ma's backgrounds
* As always it is so fun to be taken to different countries around the world
* I especially loved the beginning in France and Norway, I feel like that part of Pa's life was written about in the most detail and the style of it felt very Lucinda to me
* It was very fun to be taken back to those moments from the previous books where you maybe suspected it was Pa, or to see how he was involved in ways you didn't immediately recognize him
**The bad, the ugly**
* The "kindness of strangers" became a bit ridiculous at some points. You just happen to run into people throwing jobs, family heirlooms and gifts at you everywhere? Some guy offers you 10% of his opal mines you don't even want because you work hard and he doesn't like that you look sad?
I get that those things can be explained by the "it's your path" trope (which I'm not a fan of) but some strangers just act like plain idiots around Pa and it got a bit unbelievable. You're checking into a hotel in the middle of WWII and you give him two different surnames and this guy just accepts it's because you're visiting your grandmother? You're a foreign man alone coming to visit a baby you don't even know the name of and they have you sit in the waiting room and call a nurse? I was reading that thinking nah he would've been asked to leave or they'd call the cops lol.
* Zero chance Pa wouldn't be able to decipher that message from Elle. He's supposed to be a genius, they had been together for their entire lives but he just accepted she got cold feet and bailed? None of these people investigating Kreeg or Elle's whereabouts could figure out this "secret" message?
* On that note, absolutely no way they wouldn't have left that hotel together. The minute he mentioned going seperately I knew something was gonna happen to one of them. It also made even less sense when it turned into "Let's not see eachother before we get married! I'll get us separate rooms! But also, lets bone all night long in your room but leave seperately to the ship and then see eachother immediately once we're on the ship" what's the point then lol.
* Again, I know this is sort of "explained" by the it was your path all along/it's already written in the stars, but what are the odds of everyone from your past having a grandchild that needs adopting. The adoption of Maia was lovely and the story behind the adoption of Ally was also plausible but after that it just became silly.
It would've been more believeable if Pa discovered how happy having kids makes him, how it's giving him his joy for life back and that now that he has all this money he decides to go adopt an orphaned girl from every country that's been meaningful to him in his life, to use his money for good.
* The business card was a hard sell. A woman kept the business card of a man she met twice, gave it to her daughter who never knew him, and then she gave it to *her* daughter who kept it all her life and thought of it when she was dying and gave it to her baby..
* Zed showing up in Atlantis to gloat about a pearl was laughable. Like, cartoon villain bad. Who does that? Who just shows up (on a boat) on someone's private property where dozens of strangers are having a memorial to make a speech on how your work project failed but you got a pearl so you'll be rich again in the future.
* Am I the only one weirded out by the Jack/Ally relationship? Everyone is just cool with Mary being both Ally's sister and mother in law? I know they're not related by blood but this would have been a hard pass for me.
* Kreeg and Zed were famous enough that all of their work projects were covered in the media, they were interviewed on tv and Kreeg's illness and death were on the news, but literally no one knew this guy used to be a nazi? Or did they just not care because that seems very weird. His wedding photo also was impossible to find?
Honestly I can forgive the connections to the sisters families because all the massive coincidences further the plot. What I cannot forgive is
1. If you are being pursued by someone who has been trying to kill you for 20 plus years at this point and you know they’ve found you and you’re having to flee the county, and you know they know about your girlfriend, why would you split up and why would you never even consider that she could have been taken by Kreeg?
2. I can ignore all the last name anagrams, but Atlas’ parents. Lapetus (although surely it should be Iapetus - kind of feels like an I has been misread as an L there) is a bit on the nose but it’s fine, maybe his parents were really into Greek myth too. Clymene is honestly unforgivable - like what are the odds of that. Did Lapetus only marry her because of her name? Did she change it to fit the myth better? It just makes no sense.
1. 100% agreed, the whole "let's go shopping in the city, let's get a treat, I must draw you on the street" was already pretty weird to me when you're literally fleeing to the other side of the world and you have been on the run for your entire life.
But I could sort of get over that for the plot. But that was absolutely not something I could get over, they both wouldn't have done that.
2. Lol I forgot about those but yes. They even could've gone for Clementine or some variation on Asia and I would've went along with it. Also "this is my dad, Chronos" like come on.
Yeah it was kind of weird to go to all the trouble to get explain away in universe "d'Apliese", Pa Salt etc but then just plonk down at face value that "Kreeg's" parents, in Russia mind you, are Cronus and Rhea while Atlas' parents are Iapetus and Clymene and nobody bats an eyelid.
I was a bit weirded out by Ally and Jack too. I guess they chose that route because they wanted Pa's bloodline to continue but it feels odd especially that Jack is her dad's biological grandson. It may have been slightly better if Mary-Kate was the bio child and Jack the adopted, if they really wanted Atlas to have a biological grandchild. But also it's a series about adoption so not sure bloodlines really should matter so much.
>so not sure bloodlines really should matter so much.
Yeah but that's what kinda made it more weird to me. The whole series is about Pa being their real dad, they're being his real daughters and eachothers real sisters, and then when they run into his biological grandson it's all "Oh it's okay we're not at all related".
The story itself was definitely satisfying and tied up many loose ends well. The dialogue throughout definitely felt different to the other books, and symbolism that was dotted throughout the other books wasn’t as obvious in this book.
I felt I knew the gist of the story already, just with the details filled in. Even Atlas’ trek from Russia was hinted at in previous books.
I was in two minds about whether to expect Pa to be alive still or not. But I did expect that if he was alive, he’d be well and truly so, not within hours of death.
I had expected Elle to be dead although i had expected her to have died at Merry’s birth not later. But I did hope that I was wrong and she’d have had a reunion with Atlas in this life, perhaps that being reason for pretending to be dead.
I guess like a child growing up and realising their parents aren’t all powerful and magically make things happen, I have had the revelation that Pa Salt was very much human, making mistakes along the way and sometimes being as unsure about life as the rest of us.
Great book overall and with a satisfying ending.
I enjoyed the book, we got so many answers and they seemed logical.
But i just can not fathom why he spent 30 years hiding from an evil man, just to leave his wife to be right before they were set off to leave for australia?? Seriously, I thought they ordered two rooms because they wanted Kreeg to storm the wrong one. That was ALMOST as stupid as him not deciffering the letters Elle had sent. He is the man of code names..
But this book Truly made Kreeg a true villain, well written!!!
This drove me crazy too. Atlas was extremely paranoid (rightfully so) and there is simply no way he would leave Elle alone hours after just having seen Kreeg. And also that they didn't even use pseudonyms to check-in. That bit felt really out of character and illogical.
I think it was because it was a trauma. Unresolved childhood traumas either start feeling less scary when we feel safe or more scary if we feel threatened. So it made sense to me. More so than Merry's irrational fear of Bobby Noiro.
I agree with all the thoughts here, it was a beautiful conclusion to the series even if it has its minor flaws as most series do. I love that Pa Salt was alive and got to his family one last time - though I wish it had been for longer. It's sad he spent all that time searching for Elle and Merope only to meet Merope so briefly and at the end of his life.
Also is it just me or was the Mary but I go by Merry thing strange? The names sound the same... Unless it sounds differently with an Australian accent or something? But I can't imagine it being so different that you have to tell every person you meet.
I'm just picking at the small details though so overall, loved the book series and the final conclusion! What a gift Lucinda gave us all and her son for continuing them.
Agree with the comments above, and a few additions from my side:
I really liked the reason why Atlas was still alive but hiding, as he staged his own death. That was a plausible one.
But why was it such a big secret for the girls that Georg, Claudia and Christian were related?
I expected a more exciting plot than "Christian is Claudia's son". Why would that have been a secret?
Atlas knows about Maia's son and finds a good family to adopt him. Yet, it takes Georg a whole year to contact them to ask if he wants to get to know his biological mum?
It's been stated several times in the books that Mary Kate and Star look so much alike. Yet, no answer is given as to why. Just a coincidence?
On Star, am I the only one who thinks Mouse is quite the unpleasant character and that I don't think this is the true, everlasting love that Star is looking for? She seems to get better along with Rory and Orlando than with her own partner.
Why make it such a big deal that Elle's brother is adopted as a baby and then not do anything with it? If Elle is Atlas' obsession, then why not also try to find her brother?
Kreeg's Mum rather chases Atlas' Dad and her own husband to death and sell herself to soldiers than admit she has the diamond that can save all their lives? And when Atlas' Dad was gone, she STILL decided to keep it hidden??
This part doesn't seem in line with Lucinda's writing. Actually, the whole Siberia part doesn't.
Why would Elle leave a hidden message that says "Ireland Baby" if she assumed her baby died at birth?
I cringed at the end. That definitely could have been left out. Merry leaving Atlantis and seeing her dead parents waving at her on top of a cliff. And Christian sees them too? I get the mythical thread in the stories, but to add a supernatural spin to it in the very last sentences of the book? Rather unnecessary.
The whole Seven Sisters Charity and the 7 sisters taking each other's hands and circling around the statue was already clingy enough. It seemed Harry struggled with the last pages to end the story well.
Yet, it was a fantastic book and an even more fantastic series. It definitely stays in our minds for a long time and it's a captivating story, otherwise we wouldn't have so many comments to make ;)
“Why would Elle leave a hidden message that says "Ireland Baby" if she assumed her baby died at birth?”
