Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

20 reviews

cardanrry's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Gun violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Body horror and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol

nicoledelairs's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

4.0

What a great read! I love a good multiple POV story and this did not dissapoint. I fell in love with some of these characters and have complicated feelings about the others. The relationships between everyone is unique and there are some interesting developments that I would not have guessed from when we are introduced to them. 

Blake has done a wonderful job writing these characters as complex people who each have a distinct voice. The characters' abilities and how those effect the way each of them thinks adds depth and a creative twist to their POVs that I really enjoyed. 

Parisa's chapters were especially interesting to me because they give us some small insights into the other characters' minds from a different mindset. Her scenes in Dalton's mind were some that left me with the most questions and some of what I am most excited to see play out in the second book.

I found the pacing to be great. Since the book takes place over the span of

about one year, there's bound to be time skips. I thought that the time in between the events we get to read felt natural, like the reader is given enough information to understand that some amout of time has passed but it doesn't feel rushed or skipped over. The reader knows that the characters have been busy during these times, but it doesn't feel like we are missing out on anything

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, and Terminal illness

midnacine's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

"Magic has aspects of nature, nature has aspects of magic, and to take one away from either is a corruption to both their forms."

The writing style of this book makes me wanna change the writing style of my reviews. That's how you know a book is good- when it undeniably influences your day-to-day decisions and ultimately leaves you consumed.
I'll be honest: I didn't expect to love this as much as I did. At moments, it was really hard for me to concentrate on the prose, as it's very much in the style of all those classics you're forced to read in high school. However, once I got attached to the characters, I was hooked.
I love the integration of magic with science, philosophy, and morality. Though challenging for me at times, I did find myself lingering on quite a few of the existential questions and really thinking about myself in the situations the Six are shown to be in. Namely: would I be willing to do whatever necessary, no matter the cost, if it meant accessing knowledge and power forbidden to the majority of human existence? Honestly, I'll never know.

And just to get it out of my system, here's the more academic portion of my review:
Reading Atlas Six was like looking at scrambled pieces of a puzzle: you know they'll all come together to make a cohesive picture, but until you have all of the pieces it's impossible to know in what orientation, exactly, the picture will be. Olivie Blake does an impeccable job of casting her very own magic over the reader to keep them on a proverbial seat, never revealing too much information at once to let them piece together the puzzle on their own.

I think the writing is absolutely gorgeous and has an amazing balance of seriousness and humor. It definitely took ~~big brain~~ to read it but I can't wait to see what happens in the second book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Death, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, and Torture

Minor: Child abuse, Body horror, Terminal illness, Grief, and Cursing

anaya_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

4.75

I wanted this to be a five star and it was so close but the ending was a little anticlimactic compared to its lead up. This does not change the fact that this book was amazing. The characters aren’t loveable. But that’s what makes them real. They have depth and flaws and hopes and fears. The author was incredible with making them intellectually similar but personally different. The writing was also beautiful and interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Violence

thoughtsontomes's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.5

I am conflicted about this book. There were parts that were pretentious and bit muddled but I do think that’s intentional. The characters, while mainly unlikeable, did grow on me. Sometimes their dynamics with each other didn’t make a lot of sense to me - it felt like I was missing something. The magic didn’t quite make sense and for a dark academia about magic I was expecting it to be a bit more detailed than it was. But ultimately I’m intrigued enough to continue and my rating of this may change over time. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Child abuse

kayladaila's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Blood

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Bullying, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gore, Death of parent, Murder, Mass/school shootings, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, and Classism

sydneyluxford's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I love crazy gay people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, and Kidnapping

Minor: Drug use

rachrreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-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

3.0

I received an ebook from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I am unsure how I feel about this book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading from these characters POVs— well except for Callum’s. I hated how malicious Callum was, especially considering he was an empath. Libby, while annoying, was the most relatable for me. Parisa is a queen. Nico is charming and a bundle of energy. Tristan was intriguing and his powers are still a mystery to me. Reina was the much needed calm center for the group.

I found the explanation of the magic to be lacking. The word medeian is used in contrast to witch, but it is not clearly explained what the difference is. I think medeian is just a highly skilled and/or trained wizard and a witch is just a common person with magic and no training, but not sure. 

I do not fully understand the plot and what happened at the end either. Every time I thought I understood what was going on, the next chapter confused me even more. I am intrigued to see where Olivie Blake goes with this though, so I am tempted to read book 2. 

Also Twitter made me think NicoLibby was gonna be a huge relationship in this book. I was thoroughly disappointed to learn they were not. Olivie please make them endgame or I will cry. I need my beautiful academic rivals to lovers who were always destined to be together. Thank you

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicide, Alcohol, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Kidnapping

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Cursing, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Violence, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, and Gore

oliverlang's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Murder, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Violence