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A review by lexiis_lit
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
3.0
I feel as though I enjoyed this book in the exact opposite way the author intended.
I can tell that this book was conceived entirely from vibes. What the author intended was to create something that would feel like the classroom scene from the Secret History but longer, and delve into characters deeply. And don't get me wrong, I love flawed characters and character-focused books and even a tasteful dash of purple prose - but this book is not intended to prompt discussion in the way that the Secret History does. It is here to tell you how the world is, and there's a big difference between the characters doing this and the book doing this. Each of the characters all have the same drab worldview where they only think the worst about the world and the people around them, and without a single character offering an alternate perspective (and with the author's insistence about how intelligent they are) it comes off as this being the only acceptable intellectual worldview. The author affords all the intense emotions (the "innocent fragility of being human", or "being gods") without actually experiencing them. What I mean is this: there are no instances, throughout the entire book, of a character being surprised, or uncomfortable, or challenged emotionally. Very few characters care about anyone at all. This means that as readers, we have no anchoring point from which to actually grow attached to the characters, so despite them being flawed, they are impenetrable, which prevents them from feeling like real people. At one point, characters that have been established to have a blistering rivalry put their talents together to create a wormhole - which seems like a huge moment both for the plot and the characters, but we don't see it at all, and it's barely mentioned later. Therefore, describing these rivals as having "true synchronicity" when their only bonding moment was offscreen feels inauthentic, as does the many other big declarations that are made.
Instead of enjoying this as a deep, mystical, intellectual masterpiece, I just kind of read through it as a campy, satirical version of itself. My favorite characters (Ezra, for whom the aforementioned cynical worldview actually works, because of what he's been through; and Reina, because she breaks through some of the bullshit) were obviously not the author's (Libby and Parisia). I kept waiting for it to get to the point where some people would betray each other, but it never needed to because they never trusted each other (again they appear impenetrable) and in this, Callum is particularly bad. If he doesn't care about anything, why should we care about him? I cannot fathom how the society is the good guys, or even the ones we're supposed to root for. As a minor criticism, for a book that criticizes capitalism so often, it sure does have a lot of class differences and competition for a reward.
Did I enjoy this book? Yes, as a guilty pleasure. But I don't know if I'll be getting lost in the world anytime soon.
I can tell that this book was conceived entirely from vibes. What the author intended was to create something that would feel like the classroom scene from the Secret History but longer, and delve into characters deeply. And don't get me wrong, I love flawed characters and character-focused books and even a tasteful dash of purple prose - but this book is not intended to prompt discussion in the way that the Secret History does. It is here to tell you how the world is, and there's a big difference between the characters doing this and the book doing this. Each of the characters all have the same drab worldview where they only think the worst about the world and the people around them, and without a single character offering an alternate perspective (and with the author's insistence about how intelligent they are) it comes off as this being the only acceptable intellectual worldview. The author affords all the intense emotions (the "innocent fragility of being human", or "being gods") without actually experiencing them. What I mean is this: there are no instances, throughout the entire book, of a character being surprised, or uncomfortable, or challenged emotionally. Very few characters care about anyone at all. This means that as readers, we have no anchoring point from which to actually grow attached to the characters, so despite them being flawed, they are impenetrable, which prevents them from feeling like real people. At one point, characters that have been established to have a blistering rivalry put their talents together to create a wormhole - which seems like a huge moment both for the plot and the characters, but we don't see it at all, and it's barely mentioned later. Therefore, describing these rivals as having "true synchronicity" when their only bonding moment was offscreen feels inauthentic, as does the many other big declarations that are made.
Instead of enjoying this as a deep, mystical, intellectual masterpiece, I just kind of read through it as a campy, satirical version of itself. My favorite characters (Ezra, for whom the aforementioned cynical worldview actually works, because of what he's been through; and Reina, because she breaks through some of the bullshit) were obviously not the author's (Libby and Parisia). I kept waiting for it to get to the point where some people would betray each other, but it never needed to because they never trusted each other (again they appear impenetrable) and in this, Callum is particularly bad. If he doesn't care about anything, why should we care about him? I cannot fathom how the society is the good guys, or even the ones we're supposed to root for.
Spoiler
To me Ezra is perfectly justified and makes sense.Did I enjoy this book? Yes, as a guilty pleasure. But I don't know if I'll be getting lost in the world anytime soon.