Brief

A young high schooler in Florida named Allen King spends his days studying and playing basketball with his friends. One day, while working on the docks in Miami, he gets a job to haul up treasure from an old shipwreck. He comes across a necklace that opens up his future to a new world and confirms everything that his zany Uncle Zadok had ever said about the world of the Atlanteans.

What We Liked

- The story has some interesting ties to historical fiction and fantasy. There is a quasi-scientific bent to the plot that helps break down some of the more complicated lore and make it more approachable to sci-fi fans. There are new takes on hybrid human-aliens and a host of home brewed themes that provide a wide canvas to work from.
- Film: For film this feels like a summer fantasy flick for the whole family.
- TV: For TV this is a series that can spend some time doling out the existing lore. In this first book alone, the high school plot could serve as the backdrop that hinges on Allen acquiring the Atlantean necklace early on. There is plenty of drama, romance, and historical fiction to fill a first season.
- Key points: Overcoming Evil, Teens Prevail, Young Love, Long Lost Heirs, Newfound Strength.

Synopsis

Open with Zeus on Mount Olympus. Watching protagonist Allen, 15y.o. Black kid from Miami, Florida, being picked on by jock bully Josh. Allen and his orphan friends Francisco and Jake want to play basketball, but they can hardly play without Josh starting a fight after school. Allen goes to meet Leroy, his father, who works as a longshoreman at the docks. There he sees a young model named Athena doing a photo shoot. He meets the Reptilly’s, pale Australian brothers, who are looking for Blackbeard’s treasure off the coast of Florida. Allen calls up his friends and the boys start hauling old chests off the ship and accidentally spill some loot on the deck. They grab a gold pyramid necklace with a blue-green gem before the Reptilly's guards notice. After they finish hauling everything in, they have a celebratory drink and look at the necklace. The gem makes Allen’s eyes change from brown to blue-green, and they google to find out why. Allen comes upon the name of a researcher, Athena, the same girl he saw at the photo shoot, and Allen sends her a video of his eyes. At home, Leroy is proud of Allen and the boys. His Uncle Zadok gives Allen advice to follow his dreams, and Zadok seems to be connected to WWII and Greece, which it seems is where the Australian-Greek Athena is from. He gives Allen a gold box, which when he puts the necklace inside, lights up with the image of a dolphin.

The next day on the barge the Reptilly’s, who seem very lizard-like, call Allen out for having lighter eyes than before. He rushes home and, on the bus ride, calls Athena. She somehow knows about the box even though he never told her about it, and she tells him he is the last prince of Atlantis and that he is in danger. At home he grabs the necklace and puts it on just in time. He was followed by the Reptilly’s, whose tongues snake under the door to catch him. A helicopter shoots darts at him from outside his bedroom window. At Athena’s command, he dashes out with the necklace on and she teleports him using the “rainbow cloud.” The two communicate telepathically and Allen learns the crystal allows him to teleport in the present to anywhere on Earth. He focuses and teleports to Athena, in Australia, who takes him to her house. They read Plato’s unfinished writings on the Atlanteans and their enemies, the raging Gargoyles. The alien Gargoyles came to Earth to steal what are called Zion West crystals and Atlanteans were set up to stop them. He finds out his Uncle Zadok’s ramblings were all true, and his Uncle was named after a former Atlantean King. Allen goes to bed and wakes up to new clothes from Athena. He eats breakfast while a woman, Andromeda, materializes from a large Grecian mural and talks to Athena about her path toward becoming a full Goddess and joining the others on Mount Olympus. Allen learns about King Leon and Damius, a hybrid, who is the grandfather of the Reptilly brothers. He also comes to realize that his Uncle is Zadok IV of the royal lineage of the Atlanteans. Lore ties the history of Damius, and his loyal friendship to King Leon, who is ultimately betrayed by him, and the hunt for Zion West crystals continues to this day.

Athena goes on: King Leon was forced to send his family away from Atlantis when Damius brought the red crystals of Zion West to the white crystals in the Atlantean throne room and threatened to destroy the whole city. The children were whisked away on dolphins through the rainbow portal, and presumably the city was lost to the result of the two opposing crystals meeting. Now Allen must learn to ride a killer whale or shark, but first he must take a dolphin to the lost city and visit the Underwater Tree of Life. They teleport back to Florida where they meet with Jumper and Dance II, highly intelligent dolphins, who take them to meet Allen’s Uncle Zadok. Zadok talks more about how Atlantean engineers along with the help of the God Isis’ knowledge, helped to create the lizard hybrids that could help Atlanteans dive in deep, frigid waters with the aid of their cold blood protecting them. There is a like to Native Indians, as the books calls them, and the lizard hybrids come from the mixture of DNA from those who were sick. It is a complicated web of racial beings. After speaking with Zadok, Allen descends into the lost city of Atlantis and finds the Underwater Tree of Life. He eats from the tree’s fruit and encounters his ancestor’s ghost, King Leon, who guides him on how to save the long-lost kingdom. Allen grows in stature and strength, and his eyes permanently change to blue-green as he takes in all the knowledge the tree’s fruit offers upon consumption. Then he spies a note from the Reptilly’s. They’ve captured Athena and Zadok and taken them to their ship. Allen teleports to his friends and explains the situation. They are more impressed that he is talking to the gorgeous Athena than anything else, and they agree to help. The boys hop in the water and ride over to the yacht on dolphins. They get to the top deck and end up saving Zadok, but now Allen is on the boat with the Reptilly’s and their guards, who have Athena held down.

