Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

99 reviews

beetayz's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I am still unsure if I like this book or not, or if I’ll pick up the next in the series. There is a theme of actualizing your full potential and unfortunately I think the author missed the opportunity to do the same.  

I did find myself enjoying moments of this book and some of the plot battle scenes, but other times I felt like I might put it down unfinished.  The writing often felt like the author was glancing at a thesaurus and it brought me out of the story. I expected more character development and actualization of plot to happen but the pace was so slow and the world is not well depicted.  

I can see why it has a cult following and once I dive into this genre more, I think I’ll know if it’s worth it for me to continue. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Classism, and Alcohol

zarhara's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Cancer, Terminal illness, Infidelity, and Sexual content

revengesrose's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Suicide attempt, and Incest

Minor: Death, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content

itsheyfay's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Kidnapping, and Suicide

Moderate: Death of parent, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Child death

Minor: Terminal illness

minttus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Toxic friendship, Death, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Alcohol

erised's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Classism

booksthatburn's review against another edition

I was initially drawn in by the premise, a group of magicians brought to the Library of Alexandria have a year to decide which one of them will be eliminated and which five get to stay for another year. The cast of characters is pretty diverse (though a bit of that initial feeling of diversity was dampened when I realized all of them seemed to have English as their first language, which instantly shrunk the practical candidate pool. Part of the story questions the validity and methods of the entire enterprise, so that leaves some wiggle room for explaining why the candidates aren't actually very diverse (only six total, and two are from the same school in the USA?). Additionally, this could have been the library of Atlantis or Boston and it would have had just as much relevance to the plot. The latest incarnation of the "Library of Alexandria" is physically located in London, in the UK. It became clear pretty quickly that "Alexandria" is just a name, and an indication of thousands of years of whatever this thing is (or at least a claim to that long legacy). There are vague descriptions of the category of study and experiments which the candidates are pursuing, but most of the story is actually a very intense and complicated web of power plays and personal dynamics between the six candidates and the two Alexandrians who oversee them (mostly one of them). There's a pretty intense sex scene about halfway through which I actually didn't mind, but it felt like a sudden shift in tone from the rest of the book. 

The characters seemed initially pretty interesting, but there's very little description of how their powers actually work. There are discussions of magical theory which I enjoyed, but they were usually couched in ways where the magic is actually secondary, which made them feel unmoored from the world being built. 

It's six (sometimes eight) people in a house, talking to each other and slowly changing how they feel about one another, which is not what I was expecting in a book about "magicians living in the Library of Alexandria".

Ultimately I stopped because it became clearly stated that the whole thing is a slow burn trolley problem, and I don't like trolley problem situations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Murder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Suicide

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Grief, Sexism, Violence, and Gun violence

Minor: Child death and Fire/Fire injury

jankmab's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Minor: Terminal illness and Toxic friendship

sheadunlop's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder