Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

60 reviews

whailey's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Chronic illness, and Gaslighting

Minor: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship

clairew97's review

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Child death, Gaslighting, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Chronic illness

bthrds's review against another edition

challenging informative mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Blood, Suicide, Death, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

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

librarianlayla's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

4/4.5 stars

A dark academia murder game that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat.

You know a book is written well when you can both admire and loathe the characters within. There were some areas that were a little trudgy to get through but overall the high stakes pace of the story held throughout. 

I cannot wait to see how this ends. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Child abuse

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Grief, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Abandonment, Cursing, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, and Death

Minor: Child abuse, Vomit, Classism, War, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

lynnannwalsh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Murder

Minor: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Drug use, and Adult/minor relationship

hanarama's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

Book at a Glance: 
• Dark academia
• Diverse, ensemble cast
• Multiple POVs
• CWs: murder, psychological abuse, suicide

Atlas Blakely taps six talented magicians for admission to the prestigious and secret Alexandrian Society. The Society has continued to care for the Library of Alexandria in seclusion across the centuries, and drawing from its vast well of knowledge to shape the world. The newest cohort will learn the price that such knowledge carries, for only five out of the six will gain full membership. 

This is the book that A Deadly Education wishes it was. 

While in retrospect, very little happens through most of the book, it did not feel slow. This is due to cycling through six opposing points of view. The characters are different enough from each other, and driven by different motivations that moving between them keeps things interesting. Because the reader is constantly learning new things about the characters and uncovering information through each, its possible to uncover the full picture ahead of the characters. 

The characters are complicated morally gray, and messy. Because they know that one of them will not move to the next level, there’s a lot of politicking between the characters. It feels like a political intrigue on a small scale. This may not be to everyone’s taste, but I enjoyed it a lot. 

The final reveal is predictable in some ways. Information in early chapters gives some hint, but Blake performs an excellent sleight of hand, drawing the reader’s attention away to the characters over the background. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Murder, Bullying, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

apmerri's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual content, Violence, and Bullying