The Lost Code (Atlanteans, #1)

by Kevin Emerson

"In a world ravaged by global warming, teenage Owen Parker discovers that he may be the descendant of a highly advanced, ancient race, with whose knowledge he may be able to save the earth from self-destruction"--

• ISBN10: 0062062808
• ISBN13: 9780062062802
• Publish Date: 23 April 2013 (first published 22 May 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2013/10/the-lost-code-by-kevin-emerson.html
The Lost Code has so much potential, in what is a unique fantasy, mythology, post apocalyptic, young adult science fiction with a touch of romance. The volatile world that the Earth had become was intriguing, and that the only true to life experience you can have, is it join one of the domed communities. The simulated weather, the surveillance and reproduced predisaster settings urged me to continue reading, despite the main character Owen. Owen felt as though he was more of a socially awkward, naive ten year old boy, rather than fifteen. The author seemed to have created a character that was a little too young and simplistic. I enjoyed the first half, parts felt beyond ridiculous and I have no idea what the Technicians were, Owen's inner voice I'm assuming... Or perhaps not. Are there actual little people inside his body? At one point, there seem to be several Technicians having a debated conversation, which made me wonder if Owen had an underlying mental illness. With so much going on within the story, with nothing actually happening, I wouldn't be surprised.

Once the mythology aspect was explored, that's when I lost interest. Where the first half was a simplistic storyline, the world is dying, a camp for children, boy meets girl, token bully and a dictator in camp director Paul. Then it morphs into a story about mythological skulls, flashbacks and DNA testing, underground tunnels to a lost underwater world and a blue pulsing Siren. There were too many ideas thrown together and I just felt as though it didn't work. I think it'll appeal to young teen readers, but sadly it just wasn't for me.

[Ashley]

As posted on booknook - YA and Fantasy book reviews

The Lost Code is a book about Owen Parker. He’s a pretty normal guy who is far from perfect. He’s not overly confident, he doesn’t have a muscular build, and he’s a little awkward. Owen has been selected to live in EdenWest, which is a dome compound 6 kilometers in diamter that protects its 200,000 inhabitants from the destroyed ozone and dangerous levels of radiation. The story starts off with Owen drowning. But when he’s finally rescued, he should be dead according to all logic; he was drowning for 10 minutes. The fact that he’s even alive is the first hint that something isn’t quite normal…

Soon enough, Owen discovers that his little water trauma caused him to grow gills! He’s not quite a merman, but he has the underwater breathing part nailed! He groups up with some similarly gifted friends and together they speculate: is this transformation a result of their time at Eden? Are they being experimented on? Or is this some kind of natural evolution?

I adored this book! It kind of reminds me of Percy Jackson & the Olympians in the way that EdenWest is set up as a camp and that you have a few kids with special abilities. There are games, crafts, counselors, campers — including some that you’ll love to hate. These Eden domes are the only protection people have from the deathly sun and radiation, but some people worry that the integrity of the dome is failing, despite the camp director’s claims that “everything is fine.” So when Owen suddenly grows gills after his near-death drowning experience, he meets up with some likeminded campers and start to discuss the possibility of a conspiracy. Is Eden really what they say it is? Or is something darker taking place?

Owen is a really awesome protagonist. It was refreshing to read from a male character's point of view. It also made the brewing romance great to read about. You know how girls obsess over guys, overanalyze everything, and wonder if they're doing or saying the right thing? We get a small glimpse into the male version of that! I also love how normal he is and how talking to girls doesn't come naturally for him.

The Lost Code is a really unique story, full of conspiracy, deception, and an incredibly intriguing world. It’s the kind of book that makes you think. Since it’s all about environmental issues, I couldn’t help but constantly wondering, “Will our world be like this some day?” It’s a really fascinating thing to think about. It’s interesting to hear the story unfold, learn what happened as the ozone started getting destroyed, and see how people try to combat the issue and find “save havens” in the Eden compounds. Then, next to all that, Kevin Emerson brings in some Atlanean lore! How cool!

This book is kind of slow moving. The first part is largely spent introducing us to the camp and letting us get a sense of what goes on. We quickly figure out who the camp bully is (Leech) and you’ll really love hating him. You’ll be screaming at Owen to punch Leech in the face or do other violent things. We also learn a lot about the state of the environment, the technology behind the compound, and so on. I can understand how it might be too slow for some pople. Emerson feeds us bits and pieces to keep us intrigued, but it might not be enough for you if you like a constant fast-paced story. But I was so intrigued by the history and all the information about Eden that it didn’t bother me too much. I was never bored with this story!

One thing that did bother me was the way that Owen referred to his body or his brain or whatever. He described it as if he had technicians constantly monitoring his body and working his motor skills, etc. These “technicians” had a bit of a personality and even some dialogue. This first shows up in chapter one and my first reaction was that it was different, but interesting. But then, I thought it was a one time thing. It’s constant throughout the whole story and just became weird and annoying. It reminded me of Ana’s "Inner Goddess" in Fifty Shades of Grey. Here are two quotes from The Lost Code, the first describing what the technicians are, and the second an example of how they’re used:

A feeling began to ache in my chest, a certainty: Owen, it’s time to breathe. The order was matter-of-fact, like there were little technicians inside my body, wearing yellow jumpsuits and monitoring all of my functions on glowing screens. That was how I always felt, like others were in charge of me, like I was just along for the ride.

Come on, think! I told myself. The boat was nearing the Aquinara. We were headed back into the temple. There had to be something I could do to escape.
You should check out the new memories, advised the technicians. We think they’re fascinating! They all turned back to a flickering screen.
Then show me! I shouted at them.

My second gripe is a bit of a spoiler so only click if you don’t mind spoiling the story! If you want a brief non-spoiling overview, then I’ll just say that I drew some assumptions with the whole Atlantean, ‘Owen growing gills’ thing and got really excited about it. Then it turned out quite different and it was a little disappointing for me.

Early on in the story, Owen grows gills and is able to breathe underwater like a fish. From there, I had all these fishy, Atlantis, merpeople expectations — not all that different from Of Poseidon. It was awesome so far and I was psyched about what was to come! But all my hopes for that part of the book were crushed at the end when Owen’s gills suddenly disappeared. He spent half the book swimming like an almost-merman and then they were just gone. The whole transformation was written off as a temporary side effect of his body recognizing his Atlantean ancestry. I was just disappointed to have it all squashed so abruptly. I was hoping to see more developments with the whole underwater gill thing.

This book is definitely worth reading. The dystopian environmental aspects are AWESOME and so fascinating to read about. Towards the end it also feels a lot like an epic adventure story. I’m really looking forward to the second book and can’t wait to learn more about the Atlantis lore!

[journalingirl]

I really, really liked this book. I'm excited to read the next one. There are a lot of characters who jut ended though. I hope the author revisits them in future books.

As seen at: Miss Book Reviews

The Lost Code is an intriguing dystopian set in a dying world where a boy just trying to survive summer camp finds that there’s a whole lot more going on in the world than anyone can know. He’s apart of a species so much bigger than he could have ever realised.

The story:
I really liked how this dystopian mixed in mythology in a future setting. It made this book interestingly different.

Owen is sent to Eden West, a summer camp in one of the domes that are meant to replicate the ‘old’ earth when people could live above the ground without getting radiation poisoning from the sun. The world is slowing falling apart, dying, the radiation levels from the sun are so high that humans can barely survive being above the ground or outside the dome’s. If they are they need to wear NoRad lotion and keep most of their body covered from the sun.

Owen is a quiet, invisible boy that doesn’t feel like he belongs with his cabin. At the beginning it’s quite obvious that he has low self esteem. But as he changes into something that no one can really explain he befriends other kids that are just like him, he suddenly feels like he belongs somewhere. I love how through out this book Owen starts to find himself and becomes way more sure of himself. You can quite clearly see his growth throughout the book and character growth mixed in with the plot is something I love reading.

The twists:
Whenever I thought I knew how this story would go I would find I was wrong. That was interesting and kept me reading. I was never quite completely sure what this book was actually about until I got near the end. This did make me feel like the beginning did take a while to start though because I wasn’t sure where this story was going. It wasn’t very clear. But by half way through I was still very intrigued and I really wanted to find out.

The point of view:
Owen is the main character of this book. I had never read a book with a male character as the MC before this book, so I wasn’t sure if I would be able to relate to him. Boy was I pleasantly surprised that just because he was a male it didn’t mean I couldn’t relate to him at all.

The way that Emerson has written Owen had me really liking him. I loved how awkward he was, that he wasn’t this strong hero to begin with. He was just an awkward teen trying to make it through camp without getting bullied by the ‘head’ of their cabin Leech, trying to make friends or even not make friends if that kept him out of trouble.

I loved how awkward he was around Lilly. It was cute.

The Characters:
I really liked the way that Emerson wrote these characters. The way some of these boys acted kept me thinking ‘Boys will be boys’, simply because the things they did were the things that I could see boys that age really doing. I felt like the way a lot of the characters were written had me nodding my head and feeling like that would be exactly how they would act at this age.

Sometimes I did sit there thinking there were some very cliché moments or perhaps a character really lived up to the stereotypical ‘bully’, or ‘teenage girl’ but at the same time it rang true.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Owen was cute, I loved watching him grow into a more confident young man, the take on the mythology of the Atlanteans was fun and awesome. I will definitely be picking up the next book!

The Lost Code is an intriguing and fun dystopian set in a dying world that could be saved by a race of people that no one knows exist, yet it’s up to one awkward teenage boy to try and make it right.