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sea_sea's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Great read! The story was so intricately written, with loads of mysteries and interesting subplots. All the characters were so unique and facetted. They were so well written! The magic was a little confusing sometimes, I think I only understood towards the end of the book what ‘wards’ were. Sometimes the book also dragged a bit, but I didn’t mind that. I definitely look forward to the next book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Murder, Suicide, Blood, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Violence, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Addiction, Abandonment, and Terminal illness
I really loved Nicos and Libbys relationship, it was so funny xD. (I hope it goes the enemies to friends route) Secondly quick appreciation for all the women in the book 💗 (Except Eilif, leave Gideon alone ò-ó, he just wants to be happy with Nico.) Libby was amazing! Parisa too, she was epic!!! I also loved Reina, I just wish she had more chapters ;-;. Her povs were always so interesting. It was always just so cool to read about what was going on in their minds, because the are so insanely smart. >u< (Also Parisas povs could tell us what other people were thinking too xD)pitchblackkoi's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content
mad_ds's review against another edition
4.0
wow! okay overall, i enjoyed this read!! a fun, dark academia feel. i definitely found it making me think (philosophical stuff, science things, and all about and around the characters). i also really enjoyed the author’s style! i will be investing in the next installment hehe~
on the characters end, for the most part i enjoyed all of them. these are some messy, fascinating people. i found all of them intriguing except reina, (who i hope will have some growth in the next book and redeem herself to me). i think the hard part is there was not a lot of character growth… we learned about them but their was very little change considering everything going down in the house?? (if you’ve read the book you know.) side note: sexual tension is not character growth okay? grr. i understood parisa’s piece but other times/people i was just like… what? i feel like the author definitely tried to show growth/the changing thought process but libby was the only one that i saw internal shift in. for everyone else, their thought process was very repetitive as we reached the end of the book. that was disappointing because i think the set up for characters like callum, nico, parisa, tristan ect. have so much potential! because i DID like learning about them and reading their thoughts!! they just needed as a character to develop more. again the problem with reina: she was so one dimensional!! i wanted to like her, but we did not get to know her? and i was confused why she stayed with the alexandrian society… like ‘knowledge you can’t get anywhere else’, yes, but WHY. for WHAT PURPOSE FOR HER SPECIFICALLY. as i see it, her power is plot relevant and so the author just tied her in but didn’t give her dimension, motive, ect. idk… sad :( don’t get me wrong: i still enjoyed them!! just felt there could have been so much more.
plot! while it starts out simple enough, as the story progresses you find yourself trying to unravel the pieces and the plot builds and draws in some side plots i personally found fascinating. there were twists and turns and a couple times i almost SCREAMED cause i was like, “what! wait! ah! how!” which i always think is a good sign hehe. in all honesty, reading through i was engrossed in the story and just enjoying it. looking back and reading through some helpful reviews, i can now say there were a lot of plot holes which are *now* bothering me but whilst i read were primarily not an issue. so do with that what you will.
in the end i enjoyed the atlas six and am excited to see where the next installment takes both the characters and the plot!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing and Sexual content
danaegg's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Sexual content, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence
Moderate: Alcohol and Emotional abuse
bergha1998's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I just didn’t like it. The plot wasn’t very interesting and most of the main characters were insufferable. I’m okay with Libby and like 1/2 the time with Tristan and Nico. Also, the whole question of if knowledge should be kept or shared is utter bullshit, of course it should be shared.
Dark Academia, Secret Society, Magic, 1 🔥
“A uniquely upsetting curse, really, how little he knew how to exist when she wasn’t there.”
Dark Academia, Secret Society, Magic, 1 🔥
“A uniquely upsetting curse, really, how little he knew how to exist when she wasn’t there.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Child death, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Violence
isabella_sans_merci's review against another edition
This book was too bad for me to get through, and I have gotten through a lot.
Lets start with the characters, shall we?
