Well, to say I am disappointed would be the understatement of the year. I loved The Atlas Six, so much so that it was actually one of my best books of 2021. So imagine my shock and sadness when I read this and did not enjoy it...yeah, it was not a fun time for me.

The Atlas Paradox sets off to do something, but I'm not really sure what that something is, there really is no direction to the story and unfortunately it shows. The plot is basically non-existent, this book is just full of continuous and messy ramblings among the characters that really lead to nowhere and that take way too many pages which could have been used to actually move the story forward.
In this novel the author also tries to introduces new alliances among the characters, but they are so feeble and just overall unbelievable since they are only based on weak necessity and they don't actually serve the purpose of strengthening the characters' relationships. By the end of the book these characters are no better than when we left them in book one, actually I would say they are worse in more ways than one.

I'm not really sure, but I believe this series was supposed to only include two books and then they got turned into three, which might explain why this is so bad, it might be a good old case of second-book syndrome commonly known as "the second book sucks and that's because it's just a filler to get to the third book which was originally supposed to be the second". I really hope that is the case, because it would mean that this series could somehow redeem itself in the sequel. For now, this was a no for me and I will definitely read some reviews before trying to read book three.

The Atlas Paradox
Fantasy
Olivie Blake  
⭐️⭐️.5

I actually quite liked The Atlas Six but I found this disappointing. The pacing was much slower which made it hard for me to stay engaged and become invested in the storyline

It felt like the characters lost their depth compared to how they were written in TA6, they seemed different.

I didn’t really know what was happening with the plot itself. This book didn't seem overly plot driven or character driven and very much felt like a filler book to me. It started to get more interesting towards the end but it took a while to get there.

That being said, I do actually like Olivie Blake's writing style so it's a shame this book didn't work for me. I don't think I'd continue this series though.

*Thank you to @netgalley and the publishers for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review*

As much as I wanted to love this, I just couldn't.
There isn't much of a plotline and the characters felt different to the first book.
I was so close to putting this in my DNF pile but I had hoped things might get better, unfortunately they didn't.

3⭐️

After the ending of book one, I didn’t think I would continue this series – I should have stuck to my gut.

The writing is nice, my issue is that nothing happens and the characters are all idiots. They all hate each other for reasons unknown (plot convenience?) and they pretty much all don’t believe in love etc, honestly they all blend together. Nico and Libby possibly have the most unique voices, but even they are still similar.

The other issue I had is that nothing happened in this book? Like, I had this same issue with book 1 not having many inciting incidents (or incidents at all), so you’re just floating about in the repetitive subconscious of these four stereotyped characters (the sexy one, the mean one, the cute one, the bookish one and the bland one) and nothing ever goes anywhere, no one ever does anything, it’s just people talking and plotting.

I think this series isn’t for me, because the majority of these two books just felt like waffle.

This was as disappointing as the first book was exciting. It feels like Blake just lost the thread of where this series was going to go. Characters felt different, and the pacing was all over the place. It felt like nothing happened - like this book was just filler. Such a shame from a series that started out so strong.

Olivie Blake did it once again and wrote an absolutely beautiful book, all about morality, relationships, and making choices.

It is a character based book, so I would not recommend approaching it with the hopes of a lot of plot, though there definitely was one. The characters are each so unique, yet they have all really grown on me, even Callum who I didn't particularly liked in TA6 somehow caught my interest. There were a lot of new dynamics and relationships explored, some of which I didn't expect, others where I hoped it would happen. I honestly started giggling at some parts.

In TA6 I had problems choosing a favourite character and The Atlas Paradox didn't help in that aspect. Everytime I finished a chapter and actually wanted to put the book away, I saw from whose pov it was written and told myself "One more chapter won't hurt". For me the most relatable one is probably still Libby, but I also absolutely adore Nico, Gideon, Tristan, Parisa, Reina, and yes, as mentioned, even Callum.

While I did have a few problems understanding what happens, mainly because my native language is not English, The Atlas Paradox actually made me excited about physics again, helping me feel good about the fact, that I want to become an astrophysicist, which is something I'm very happy about. Yet I know that this is not something everybody is going to enjoy as much as I do.

Overall, it's an absolutely incredible book and I'm, though I still can't believe it, so so glad that I got to read this ARC, the sequel to one of my all time favourite books.

