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peedsreads 's review for:

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
3.25
challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I really wanted to like this book... but something about it is just a miss for me. It was very putdownable.  Per usual, I love the way Olivie Blake writes characters and their consciousnesses, and I kind of like the way she focuses on intangible conflicts and central themes. But I also find it quite frustrating.

For this book I think I just wanted to be a little more invested. I cared deeply about all of the characters and their relationship with each other, but I also felt like I was just getting a recap of the nanny-cam footage for a year at Hogwartz.

I will say she really said "stay with me" when I started to detach and then she threw in a three-some, but that just delayed my indifference to the story. I think this would be such a compelling miniseries, but we just need a little more to happen.

It's like she just personified a bunch of thought experiments, but the why/unifying factor is missing for me.

And then the twist (if you can call it that) at the end was interesting, but then I didn't care. It felt like "wouldn't it be wild if x was actually y..." but then didn't think through the why of it all and now I'm like why does it matter and why do I care?

Idk.  I will read the second, but I'm in no hurry to finish it. I just kind of want more satisfaction.

I did find myself zoning out during the audio more than with other series, but think I'd be bored if I read it with my eyes.

Honestly there's just too much going on.