She is a fiercely powerful upstart from a non-magical family, he is a nepo baby from a very wealthy magical family who is her academic rival. His friends include a guy who changes into a dog, and another guy whose magical family is a pain in the ass, who he uses all of his resources to try and help. Sound familiar? I never really got into Marauders fanfic, but even I can recognize the origins of it in here. Anyway both of these characters are tolerable. Like, if the story had just focussed on them I might have been able to get through it. I also thought the description of how their powers are blended together was very compelling. But it gets worse.
Next we have Reyna. Whose thing is that she doesn't care. So why, god, should I care? Her apathy was too infectious, and as much as the author was trying to use her to talk a little bit about the elitism in academia, the way that she went about it was just so surface level and bad, it was all buzzwords with very little understanding of the nuance or the actual issue. As someone who works a lot in the space of critique of academia, this "discussion" of it, was simplistic enough to be borderline insulting.
Then we have the most compelling character of all, a guy who can convince anyone to do anything. It is such a shame that he also, is apathetic and doesn't care. So. Why. Should. I? He has the most interesting skill set and yet we spend the least amount of time with him, and the time we do spend doesn't tell us anything about him! The characters are literally so weak I could cry.
Then we have Tristan, who again, could be interesting if he wasn't just so passive in the narrative. What does he want? What moves is he making? We are told he is very smart, his skills are very interesting, and his powers are too, but then in the social structure of the group he is so incredibly passive. I got half way through the book and I could not care if he lives or dies.
And now we arrive at a character who I actively hated. The author, in all of her smug satisfaction with her own intellect, makes sure to let you know that in fact, if you hate this character, its an antifeminist thing to do. She is soooooo sexually liberated, don't you see? She just uses sex to get what she wants, in a very sexy way. She makes all men around her literal fools for her because.... she is well endowed? The writing around this character reduces all men to hormonal fools who can barely control themselves, and frankly I don't think that is a very feminist take. There is no difference between her and any femme fatale 'written by a man'. The same plot beats, and the same tropes apply. Just because this character is able to recognize the antifeminist trap she falls into, and preach some trite sex-positivity along the way, does not make her any less of a flat, failed, femme fatale.
And don't even get me started on the plot.
I think the main reason that this story does not work, is because the author has no idea what the hell she is talking about. This can be seen in little things, such as how the Library of Alexandria moved to London around the time of the Napoleonic wars, just in time for the Age of Exploration. The problem with that being, of course, that the Napoleonic wars were at turn of the 19th century, and the Age of exploration was from the 1500s to around the 1800s, if we are being generous. So in fact, if they got to London at that time, they would have just missed the Age of Exploration. This is an easily google-able fact.
However, this can also be seen in the big things. This whole plot hinges on a research fellowship, but the characters are spending their time split between experimental, guided classes, and independent, idle study, which is not what a fellowship looks like. The author intends to place magic existing in this world as like a science which can be experimented with and pushed further, but the structure of her year of study is more like a poorly adapted Hogwarts AU. Also, it is so incredibly obvious that this is going to be a death game. 6 are selected, 5 get to carry on. When first I heard that I thought oh, so one is dead. But none of the characters seem to know that. They don't even seem to think about it at all.
Finally, this institute churns out world leaders, because the smartest and the best always end up running the show right? It is only the hardest working elite that end up with power. No. That isn't how it works at all. The author, by 57% of the way through this book, is trying desperately to make some salient critique about the elitist world of academia, but she has created a world where the greatest lies of academia are in fact true. It is factually true, in her world, that some people are simply better, more powerful, and more worthy, than other people. Magical versus non-magical people can never hope to be equal because there is an intrinsic biological difference that keeps them apart. It is also factually true, in her world, that being a great mind is rewarded with power, wealth, and prestige. This is not true in our world. Perhaps the latter half of this book would have had a great reveal to the contrary, but given her flimsy and feeble attempts at writing this discourse, I gave up.
I might have tried to pick it back up again, after that, but I just could not find a reason why. No mystery existed to be compelling enough to make me want to.
Lets start with the characters, shall we?
