Letters from Atlantis (1990) by Robert Silverberg

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-- In the future, scientists have developed a type of time travel in which the traveler's consciousness is transferred into the mind of someone actually living in the past--a useful way to observe history first hand. Roy has been sent into the mind of the Prince of Atlantis; Lora has been sent into the mind of a provincial governor existing at the same time. The title refers to Ray's letters to Lora, written after putting the Prince's mind to sleep and using his body. When Roy begins to feel lonely and depressed, he grows careless, and the Prince soon becomes aware of Roy's presence in his mind. Roy, revealing himself fully, breaks all rules of nonintervention and possibly sullies history. The premise is intriguing, and Silverberg's portrayal of Roy is convincing, especially his isolation and need for contact with another human. But Silverberg's vision of Atlantis is nothing new. He falls back on of-aliens-from-another-planet" cliche. He introduces, and then uses this excuse to explain away, without really exploring, topics such as why Atlantis was so technologically advanced, why racial hatred existed between the Atlantans and native earthlings, and why the earthlings kept no remembrance of Atlantis after its destruction. The triteness of these revelations betrays the freshness of the set-up. Readers will be ultimately disappointed because this could have been so much better than it is. --Susan M. Harding, Mesquite Public Library, TX
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile

This novella, written as a series of letters from time-traveler Roy Colton in Atlantis to a colleague elsewhere in the ancient world, is not well suited to audio. The first cassette, as Colton enters the mind of an heir to the throne and first surveys the wondrous city, is monotonous. The story picks up later as the prince notices the "demon" time-traveler hiding within his mind, setting up a confrontation and dialogue between them and giving Tom Parker the chance to go beyond the conversational tone of a letter. Parker effectively portrays both Colton and the prince, but the structure of the story gives him too little to do. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine