I can't give this book a proper review as I requested the arc before reading the first book which I brought on kindle and dnf at 25%. Will rate as 3 stars for fairness.

The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake (book 2 in the Atlas series) continues the story from the last book (Atlas Six), this is a fantasy with magic that covers some different ideas such as telepathy, empaths, people who can move matter and move through time.  This is a book series that you do need to read the first book in order to understand the second book!

I enjoyed this series - I went and re-read the Atlas Six so I could remember everything! This felt a bit slow as it explored actions, hiding consequences and the aftermath of book 1, but I felt that this slowness was deliberate.

It feels like there will be a third book in the series at least, so I'll be looking forwarding to seeing where this goes!

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Pan McMillan.

Another great installment in the series. Once again this book can only be described as a slow fantasy, dark academia-type read. With not a great deal of exciting plot but plenty of individual points of view to keep you interested - this is where I think Olivie Blake excelled, with so many POV to keep straight each one had their own individual voice and it was always evident whose head you were in.

3.5 stars

I started The Atlas Paradox with some apprehension after reading Atlas Six. My main issue with the first instalment in this series was it just confused me and made me spend time with characters I didn’t like or care what happened to them. That said I was intrigued.

In The Atlas Paradox characters not previously explored enough are better dissected and built on.Through a projection test where they must fight each other near the start of the book, the weaknesses, thought processes and backgrounds of several characters in particular are better explored. Reina and Callum in Atlas Six were just sort of there, here we better understand Callum’s self loathing and pain, Reina’s need to be invisible and the anxiety and guilt that plagues Tristan. That said the characters are still very unlikeable, not morally grey which would make them interesting, but dastardly selfish and unnecessary which doesn’t make them feel real. Reina in particular is just plain annoying and everything she looks down on other people for, in particular Parisa, she fails to see she is more morally corrupt than. For Nico the only interesting thing about him is Gideon, although we learn more about him which I’m glad for. I did enjoy the characters working more together in this book, there’s only really one key moment in Atlas Six when this happened and it frustrated me because I wanted more of these people using their skills collaboratively and putting aside their issues. This does happen more in this instalment, more pairings than a group but you do see more compromise and less squabbling here.

Parisa is still,for me, the most interesting and engaging character and her observations and delving into the other characters helps add better understanding to them all. Is she calculating and manipulative? Yes. But she’s fascinating and more layered and I enjoyed her.
Libby too is a highlight, after every character was just awful to her in the first book (and I must’ve missed the part in all the bullying where they apparently cared for her like they say in this one), in this one she must survive by her own resources and step away from the shadows and condescension of the others. In Libby’s chapters you follow her learning to hold her head higher and not be so apologetic for existing, she becomes a little ruthless and takes no **** - this is a Libby I liked and it’s promising for the next book.

That said, this book, like Atlas Six, made me feel very stupid and confused so I never really felt I could emerge myself in and it made reading a slower experience. I don’t understand Quantum Physics but then this isn’t marketed as a science/physics book but simply fantasy fiction so I wish it were better explained. It really felt like this book just talked at me at times, rather than engaged me by talking to me. I fully hold my hands up that it could just be that I’m stupid but it felt overwhelming at times, I got it at a general surface level just the science really bounced off my head and I struggled to understand. If you understand these concepts and can digest all the book on this level, possibly this book is a different experience.

For all its difficulties there is something about this series that draws me in and will probably bring me back. The characters are better bulked up and easier to spend time with, I just wish I understood what was happening.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review

i tried, I can't help that this just was too drawn out for me. There were so many words like we were trying to reach the character limit in an essay you didn't want to write. The characters felt so different from the first book, so much so I could not fall into the story.

I will always love Libby though.

This made my brain hurt in the best way possible! This book was just one big mindfuck and it was so satisfying to watch it come together in the end!

So so so good! Loved it!

As engrossing as The Atlas Six but with an expansion of the outer world, secondary characters and powers!

The growth of the Six was fascinating. God like powers in mere mortals! I do think a certain character in particular was stagnant for a good while before suddenly going full dark side at the end which... I was not a fan of.

But on the whole, super engaging and fun read.

Like the first volume, this second one didn't excite me too much.
I don't know, it's probably my impression, but I seem to read only gossip. I didn't understand the plot of the story, ignorantly I didn't give it the right weight, but it's a series that didn't drive me crazy at all. I had high expectations, I've heard about it everywhere, but obviously it's not for me.

I really wanted to love this book but honestly I’m 50/50 on it. I found it slow and didn’t feel like things actually happened and started making sense until the last 10 chapters. I will probably be reading the last book in the trilogy just because I can’t leave a series unfinished but I really hope it comes together in the end. Will have to wait and see.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Amazing sequel. Exactly what you'd expect based on the first. I love these characters and want more or them. It's dark, it's atmospheric, it's boujee, it's full of itself and pretentious but in the best way. It just works. Beautiful.

I somewhat enjoyed this as a follow-up to the Atlas Six, but there were certain aspects that disappointed me. I do, however, like the philosophical atmosphere that runs through this book.

It took me a while to finish, but I am glad that I persevered.


Thank you NetGalley for the arc.

Personally, this was not as strong as book 1, but still a good followup with some interesting twists and character drama. This has some pacing issues as it drags in places, and it felt less cohesive than book 1. That said, I still enjoyed it and do intend to continue with the series. If you like The Atlas Six this is definitely worth a read.

“Murder first and then scholarly pursuits.”

I really liked the premise of the Atlas Six but never quite connected to it. The end really captured my attention, but it took so long to get there. All that to say, I went into The Atlas Paradox with quite low expectations. However, I enjoyed this so much more.
I couldn’t necessarily pinpoint why - maybe reading it over a longer time, coming back to it when I was in the mood - maybe it’s that all the characters had more personality this time, were each working towards a goal - or maybe just because there was a clearer endpoint we were aiming towards (I can’t deal with books that feel like they’re aimlessly wandering).
I really liked how the characters interacted. It felt like they were more people this time. I also liked the story they followed and the research they did.
We got to see more of the world and the society, and its impact on the world around it - I feel like it had poignant larger messages.
For some reason, I thought this was only a two part series, so I was surprised by the ending. But I certainly enjoyed and will enjoy reading on!

So after I fell in love with The Atlas Six, I had high hopes for the sequel but I ended up with mixed feelings about this book.
This book drags for most of it but then the ending is so abrupt and everything happens at once and it was quite frustrating to read.
The characters don’t really develop much, they’re all pretty much the same and yet they also felt different.
They don’t learn to work together in any way and yet they don’t really do much of anything on their own either.

Though I did enjoy the Nico & Gideon scenes and the Tristan & Nico scenes. I also enjoyed reading about Callum in this book when I couldn’t stand him in the first book.
Though I did find that the characters felt flat in this book. The excitement and intrigue of the first book was missing and it felt very repetitive.
Libby ends up in the past and I was expecting some sort of team up where the characters begrudgingly work together to bring her back but that didn’t really happen. We don’t even see them working on their projects when it could have been really interesting.
Ezra & Atlas were so intriguing in the first book but they felt like completely different characters in this book. I wanted to see that witty smart & mysterious Atlas but we got a tired grumpy one. I thought for sure that Ezra would have been a fascinating character and I wanted to see him work towards taking on Atlas but again none of that happened.

I was left with lots of unanswered questions and the most interesting characters didn’t get enough page time.
I want to know more about Gideon and I want the backstory to Dalton.
This book did not go in the direction I expected and felt like nothing much really happened and yet I find myself wanting to read the next book.
Like I said, mixed feelings lol

BOOK REVIEW

A BIG thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read this arc.

This review is spoiler free.

I've been putting off sending a review for this title as I'm not really sure what I think of it. I enjoyed the tension of book one, the writing style and the pacing. I loved the plot line and the sting in the tail that was the price that had to be paid for access to the library. I expected more from book two and I don't think we get it. The characters are still bickering and hating on each other, a year has passed people work together instead of against each other please, you have a common goal after all. They literally don't seem to make any progress towards anything.. Maybe it's second book syndrome, maybe this book is purely about setting everything up for an explosive finale in book three where the pacing will speed up and our heads will be spinning with all the plot twists? After all, this ending was certainly dramatic! Unfortunately, there was also a lot of nothing to trudge through to get to that big finish!

One of my biggest problems with this arc copy - and I know this shouldn't affect the review but it was a pretty major issue - was the missing text! 90% of words that began 'TH' were missing the 'TH' at the start. It usually happened at the beginning of a new sentence but could occur literally anywhere making lots of re-reading necessary. There were also sections where a different font had been used and it appeared as squares so I had to make a guess as to what it was meant to say. I considered giving in and buying a copy purely to improve my reading experience, but I'm not sure I want one. 3/5 stars solely for the ending.

I wanted to like this book so much, so I picked it up, read a few chapters, and put it down again so many times that I could not get into it. I think for me, more than anything it’s just so much dialogue, of petty and dull characters, I got into around 60% of the book and I’m ashamed to say it was a DNF.

I was deeply disappointed by this book. I’m gonna get that out of the way immediately. It wasn’t terrible, but after how much I adored THE ATLAS SIX I was so disappointed. The sequel syndrome was real in this one. I also expected this to be a duology, and found out about sixty percent in that there was going to be another book. It took me about 70% into this book to get invested in it, and the last 30% was fantastic up until it hit a cliffhanger. If I hadn’t adored THE ATLAS SIX, I definitely would have DNF’d THE ATLAS PARADOX. The whole way through, I could just really tell that the first book was a viral sensation. It sounds harsh, but this book felt like it was very very intelligent but it wasn’t backed up by the content itself. I think if we had more plot and less philosophical musing then I would have enjoyed this more, but it felt a lot like I was in a university lecture that I did not sign up for.

Belen was an interesting character and I liked her introduction, as well as the sections where Libby was trapped in the past and making the best of it. But that was the only character relationships I could enjoy. I was frustrated that all of the characters were driven apart and lost faith in each other, when we had finally started to see them becoming a cohesive group. Ultimately, this book was too convoluted and lost that spark that ATLAS SIX had that made it so loveable. I’m going to read book three though and hope and pray that it finds that spark again.

a fun book. It took me a couple of attempts to finish this but when I did I found that I did actually enjoy it more then I thought I would

I gave 3 out of 5 stars because while it was a great page turner that depicted some of the worst of society when privilege is mixed in, it was more a philosophical read about what some people believe is the origin of the world and humanity’ s reason for existing.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I feel like this book lost its way somewhat by loosening the ties between the main characters and making then distrust each other to the point where they weren't a cohesive group any more. I also felt there was too much philosophical musing at the expense of the plot, and as a reader you had no idea what was happening half the time. I did like the introduction of the character of Belen and the discussion of the colonisation of academia and how that impacts scholars from a global majority background. But overall I was a bit disappointed by this book and didn't feel like it lived up to the promise of the first.