Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake

24 reviews

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

 

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,

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

queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Ultimately not impressed. I just finished 10 minutes ago and feel extremely disappointed. The first book left off with big implications for the second, but it feels like nothing really happened. There was too much internal monologue, too much 'miscommunication' trope, and too much emphasis on POVs that ultimately weren't necessary or interesting. The character alliances in the first book were thrown out on a flimsy plot point just to further the miscommunication between the group, which is the only fuel for plot progression. All of this I could have let pass (solely because I love the characters) if I felt it led to a pay-off, which it didn't.

The narrative of Tristan-Nico-Libby focuses on trying to get Libby back. It is Tristan's singular motivator of the book. And Nico's torment over her absence is obvious but his focus on Gideon helps his character progress. We get a glimpse of Libby and Tristan reuniting in Scotland. But in the end there's no climactic reunion between Libby and Tristan OR Libby and Nico. This was their entire plotline of the book and it was left open-ended. And not like a cliff-hanger, but in a way that I feel there was no climax at all. Part of this, again, is time spent on relationships which prove fruitless, like Belen-Libby, Ezra-Atlas. These POVs are not our main characters, and its just time spent away. There's too many characters and plotlines to juggle, and they are disproportionately balanced.

For me, what started out as a story with intriguing morally-grey characters, suspense and intrigue, eventually turned out to just be tedious and disappointing. Might read the next book for the reunion scenes mentioned in the spoilers. Might just Google it. And maybe I just forget. 

Edit 5 minutes after finishing the review: I just read my review of the first book and forgot to mention the increased amount of pseudointellectual bullshit in the internal monlogues. Way too much freshman 101 class theories and not enough character interaction to make up for the increased use of the miscommunication trope to keep the plot going. Honestly I had high hopes for this book...

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Grief, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

deliriah's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcoholism

ohennui's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping