Reviews

now that i think about it, i shouldn’t even have finished reading this book in the first place. you see, before starting the atlas complex, i made a list of conditions, so to speak, required for me to continue reading until the very end (a part of me expected it to be dreadful). in theory, i should have stopped some 350 pages into the book. alas, since i am and will always (most possibly) remain more of a hater than a person who appreciates their precious and infrequent free time enough not to waste it on garbage, here i am.

firstly, i believe congratulations are in order. this book couldn’t have been worse, and that alone is something rather impressive of olivie blake. (mind that the previous two parts of this trilogy i adored – the first one especially, but i suppose that’s rather common. the second one purely because of nico and gideon. especially gideon.)

i had various problems with this book. to name a few:

1. the better half of it was them debating over whether to or not to proceed with an (inherently immoral, i guess) experiment they were absolutely fucking certain to attempt at some point of the book. everyone and their mother knew it. still, we had to suffer through hundreds of pages of multiple characters saying the same thing one after another just for it to end up being a flop.

2. the deaths were unnecessary. especially callum’s. what the fuck even was that? i don’t know. the author killed off two most beloved characters (i think? i can’t think of anyone the readers mentioned more than nico and callum) and did it in such a messy way it felt like they were there only for shock value. (ESPECIALLY callum). you just need to know how to go about killing people’s favorites and whatever olivie blake did was not how you do it. (charles dickens handled sydney carton better).

3. too many points of view. like, come on. i can excuse sharon. sharon was mostly succinct and more or less relevant. but nothazai at the end? or, say, eden wessex? unnecessary. the six main characters did well enough smashing the same information repeatedly, one after the other, over and over again, as if with a hammer, into my head. thanks, that’d be enough. i didn’t need dozens of others (whom i did not care for) repeating it yet again.

4. libby walking out of all of it basically unscathed. and with no remorse whatsoever. ‘she wasn’t sorry for killing them.’ well, fuck, no wonder. but that i can brush off, i don’t care. let her fuck everything up and find me unbothered. the moment she called gideon selfish was the one that struck me, though. because, fuck. that's the man who spent months trying to help her come back home. even tristan thought those words crossed the line. well, good for her.

5. the relationships between the main characters. that one is purely subjective (i mean, the whole of this review is purely subjective, but this point even more so), but i can’t bring myself to enjoy dynamics where everyone is in love with everyone and it causes more mess than good. i guess at least nico and gideon had their shit pretty much figured out like i hoped for since i finished reading the atlas paradox.

6. parisa's grey hair and how it was so fucking relevant somehow. please.

that's not to say it was all horrific, for it would be a lie – that one monologue of callum’s was touching enough. also, nico and gideon’s relationship was precious; their thoughts about the other and how they interacted is why i would have given this book two stars had i been born less spiteful. also, there was nothing more amusing than tristan and callum’s text messages. i loved to see tristan so unbothered and self-confident by the end as well.

as for the things i did not expect:

1. genuinely loved parisa’s point of view in this one. funny how one can go from skimming through her chapters in the first two books to skimming almost everything apart from her chapters in the last one. i guess getting to know her on a deeper kind of level made all the difference for me.

2. finally saw the point of novacaine! which i previously did not. but that’s on me.

3. the execution of the ‘multiple universes’ thing. i expected it to be done differently, i guess? i did enjoy tristan’s chapter where we read through hundreds of different scenarios and (maybe, i don’t know) a small part of me still wants to see it done for other characters as well. again, other writers who tackled this ‘trope’ (?) did it more to my liking.

4. reina's story and how i couldn’t bring myself to care about her opposed to her being one of my favorites at the beginning of this story. meh.

all i can say is: man, am i glad to be finished with this trilogy. i love gideon. the rest can burn for all i care.

enzopilarta's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

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

2.5

Clunky and pompous and masturbatory. Said so many things but so little. Explored many different forms only to fall flat. Raised the stakes so much only to not give them their due. Ultimately said: nothing matters and everyone is gay.

michmonette's review against another edition

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3.5

For some reason, and the reason is probably that I’m not really an analytical reader, the authors note at the end about how she was sparked by political rage, made all of the books make more sense lol? Also after reading alone with you in the ether I see that her books are mostly about all these nuanced people who are unreliable narrators and the ending isn’t really an ending like it’s not resolved which I this is cool! I couldn’t do it all the time but I’m really glad that I read this series and I really loved Nico and Gideon I hope they’re happy right now wherever they are