Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Atlas Paradox, by Olivie Blake

17 reviews

dododenise's review against another edition

challenging inspiring 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

4.5

Oh my god?!?
I enjoyed reading the first book more but holy shit I still loved this one so much.  
I mostly was less convinced by all the philosophising this time. That was the part that really got me into the first book. But now I got into the character dynamics and the chaos of it all. I also actually like some of the characters now and considering they're all designed to be assholes that's an accomplishment. And I was rewarded in my favourite shipping!! I didn't dare to hope for it because so many characters are set up to potentially have some romantic and/or sexual relationship. 
Honestly, their relationship dynamics were all over the place and I was here for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Confinement, Alcoholism, and Cursing

Moderate: Racism, Misogyny, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual content, Colonisation, and Death

nadiaherondale's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-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

4.75

Although I didn't love it as much as the first one there is no other way to say it that this world building, the dark academia and the characters of this book are enchanting, trapping. It's a book you just can't put down. 
During the first one I was so obsessed with Nico and Libby's cosmic dance of soulmatism (and I still am, after all I picked The Atlas Six up expecting a whole academic rivals to lovers slow burn) that I obviously put the other characters in the background. The Atlas Paradox helped remedy that, and honestly, I loved it. I loved exploring Parisa, Reina, Tristan and Callum more deeply, their motives and the independant research, and even others like Dalton, Atlas and Ezra (although fuck him).
Honestly I can't wait for the third one to see how every plot point (and there are a lot, Olivie Blake tends to go on tangents) is resolved

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Stalking, Sexism, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

lozziereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-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

5.0

to the untrained eye, i am sitting in my bed with this book shut next to me after finishing it, but if you look really closely, i am actually rioting and screaming at a pitch unavailable to human ears (positive) . please finish this trilogy olivie blake my life… depends on it.

like i have some other things to say but i’m going mad rn so i’m going to keep them inside for right now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, Addiction, and Confinement

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Abandonment, and Panic attacks/disorders

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

4.0

 

Spoiler

this was my multiverse of madness

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Stalking, Blood, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Mass/school shootings, Sexual content, Blood, and Terminal illness

Minor: Colonisation, Cancer, Death of parent, and Classism

drkappitan's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

I adored The Atlas Six and went into this sequel with a lot of expectations. The primary source of frustration for me, and the reason that I didn't enjoy much of the book,

Spoiler

was that most of the characters were so unhappy and frustrated with each other that that seeped out into the story itself as a whole. Whereas the first book was all about discovery, this was anger and refusal to communicate and far too few experiments with what their magic could really do.

I will probably eventually pick up the third, but it will be a while before I'll want to.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Stalking, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Alcoholism

kynajayne's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Enjoyed this one, look forward to the next in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, and Confinement

boglord's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Addiction

Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Child abuse, Abandonment, Fatphobia, Grief, and Blood

clairew97's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Stalking, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual content

lilifane's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense 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

3.0

At around 50% of the book, I realized that 1. Nothing was happening, 2. More and more questions were coming up, and 3. No questions were answered at all. So I wondered where the story was actually going and how it would be wrapped up in 200 pages. When a new cool topic was introduced quite late in the second half of the book, I was confused because there clearly wasn't enough time to explore it and actually wrap the story up. At 85% it dawned on me that this probably wasn't a duology as I had expected. -_-

Sigh. I was looking forward to this book because I had enjoyed the first one despite the story being so vague. But at least the characters were interesting and most of them fun to be in the head of. And I was curious about the library and what this whole plot was all about. 
So imagine my disappointment when I didn't get answers at all, but even more questions. Plus, the characters were more annoying than before. Don't get me wrong, the ones I loved, I loved with all my heart. But I didn't care for the rest. In the first book, I at least found them intriguing or hated them. But this time I didn't feel anything for the majority of them. And I missed the fun banter from book one.
Plus, despite spending 2 full books in the heads of these characters, their actions are not very understandable to me. Lashing out for no reason at all, every single one of them. I don't understand the motivations of like 80% of the characters. 
The biggest weakness is the absence of a plot, though. There were several strands of plot that lead nowhere, which was frustrating because why even write it when you drop it and never pick it up again? And that one story line that actually felt like the center of the book... ended very abruptly. I was so intrigued by the paradox, and I was hoping to explore it more. But nope, things just happened off page and then the book was over. Literally. 
Despite the weaknesses I  still enjoyed the reading experience for some weird reason, the audiobook was fun to listen to and there were things that kept me going till the very end. I mean, the last page was definitely worth it for me. I just feel we could have gotten there much, much quicker. 

Yes, I will read the third book. Maybe there was a reason for all the unnecessary stuff in this book after all, who knows. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Alcoholism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death, Murder, Sexual content, Blood, Mental illness, and Violence

soniajoy98's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, Death, Cursing, Alcoholism, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Stalking, Child abuse, Gun violence, Antisemitism, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Sexual content, Murder, and Racism

Minor: Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Confinement