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A review by madscibrarian
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
dark
emotional
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
3.0
This book mainly works well as a character-driven novel. The plot does sounds really cool, but it doesn't resolve in a super interesting way. I thought all of the characters were introduced well, and each initially felt that they would be a distinctive voice from the others. There are six total main characters, and each chapter is told from one of the six's point of view. I think it does alternate evenly between all six, but it doesn't necessarily feel that way. The way each character is introduced is through them individually meeting Atlas and Atlas extending an invitation to join this elite magical society, though it's a selective invitation in that they invite six but only choose five. You know that they're all going to volunteer for this opportunity if you've read the synopsis, so it's a bit of a slow start, but it was a good way to get to know all of these characters. After those first initial chapters though, it became evident that the author has clear favorite characters who are better developed and more important to the story. This is why I can't say for sure if there was an actual even distribution between all of the POV chapters. I definitely started to loose interest in half of the characters, and two of them I couldn't even really remember who was who (Tristan and Callum-- I know that each had a distinct magical power, but I couldn't remember which power went to which person). I definitely wish all POVs felt even and important to the story, but it doesn't resolve that way. The book is a first in a series, so it's possible that it will even out.
I also had some issues with the writing style. It was overwritten in my opinion. In one particular example, a character is having a phone conversation with her boyfriend, and instead of holding an active conversation with the boyfriend, it provides flashbacks of the day's previous events that the character is thinking about when asked a question by her boyfriend, but by the end of it, she isn't going to share since this magical society is secret. I would frequently forget that she was talking to him. Honestly I felt the boyfriend's frustration in being left hanging from an actual response to his questions. The style does fairly well for creating a character-driven novel because it can focus on the characters' internal thoughts and reactions, but I felt it was a little too much.
As for the plot, it sounds cool, but it isn't really focused on action or learning or performing magic. It's more centered around an aspect that is spoiled in the synopsis, and in the tagline for the book. I won't say more than that, but the book doesn't really sell the point or the atmosphere of becoming a member.
At the point, I'm unsure if I would continue on with the series. Again, I liked some of the characters (the ones that are well developed). I'm not the biggest fan of the writing style, and I'm unsure if the plot will get more interesting than what this was. I also thought the ending of this was predictable, at least in terms of the main point, but not necessarily all the nitty-gritty details. Left feeling lukewarm overall.
Thank you to the publisher for providing a free eARC via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
I also had some issues with the writing style. It was overwritten in my opinion. In one particular example, a character is having a phone conversation with her boyfriend, and instead of holding an active conversation with the boyfriend, it provides flashbacks of the day's previous events that the character is thinking about when asked a question by her boyfriend, but by the end of it, she isn't going to share since this magical society is secret. I would frequently forget that she was talking to him. Honestly I felt the boyfriend's frustration in being left hanging from an actual response to his questions. The style does fairly well for creating a character-driven novel because it can focus on the characters' internal thoughts and reactions, but I felt it was a little too much.
As for the plot, it sounds cool, but it isn't really focused on action or learning or performing magic. It's more centered around an aspect that is spoiled in the synopsis, and in the tagline for the book. I won't say more than that, but the book doesn't really sell the point or the atmosphere of becoming a member.
At the point, I'm unsure if I would continue on with the series. Again, I liked some of the characters (the ones that are well developed). I'm not the biggest fan of the writing style, and I'm unsure if the plot will get more interesting than what this was. I also thought the ending of this was predictable, at least in terms of the main point, but not necessarily all the nitty-gritty details. Left feeling lukewarm overall.
Thank you to the publisher for providing a free eARC via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.