The Atlas Six

I think I've never read a book so full of words and so empty of everything else. What was this? I almost DNFed a couple of times, and I wish I had. What a waste of time.

Pretentious, using grandiloquent discussions of philosophy that added absolutely nothing to the plot or the book or the development of the characters.

It felt like nothing advanced. In page 400 you are still in the same place as in page 1. This could have been so good, the idea of betraying one of your companions for the sake of belonging to such a world changing institution. But the way it is written and paced, you don't even care. The institution is barely explained, a glorified library, they spend the whole year there doing random research on their own, without a clear goal and without the need to agree to something as big as murder because they need to be there. They don't. The stakes are so low it's stupid for them to even think on such drastic measures.

And there is zero interpersonal relations. They aren't friends, they don't like each other, they are terrible people who spend most of their time on their own or banging each other without rhyme or reason. You don't cheer for them nor suffer for them, because there is no substance there.

I won't even talk about the magic system or the world building because the author clearly didn't think about it enough for me to talk about it. I mean, there is nothing. No structure, no sense.

This book almost put me in a reading slump. I like complicated books, I like smart characters, I like stories that make me think. This tried to be that, but was none of it.