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jadorelecafe's review against another edition
challenging
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, and Car accident
eule's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-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
A book that I surprisingly enjoyed even though it was heavily focused on the character dynamics (multiple povs). If you love a scientifically based magic system, diverse characters and a mysterious plotline this book is for you. Sometimes it seems slow-moving but it is all worth it for the cliffhanger in the end. All in all, we can agree that all of the characters are extremely hot (Parisa!!!) and we need to support Nico x Gideon. I cannot wait to read the sequel (sadly my friend will have to read it first :()
Ps: Thank you to my friend Tyler for recommending and lending me this book. Love you ^^
Ps: Thank you to my friend Tyler for recommending and lending me this book. Love you ^^
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Sexual content, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Child death, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
nikogatts's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Infuriating and disappointing. There are interesting ideas in this book, but they're undercut by the story, which is constructed like a Jenga tower with half of the pieces missing. I lost track of how many times a character knew a secret without being told or did something with no motivation other than a need to move the story forward.
Likewise, there are interesting characters and arcs to be explored -- particularly in the case of Reina, who resents her immense magical power and sees it as a way for both nature and society to take advantage of her -- but these are sacrificed in favor of chapter after chapter of Callum, the Wish.com version of Patrick Bateman, toying with sad boy Tristan.
The most painful of this book's failures was the worldbuilding, which led me to create this non-comprehensive list of things that went un- or underexplained, in ascending order of how angry I get when I think about it:
-General story bits that weren't described well and/or weren't believable.A sample: How exactly do two twenty-somethings (one fighting one-handed due to an injured arm) take out half a dozen trained and armed military operatives? Atlas's plan is...what exactly? How is it that no one over the centuries managed to figure out how to magically stop time or magically create a wormhole, but this specific group of people manages these feats on their first attempts?
-How magic and magical people interact with and impact the rest of the world.In the book's alternate Earth, magic users are a minority (about 5 million people out of 10 billion), but they have massive economic power, own international tech and finance companies, and hold high-ranking government positions. There are wealthy magical families and universities specifically for magical study. Magical items are commodities and "mortals" can buy everything from magically enhanced weapons to appearance-changing illusions to contraception charms.
There is no information given on non-magical people, even though they're 99.9995 percent of the world. One of the book's (attempted) themes is the exclusivity of information and whether world-changing (albeit dangerous) knowledge should be kept siloed instead of available to populations who could benefit from it. This theme would have been much more powerful if there had been any perspective from the have-nots of this world. (I think it was a missed opportunity to not have Ezra, Libby's boyfriend, be non-magical, or to have a more prominent presence from the Forum, the magical-info-for-all organization.)
Oh, and magical creatures exist, but they're only mentioned in relation to one character, so they're barely relevant.
-How the magic system works.The main characters each have a specialty, but the story also mentions summoning charms and illusions. Around page 250, curses and hexes are introduced and then barely mentioned again. Specialties range from very straightforward, like telepathy and animation, to concepts that could have used more explaining. Two characters are "physicists," meaning they can affect matter around them by manipulating the laws of physics. This is a tremendously broad skill and its limitations aren't ever discussed, nor is there a primer on which laws are being used. (Heat transfer and gravity are easy ones to guess, but what law deals with earthquakes?) It feels like the author just wanted these characters to be able to do a bunch of cool things, like create fire and increase the force of a punch, and the easiest way to do that was through vague physics powers.
I'm not even going to bother getting into Callum's empath powers, which often transcend sensing emotion and go straight into full mind-reading. Commander Deanna Troi >>>>>> this asshole, always and forever.
There are also overlaps in "rare" types of magic and casual magic that is done with little fanfare. One example is when two characters use physics magic to create a wormhole (for the first time ever, apparently) that can be used to teleport across physical space. But throughout the book, the characters travel internationally via magical portal, and the difference (if any) between this and the wormhole is never explained.
-Anything about the library.The author had the opportunity to imagine a modern-day Library of Alexandria -- both the physical structure and its contents. This was a chance to go all-out with imagination, to take inspiration from legends and history and architecture and fiction, to create a place that justifies the characters being willing to kill for continued access to it.
And what do the readers get? About a paragraph and a half about a big room with some pneumatic tubes, and some scattered references to ancient texts. That's it. That's fucking it.
New rule I'm setting for myself: If a book sounds interesting but got a lot of hype on certain social media sites with consistently poor track records, I get it from the library.
Likewise, there are interesting characters and arcs to be explored -- particularly in the case of Reina, who resents her immense magical power and sees it as a way for both nature and society to take advantage of her -- but these are sacrificed in favor of chapter after chapter of Callum, the Wish.com version of Patrick Bateman, toying with sad boy Tristan.
The most painful of this book's failures was the worldbuilding, which led me to create this non-comprehensive list of things that went un- or underexplained, in ascending order of how angry I get when I think about it:
-General story bits that weren't described well and/or weren't believable.
-How magic and magical people interact with and impact the rest of the world.
There is no information given on non-magical people, even though they're 99.9995 percent of the world. One of the book's (attempted) themes is the exclusivity of information and whether world-changing (albeit dangerous) knowledge should be kept siloed instead of available to populations who could benefit from it. This theme would have been much more powerful if there had been any perspective from the have-nots of this world. (I think it was a missed opportunity to not have Ezra, Libby's boyfriend, be non-magical, or to have a more prominent presence from the Forum, the magical-info-for-all organization.)
Oh, and magical creatures exist, but they're only mentioned in relation to one character, so they're barely relevant.
-How the magic system works.
I'm not even going to bother getting into Callum's empath powers, which often transcend sensing emotion and go straight into full mind-reading. Commander Deanna Troi >>>>>> this asshole, always and forever.
There are also overlaps in "rare" types of magic and casual magic that is done with little fanfare. One example is when two characters use physics magic to create a wormhole (for the first time ever, apparently) that can be used to teleport across physical space. But throughout the book, the characters travel internationally via magical portal, and the difference (if any) between this and the wormhole is never explained.
-Anything about the library.
And what do the readers get? About a paragraph and a half about a big room with some pneumatic tubes, and some scattered references to ancient texts. That's it. That's fucking it.
New rule I'm setting for myself: If a book sounds interesting but got a lot of hype on certain social media sites with consistently poor track records, I get it from the library.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Blood and Murder
Minor: Death, Terminal illness, Colonisation, and Classism
inthearchive's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual assault, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
fronk10's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
fast-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
4.0
An excellent book focusing on characters who are all horrible in their own way but you can’t help but love! The dark academia vibes are spot on and it has all the classic secrets and twists, but the characters are definitely where this book shines. Intrigued the read the second one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder
booksemmahasread's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Cancer, Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
sara_malo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt
anastasia_raf's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
In The Atlas six by Olivie Blake, we follow six characters, each one has their own agenda but all of them must walk through the doors of the Alexandrian society in order to gain access to means necessary to succeed their personal goals. How far are you willing to go to get what you want? Are you ready to sacrifice your morals? To sacrifice your soul? Would you sacrifice another’s soul?
I still cannot decide if I liked the book or disliked it, or just didn’t care for it. It took me too long to become interested in the story; It started getting intriguing after 200 pages. I believe it’s a bit predictable… I guessed almost everything. It is a unique story, but the characters seemed mediocre to me. The author was so concerned in convincing us of everyone’s “gray morality” that I couldn’t distinguish any personalities within them. It felt like I read everything from the same POV but with just different “magical” abilities each time. Although I have a feeling that it’s going to be improved in the next books. Maybe I just need more time with them! I think I need to see how they behave outside of the society, how they are without one another, what they become on their own.
I liked the writing. The dialogue was pleasing as well! But I’m not sure if it’s enough for me to continue with the second book…
''A flaw of humanity,( said Parisa) the compulsion to be unique, which is at war with the desire to belong to a single identifiable sameness.''
I still cannot decide if I liked the book or disliked it, or just didn’t care for it. It took me too long to become interested in the story; It started getting intriguing after 200 pages. I believe it’s a bit predictable… I guessed almost everything. It is a unique story, but the characters seemed mediocre to me. The author was so concerned in convincing us of everyone’s “gray morality” that I couldn’t distinguish any personalities within them. It felt like I read everything from the same POV but with just different “magical” abilities each time. Although I have a feeling that it’s going to be improved in the next books. Maybe I just need more time with them! I think I need to see how they behave outside of the society, how they are without one another, what they become on their own.
I liked the writing. The dialogue was pleasing as well! But I’m not sure if it’s enough for me to continue with the second book…
''A flaw of humanity,( said Parisa) the compulsion to be unique, which is at war with the desire to belong to a single identifiable sameness.''
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
zarhara's review against another edition
mysterious
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Blood
reader_i_married_him's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.75
It started slow, and some of the characters had me rolling my eyes and saying "oh come on!" But before I knew it I was sucked in and there wasn't enough book to wrap up all the plot and it ended on a crazy cliff hanger that had me ordering the sequel IMMEDIATELY!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, and Murder