Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - The Atlas Six

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

71 reviews

kaylamoran's review against another edition

dark 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

4.5

From the moment I heard that a self published book had exploded and was going to be traditionally published, I knew I had to read it. I saw so many good reviews that it became a 5 star prediction for me. I do think my crazy expectations did it no favours, but I loved it nonetheless. A few things about the writing style or pacing irked me at times, but the story and the characters kept me going. Multi POV is one of my absolute favourite fantasy tropes, so I loved that part of it as well.

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thaliareads's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

5.0

Really interesting concept and a diverse cast of characters. I do sort of wish I had read it as a physical or e-book the first time instead of listening to the audiobook. It was a bit tough for me to separate the characters at first since the way I listen to audiobooks while I'm doing other things I sometimes missed when a switch in character was announced. However, this is my personal experience and overall I really enjoyed the narration of this book.

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livlamentloathe's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

The ending reveal felt like a missing piece someone found under the carpet a week later. Like yeah, it solved the problem, but we didn’t even know it was missing until it was all but revealed! We had very little to go on until the mystery was revealed in the final chapter.

Ezra was good but not good but also nothing? I don’t like that he would’ve been the villain but Atlas was actually the villain so Ezra’s not the villain now? But was supposed to be before the book???

The language was VERY flowery. It was lowkey bothering me but I didn’t know what “it” was until my roommate brought it to my attention. Once she mentioned the “flowery language,” the lightbulb over my head turned on. It was excessive. A lot of the writing was redundant and repetitive. A lot of telling, not enough showing. Oh yes, they’re the very best, wow. But no examples to clarify what “typical” magicians were like beyond some references in explanations. There was never any proof beyond Libby and Nico that any of them were better than any others.

Reina doesn’t do anything. Callum is the obvious villain slash scapegoat/martyr. Parisa can’t get into anyone’s mind if they set a block up? Tristan was only just figuring out his powers by the end.

There was no show! All tell, tell, tell. Overall, I think the whole magic system was too cerebral.

Also there was no emotion on the page. At all. I wanted to ship Libby and Nico from the first scene. Duh, enemies to lovers. Easy fave of mine. But I’m really not sure where this is aiming the characters.

Is Tristan/Libby supposed to be a thing there? Libby only ever showed mild interest in him. Only sexual after it became sexual a la Parisa. And then it was just thought. No emotion still. I felt like I should want to ship them or Gideon/Nico but the emotional anchor wasn’t there. It was almost too academic.

There was no character arc for any of them. No believable change in any of them. Sometimes they changed based on one scene or another but almost all feelings just came out of nowhere. Time kind of skipped around at will and that changed how they felt but it was strange and disconnected. Like we were meant to be suspicious all the time but there was never a satisfying pay off.

There were too many blocks and curtains in the way. I hate unecessary blockades when they don’t occur naturally! By this I mean that they were all purposefully lying and withholding the truth EVEN from the reader. So it always felt like we were missing something but we never found out what. Conversation happens more naturally than exemplified in this book.

I will say there was a lot that I enjoyed. I liked all the characters (minus the obvious). I was interested in what came next and how they got there. I was curious about the magic systems and who lost, etc. etc. I liked the variety of characters and all their diverse complex backgrounds. It reminded me at times of A Deadly Education. I enjoyed Parisa a great deal! And it was so easily enthralling. You’re caught in the mystery so quick and you just have to keep reading! I’m very interested in the next, but I hope that it had better editing than this and that it’s a more satisfying story. I wanted to love this, and I almost did, but there wasn’t quite enough to hold me. I need more emotion and passion and honesty.

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pvbobrien's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

2.75

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wrestleacademic's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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takarakei's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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 did a combo of listening to the audiobook (full cast, a narrator for each POV) and reading a physical copy, which was fantastic!

This is definitely a predominantly character-driven novel, but the characters are so interesting and lushly written that it often feels like so much is going on anyway (even though it isn't really). It's one of those books where you feel like you can't really trust anyone as they all have ulterior motives (morally gray). It's very mysterious in their motives coming to light, and learning more about all the characters magical abilities.

I do really wonder though how much the next books will be character driven though because this book feels like a big set up for some major plot things to happen (ie: preventing the destruction of the universe?). SO I do kinda think/hope the storyline will move a bit more out of the character's heads just to really let this story unfold.

Also def everyone is queer, like there's no question in my mind that this will develop in the next books...

I cannot wait for the continuation of the series!
3/5🌶

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lynsstrange's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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

4.25

Overall really enjoyed! It took me a while to get through. The language was trying to be edgy and philosophical, and at some points, it works quite well, and in others it comes off just as sorta clunky. (Read: “Did they hurt you?” He asked. She dragged her gaze up, sickened. “Who?” “Everyone.” “Yes.”) Like a lot of the dialogue is easy to picture in a book, but then you have to pause and remember “why the hell would anyone actually ever say that in real life??” 💀 However, I love the characters and how morally gray and complex they are. My favorites are Tristan and Libby, but I relate to Reina the most lmao. Basically all the characters sleep with each other at some point, so this leads to some bizarre dynamics and anyone can be shipped with anyone. But, I’m a sucker for academic rivals, so I’m going to have to go with Libby and Nico as my favorite. The plot twist was really interesting, and I was not at all expecting

Ezra’s crazy backstory with Atlas! I thought he’d probably end up being a villainous figure or something. But like, damn, I wasn’t expecting Atlas to be the overarching antagonist. Kinda interesting. I wonder just how old that makes Ezra though oop.

Overall really enjoyed this, though. Waiting excitedly for the atlas paradox!!

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