Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake

23 reviews

crypticspren's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.5

It pains me to give such a low rating, but this book was the slowest and slumpiest book I have ever read. 

The entire book is a back and forth of "should we/shouldn't we" conduct the experiment about multiple universes. It is written in continuous pretentious prose and not a single thing can happen without several pages of a character's introspective BS.

I also think much of the plot was added as an afterthought or for shock. It seems like Blake

just started killing off characters to end the book sooner. Why did Libby do the experiment that she didn't want to do, then go "oh no, I didn't want to do this" and kill Nico, arguably the best character in the series? Why would Tristan be kidnapped by his murderous father only to... NOT be killed right away. Instead, it's Calum who is shot on sight, after he realises he is in love with Tristan. Belen would only be in her 50s so why did she have dementia and no meaningful interaction with Libby? Atlas was killed at the beginning of the book like an afterthought, and just ignored for the majority of it. So much so that I was waiting for a twist but when it got to the "big reveal"... it just said Libby stopped his heart. So anticlimactic and disappointing./spoiler>

Honestly, for a book with so much potential, it was a devastating read. It was slow with poor characterisation and plot points that didn't make a great deal of sense. The pacing was also completely off. It took 400 pages to do nothing then everything happens in the last 100. 

I wish I could get the last month of my life back, but unlike Ezra, I do not have time travel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, Death, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Alcohol, Dementia, Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Kidnapping, and Suicidal thoughts

refrejarator's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Honestly, it's really well written, but very depressing. Very futile and honestly I wish I didn't read it so everyone stayed happy in my mind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Violence, War, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Chronic illness, Drug use, Police brutality, Child death, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Cancer, Classism, Colonisation, and Grief

this book buries gays - especially Nico and Callum

colloreda's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, and Misogyny

Minor: Classism, Grief, and Gun violence

jessamo19's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Misogyny

emilywemily6'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

2.5

This book was so confusing to read. So much philosophy that was trying to sound smarter than it was. While all the characters were intriguing, I felt like the characters’ motivations were inconsistent and unclear, especially considering people changed their minds throughout the book. Reina was disconnected from everything else happening in the book.

Why did Libby kill Nico??? Why didn’t she kill Dalton when she realized how much power he had? She definitely labeled him as the villain. And I was bummed when Tristan chose the not change anything in the many scenarios and he let Callum die instead of choosing a different scenario where they ended up together.

There were too many perspectives throughout the book and I feel like nothing happened in this book even though it was super long. I guess I also don’t really understand the whole idea that these kind of bad people all want to both kill and have sex with every other character. The writing style is interesting and the characters are intriguing, but this book was very unsatisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Violence, Cursing, Death, Toxic relationship, Classism, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, Domestic abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Chronic illness and Medical content

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

"I'm actually an elite member of a secret society"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, Chronic illness, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Death of parent, Gun violence, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Cancer, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Police brutality, Rape, Vomit, and Kidnapping

Minor: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Genocide, Dementia, and Xenophobia

caryndi's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

The first two books in this series were some of my favorite reads in 2023, so I was very excited when The Atlas Complex came in at the library. It did not disappoint! When you get invested in a series, there's always the possibility the final book will fail to stick the landing but this book did so and then some.
There was a decent amount of dramatic irony built up going into this book, because we as readers knew what Atlas' plan was, whereas Libby did not trust what she was told about Atlas' plan. That alone was a great setup for conflict. Libby's choices and the choices of the other characters in the book added new layers that really had me wanting to learn where it all was headed.
One thing I want to applaud the author for is how well she took as us readers along for the ride. My experience was that I came out of the first two books rooting for specific characters and against others, and a lot of that was turned upside down in this book. It wasn't even a sense of "well this person/story is just boring me now"—but of her showing the characters growing and changing in ways that was really gratifying as a reader. I never would have imagined I'd feel so strongly about certain characters or relationships but for example

Callum's death

hit SO hard.
Additionally, this series was built around character relationships and they continued to be on point. This book was perhaps the gayest of all of them (always a plus!) and explored some new character/relationship dynamics that I enjoyed. I'm also a sucker for the "everyone is a bit in love with everyone else" trope and the six main characters really had that going on. Even when it was outside of actual romantic relationships—I'm a sucker for that blurring of friendship vs. something deeper and boy did I get that!
The structure of the book and the names of the sections were clear allusions to the author's philosophical inspirations and I think this book also lived up to that promise. I am not deep enough into philosophy to have more than a surface level understanding of the various systems she referenced but in terms of calling for that kind of thought, and being an examination of choice and outcomes, I thought it was a triumph. The ending of this book was satisfyingly unsatisfying (kinda spoiler,

in that it didn't provide that perfect catharsis some books do

), which I think was kind of the point of this approach/framing. The text was very upfront about acknowledging that the categories of good/bad are mostly artificial, or at least only useful in very limited contexts, and really dug into that concept throughout.
If I have one critique it would be with the very very last chapter: I just don't think it was needed. I can see the argument for putting it in there, especially knowing that readers come to things with different levels of engagement and understanding. But IMO it would have been better to leave that off—to go without that concrete "here is the moral". I think the book lead readers, at least careful ones, to that conclusion.  
Final thought: I appreciate Ms. Blake doing her part to make sure everyone knew her characters were all very sexy. That's the kind of effort I respect. (Also I'm curious if color versions of the character art exists anywhere!)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Blood, and Grief

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.5

I’m shocked that the Atlas Complex had the reception that it did. It’s by far the most thought-provoking of the series, and the build up of its predecessors was necessary for this one. I cannot remember crying as much for characters in a long time.

How Callum became my favorite character I’ll never know, but the ending broke me. I think it was so beautiful to see that although he had every reason to become evil or commit wrongdoings, he never did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, Blood, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Death of parent, Classism, and Injury/Injury detail

amelianotthepilot's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

ugh this was so good i dont know what to say except i cant believe she did [REDACTED] dirty like that :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Murder, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Death

stormeno's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Medical content, Abandonment, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Classism, Blood, Cancer, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts