I NEED MORE PAGES!

This book was full of betrayal and wit, it kept me intrigued from page 1!
The eight POVS was so interesting to get the different timelines and POVs of different characters.

Enjoyed this one more than Atlas Six!!!

3.5 Stars Rounded up

I always worry reading sequels to books as they don’t always live up to expectations but I did enjoy this sequel. Atlas Paradox is a dark academia mystery of which students, each with a special talent compete for a prestigious spot. Only 5 out of the 6 are chosen which in the first book we found out that one has to be killed.
I enjoyed reading the multiple points of views as I felt it gave a better insight into the character and what there motives are.
I really enjoyed all the different types of magic and the magic system that is set in the book.
The world building was just as great as the first book. I enjoyed the plot but I’m not a fan of leaving the ending in a cliffhanger. I did feel that the book was slow at points and that some characters chapters where very long and full of a bit too much information.

I’m looking forward to read the last book in the series just to see how it ends.

Thank you to Netgalley, Olivia Blake and the publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Th atlas paradox is a great sequel to the atlas six. I loved the characters and their growth especially the plot which blew me away. 5/5 stars!

I was eager to read this much anticipated sequel to the much hyped bestseller The Atlas Six. With it’s unique literary style, philosophical themes and complex and well drawn characters, The Atlas Paradox is a great follow up. I still have the same issues with this one as the previous in that not much actually happens, despite it being set over a whole year. What keeps you drawn in though is the characters which I felt were really expanded in this second book. Initially I liked Libby and Nico but during this one, I found myself more drawn to Callum and Tristan. Each character adds something unique and different and I found myself intrigued by each person’s motivations, drives and behaviours. The story focuses on the groups second year and their quest to find Libby. The story again is told in multiple POVs but we get a few new POV in this one from Gideon and Ezra which is a lot of fun. This book did feel like a middle book and I am eager to see what direction the final part of the trilogy goes in. Thank you to Olivie Blake, the publisher and Netgalley for an arc of this book.

Colby Mills once felt destined for a musical career, but tragedy grounded his dreams. Now the dust has settled, he spontaneously takes a gig playing at a bar in Florida, seeking a rare break from his duties at home.

I wanted to love this book so much more than I did. Unfortunately the time travel storyline wasn't for me and I wanted to pace to pick up more. It is still an enjoyable series particularly if you enjoy dark academia and the concept of the multiverse. I think marvel may have ruined multiverse stories for me for a while which may have impacted my rating.

I always get nervous reading the second book in a series, especially when I absolutely loved The Atlas Six. ⁣
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However all my fears flew out the window as soon as I started reading and entered back into this amazing world that Blake has created. I missed these characters and was so happy to be back with them, watching them develop even more. I also loved seeing unlikely duos form in this one! ⁣
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Honestly if you love character driven books then this series is definitely one for you! I am so excited to read the next book in this series!⁣
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Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

WHAT A SEQUEL!! I'd not long ago finished the first book, The Atlas Six, which is a dark academia mystery set amongst specially talented (shall we say) students who are competing with one another, as 6 are chosen to compete and only 5 remain. I loved that book, the illustrations dotted throughout too, and was so excited for the sequel ... It didn't disappoint!!! I feel so excited to get stuck into more Olivie Blake titles and other dark academia novels - the aesthetics and mood crafted by Blake are so exceptional. I'm definitely going to be rereading book 1 and then the Atlas Paradox again next time I have a week off work. Thanks so much for the early access!

Me and my friend have been reading this series together and we both agreed we liked this one.
The story line was filled with some good twists and mystery's that kept you guessing.
It was good getting to know the characters more too.
We are really looking forward to book 3!!

Well, I’ve just sat down and read both books currently in this series on the trot and have since been scouring the internet for news of when the third will be released and sadly found no answer as yet.

Often, in a trilogy the second book acts as a link between the first and third book and as such can lack the drive of the first and the finality of the third and is sometimes, dare I say it … a bit boring. Not here, The Atlas Paradox drives the story forward and is action packed. And what a cliff hanger.

I’m loving this series and can’t wait for the final instalment, what more is there to say other than ‘knowledge is carnage’ and ‘destiny is a choice’. Ms Blake please don’t keep us waiting too long.

Heartfelt thanks to Netgalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this sequel and definitely a lot more than I thought I was going to. I was apprehensive about starting it due to my thoughts on the first book, but the way in which this was written was just great. I felt like we had more time to delve into the individual characters and their motives which provided them with more authentic personas that I really enjoyed reading about. The Libby ARC was my personal favourite as it felt very real and took the reader on a tangent that I was expecting but enjoyed nonetheless. The magic element was very developed as well which brought more depth to the story.

I did enjoy the ending but I do dislike when authors end with a cliffhanger just for the sake of the next book. Along with that, my other qualm was in relation to the pacing. I felt more time could be given to certain areas of the story that seemed a little bit forgotten. However, due to the fact we had more time to explore this world and its characters, I fell more in love with it. I would definitely recommend it.

TW: murder, death, sexual content, manipulation, toxic relationships

i really enjoyed the magic system and world setting of this story, its so unique and really thought provoking. You have to pay attention because it can get confusing at times. i felt this book was a little bit of a filler for the triology, i feel like this book could have been a few hundre pages shorter, and the series a duology instead. I really like the character descriptions and their inner monologues, none of them are particularly good people but that makes it more interesting. i really enjoyed the set up for the follow up and cannot wait to read onto the next. I do think book 1 was better, but this one was still really good. this book is unlike any ive read before, its so intelligently written.

The Atlas Paradox picks up right where The Atlas Six finished, with one member of the society gone and the others trying to figure out how to process that while still under The Society’s roof.
I found most of the first two thirds of this book quite hard going. A lot of detail heavy chapters that didn’t seem to move the plot along at all. The last third comes together at quite a pace connecting the threads. Essentially Blake makes you work for it! Interesting to see how this trilogy will end..

I really, really want to love this series. The characters are delightful and the magical science is fab. Unfortunately, like the first one, I found it slightly overwritten and a bit too grandiose in places. It feels like it could use a good edit and slashing of 100 words. I’ll definitely read the third, I want to know what happens next. But it just stops short of brilliant for me.

I think fans of the Atlas Six will be pleased by this sequel as it's got very similar vibes. Not a lot happens plot-wise but this is not detrimental to the reader's enjoyment as the characters are enough to hold your interest. Dark academia at its best.

As with The Atlas Six, The Atlas Paradox is a story that is near impossible to sum up without giving away spoilers, but while book one meandered a little too much for me, and left me with too many questions, this story starts bringing all the little pieces, all the hints and foreshadowing together to make for an electric sequel.

If there is one thing Blake does incredibly well, it's show us the intricacies, the complication and depth of her characters. While they did some questionable things in the first book they still remained, for the most part, somewhat good. There was a nae-vitae to them, a belief that their time at the society could help change the world for the better. But in this book they start to question just what, or who, they are truly working for, why the society picked them specifically. Blake's use of character pov's especially when we jump ahead, or behind in time is incredibly well done, and, as a lover of a character driven story, I adore how much time we get to spend in their heads learning about their beliefs, their trauma and how delicate they all truly are. We do get the addition of a few other POV's that I can't talk about too much because... spoilers, however, they all add an impact in some way to the story, whether it be to further our MC's story, or to drop little hints as to future/past events.

Alliances that were held in book one seemed to dissipate through this story as our characters not only learned more about themselves and why they were there, but also as their true priorities came to light. I did say that Black shows the intricacies of humanity incredibly well, and she does that by showing the weaving of alliances. Through these we get a better understanding of our characters, namely Reina and Callum, whose development were lacking in the first book, and I have to say, despite the super villain thing Reina had going in, I loved delving into their psyche's more. Meanwhile, despite all the odds Tristain and Nico build a tentative alliance, started over their shared need to bring Libby back from wherever she was, and furthered when they realise that their abilities compliment each other. And, as usual Parisa watched on from the outskirts, her own plan in motion.

There was a sinister undercurrent running through this story that, despite the overhanging death, was missing from the first book. In the Atlas Six, I felt that Blake spent a significant portion of the book delving into our characters academic lives, showing them testing their powers, learning what they were truly capable of, and while this certainly propelled the character growth, it almost stalled the actual plot. Something I don't think was helped by us going in knowing that one of the characters would die. But with the Atlas Paradox, Blake seemed to take the underlying tension and drama from the first book and just tripled it. Was it because we never quite knew what was going to happen? Where the story was truly going? I'm not sure, but I do feel like having the big reveals kept secret ensured that I felt more engrossed in the story, cared a little more for the characters and found myself significantly more invested than I was in the first book.

My ships sailed!... Kinda. There was significantly less steamy, or murderous scenes in this book which was a bit of a disappointment, but I do feel like we got to see our characters on a more personal scale. We learnt more about their insecurities, their wants and needs, which made the book have a more personal feel to it. Black did manage to through a few physical and emotional declarations in there, but it lacked the electricity that was ever present in book one, when we never knew whether out characters wanted to murder or fuck each other.

Basically, if you enjoyed The Atlas Six, I do think you would enjoy this. Blake managed to get even more character development, which is a feat after book one, but there were plenty more WTAF moments, that propelled the story along at a faster pace than the first and that ending! That ending was fucking epic and had me absolutely desperate to get my hands on the next book.

Actual rating 4.5/5 stars. This is the second instalment in The Atlas series.

The Atlas Six are still missing one of their number. Five reside inside the society walls and one lingers in the past, lost but not forgotten. New threats have taken the place of those thought vanquished and the freedom of all might means combining their abilities, talents, and academic focus to save their own lives and save the establishment they reside inside of it. Will it consume them before they discover this though?

I found this far slower in pace, compared to its predecessor. The focus remained on scientific and magical theories, with the majority of the characters working solely on their own purpose and projects. I found this endlessly fascinating and can only applaud the brain that crafted such a dense focus without it ever become a boring one. It did mean, however, that the pace was very slow and that my attention would slip when I consumed more than a handful of pages in any one sitting. I had such a great time with this novel but the almost-two-months it took me to consume it means I don't think I can award it the full five-stars that the first series instalment achieved.

My thanks to Pan Macmillan/Tor for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Atlas Paradox’ by Olivie Blake.

When I requested this title I ensured that I had time to read ‘The Atlas Six’ prior to the publication of Book 2 in this dark academia trilogy.

Unfortunately, I struggled with ‘Six’, finding that I wasn’t invested in its characters, including their convoluted relationships, felt that the world building was weak, and had little engagement with its oh so slow plot. However, I did complete it and my interest did pick up some in the final chapters and hoped that I might feel more engaged by its sequel.

With ‘The Atlas Paradox’, while I found it slightly better than ‘Six’ it never rose above an ‘it’s okay’ for me. Again, towards the end I found myself more engaged.

Overall, while a lot of readers clearly enjoyed ‘The Atlas Paradox’ it just wasn’t a good fit for me.

YES! This was so so so worth the wait. I’m so obsessed with this world and these characters. Loved the storyline and progression in this one.

Thank you so much for allowing me an e-ARC for review — I was so, so excited when it finally came through!

I really loved Atlas Six, and Paradox, whilst slow ish to start, did notttttt disappoint.

*spoilers for those not familiar with book one*

I swear to god, the way I love all these characters. They're all so utterly flawed, their inner thoughts are complete chaos, they're absolutely cracked and they all 1000% wanna get jiggy with each other and I LIVE FOR IT. I just, I cannot even express. Callum is just one massive existential crisis and I love him, I really feel like he's so misunderstood. Nico, my little puppy, ily. Libbbbbyyyyy!!!! Just, out here making the best of being thrown back 30 years, come into your villain era baby. Parisa — exquisite. Reina my ace goddess you really are in a world of your own. Tristan... I still really just mostly wanna give you a good shake. Then Gideon. GIDEON. Gideon *heart eyes all over* I just want more of Gideon forever.

These books really are character centric, as in the plot moves because of the characters. The story itself is slower, unfolding with precision through the characters interactions and feelings, and I utterly love that. Blake could honestly write an entire book of them just making tea anf eating crumpets and I would still read it for their individual chaotic thoughts and messy social interactions because they just feel so real, so wonderfully here, that I just eat that up. Honestly, the plot itself could be anything and I'd still be here because her characters are fantastic.

I cannot wait for the next book, that ending sent me in so many ways. I was screamingggg over a certain thing I have been DYING to happen.

This really is a book you should just experience, it's not enough to read reviews, you just need to be in these characters minds!