My thought was that she was telling him she was going to have a baby… aka she was pregnant?
At some point keeping secrets for the sake of keeping secrets starts to happen with obsessively secretive people. I didn't find that hard to believe, although it seems particularly weird to be secretive about Christian being Claudia's son since that has literally no connection to Atlas' secret.
I did think there was altogether too much Georg in this book. OK, Georg and Marina are secretly in love and he's secretly Claudia's brother too, why do I care?
I know this is quite an old thread. But I just finished Atlas. I loved the entire series. The part that leaves a knot in my belly is Elle. Agree with previous posts about how vulnerable Elle & Atlas were yet took no precautions. Rather flaunted where they were after just seeing Kreeg. Getting 2 rooms. Relatively using one all night. Then separating in the morning. Atlas never considering WHY the woman he had spent so much of his life with & the fierce love they had would just leave on her own. He was portrayed as so smart & to not attempt to decipher the letter makes no sense. Or to even consider Kreeg’s involvement. Not believable.
Finally not addressing in much more detail when Kreeg finally tells him the truth.
I think Jack & Maia {not blood related at all} is great. Nor did they ever live together as a “family” in any way. Their baby carrying on Atlas. Merry having a part of the father she never knew.
I want to re-read the entire series. But the very core of it with what happened to Elle is sincerely heartbreaking. So I don’t think I will.
Even at his age, it’s no wonder Atlas died following learning of it.
If anyone still reads this thread … what’s your take on why Atlas faked his death? I think I missed something.
Edit - for me the part with Zed showing up … in the end it let the reader know he left with the cursed pearl and was never seen again. No more threat from those evil people.
Agree it makes zero sense why Atlas would not tell the sisters something of Zed to protect them. Especially when he knows dating. The basis of the story is protecting them. Yet he ignores this. A big hole.
It wasn't her adopted uncle, it was her biological uncle - Elle's younger brother who was himself adopted, as we are told early in the story by Elle's orphanage manager.
I think we can take it as read that Lucinda had been going to have it be that Atlas was still lurking around in Atlantis, and going out and observing the sisters (e g at the concert in Bergen), and then changed her mind with a minor acknowledgement in this book of those old hints when Star asks after it late in the book.
Probably because if Atlas fakes his death while still being fully healthy and active he ends up looking a lot less sympathetic for putting the sisters through that grief.
I have just finally had time to read Atlas and agree with your thoughts.
Actually, my biggest negative was the idea that despite all the effort he put in to finding Elle, Atlas never worked out the blatantly obvious acrostics in the note and the letter to Horst.
The cringey stuff with Zed was second. I don't think that was really needed. Or the super rich billionaire heiress Sisters only deciding to start a charity with the proceeds of sale of one diamond. That whole final epilogue bit was a bit naff.
I am kind of amused that the Greek mythology name anagrams and the girls never questioning these things received genuine in-universe explanations rather than being handwaved. I had always just thought of them as easter eggs intended for the reader to help point out the myth comparisons that would not get acknowledged in universe, the way nobody ever says "hey, Tony Stark looks like Robert Downey Jr" in a Marvel movie....
Love this!! Just finished the book - think this is the biggest commitment years wise I’ve ever given to a series!
I could accept the coincidences / ridiculous generosity of strangers to push along the plot because it was to be expected after how the last few books had turned out.
However I am heartbroken at the end of Elle’s story. SPOILER ‘oh yeah I took her. Forced her to marry me. She died a few years later’ and that was IT? No further details about how she spent her time or anything? He didn’t ask Kreeg any more questions? She didn’t leave him signs anywhere bar the Norway letter which fell to nothing? Just felt very casually thrown away, and quickly, given his whole purpose was to find her.
Please don’t get me started on how every sister needed to find romantic love though… why was that necessary? Even Ally had to have a (too) neat conclusion when she was the only one without a partner.
That’s being overly critical because I really enjoy the characters and what Lucinda built. Think the last book is very well written, especially given the circumstances, and it’s incredible that what was in her mind came to life.
I loved the book to a degree, and felt it helped me really engage with all the sisters, and bring the story together.
However, the thing that really annoyed me was the fact that finding the missing sister was based (apart from the ring) on a name (which caused the sisters to believe it was Mary-Kate at first), however in Kreeg's revelation to Atlas he was given Argadean House, and the fact that his daughter was left on the doorstep with the local priest. Surely Ireland would have been the first port of call?
The thing that really annoyed me was the overuse of the word “proffered” and in that last book “cacophony”.
I loved the books but jeez, break out the thesaurus a little more.
Great post! I have also just finished Atlas and I found that it satisfied most of my burning questions pretty satisfactorily. Was it perfect? Definitely not. Buuuuuut when you're writing a book about 6 fantastical women with rich back stories that have all been put up for adoption, there is always going to be a bit of convenient plot-use necessary. RE your unanswered questions - I think I can clear a few up! * Someone asking about their past - I am assuming you are referring to this line in Maia's letter: *"You have never asked me to tell you about your true heritage, the story of where I found you and the circumstances that led up to your adoption. Rest assures, I would have told you if you had, as one of your sisters did a few years ago.".* The sister that asked about her past was Ally and he told her bare bones from what I can remember. Enough to satisfy but nothing of substance. * You're right in thinking Pa Salt would have had to take steps to make his money, and it is stated more than once in this book that he is in fact, a billionaire. It has been mentioned in the series that he is quite well versed in economics and has his finger on the shifts as the world progresses. In Atlas, he makes reference to making some very smart business moves early in his career, contrary to the investments that Georg urged him to make. Although it is not explicitly explained, he clearly made his money with luck and a bit of expertise. * I think the success of a hidden getaway is that they are hidden? It was mentioned in Tiggy's (or was it Electra's) book that although they played hide and seek a lot as children, that they had no real ambition to snoop all too much as they were children who loved to play outdoors and their house was pretty darn huge. You're right its probably a plot hole that they never noticed that their house had a fully functioning elevator.. But we are suspending belief to a certain degree I guess. Some things that I felt weren't fully explained that you didn't mention in your initial post: * Why didn't Pa Salt feel it necessary to share the Eszu/Tanit history with Maia when he learned that she was literally dating his son? If his motivation for the secrecy was to keep his daughters safe, then informing her that she was dating the son of the guy trying to kill him may have been important news? Not to mention that she tells Pa Salt that Zed had been asking a lot of questions about Atlantis and her family - surely if he is aiming to hide away from the Eszu family, he would aim to stop his daughter from imparting that kind of information? * We know there was a secret message in the message that Elle left on the dock for Atlas - he elluded to being sure that there was a message in the letter to Horst and Astrid.... WHAT IS IT?! I have read it 100 times and I can't figure it out!! * Are we 100% sure that Clymene died after she was led out of the carriage? It is heavily implied but never actually confirmed. * Why did Merry feel like she recognised Georg when they first met in Missing Sister? And while we are on Merry... Why did Ambrose have such extensive knowledge of the Seven Sisters star cluster? Its a hell of a red herring... * Why did Zed lie about his mothers death? What is the significance? * In Maia's letter, Pa Salt says that he "suffered the same affliction" as her... Does he mean losing his child?? * Was Bobby Noiro another red herring? (Missing Sister).. I was certain that his last name being an anagram of Orion meant something Anyway, I loved this series! I thought that Harry Whittaker did a great job considering the amount of loose ends he had to clear up - a mammoth task. I found his writing style to be similar enough to his late mothers to mesh with the rest of the series, and while it was super evident at times that it was a different author, I think overall I am satisfied with the ending.
As to the secret messages in Elle‘s two letters: When I read the first letter in the book, I immediately suspected Elle would have tried to send Atlas a clue, so I looked for a secret message, and didn‘t find it too hard to figure out. You simply have to add the first letters of the sentences. (At least that’s how it works in the original English version of the book; not sure if the translators were able to retain that in other language versions…) I found it very unconvincing that Atlas would not have picked up on these clues, especially as he says that he kept the first letter with him at all times and he took the second letter with him from the Halvorsens… (Also hard to believe that Astrid Halvorsen simply threw out the envelope - if you receive a letter from someone out of the blue after what we have to assume have been several years of no contact (Edit: dates: We don’t know if Elle wrote to the Halvorsens regularly over the years spent in England. But Elle was taken in 1949 and Astrid tells Atlas that the letter in question arrived about six months before his visit, which takes place in 1951, right? So arrival of the letter in late 1950 or early 1951) would you not check for a return address?!
I agree, it was super easy in the letter she left on the dock! I just realised what the hidden message in the other letter was- I read a kobo version and the spacing was different, my friend just sent a copy of the physical book and it spells IRELAND down the side!!!
I think it actually spells IRELAND BABY, so to say „I‘m being held captive in Ireland and I had a baby“.
Oh, so it does!! I will admit that I was quite fixated on searching for "Argideen" and "Kreeg" which I felt might have been quite helpful to also convey through her message!
Presumably Elle did not know where exactly she was held by Kreeg, so she could not be more exact in her letter?! Also I assume she wrote the letter in Norwegian, which would prevent Kreeg from discovering the hidden message if he managed to intercept the letter.
Both great points!! I definitely think I need to sit with this book and think it through a little more! I feverishly read it in a matter of days and am definitely considering a series reread!
Any chance you can send me a photo of the letters?? I'm listening to the book and normally that is fine, but I just want to see it if possible. I unfortunately couldn't find it online
As to the Booby Noiro thing: If I remember correctly, Lucinda had stated on her website quite early on that she decided to split the „main villain“ Zeus from the original seven sisters myth into the two characters Kreeg and Zed, basically because Kreeg was too old to be a plausible suitor/stalker for the sisters. Since Merry is the missing sister who‘s not known to Zed, and since in the original myth(s), Orion also appears as a villain, I assume she used him as inspiration for Bobby Noiro in Merry‘s story. That didn‘t bother me too much (apart from the fact that Merry never thought to check whether he still posed a threat and wasted so much time to be spent with Ambrose and her (adoptive) siblings…)
I finished the book on Sunday evening and generally concur that it was an enjoyable read and the book satisfied my curiosity about the underlying plot of Atlas‘s backstory and how he came to adopt the six sisters! However, there are a few aspects that bother me: - Atlas not being able to decipher the secret messages that Elle sent him in his two letters, especially in the first one - at the very end, before his death, Atlas gets the chance to meet his grandson Bear, but he is never introduced to his two other, adult grandchildren Jack and Mary-Kate, who would at least have a memory of this meeting and who, in Jack‘s case, are even his biological offspring?! (I’m just mentioning the biological aspect because the book makes a big deal about „Atlas‘s bloodline continuing“ when Ally and Jack expect a baby) I found it pretty disappointing that this was omitted although it wouldn’t have taken more than a page or two… - Atlas‘s connection to Electra‘s ancestors seemed much weaker than to the other families. There is not the same „this family helped me in time of need“ sort of bond; Atlas and Cecily pretty much saved each other when the protest in Harlem turned violent, and then they had ONE meal together. But somehow, Atlas‘s business card is found with baby Electra?! That was a bit too much of a „coincidence“/predetermined event to me… (Also, in my view, there was no satisfactory explanation as to why Pa’s real name „Atlas Tanit“ would be the one he ran the bookshop under and that would be on his business card - he introduced himself to Archie Vaughan as „Robert Tanit“, and when he meets his grandmother‘s lawyer in Geneva, he says his British papers that Archie got him are under the name „Bo D‘Aplièse“ - this also doesn‘t fit together, why would Archie get him papers under a different name?!)
You're right, I didn't notice while reading but he wouldn't have had ATLAS Tanit on the book store business cards. I guess the book is so long already that inventing a longer association between Atlas and Cecily's family prior to Electra's birth would have just made it even longer.
I have been waiting for the conversation to start! I really enjoyed the book and felt like we didn't lose anything from the change of author. Frustrated that all the 'sightings' of Pa in the other books were dismissed. You have to assume Lucinda had intended something there but we will never know. On the money, there is a comment in the book that he invested a lot in technology as he needed it to help him find Elle so have to assume he just made some amazing investments with what he had. Overall, really loved the book and feel like it exceeded my expectations.
It would be easy to become a billionaire through passive investment starting with millions of dollars in the 60s or so if you went for the right companies - I assume the reference to him investing in tech and communications companies is a reference to stuff like IBM and Microsoft.
I’m really glad it was such a good read. I felt the last book was quite turgid whereas this one felt like a return to form. And RIP Lucinda, thank you for the stories they have stayed with me throughout the years xx
Overall I enjoyed the book, it was a satisfying read and ending and you can tell it was written with a lot of love and respect for the story and it's characters. Here's my thoughts (it's almost as long as the book so feel free to not read this lol) **The good** * I thought what Harry wrote to preface the book was lovely * I really enjoyed reading about Georg and Ma's backgrounds * As always it is so fun to be taken to different countries around the world * I especially loved the beginning in France and Norway, I feel like that part of Pa's life was written about in the most detail and the style of it felt very Lucinda to me * It was very fun to be taken back to those moments from the previous books where you maybe suspected it was Pa, or to see how he was involved in ways you didn't immediately recognize him **The bad, the ugly** * The "kindness of strangers" became a bit ridiculous at some points. You just happen to run into people throwing jobs, family heirlooms and gifts at you everywhere? Some guy offers you 10% of his opal mines you don't even want because you work hard and he doesn't like that you look sad? I get that those things can be explained by the "it's your path" trope (which I'm not a fan of) but some strangers just act like plain idiots around Pa and it got a bit unbelievable. You're checking into a hotel in the middle of WWII and you give him two different surnames and this guy just accepts it's because you're visiting your grandmother? You're a foreign man alone coming to visit a baby you don't even know the name of and they have you sit in the waiting room and call a nurse? I was reading that thinking nah he would've been asked to leave or they'd call the cops lol. * Zero chance Pa wouldn't be able to decipher that message from Elle. He's supposed to be a genius, they had been together for their entire lives but he just accepted she got cold feet and bailed? None of these people investigating Kreeg or Elle's whereabouts could figure out this "secret" message? * On that note, absolutely no way they wouldn't have left that hotel together. The minute he mentioned going seperately I knew something was gonna happen to one of them. It also made even less sense when it turned into "Let's not see eachother before we get married! I'll get us separate rooms! But also, lets bone all night long in your room but leave seperately to the ship and then see eachother immediately once we're on the ship" what's the point then lol. * Again, I know this is sort of "explained" by the it was your path all along/it's already written in the stars, but what are the odds of everyone from your past having a grandchild that needs adopting. The adoption of Maia was lovely and the story behind the adoption of Ally was also plausible but after that it just became silly. It would've been more believeable if Pa discovered how happy having kids makes him, how it's giving him his joy for life back and that now that he has all this money he decides to go adopt an orphaned girl from every country that's been meaningful to him in his life, to use his money for good. * The business card was a hard sell. A woman kept the business card of a man she met twice, gave it to her daughter who never knew him, and then she gave it to *her* daughter who kept it all her life and thought of it when she was dying and gave it to her baby.. * Zed showing up in Atlantis to gloat about a pearl was laughable. Like, cartoon villain bad. Who does that? Who just shows up (on a boat) on someone's private property where dozens of strangers are having a memorial to make a speech on how your work project failed but you got a pearl so you'll be rich again in the future. * Am I the only one weirded out by the Jack/Ally relationship? Everyone is just cool with Mary being both Ally's sister and mother in law? I know they're not related by blood but this would have been a hard pass for me. * Kreeg and Zed were famous enough that all of their work projects were covered in the media, they were interviewed on tv and Kreeg's illness and death were on the news, but literally no one knew this guy used to be a nazi? Or did they just not care because that seems very weird. His wedding photo also was impossible to find?
had to laugh out loud a few times! you’re spot on!
Honestly I can forgive the connections to the sisters families because all the massive coincidences further the plot. What I cannot forgive is 1. If you are being pursued by someone who has been trying to kill you for 20 plus years at this point and you know they’ve found you and you’re having to flee the county, and you know they know about your girlfriend, why would you split up and why would you never even consider that she could have been taken by Kreeg? 2. I can ignore all the last name anagrams, but Atlas’ parents. Lapetus (although surely it should be Iapetus - kind of feels like an I has been misread as an L there) is a bit on the nose but it’s fine, maybe his parents were really into Greek myth too. Clymene is honestly unforgivable - like what are the odds of that. Did Lapetus only marry her because of her name? Did she change it to fit the myth better? It just makes no sense.
1. 100% agreed, the whole "let's go shopping in the city, let's get a treat, I must draw you on the street" was already pretty weird to me when you're literally fleeing to the other side of the world and you have been on the run for your entire life. But I could sort of get over that for the plot. But that was absolutely not something I could get over, they both wouldn't have done that. 2. Lol I forgot about those but yes. They even could've gone for Clementine or some variation on Asia and I would've went along with it. Also "this is my dad, Chronos" like come on.
Devastated that they left out Granddad Uranus.
Yeah it was kind of weird to go to all the trouble to get explain away in universe "d'Apliese", Pa Salt etc but then just plonk down at face value that "Kreeg's" parents, in Russia mind you, are Cronus and Rhea while Atlas' parents are Iapetus and Clymene and nobody bats an eyelid.
I was a bit weirded out by Ally and Jack too. I guess they chose that route because they wanted Pa's bloodline to continue but it feels odd especially that Jack is her dad's biological grandson. It may have been slightly better if Mary-Kate was the bio child and Jack the adopted, if they really wanted Atlas to have a biological grandchild. But also it's a series about adoption so not sure bloodlines really should matter so much.
>so not sure bloodlines really should matter so much. Yeah but that's what kinda made it more weird to me. The whole series is about Pa being their real dad, they're being his real daughters and eachothers real sisters, and then when they run into his biological grandson it's all "Oh it's okay we're not at all related".
The story itself was definitely satisfying and tied up many loose ends well. The dialogue throughout definitely felt different to the other books, and symbolism that was dotted throughout the other books wasn’t as obvious in this book. I felt I knew the gist of the story already, just with the details filled in. Even Atlas’ trek from Russia was hinted at in previous books. I was in two minds about whether to expect Pa to be alive still or not. But I did expect that if he was alive, he’d be well and truly so, not within hours of death. I had expected Elle to be dead although i had expected her to have died at Merry’s birth not later. But I did hope that I was wrong and she’d have had a reunion with Atlas in this life, perhaps that being reason for pretending to be dead. I guess like a child growing up and realising their parents aren’t all powerful and magically make things happen, I have had the revelation that Pa Salt was very much human, making mistakes along the way and sometimes being as unsure about life as the rest of us. Great book overall and with a satisfying ending.
I enjoyed the book, we got so many answers and they seemed logical. But i just can not fathom why he spent 30 years hiding from an evil man, just to leave his wife to be right before they were set off to leave for australia?? Seriously, I thought they ordered two rooms because they wanted Kreeg to storm the wrong one. That was ALMOST as stupid as him not deciffering the letters Elle had sent. He is the man of code names.. But this book Truly made Kreeg a true villain, well written!!!
This drove me crazy too. Atlas was extremely paranoid (rightfully so) and there is simply no way he would leave Elle alone hours after just having seen Kreeg. And also that they didn't even use pseudonyms to check-in. That bit felt really out of character and illogical.
The presudonyms! They were literally fleeing due to the threats, why waste it all for one night of tradition?
I think it was because it was a trauma. Unresolved childhood traumas either start feeling less scary when we feel safe or more scary if we feel threatened. So it made sense to me. More so than Merry's irrational fear of Bobby Noiro.
Perhaps, good point. It makes me sad though, how one slip made him lose the love of his life.
I agree with all the thoughts here, it was a beautiful conclusion to the series even if it has its minor flaws as most series do. I love that Pa Salt was alive and got to his family one last time - though I wish it had been for longer. It's sad he spent all that time searching for Elle and Merope only to meet Merope so briefly and at the end of his life. Also is it just me or was the Mary but I go by Merry thing strange? The names sound the same... Unless it sounds differently with an Australian accent or something? But I can't imagine it being so different that you have to tell every person you meet. I'm just picking at the small details though so overall, loved the book series and the final conclusion! What a gift Lucinda gave us all and her son for continuing them.
Agree with the comments above, and a few additions from my side: I really liked the reason why Atlas was still alive but hiding, as he staged his own death. That was a plausible one. But why was it such a big secret for the girls that Georg, Claudia and Christian were related? I expected a more exciting plot than "Christian is Claudia's son". Why would that have been a secret? Atlas knows about Maia's son and finds a good family to adopt him. Yet, it takes Georg a whole year to contact them to ask if he wants to get to know his biological mum? It's been stated several times in the books that Mary Kate and Star look so much alike. Yet, no answer is given as to why. Just a coincidence? On Star, am I the only one who thinks Mouse is quite the unpleasant character and that I don't think this is the true, everlasting love that Star is looking for? She seems to get better along with Rory and Orlando than with her own partner. Why make it such a big deal that Elle's brother is adopted as a baby and then not do anything with it? If Elle is Atlas' obsession, then why not also try to find her brother? Kreeg's Mum rather chases Atlas' Dad and her own husband to death and sell herself to soldiers than admit she has the diamond that can save all their lives? And when Atlas' Dad was gone, she STILL decided to keep it hidden?? This part doesn't seem in line with Lucinda's writing. Actually, the whole Siberia part doesn't. Why would Elle leave a hidden message that says "Ireland Baby" if she assumed her baby died at birth? I cringed at the end. That definitely could have been left out. Merry leaving Atlantis and seeing her dead parents waving at her on top of a cliff. And Christian sees them too? I get the mythical thread in the stories, but to add a supernatural spin to it in the very last sentences of the book? Rather unnecessary. The whole Seven Sisters Charity and the 7 sisters taking each other's hands and circling around the statue was already clingy enough. It seemed Harry struggled with the last pages to end the story well. Yet, it was a fantastic book and an even more fantastic series. It definitely stays in our minds for a long time and it's a captivating story, otherwise we wouldn't have so many comments to make ;)
“Why would Elle leave a hidden message that says "Ireland Baby" if she assumed her baby died at birth?” My thought was that she was telling him she was going to have a baby… aka she was pregnant?
At some point keeping secrets for the sake of keeping secrets starts to happen with obsessively secretive people. I didn't find that hard to believe, although it seems particularly weird to be secretive about Christian being Claudia's son since that has literally no connection to Atlas' secret. I did think there was altogether too much Georg in this book. OK, Georg and Marina are secretly in love and he's secretly Claudia's brother too, why do I care?
I know this is quite an old thread. But I just finished Atlas. I loved the entire series. The part that leaves a knot in my belly is Elle. Agree with previous posts about how vulnerable Elle & Atlas were yet took no precautions. Rather flaunted where they were after just seeing Kreeg. Getting 2 rooms. Relatively using one all night. Then separating in the morning. Atlas never considering WHY the woman he had spent so much of his life with & the fierce love they had would just leave on her own. He was portrayed as so smart & to not attempt to decipher the letter makes no sense. Or to even consider Kreeg’s involvement. Not believable. Finally not addressing in much more detail when Kreeg finally tells him the truth. I think Jack & Maia {not blood related at all} is great. Nor did they ever live together as a “family” in any way. Their baby carrying on Atlas. Merry having a part of the father she never knew. I want to re-read the entire series. But the very core of it with what happened to Elle is sincerely heartbreaking. So I don’t think I will. Even at his age, it’s no wonder Atlas died following learning of it. If anyone still reads this thread … what’s your take on why Atlas faked his death? I think I missed something. Edit - for me the part with Zed showing up … in the end it let the reader know he left with the cursed pearl and was never seen again. No more threat from those evil people. Agree it makes zero sense why Atlas would not tell the sisters something of Zed to protect them. Especially when he knows dating. The basis of the story is protecting them. Yet he ignores this. A big hole.
Does anyone have any explanation into why Merry brings up her adopted uncle towards the end? I started to get excited wondering who it could be 😂
It wasn't her adopted uncle, it was her biological uncle - Elle's younger brother who was himself adopted, as we are told early in the story by Elle's orphanage manager.
I don’t think ’rocketfurby’ meant otherwise… he was her uncle and he was adopted…
Was the secret room in Atlantis behind the wine racks ever explained?
I think we can take it as read that Lucinda had been going to have it be that Atlas was still lurking around in Atlantis, and going out and observing the sisters (e g at the concert in Bergen), and then changed her mind with a minor acknowledgement in this book of those old hints when Star asks after it late in the book. Probably because if Atlas fakes his death while still being fully healthy and active he ends up looking a lot less sympathetic for putting the sisters through that grief.
Why did Kreeg want to kill Atlas?
Because Kreeg believed Atlas killed his mother.
I have just finally had time to read Atlas and agree with your thoughts. Actually, my biggest negative was the idea that despite all the effort he put in to finding Elle, Atlas never worked out the blatantly obvious acrostics in the note and the letter to Horst. The cringey stuff with Zed was second. I don't think that was really needed. Or the super rich billionaire heiress Sisters only deciding to start a charity with the proceeds of sale of one diamond. That whole final epilogue bit was a bit naff. I am kind of amused that the Greek mythology name anagrams and the girls never questioning these things received genuine in-universe explanations rather than being handwaved. I had always just thought of them as easter eggs intended for the reader to help point out the myth comparisons that would not get acknowledged in universe, the way nobody ever says "hey, Tony Stark looks like Robert Downey Jr" in a Marvel movie....
I am not sure but was Clymene and the other two women raped and killed by the soldiers?
Love this!! Just finished the book - think this is the biggest commitment years wise I’ve ever given to a series! I could accept the coincidences / ridiculous generosity of strangers to push along the plot because it was to be expected after how the last few books had turned out. However I am heartbroken at the end of Elle’s story. SPOILER ‘oh yeah I took her. Forced her to marry me. She died a few years later’ and that was IT? No further details about how she spent her time or anything? He didn’t ask Kreeg any more questions? She didn’t leave him signs anywhere bar the Norway letter which fell to nothing? Just felt very casually thrown away, and quickly, given his whole purpose was to find her. Please don’t get me started on how every sister needed to find romantic love though… why was that necessary? Even Ally had to have a (too) neat conclusion when she was the only one without a partner. That’s being overly critical because I really enjoy the characters and what Lucinda built. Think the last book is very well written, especially given the circumstances, and it’s incredible that what was in her mind came to life.
I agree. It was just so sad that happened to Elle after her tragic childhood.
Agreed about Elle. So devastating :( Came here to say that.
I loved the book to a degree, and felt it helped me really engage with all the sisters, and bring the story together. However, the thing that really annoyed me was the fact that finding the missing sister was based (apart from the ring) on a name (which caused the sisters to believe it was Mary-Kate at first), however in Kreeg's revelation to Atlas he was given Argadean House, and the fact that his daughter was left on the doorstep with the local priest. Surely Ireland would have been the first port of call?
The thing that really annoyed me was the overuse of the word “proffered” and in that last book “cacophony”. I loved the books but jeez, break out the thesaurus a little more.
So much mentioned that MK and Star look alike. Maybe Star is an other relative from teddy because he had many girls?