Alright what are books doing to me this month??!! this is the second book that has taken me totally unawares that it's not a duology but a... who knows how many books!

The Atlas Paradox follows our main characters into the second year and it's not going to go smoothly! As you'd expect from dark academia there's enemies, grudges, jealousy, rifts, backstabbing, betrayal and and atmosphere- so much anxiety inducing atmosphere .Olivie Blake has created a dark world and while nothing much happens for a lot of the time when it does you are shaken.

Are the characters likeable, no in fact they continue to be a team of morally grey individuals but I definitely changed my mind on some of them who irritated the life out of me in book 1 and I'll leave you to make your own opinion on who. Olivie Blake is an expectionally clever writer and I think you have to be in order to write dark academia of this calibre.

This is definitely a middle? book I'm excited for what awaits us in the next instalment- I'm off to cram in as much quantum physics knowledge as possible in the meantime.

Sadly dnf’d this at about 30% I was struggling through it and then left it for a week but then realised I had no desire to pick it back up. I struggled through the atlas six and enjoyed end but it feels like the start of this book is right back to the slow and convoluted story I found so hard on the first book

The Atlas Paradox is a true continuation of The Atlas Six: it's for people who liked the self-indulgent, dense, character-focused first book, who got drawn to the next page and then the next. The Atlas Paradox is also a guilty pleasure book, in the same spirit.

The plot doesn't move much - the series is all about the characters. Alliances shift and we get a bit more insight in the minds of Reina and Callum, who were the least explored so far. Atlas appears a bit nerfed for me, he doesn't project the all-powerful omnipotent aura he used to, and it's probably tied to the greater mystery of who or what is behind the Library and its vast sentient knowledge.

Libby is separated from the rest, and that's a big pro for me, since I am not a fan of her. She is more tolerable alone, without the constant panicking, whining and spiralling into moral self-righteousness. Her journey back does have character growth - although her temporary companion was a weak point of the book for me, it was Olivie Blake trying to address social and environmental issues which seemed a bit weird and off-place in this magic-normalized world.

Nico is once again by far the best character of the 6. He walks the fine line between pretentious self-absorbed (Parisa and Callum) and moody snappish angry emo (Tristan and Reina) and does it perfectly. He is a ball of energy, he is getting worse when it comes to concealing his feelings and I enjoyed all his POV chapters.

The scene stealer though was Gideon, whose every apperance I was savoring. He already had a greater role than in the first book, and I hope he has an even bigger in the last one!

Finally, the epilogue was the highlight. No spoilers since the book isn't out yet, but if you follow my previous reviews and my Twitter, you know which direction I wanted the relationship part of the series to take, and Olivie Blake delivered!

3.5 stars

I would say that after enjoying The Atlas Six so much... The Atlas Paradox doesn't quite match up to the standard that book set. My biggest issue is the plot. I didn't have a clue of where the plot was going, even up until the very end. It just felt like there were a lot of plot points that ended up leading nowhere, and it didn't wrap up as nicely as the first book did, in my opinion. It just felt like classic second-book-syndrome, and was just a filler until you get to the third book.

However, I do think the characters were still really great in this book and I loved getting to know them all more, and to see these tentative alliances grow between them. I really disliked Callum in the first book, but he was a bit more redeemable in this one which I liked to see. It did just feel that without Libby - and almost certainly this IS the point, but it just didn't work too well for me - the group had lost its magic, and it just wasn't as exciting to read about without that lack of trust that was going on between the six in the first book. I mean maybe I'm just biased because Libby is my favourite character, but there was not enough Libby in this book, and when we did see her, we had missed out on so much of what was going on for her, and it just left me feeling disappointed.

I will still be carrying on with the series because I think this just suffered from being the second book in a trilogy, and I still love Olivie Blake's writing style and these characters, so fingers crossed the third book will be an improvement on this one!

I have to DNF this book at 30% because there's no way I'll be able to drag myself through another 200-ish pages of this book.

I'd picked up Atlas Six earlier this year and struggled my way through that. Thinking I'd give the author another go, I picked up the sequel. The concept is so intriguing but...it lacks so many things. Even more so in the sequel.

The plot to Atlas Paradox is....nonexistent. Don't ask me what happened in those 100+ pages I read because...I hardly remember. Nothing spectacular happened, which is hard, considering I think finding the missing girl would be a priority!!!

But no, these insufferable, angry characters just still go about their day and all they do is argue with one another.

I can't put more energy into a book that's trying so hard. I will not be continuing this series.

The Atlas Paradox is the sequel to the hit, The Atlas six. It follows the original 6 into their second year at the Society.

Libby is still missing and while the initiates are supposed to be working together to get her back they find themselves growing further apart, with rifts and grudges developing.

Like the first novel, nothing much seems to actually happen in the book, however, this seems to work better in this follow up than it did in the first where I found the lack of plot dull at times. Now we know all these morally grey characters and their motives or lack of. I found the world building to be quite clever and enjoyed seeing how the relationships between the protagonists developed or fell apart. All the characters seem to develop more in this follow up, especially Callum and Dalton and I really loved seeing more of Gideon in this one. I found Nico quite irritating in book 1 but I'm converted to his side now!

I found this sequel to be more engaging than the first and I'm now officially hooked and want to see how the characters deal with what they've achieved in this one. It's quite a psychological book and although nothing really happens in this book, I found myself turning page after page.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing an Arc in return for an honest review.

This sequel is EVERYTHING. I won't say what it is about to not spoil the first book, but it gets darker and more action packed, the pace is fast and it's a whole lot of chaos and greatness and reading this will leave you breathless. There are multiple things you don't really see coming, which makes it impossible to put this one down!

Well my tiny mind was well and truly blown by The Atlas Six and this follow-up is even more phenomenal. I’m incredulous at the intelligence and wordsmithery of the author to produce such a vast, academically-advanced, knowledge-packed novel and STILL make it readable. My comprehension of quantum physics is severely lacking, but this didn’t dent my enthusiasm one bit for the excellence of the The Atlas books. The story continues straight after book 1 and leaves you chomping at the bit for book 3. You absolutely must read them in order or you’ll be totally foxed. The author is a genius, go read them!
Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy via NetGalley.

I was excited to read this sequel, because even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of the plot in the first book, I loved the characters. However, the plot is even more over the place in this one. Nothing happens. Nothing. And even the dynamics between the characters are too disjointed and chaotic—surprisingly, I found Callum to be the most interesting character in this book. I really liked some quotes and a couple of scenes, but overall this sequel felt flat to me.

I absolutely loved The Atlas Six, so I was so pleased to receive an ARC of this one!

First of all, the artwork is absolutely gorgeous. It was incredible to see the characters come to life throughout the book.

As usual, the writing was beautiful and Olivie created a really atmospheric, immersive read. My favourite moments were definitely those centered around Libby, Nico and Gideon - these are the parts that massively stick out to me and will stay on my mind for weeks to come.

Where I felt a little let down was in the lack of plot for the majority of the book. While it’s great to see the characters interacting, this one is predominately filled with them all having a chat which did mean it dragged in places.

But overall if you’re a fan of TA6, I would definitely recommend picking this one up!

I absolutely loved it just as I did with the first one. I would definitely recommend its an excellent sequel and I can't wait to see where this series goes next

The Atlas Paradox-Review
Author: Olivie Blake
Genre: Dark academia/Fantasy
Page Count: 400 pages
Age Rating: New Adult but anyone can read it just recommend for older readers
Publication Date:24th of October 2022 (UK)
Amazing just like the first book in the series
Thank you to @netgalley / @panmacmillan / @torbooks for providing me with this e ARC before publication
Review;
I main reason I requested this book was because I read the first and simply needed to know what happened next to my favourite characters. If I'm being honest, I read this book a while before I'm writing this review so don’t remember the detail, but I do remember how much I love the book.
The book follows on form the first one and is just as cool. Much like the first book I loved the uqne and brutally real characters which are both amazing and completely awful. Oh, I do love psychotic friends. Every time, I went back to reading it I just remember The Secret History one of my fav books and first Dark academia books I've read. Another thing I loved was finally reading the quote “DESTINY IS A CHOICE” in context which can in saw is “THE QUOTE” in my head right now.
If I'm being honest, I can’t say much about the book as I'm scared I will spoiler it however I can say I absolutely love it. If you enjoyed the first book or even if you haven’t, I would recommend it. The queer representation is superior like my god I am so in love with the representation in this book ugh.
Rating;
4 stars
TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNING
Graphic
Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness
Moderate
Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing
Minor
Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug use

The Atlas Paradox was one of my most anticipated books of this year but I was kinda disappointed with it. I mean the story still intrigued me but the pacing was a lot slower than the first book. I don't know how to explain my feelings. Because it was good to be back with the characters but I didn't like the plot that much. I hope the third book will be amazing. I'll definitely pick up the next book to see how the story end.

A stunning journey through science and magic with a truly explosive ending that will leave you wanting more.

The Atlas Paradox starts off right where The atlas Six left off, with the official initiation of the candidates into the Alexandrian Society. Because of the ritual, alliances are shifting again. Though they are all still wondering about what happened at the end of book one, each of them is now also working on their own research, exploring the boundaries of themselves and the Alexandrian collection at the same time.

The book starts off with a chapter from Gideon’s perspective. There is a lot more from him in this sequel than in book 2 and there are a couple of other characters that will also start to take on a bigger role and some that are newly introduced. They are all extremely well written, flawed characters. You can feel them coming to life through the choices they make, the way they think and how they evolve because of the knowledge and experiences they gain. You will be pondering your existence right along with them.

The plot felt a bit slow during the first half while it was exploring the characters in their new roles within the society and there are lots of details put in that seemingly aren’t relevant to the plot. However, during the second half, all of those random threads of thought are coming together seamlessly and it becomes a real page-turner. Rereading The Atlas Six before diving into this one, was a fabulous idea. It is even better the second time as you can see that all the puzzle pieces are being laid out pretty early on and then start to fall together really nicely. I’m pretty sure that it will be a similarly satisfying experience when reading The Atlas Paradox for a second time. While the first time, you will need all of your brain capacity to get a grasp of the scientific concepts that are being explored, whilst also keeping track of the character dynamics, the second time you can just enjoy the beautiful plotting that Olivie Blake has created.

As this is written through all of these different characters as unreliable narrators. Their individual history and side-plots bring some interesting revelations to the surface in those moments when you least expect it. As a reader you can see that every single one of these characters is holding pieces of different puzzles and it can be frustrating at times to know the answer to different questions or problems that some of the characters have, but you still need to see them suffer on their journey to come to those epiphanies themselves. Every single character carries a crucial part of the story and it is often sad having to move on to a different pov at the start of a new chapter. But then you’ll remember what these other characters were up to and will surely again be enveloped in their journey in no time.

Lots of questions are answered in this book and some new ones rise up that will make you want to pick up the finale of this mind-blowing trilogy immediately.

Thanks to Pan Macmillan, Tor for providing me with a review copy via NetGalley.

<strong>"This was the paradox. That Libby Rhodes could, at the same time, both travel through time and refuse to."</strong>

4.8/5

<strong>First of all, a huge thank you to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for allowing me early access to this book so that I can give my honest review.</strong>

This review might contain minor spoilers; especially if you have not read the first book yet.

When I say you are not ready for the things that go down in this book, I mean it.
We start off as the search for Libby Rhodes continues, the mystery behind her disappearance still a mystery to all. And most of all, the question that still sparks my interest is; Why was traces of Dalton's magic on Libby? Hmmm *methinks this is suspicious*

Anyway, while the search continues, the initiation process for the five that are left begins. The rift between friend and foe increases, the search for more behind the library intensifies and new connections are formed - maybe even deadlier connections than before.

The ending will leave you breathless and grasping for more, which is unfortunate because Blake didn't tease a follow-up in the series, but rather a new book called "Alone with you in the Ether". Nonetheless, I enjoyed the world-building, the characters are starting to grow on me and the new perspective of some other favourites (and not so favourites).

I even squealed when there was a hint of romance between two of the characters (I'm not going to say who obviously but just look for the signs, it is there).

Overall, a fantastic read and a book I will surely buy as soon as it is available.

My review will also be on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the_bookbasket/ but it will be the same.
Same review is also posted on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5027308709

I am so sad. This book was probably my most anticipated of the year, and it absolutely did not work for me. "The Atlas Six" was one of my favourite reads of last year, so I just couldn't wait to have this book in my hands, and when I was approved for an ARC I was over the moon, but just -
I didn't connect with this at all.

I think the first book had so much potential, but this is basically just a fill-in book, the middle book with a lot of potential, but in the end when nothing happened. I love Blake's style, but I could only go so far as to read 430 pages of people talking about physics. The action just isn't there, and I even struggled to recognize the character I so loved in the previous novel. I had a soft spot for Callum in this one though, not gonna lie.

Libby is always my favourite character and the light of this series in my opinion, I was glad to get to read from her POV again, but that was just the only thing that kept me going with this story. The last 13 pages were the most interesting part, but you can guess that if a book drags so much, the last pages aren't going to make it redeem itself. I'm very unsure if I'm going to pick up the third novel, I really was expecting so much from this one, and in the end I was left so very disappointed. I'm even afraid of how much the next book is going to contain since in this one there was basically no plot.
I'm gutted to report this was my biggest disappointment for this year.

After the events of the first book in this series, I was dying to be back in this world, with these characters, and to see how the story was going to move forward, and I must say that I really enjoyed the experience.

It is true that the pace of the book is a bit slow and it doesn't feel like the plot advances all that much, but I got the impression that the pieces have been moving, like in a chess board, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

And truly, what I liked most about this book was the same thing that made me love The Atlas Six: the way the characters' minds work. Being back inside their heads was just as fascinating this time around, mainly due to the fact that we get to see interactions between characters that hadn't spend so much time together on page on the previous book and whose "partnerships" I found as unexpected as captivating. I honestly think that the author could throw any two of these characters together and the reading experience would be just as interesting and entertaining.

My favorite characters to read in this second book were Callum and Nico hands down and Reina was probably the one that surprised me the most.

I'm really intrigued by this story and looking forward to seing how everything unfolds in the next book!

I have voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All my thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Pan Macmillan for approving my request for this title via Netgalley.

How else could one possibly face the prospect of being one-sixth of a dystopian nuclear code if not to simply laugh and go back to sleep? [loc. 1567]

Second in the trilogy that began with The Atlas Six, an intriguing addition to the dark academia shelf. In that first volume, six gifted magic-users were recruited by Atlas Blakely, Caretaker of the Alexandrian Society. By the end of the novel, one of the six had been removed ...

At the end of The Atlas Six, Libby had been abducted by her mysterious ex, Ezra, who was subsequently revealed to be in cahoots with Atlas Blakely and perhaps also about to change his allegiance. None of the remaining five could locate Libby at all: her absence, on the other hand, made it less urgent for one of them to be sacrificed so that the others could be initiated. And Atlas was adamant that anything taken from the Archive would be returned. Willingly or otherwise.

The Atlas Paradox depicts the gradual unravelling of the remaining students in Libby's absence, how each of them deals with her absence, and who among them is truly determined to find her again. There are also some new viewpoint characters (I was especially charmed by Gideon, though I'd have also liked more Max: there's another new character, though, whose arc I found extremely unsatisfactory, though necessary for the larger story) and some further insights into Atlas's agenda. Each of the five remaining students has a distinctive voice, a different goal and a closely-observed set of interactions with the others: perhaps Reina is the most intriguing, with the theory she develops based on the books that the archive won't let her request. Which makes others wonder what they aren't being allowed to see, in the archive and otherwise: and, of course, whether they are students or objects of study. The five's shifting allegiances, and the different ways in which they pair up, are complemented by Little Chmura's excellent artwork.

The plot is both complex and subtle, and it's by no means clear which (if any) of the narrators, or their perceptions, is reliable. There is a lot going on -- plot threads about the nature of gods, about climate change, about the Society's foes, about magical technology and its effect (or lack thereof) on the mortal world, about death and fate and love in its various forms -- but it's hard to grasp hold of any one thread and find resolution. That said, there are some very satisfying developments. I am looking forward immensely to the finale, in which I hope all will eventually be made clear(er).

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this full honest review. UK publication date is 25th October 2022.

The Atlas Paradox is a book I simply didn't enjoy . . . and yet it still has a bit of a hold on me. I think the pacing and structuring of this book is so off, with it often feeling long and self-indulgent. Atlas Six's premise (six people in, five people out) made the slow pace and the fractious relationships incredibly tense, but here it feels so aimless. The constant sniping of characters against each other is honestly wearying - I get that they are flawed characters and relationships, but I just think there are not enough moments of genuine human connection amidst all the snark, explaining, and philosophising. The antagonists and side characters also feel at best sidelined, and at worst really mishandled (I have particular issues with one new character's arc). It's difficult to know what the narrative is going for ideologically, with so much resting on book 3. Despite all these grievances however, I was shocked that as the finale ramped up, I genuinely cared - there is just something about this cast which is irresistible, and, although I'm not sure I look forward to the final instalment, it feels like a necessary inevitability to see how this comes together (if it can).

2.25 stars lol. I was so looking forward to this book… oh well.

Unfortunately this book suffers from ‘middle-book syndrome’. Blake could definitely have done this at maximum, a duology. Honestly, it probably could’ve been done in one book if she had cut 50% of the waffling out.

This book only interested me at the 75% point, and even then it was barely. The best part about this book is Libby, which we rarely hear from. I have absolutely no idea what the plot of the next book will be, as I was so confused for the entire duration of this book. Which is why I am struggling to talk about the actual plot… it just seems to not exist? Now whether I misunderstood this book, or read it with the wrong mindset I don’t know.

I would describe this as trying to fit too many clothes in a wardrobe. Most of the book was unnecessary dialogue and not-needed explainations on physics.

There is WLW rep in this though, which is awesome. I did enjoy the characters, but unfortunately not everything overall.

Thank you to NetGalley for This ARC, in return I offered my honest review.

An awfully slow and stuttering plot that was for the most part mired in redundancy. Definitely not up to par with the first, although I will continue with this trilogy to see how it wraps up.