She is a fiercely powerful upstart from a non-magical family, he is a nepo baby from a very wealthy magical family who is her academic rival. His friends include a guy who changes into a dog, and another guy whose magical family is a pain in the ass, who he uses all of his resources to try and help. Sound familiar? I never really got into Marauders fanfic, but even I can recognize the origins of it in here. Anyway both of these characters are tolerable. Like, if the story had just focussed on them I might have been able to get through it. I also thought the description of how their powers are blended together was very compelling. But it gets worse.
Next we have Reyna. Whose thing is that she doesn't care. So why, god, should I care? Her apathy was too infectious, and as much as the author was trying to use her to talk a little bit about the elitism in academia, the way that she went about it was just so surface level and bad, it was all buzzwords with very little understanding of the nuance or the actual issue. As someone who works a lot in the space of critique of academia, this "discussion" of it, was simplistic enough to be borderline insulting.
Then we have the most compelling character of all, a guy who can convince anyone to do anything. It is such a shame that he also, is apathetic and doesn't care. So. Why. Should. I? He has the most interesting skill set and yet we spend the least amount of time with him, and the time we do spend doesn't tell us anything about him! The characters are literally so weak I could cry.
Then we have Tristan, who again, could be interesting if he wasn't just so passive in the narrative. What does he want? What moves is he making? We are told he is very smart, his skills are very interesting, and his powers are too, but then in the social structure of the group he is so incredibly passive. I got half way through the book and I could not care if he lives or dies.
And now we arrive at a character who I actively hated. The author, in all of her smug satisfaction with her own intellect, makes sure to let you know that in fact, if you hate this character, its an antifeminist thing to do. She is soooooo sexually liberated, don't you see? She just uses sex to get what she wants, in a very sexy way. She makes all men around her literal fools for her because.... she is well endowed? The writing around this character reduces all men to hormonal fools who can barely control themselves, and frankly I don't think that is a very feminist take. There is no difference between her and any femme fatale 'written by a man'. The same plot beats, and the same tropes apply. Just because this character is able to recognize the antifeminist trap she falls into, and preach some trite sex-positivity along the way, does not make her any less of a flat, failed, femme fatale.
And don't even get me started on the plot.
I think the main reason that this story does not work, is because the author has no idea what the hell she is talking about. This can be seen in little things, such as how the Library of Alexandria moved to London around the time of the Napoleonic wars, just in time for the Age of Exploration. The problem with that being, of course, that the Napoleonic wars were at turn of the 19th century, and the Age of exploration was from the 1500s to around the 1800s, if we are being generous. So in fact, if they got to London at that time, they would have just missed the Age of Exploration. This is an easily google-able fact.
However, this can also be seen in the big things. This whole plot hinges on a research fellowship, but the characters are spending their time split between experimental, guided classes, and independent, idle study, which is not what a fellowship looks like. The author intends to place magic existing in this world as like a science which can be experimented with and pushed further, but the structure of her year of study is more like a poorly adapted Hogwarts AU. Also, it is so incredibly obvious that this is going to be a death game. 6 are selected, 5 get to carry on. When first I heard that I thought oh, so one is dead. But none of the characters seem to know that. They don't even seem to think about it at all.
Finally, this institute churns out world leaders, because the smartest and the best always end up running the show right? It is only the hardest working elite that end up with power. No. That isn't how it works at all. The author, by 57% of the way through this book, is trying desperately to make some salient critique about the elitist world of academia, but she has created a world where the greatest lies of academia are in fact true. It is factually true, in her world, that some people are simply better, more powerful, and more worthy, than other people. Magical versus non-magical people can never hope to be equal because there is an intrinsic biological difference that keeps them apart. It is also factually true, in her world, that being a great mind is rewarded with power, wealth, and prestige. This is not true in our world. Perhaps the latter half of this book would have had a great reveal to the contrary, but given her flimsy and feeble attempts at writing this discourse, I gave up.
