Reviews with content warning for Cursing - The Atlas Complex

Everything that was possibly annoying in the first two books, was somehow 1000% worse. The sentences just waffled on, there was no plot underneath all the garbage sentences. The ending was what? Nothing, hated everything about this, only finished it because I owned the book

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emilywemily6's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

2.5

This book was so confusing to read. So much philosophy that was trying to sound smarter than it was. While all the characters were intriguing, I felt like the characters’ motivations were inconsistent and unclear, especially considering people changed their minds throughout the book. Reina was disconnected from everything else happening in the book.

Why did Libby kill Nico??? Why didn’t she kill Dalton when she realized how much power he had? She definitely labeled him as the villain. And I was bummed when Tristan chose the not change anything in the many scenarios and he let Callum die instead of choosing a different scenario where they ended up together.

There were too many perspectives throughout the book and I feel like nothing happened in this book even though it was super long. I guess I also don’t really understand the whole idea that these kind of bad people all want to both kill and have sex with every other character. The writing style is interesting and the characters are intriguing, but this book was very unsatisfying.

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aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

"I'm actually an elite member of a secret society"

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caryndi's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

The first two books in this series were some of my favorite reads in 2023, so I was very excited when The Atlas Complex came in at the library. It did not disappoint! When you get invested in a series, there's always the possibility the final book will fail to stick the landing but this book did so and then some.
There was a decent amount of dramatic irony built up going into this book, because we as readers knew what Atlas' plan was, whereas Libby did not trust what she was told about Atlas' plan. That alone was a great setup for conflict. Libby's choices and the choices of the other characters in the book added new layers that really had me wanting to learn where it all was headed.
One thing I want to applaud the author for is how well she took as us readers along for the ride. My experience was that I came out of the first two books rooting for specific characters and against others, and a lot of that was turned upside down in this book. It wasn't even a sense of "well this person/story is just boring me now"—but of her showing the characters growing and changing in ways that was really gratifying as a reader. I never would have imagined I'd feel so strongly about certain characters or relationships but for example

Callum's death

hit SO hard.
Additionally, this series was built around character relationships and they continued to be on point. This book was perhaps the gayest of all of them (always a plus!) and explored some new character/relationship dynamics that I enjoyed. I'm also a sucker for the "everyone is a bit in love with everyone else" trope and the six main characters really had that going on. Even when it was outside of actual romantic relationships—I'm a sucker for that blurring of friendship vs. something deeper and boy did I get that!
The structure of the book and the names of the sections were clear allusions to the author's philosophical inspirations and I think this book also lived up to that promise. I am not deep enough into philosophy to have more than a surface level understanding of the various systems she referenced but in terms of calling for that kind of thought, and being an examination of choice and outcomes, I thought it was a triumph. The ending of this book was satisfyingly unsatisfying (kinda spoiler,

in that it didn't provide that perfect catharsis some books do

), which I think was kind of the point of this approach/framing. The text was very upfront about acknowledging that the categories of good/bad are mostly artificial, or at least only useful in very limited contexts, and really dug into that concept throughout.
If I have one critique it would be with the very very last chapter: I just don't think it was needed. I can see the argument for putting it in there, especially knowing that readers come to things with different levels of engagement and understanding. But IMO it would have been better to leave that off—to go without that concrete "here is the moral". I think the book lead readers, at least careful ones, to that conclusion.
Final thought: I appreciate Ms. Blake doing her part to make sure everyone knew her characters were all very sexy. That's the kind of effort I respect. (Also I'm curious if color versions of the character art exists anywhere!)

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itsheyfay's review against another edition

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

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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barda's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-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

3.5

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celery's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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natashaleighton_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-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

Despite the mixed reviews I actually really enjoyed this pacey, emotional rollercoaster of a read—which sees the stakes get even higher for all six of our protagonists.

And if (like me) you loved how deliciously complex and character driven the previous instalments were, then this is definitely worth picking up.

Our depth-filled cast of morally grey characters were just as complicated (and willing to lie, cheat or commit murder) as ever before. And the emotions conveyed in their strained and rocky relationships has quickly become one of my fave aspects of the entire series— which (unsurprisingly) managed to once again keep me on the edge of my seat.

But I do admit that, by the end I did feel like I’d been through the emotional wringer along with our MCs, and have needed some time to truly digest everything that happened before I could write this review.

With gloriously underhanded, Machiavelli- level plots and an opening that sees most of our characters on different continents (before eventually converging) there was literally never a dull moment. However, I do think that the pacing was a little too quick at times, which meant some of the important scenes didn’t resonate quite as much as I wanted and, as such, lost a little of that delicious, Dark Academia-esque essence that first drew me in.

That being said, I loved the buddy-comedy style dynamics that developed between Callum and Reina, and liked getting to know more about Parisa’s past and private life. But my heart is still trying to come to terms with THAT shocking turn of events. I can’t say anymore without spoilers so I’ll just say, keep some tissues handy—you’re gonna need them!

I’m also still impressed with Olivie Blake’s ability to weave a tale about six slightly unhinged, magic nerds and their dysfunctional relationships, into an intricate and timeless allegory on humanity’s innate (and perpetual) quest for power, and the corruption that ultimately arises from trying gain it.

Given the world’s current political climate; the ending, though angsty and heartbreakingly bittersweet, did feel like the perfect way to conclude this jaw-droppingly plot twisty series. Just don’t go into this expecting a happy outcome for everyone.

Also, a huge thanks to Black Crow PR and Tor/ Pan MacMillan for the finished copy.

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