4.5/5

I enjoyed this so much! Olivie Blake's main talent has always been her characters, they are simply extraordinary. I didn't think she could expand on their flaws and their corruption and their wavering morals and fears, yet she did. She expertly spun a destructive web that tangled them all together, twisting and changing them. I don't think I've ever seen such intelligent, cunning and manipulative characters ever written with such precision and nuance.

Morality and mortality are both huge themes in this book, even more so than in the first, and I absolutely adored every conversation and thought that drew them across the page. Blake's prose is stunning and even more gorgeous than in The Atlas Six. She weaves these opposing ideas and conflicting characters together so flawlessly, with revelations that consume your mind. This is a book that you will devour for its intelligence and its blood, it's a book that will make you hunger for more and unsettle your ambitions, it's a book that will make you want, it will make you desire something great.

It's an incredibly character-driven story that works so well because the characters are phenomenal. Not one of them is a character to forget, even the ones without points of view. They take up such a large space in the universe and they all demand something of it. None of them are content with who they are or what they have, none of them are content with not understanding and therefore they will go to great extents (as we already know) to achieve some miniscule aspect of comprehension. But the universe is ineffable and this torments them each in their own ways.

This is only one of many aspects so fascinating about the genius of these characters. They are all so very human. Despite their god-like abilities, they are so deeply human–broken and flawed. They all have tragedies woven into their histories and pasts (and futures), they all know loss and grief as something familiar, and they all know how to play the deadly game they've ended up in. They're smart and cruel and unwavering.
The mind games and endless tip-toeing around their truths, prying out forbidden secrets game that they play is never-ending and never ceases to be entertaining. Not knowing their true motivations nor their true hearts is riveting for us as the reader, and dissecting the truth in their narratives is just as much fun.

There were some unlikely alliances in this book and I loved getting to see these new dynamics and their strengths and weaknesses. And, as a selfish take, I also loved that many of the relationships I adore progressed and grew even further. Not one character or relationship is stationary.

Parisa has always been one of my favourites and I decided very quickly when I started reading this book that she is my absolute favourite. I love morally corrupt women in fiction who are allowed to be morally corrupt and exist without remorse or guilt, without having to be changed or saved. It's so refreshing to have something so immoral left out to bleed onto the page and I loved every single second of it. (Not to mention she might actually, genuinely be the love of my life!)

Gideon–a very contrasting character–comes second place in my heart of favourites. As much as I love morally grey and just plain evil characters, I also love wholeheartedly good characters. What I love so much about Gideon is that he knows very clearly what matters to him and yet he's also afraid. He's afraid of being alone, he's afraid of what that means, and more than that he's afraid of people choosing to leave him. He's just as intelligent as the rest of the competing cast, but he's nowhere near as callous. Maybe it's also the fact that he's nowhere near as murderous. He is, in fact, extremely compassionate and more human than any of the others in his heart.

However, I think it is Callum that I find the most interesting. He's full of inexplicable depth and unwanted longing, he feels and he hates it–he hates it more than anything. For all his cruelty, for all his horrors, I think he's one of the best.
He knows hatred intimately, he knows it like he knows the truths he denies himself, like he knows humanity. He knows these things as one brush stroke of a much larger canvas, he is both limited and limitless. It is this divine contradiction that draws me to him. He is a man who knows he is small and is content with remaining so, he is a man who knows he is not small and is not content with remaining so. He is a tapestry of emotions, some clear to the eye in an outstanding picture, some hidden and smothered beneath murky waters. There is positively nothing about him that is simple. Yet feeling is what it all comes down to; his ability to warp and to control, but unable to control the same in himself, unable to stop feeling, unable to stop hurting. He views this humanity as weakness, he views humans as boring and predictable and so obviously emotional, trying relentlessly to prove he is dissimilar. But, more than anyone, he feels.
I think my favourite scene of the entire book was the very first Callum chapter, it expands on everything I've touched on here about his character in a far more precise, heart-wrenching way.

There was also another character introduced who we followed closely only for a short amount of time, but I admired her and the small story we were told so incredibly much. Olivie Blake, even through these (supposedly simple) acts of character creation, constructs a rich and vibrant world full of boundless stories.

I find absolutely all of the characters so complex and intriguing, but I won't go into all of them (as much as I would very much like to) so that we're not here forever. But I do want to emphasise that you will never find characters like these ones, you will never find characters like these whose pure construction will haunt you.