I might have tried to pick it back up again, after that, but I just could not find a reason why. No mystery existed to be compelling enough to make me want to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol
Really though, my breaking point came at this end- 2 older characters are trying to seduce Lily Evans - sorry, Libby Rhodes - into a threesome, by literally chugging a bottle of absinthe. Disregarding how unrealistic it is to be drinking that quantity of absinthe of all things, this felt so skeevy and predatory that I had to stop. Because to the author, this evidently wasn't skeevy or predatory, it was another scandalously salacious happening by her sexually liberated character, breasting boobily around as a strategy to win the day. Perhaps the commentary later on would have tried to reframe it, but the tone of the writing in this section is undeniable. The authors tone is meant to be seductive, this scene is meant to be seductive, but it feels like two fully grown adults preying on a naive 22 year old who is infantilized in nearly every other characters perspective. It feels gross.evebananas's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
The concept of this book had a lot of promise. The characters were very unlikable at the beginning and showed some growth and I ended up liking most of the main characters. The ending was extremely unsatisfying, and I find myself frustrated that I read nearly 400 pages of this without any closure at all.
Most unsatisfying was the complete lack of plot. The book constantly talks about how the characters are so important to one another and the whole overall "plan" but nothing ever happens. There's some drama, and some sex, and some more philosophizing about nothing. Nothing actually happens in this book. The characters don't actually form any important relationships with each other, and it's very clear that the author has some favorite characters. Reina has no importance, and might as well not exist. The writing is pretentious for no reason, and says nothing of importance while taking up pages and pages for a single conversation. I don't need to hear Callum wax poetic for the hundredth time with Tristan shrugging the whole time. There is no purpose to the conversations they have.
We also never really get answers about the magic system. Why do people have certain specialties but can apparently do other magic too? One character in particular is said to have a certain power that he hasn't even demonstrated in the scenes that the reveal references, and that power is never important despite being supposedly very rare.Why does the Society set up this elaborate way to gain more magical power by killing one of these initiates when they could just kill regular medeians? What's the difference between a medeian and a witch?
Overall, I would NOT recommend this book. There are far too many dark academia/fantasy books with interesting themes to waste time on Atlas Six.
Most unsatisfying was the complete lack of plot. The book constantly talks about how the characters are so important to one another and the whole overall "plan" but nothing ever happens. There's some drama, and some sex, and some more philosophizing about nothing. Nothing actually happens in this book. The characters don't actually form any important relationships with each other, and it's very clear that the author has some favorite characters. Reina has no importance, and might as well not exist. The writing is pretentious for no reason, and says nothing of importance while taking up pages and pages for a single conversation. I don't need to hear Callum wax poetic for the hundredth time with Tristan shrugging the whole time. There is no purpose to the conversations they have.
We also never really get answers about the magic system. Why do people have certain specialties but can apparently do other magic too? One character in particular is said to have a certain power that he hasn't even demonstrated in the scenes that the reveal references, and that power is never important despite being supposedly very rare.
Overall, I would NOT recommend this book. There are far too many dark academia/fantasy books with interesting themes to waste time on Atlas Six.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, Sexual content, Child death, Kidnapping, Suicide, and Violence
staceyinthesticks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Infidelity, Murder, Kidnapping, Cursing, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Violence
uma_rai's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Sexual content
joshtheman's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
This book…
I almost can’t even. The characters are obnoxious, the plot almost trivial, and the pace is incredibly slow for what you get.
Not only do the characters never learn anything, they always seem to be sleeping with each other. No real rhyme or reason either. Often, they are not even attracted to each other, but still it continues.
This book was quite the disappointment for me. I’m sure it’s someone’s cup of tea, but not for me.
This book is for people more interested in reading about sex than having it. If that is you, power to you!
I almost can’t even. The characters are obnoxious, the plot almost trivial, and the pace is incredibly slow for what you get.
Not only do the characters never learn anything, they always seem to be sleeping with each other. No real rhyme or reason either. Often, they are not even attracted to each other, but still it continues.
This book was quite the disappointment for me. I’m sure it’s someone’s cup of tea, but not for me.
This book is for people more interested in reading about sex than having it. If that is you, power to you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Blood, Sexual content, Gore, and Infidelity