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A review by yoursbia
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I just finished this book, and now i can say with certainty that about 70% of it was just random rambling.
Yes, the way the author writes is beautiful, and I love the way she conjures up her sentences on paper, but that's the only good thing going on for this book (and as it might be important to mention, i read the self-published version). The problem is that this book was, possibly, 200 pages too long. There was no plot, and the whole thing felt like it was just a collection of beautiful sentences put together in order to fill up this book, saying everything and nothing at the same time.
More than halfway through this book, nothing had been explained. There are magicians—medeians, as they call them—, there are magic-less people, secret societies, elemental powers, mind-reading, and whatnot. But at no point in the book are these explained. We don't know how the magic system works, we don't know why some people have it, we don't know what they do with it or its impact on the world, we don't know why this is important.
Six people—the most powerful that exist—are invited to join this secret society, where they are promised access to all the knowledge in the world. I would say this is a pretty cool idea for a book, especially with magic involved. Academic secret societies and magic? Yes, please! This book had so much potential, but it was so boring to read because nothing ever happens! All we get to see is them researching some random philosophical topic that doesn't get explained properly, hating on each other, or the vague mention of them having sex.
If you're looking for a found family trope, this is also not the place to be. In the one year these six people had to live and study together, they didn't form any significant relationships with each other. All their conversations started and ended the same way: vague, poetic, and philosophical, with no character development or conclusion whatsoever.
This book was purely just vibes, pretty sentences, and a weird, undeniable sexual tension between all of the characters (and yes, I mean all of them!). Which would honestly not be a problem with me if it wasn't 400 pages! The only time something interesting starts to happen is at the end, when you're too tired to keep reading it. And I admit that I was confused most of the time while doing so.
And i don't mean to be too harsh on the author, especially since i haven't read the traditionally published version. There were definitely things i enjoyed reading too. I loved the ambiguity of the characters, not knowing whether their intentions were good or bad. I loved getting mad at them for their shit actions. I loved Parisa. And i would even say i started to like Callum towards the end, even with him being a literal psychopath (or at least portraying himself to the others as such). I loved Nico and Libby's relationship (which was pre-existent). And i honestly loved the tiny bits of actual plot that we got to see, especially near the end. But as i said, all of this went flat because of the lack of development and exploration of these characters.
Overall, I strongly believe that this book would've been an amazing read if it wasn't so long, possibly even 4 or 5 stars. And i wish i could know what happens next without having to go through another 400 tiring pages to read the next book (which i most likely won't).
Yes, the way the author writes is beautiful, and I love the way she conjures up her sentences on paper, but that's the only good thing going on for this book (and as it might be important to mention, i read the self-published version). The problem is that this book was, possibly, 200 pages too long. There was no plot, and the whole thing felt like it was just a collection of beautiful sentences put together in order to fill up this book, saying everything and nothing at the same time.
More than halfway through this book, nothing had been explained. There are magicians—medeians, as they call them—, there are magic-less people, secret societies, elemental powers, mind-reading, and whatnot. But at no point in the book are these explained. We don't know how the magic system works, we don't know why some people have it, we don't know what they do with it or its impact on the world, we don't know why this is important.
Six people—the most powerful that exist—are invited to join this secret society, where they are promised access to all the knowledge in the world. I would say this is a pretty cool idea for a book, especially with magic involved. Academic secret societies and magic? Yes, please! This book had so much potential, but it was so boring to read because nothing ever happens! All we get to see is them researching some random philosophical topic that doesn't get explained properly, hating on each other, or the vague mention of them having sex.
If you're looking for a found family trope, this is also not the place to be. In the one year these six people had to live and study together, they didn't form any significant relationships with each other. All their conversations started and ended the same way: vague, poetic, and philosophical, with no character development or conclusion whatsoever.
This book was purely just vibes, pretty sentences, and a weird, undeniable sexual tension between all of the characters (and yes, I mean all of them!). Which would honestly not be a problem with me if it wasn't 400 pages! The only time something interesting starts to happen is at the end, when you're too tired to keep reading it. And I admit that I was confused most of the time while doing so.
And i don't mean to be too harsh on the author, especially since i haven't read the traditionally published version. There were definitely things i enjoyed reading too. I loved the ambiguity of the characters, not knowing whether their intentions were good or bad. I loved getting mad at them for their shit actions. I loved Parisa. And i would even say i started to like Callum towards the end, even with him being a literal psychopath (or at least portraying himself to the others as such). I loved Nico and Libby's relationship (which was pre-existent). And i honestly loved the tiny bits of actual plot that we got to see, especially near the end. But as i said, all of this went flat because of the lack of development and exploration of these characters.
Overall, I strongly believe that this book would've been an amazing read if it wasn't so long, possibly even 4 or 5 stars. And i wish i could know what happens next without having to go through another 400 tiring pages to read the next book (which i most likely won't).
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide attempt and Death