The Atlas Six
Ratings374
Average rating3.5
DNF at 54%.
Why I DNFd:
- Boring - How can an author make a dark academia story about he library of Alexandria boring? This is an achievement in and of itself. There was no atmosphere and no gripping mystery. I am losing my inspiration to live just thinking about this book.
- Pretentious writing style - the author is writing like I did in high school - all full of imaginary wit and ignorant revelations. It's kitschy and stale.
- Empty and annoying characters - pompous fools, who wouldn't stop bitching and moaning about the weight of all the magnificent gifts they were imbued with. Don't you just love it when a bunch of self-centered pseudo intellectual elitists, who haven't had to cook a single meal on their own, wax poetically about the woes of capitalism and oppression, even while scrunching up their noses at everyone who isn't them, because they're so much better? We have the unintentional irony of the most pretentious characters I have ever seen bemoaning “high society” whilst being the epitome of it. Yeah, I hope you enjoy that if you're planning to read this book.
Once again, Olivie Blake has demonstrated a profound lack of awareness, relatability and ,sadly, skill.
God, the second half was so good. I think Callum is such a fantastic fucking character, and I really need more of that psychopath. His and Tristan's dynamic is just chef's kiss.
If Christopher Nolan could write books this would be it — absolutely insane. Insanely good.
This book reminds me of that one horse drawing where one half is extraordinary drawn whereas the other is just scribbled. The concept the author's explaining and building around the characters abilities is very interesting, yet I'm baffled by how the characters are written. One aspect of them is amazing and then they open their mouth; what gives them depth is their abilities, not their personality, cause if that's the case they'd be cardboard. There's almost nothing there (save for a couple of characters which, unfortunately, is not enough).
The plot remains the sole interesting and well thought through part, although the climax of the book was somewhat underwhelming. I will, however, continue on with the series only because I'm curious enough about the plot.
After reading people's reviews, I'm thinking it's the level of character development/connection is lacking? I know it's only the first book, but usually you have one character you want to root for, or emotionally devote to, but everyone in this book was kind of all over the place so my attention is going wheeee. Though, I did enjoy parts of it, and Blake's writing is interesting, but I definitely enjoyed [b:Alone With You in the Ether 61126612 Alone With You in the Ether Olivie Blake https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1661863300l/61126612.SY75.jpg 84581419] much more. I thought Libby's abduction was going to be solved here but guess not
Good world building while moving at a decent pace. Structure moving from character to character works well the way the acts are laid out in the first third of the book. Reads a little like a cross between Carnival Row/The Umbrella Academy/Harry Potter and the output works. First big action scene around the 100 page mark was grander than would be expected in any genre and the writing made it almost impossible not to visualize it as if it were a pivotal battle at the end of a movie. Slows down maybe a bit too much over the second 100 pages as it dives deeper into the characters and the dynamics between them before what one would have hoped would be a huge climax. Stalled in the final third and seemed to park on some uneventful (non)happenings only to eventually take a hard turn almost toward a different genre when the motivations and backstory of a supporting character is revealed near the very end. All in all, after the group's first test after arriving together, it feels like the remaining 70%+ of the book barely goes anywhere and seemed like a lot of filler to get to an anti-climactic end that just sets up the sequel.
It was good, okay. However, I felt very stupid reading it because wow some of the ideas were way over my head despite my degrees. Anyway, I really enjoyed it and liked half the characters but in a good way. I particularly enjoyed the back and forth love/hate of certain characters and getting to enjoy disliking characters. Normally it feels like we readers are supposed to love all the main characters, so this was a refreshing take to me. Can't wait to read the next book!
⭐⭐ Creo que el problema no es en sí el libro, sino en mí, ya que estoy acostumbrada a libros con mundos muy bien creados, con mucha fantasía e imponentes. Desde luego, esto no es lo que he encontrado aquí. No está para nada mal el libro sólo que pienso que está más enfocado a personas que se están adentrado a este género y no van con altas expectativas
This book left me pleasantly surprised! I like the author's variety of thought throughout the course of the book - I understand it must not be easy exploring various different theories on multiple topics of interest. She did a brilliant job on the complexity and depth of her characters, aside from the obviously interesting plotline. Makes me want to continue reading more about this world and these lives. Very well written!
I have been wanting to read something to make me fangirl again, make boards about the characters, and make me think about the world even after finishing it. Unfortunately, it wasn't that book. The concept was very alluring, especially the Library of Alexandria. But some issues made it impossible to love it. Here are some of them:
Plot and storytelling. Or should I say the lack of it? Until the last 100 pages, barely anything happened. And the ending was kinda predictable so... Dialogs were cringy. I felt like sentences were not connected in the paragraphs. Like they are saying some random inspo quotes out of nowhere.
Characters. Each of them was getting on my nerves. I wanted to love them so much when I heard about the book and saw this beautiful art about them. I enjoy corrupt souls and have no problem with that. But they felt so fake, so pretentious. And what about their powers? Throughout the 600 pages, I kept reading about how big their powers are, and how unique they are. Why not show it then? I don't wanna hear how great they are. I wanna see it. Also, I think their ambitions were also so vague. Okay you want to be more powerful, but for what or how? Again, so much potential but no act.
I read the Turkish translation and it needs to be edited. There were typos everywhere. Also, they didn't even bother to translate the French and Spanish dialogs. Are you even serious?
Overall, I don't think it is a bad book, it was still enjoyable. But honestly, I think it is overhyped. Maybe it gets better in the next books. I'm happy if you enjoyed it.
The focus was too much on each character's quirks to get anywhere with plot.
I couldn't get through more than 15%. Just because it's young adult doesn't mean it has to assume the audience is stupid. This is partially my fault, I just finished reading the secret history, and then had to DNF Babel. I didn't realize how similar all these books would be, and I hated them all for pretty much the same reason, they are pretentious because they think they're intelligent, but in reality, the writing is boring and the characters all have the same personality.
I also hate when authors try to do more than two POVs in a novel. Rarely is it done well and rarely do you actually care about all of the characters equally. They should've been written from one perspective only and it would've been better. Also, why did it start out like a enemy to lover romance?
I think I need to avoid dark academia books. I have really hated these last three
I am making this review after also reading the sequel so I'm trying to be conscious of me mixing together the two plots; please read spoilered text with caution. I have also read 10+ books since finishing this novel, so my memory is not 100% trustworthy.
The premise of this book has a lot of potential. I found a lot of the characters unlikeable at first. In particular, Reina felt very bland, Tristan was annoying and I wanted to punch Callum in the face on multiple occasions. It was a very slow read for me, but this may have been due to me being in a long reading slump prior to reading this book, though the twists were enough to keep me engaged particularly regarding Ezra, I did not see that coming, but I quite enjoyed it. Parisa was interesting; I didn't adore her, but I didn't have any strong negative feelings towards her like some characters, and she was intriguing enough to enjoy her POV. Libby... I wanted to like her more, but her character was quite frustrating at times.
Nico and his little cohort carried this book, I loved them to pieces, and the bond between them and Nico is so refreshing amongst the complicated relationships happening between all the main characters of the novel. I wish we could have spent more time with them, but considering there were 5 other main characters to develop, I understand that's quite unrealistic.
The writing style itself I think is quite strong, but drags a little in places (I am reviewing this by memory, but I've read 100+ books since this, so I could be wrong). I think her prose is quite strong, but her character writing could use some improvement.
Overall, a book with promise, but just felt a little flat. I usually enjoy reading books with more likeable characters than the ones in this book, so it just might have not been to my taste. I can enjoy unlikeable characters, but I would want a bit more depth from them to at least feel more invested in them, regardless as to whether I like them as a person, which I think this book was lacking. I think it would have benefitted from spending more quality time in each character's head, but this very much could be improved in the next book.
It just was a lot and it dragged on. Like it emotionally dragged me down with all the petty characters and not in a way that would make me rave that the author knew how to take you on an emotional journey but in a way that was just bad and left me in a fog. I gave it three stars (maybe 2.5 stars rounded up) because I did want to find out answers instead of abandoning the book. Don't think I'll read the next though.
The more I think about this book the more I dislike it- dropped a star
Two words for this so-called TikTok sensation : HARD WORK.
It took me longer to finish it than any other book (It gave me headache, honestly
I have seen this book all over #booktook and since I recently read “The Nine” and loved it, and this one had a similar plot, I thought I would give it a go. Sigh...for the majority of it, I was bored. It was basically just a group of magically inclined young adults sitting around, either lusting after each other or planning nefarious deeds to screw with each other.
How people can like this is beyond me.
It's such a pretentious shitshow with 100% unlikeable asshole character.
I wished they all died.
Me encantó
Me mantuvo super enganchada al punto de no querer dejar de leer.
El desenlace ha sido espectacular, me ha dejado con ganas de más y espero leer la siguiente parte lo más pronto posible
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
“The problem with knowledge, is its inexhaustible craving. The more of it you have, the less you feel you know.”
Synopsis:
“Funny how that worked; the innocent fragility of being human. There were so many ways to break and so few of them heroic or noble.”
My Thoughts:
- A slow-paced, introspective and reflective read.
- The prose was at times complex - not a light or easy read if that's what you are in the mood for.
- This book is much more focused on character exploration than plot, with long sections exploring their histories, motivations and experiences. The book is told from multiple POVs so you spend time in each character's head.
- More plot action happens in the last section than the whole rest of the book combined, which gives it a sudden pace change. Whether this is good or bad is likely personal preference.
- I found this interesting and intriguing, though not gripping until toward the end. I'm interested enough to know where it goes to read the next instalment.
- If you like a plot that moves along at a steady pace and has a degree of resolution, this is not the book for you.
“The moral of this story is: Beware the man who faces you unarmed. If in his eyes you are not the target, then you can be sure you are the weapon.”
i was so disappointed by this book and it was so hyped up in the online book community :(
my issues with the book:
- inadequate world building. like yeah, these archives can ensure initiates power but in what significant ways? i wasn't all that impressed by the library, or the society in general. i still don't get why the initiates are even necessary aside from ‘guarding' the archives
- characters were flat, most notably reina. she felt more like a background character
- this had the worst case of telling & not showing significant events. like thx for telling me nico & libby created a wormhole but like HOW?
i hated everyone and the plot didn't actually start until the last third of the book but it hooked me enough to want to read more. looking forward to when the sequel gets to my door.