Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt

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​Phew! Finally, with this eighth book, I managed to conclude my reading of the Seven Sisters series, albeit with varying degrees of emotion: while I was often enthralled, there were times when I was also irritated by some plots and characters.
 
In this, we finally discover the past of the mysterious Pa Salt [Atlas Tanit/Bo d’Apliese], father of the Seven Sisters, six of whom are adopted. As the d’Apliese [anagram of Pleiades] sisters all gather on Pa’s mega-yacht Titan [anagram of Tanit] to commemorate the first anniversary of his death, they are given copies of his diary to read and we are drip-fed the story of his life with cliff-hangers at the end of every chapter as it switches back and forth with the present day. The final revelations are no surprise as numerous clues were dropped in the earlier books as to what might be the situation. Everyone’s lives are tidied up.
 
I’m aware that Lucinda Riley passed away before she could conclude the series and one can detect a more casual style in use here, presumably that of her son and co-author, Harry Whittaker. There are a number of historical slips that the more skilful and meticulous Riley would have avoided. Added to which is one of my personal anathemas with the use of those awkward phrases, “she was sat” or “I am stood”, that weirdly have crept into common usage in England. Not only are they poor grammar, they just sound plain clunky. Editors please, no!
 
Of course, the book is also far too long and even more over-written than Riley’s own earlier work, as it goes off at unnecessary tangents with bloated swathes of cheesy dialogue and saccharine “good folk” always coming to the rescue of Atlas in the nick of time as he attempts to avoid the dastardly Kreeg Eszu [another hokey anagram of Greek Zeus] and who is forever on his trail. It also ties together the stories of all the seven sisters and gives each of the lesser characters gallant reasons for their existence [with or without anagrams]. Even if you have read all of the books, you are unlikely to remember everyone or every aspect of their lives in detail, so I was at sea myself a number of times, trying to recall the back stories of the sisters, their modern-day issues and relationships, never mind the tangled and tortured pasts of their ancestors.
 
Still, in spite of around 5,500 pages to tell this massive saga, most of these books have offered pleasant enough reading experiences, with the historical back stories definitely superior most cases, the exception being this one which could have done with a fiercer edit.
 
Although I’ve read all the books, I haven’t written reviews on each but give barely two stars to my least favourites and four-plus for a couple of others. Therefore, an average of 3 stars overall. 

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