The guards change form and reveal their crocodile like bodies, but Allen is still able to rescue Athena and make their escape. One of the brothers, Damon, sacrifices his body to summon an ancient Gargoyle known as Destroyer. Athena, Zadok and Allen’s friends teleport to Athena’s place, where we see Zeus in the first person, now confirmed to be the story’s narrator, meeting Athena, his goddaughter. Allen trains in Pyramid city when he hears her telepathic love cry and he reciprocates his love to her. Zeus offers to protect Athena, but can’t protect the others in the fight against the Gargoyles that is to come. After speaking with the spirit of the Atlantean General, Allen ventures off to try and ride a whale. On his shark Bucky, he finds a suitable whale and lassos onto it. It dives deep and he comes across the emerald ring, an artifact the Atlanteans have been looking for. He calls on Athena and Zadok to go to Atlantis with him. Allen goes to speak with the spirits of the Atlantean elders and he rides a killer whale, a major form of initiation for a prince. He returns with everyone to Athena’s house where they work on their disguises and soak in the glory of their shared superhero status. King Leon’s ghost instructs them all to go back to the Reptilly’s yacht, where they fight a Gargoyle teleported to Earth. They defeat it with no human casualties. The boys are becoming known by some of the local teens for their heroic acts and they photobomb an interview at the local high school football field. Josh the bully is freaking out because he saw himself as a monster in the mirror, and his body has been acting strange since the Gargoyle attack.

Jake and Francisco get superhero suits made by Athena, and Allen’s is made by the Atlantean ghosts inside Pyramid city. Josh loses control of his body and is overcome with some strange rage. Meanwhile the Reptilly’s have their eyes on the new superhero crew. Josh the bully starts messing with the boys, who are back in school, and they start talking back to him. Athena is in disguise attending the school as well, they are all watching Josh as they believe he is the host of the new threat, the Gargoyle named Destroyer. Athena has made friends with Josh’s girlfriend, Mercedes. They go to his house to see what’s wrong and find that Destroyer has mutated Josh’s body to make him bigger and stronger. He tells Mercedes that his dad has died, and he has a brother that he never knew about--and it’s Allen. It’s really Destroyer talking through Josh, but Mercedes can’t tell the difference. The Reptilly’s are monitoring Josh and his friends and keeping an eye on the Destroyer’s growth. Meanwhile Jake and Francisco get dates with a pair of twins, while Allen and Athena’s relationship blossoms further. The couples go to a sports game to get to know each other. Allen spots some strange activity and intercepts Josh’s Mom, who has been captured by the Reptilly’s. They get some blood to make more hybrid beasts, but Allen is able to free Josh’s Mom from the Reptilly’s. The teens are preparing for a fight on Halloween, and we catch a glimpse of the lava hellscape where the Gargoyles come from. They are eager to come to Earth and destroy Allen.

The team goes to the football game to keep an eye on Josh, and the Destroyer announces his presence to them through Josh. It seems he has been able to gain even more power on the host. The plan is to teleport Destroyer into the rainbow portal and wait out his full power, which takes place during the full moon. A fight breaks out between Destroyer and the gang and Josh’s friend Tyrone is killed. Later in Atlantis, the spirit of King Leon informs Allen that a counterattack is coming and the Hybrids that the Reptilly’s have been breeding will be joining the battle. Meanwhile Invincible, another Gargoyle, is brought to Earth to inhabit one of the Reptilly brothers. Allen listens in to the conversation on the yacht and realizes the Reptilly’s mistake of letting these unfeeling Gargoyles take control, and he attacks them while they bicker. He kills Invincible, and takes down Destroyer in hopes of rescuing Josh’s mind from the Gargoyle’s control. Allen is able to get through to Josh, and he is able to assert control over his mind again. Josh apologizes for what he did. After returning home, they encounter a police officer who makes Josh come clean about killing Tyrone. The officer, who is also a Native American shaman, who investigates paranormal activities on the Indian reservation then shows Josh a tattoo on his arm of Destroyer, and tells him that there is no way to prove that Destroyer killed Tyrone, so they will have to sweep it under the rug and he will help Josh prepare for his next battle against Destroyer trying to take control of his mind.

About The Author

Leonard Clifton started out as a print model, which led him to acting. His first role was in Steven Spielberg's Amistad. He went on to have roles in several other films like the cult classic Bring It On, television productions, and international commercials. Leonard loves writing, supporting his favorite charities, traveling the world, and is always seeking out new adventures. He has published several books including: The Last Prince of Atlantis Chronicles (Book 1 and 2) and Eve the Soul Reaper.