To put it simply, I loved it! The writing was even more beautiful than in the first, I wanted to quote entire chapters, and I enjoyed it even more than the first. You should definitely pick this up if you were even remotely debating doing so.

Thank you Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

In all honesty, this sequel falls into the second book syndrome. Not much is happening as to the plot but, again, I'm here for the characters. It's not that the plot is not interesting - it is! - but it moves very slowly and we don't get many reveals. I wish we had glimpses of the sinister future that was hinted at.

The dynamics between the characters is amazing. I love the hate/love relationships, how smart the protagonists are while having their fascinating flaws. I must say that, because of a specific reason, personalities are slightly altered, which was slightly frustrating at times.

The powers are also super cool.

The wait for the last book will be a long one!

I'm sorely tempted to file this under 'disappointing sequels I DNF'd' on top of 'if you squint you might be able to identify a plot', because the first hundred or so pages are so deeply mired in mind games and more-dull-than-not internal monologues that it's difficult to stay anchored to the story or feel much affinity for the protagonists (who, like a lot of people have pointed out, seem like watered-down distortions of their The Atlas Six versions; another surprise pet peeve of mine was the tiresome mimicry of their behaviours and self-doubts).

If I'm not vibing with a book, I tend to browse others' thoughts (both good and bad) on bookish platforms, and based on a surface-level perusal of that sort, the persisting lack of momentum as the book progressed, and my deciding that for the first ¼ to drag so much didn't bode well for what else The Atlas Paradox had in store for me, on my side there just wasn't any substantial impulse to go on and stick it out.

Maybe I've grown out of dark academia by too much of a margin to accomodate even a magic-infused DA book, but do still I hope anyone who picks up this incredibly anticipated sequel manages to find what they're looking for (or are not too let down if for them, too, it doesn't live up to its prospects).

To sum up, it might be a matter of timing and my just being super busy in this period that led me to find the bulk of what I sampled of this book to be a slog/to simply not have a good time with it - so, please keep in mind that what didn't work for me might very well do just fine for you!

In this sequel we are thrown into a world that is essentially falling apart, with alliances on the brink, and a series god-complexes to boot, we are in another realm of dark academia where nobody can be trusted.

The characters we know and love from the first instalment face even further hardships in this book. They are confused, broken and slowly deteriorating under the strain of the Alexandrian Society. Not only that, they are being hunted down by forces that seek to expose their world all in the name of greater good.

I enjoyed this book, but, again as with the first book it only started to become interesting towards the last few chapters. The only way I can explain my experience of reading this book is to walk slowly through mud towards an exit that was just within reach but I keep getting detoured by things that have no meaning towards out end goal. It was slow, repetitive and full of chapters that have no possible meaning…unless I was missing something.

The most interesting characters in the first book are now the most boring. However, Parisa is still my favourite of them all. She isn’t afraid to be who she wants and to take what she wants, regardless of the consequences. I would happily read an entire book on Parisa and Dalton. Reina on the other hand really, really grates on my nerves. I cannot stand her and her serious superiority complex. Nico and Gideon are fabulous as always and my favourite duo in this book.
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Now, I would like to emphasise that this is not a slate on Olivia Blake’s writing ability. She is a tremendously thorough and complex writer who draws on the morally grey characters. She is brilliant and there is no denying that. However, my problem is with the length of the chapters and the sometimes meaningless information that is within them. It would be so much better if it was just a little shorter and straight to the point. I struggled with some chapters and found my mind wandering.

One thing I love about Olivia Blake’s writing style is that it matches the genre she is writing about. For instance, as this is dark academia she writes as though she were an academic viewing the scenario from an outside viewpoint. It is tremendously done.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the first as it gives a deeper dive into the world we know and love. However, it is long and tends to become increasingly more interesting towards the very end which makes it a longer read than necessary.

If you made it this far! Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoy this book if you read it!

I really tried to get into this one, but I had to stop at 15% in. It's my own fault, really, because I.didn't like the first book that much either, so I don't know why I even wanted to read this one. I just really hate the writing in this series. I had hopes that it would get better in the second book, but it became clear to me pretty quickly that it wasn't going to improve. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing with the arc.

I regret that I have read this book. TA6 might be one of my favourite books of all time, but this is definitely one of the worst sequels ever.

Went into this with high expectations and came out utterly exhausted by the prose and characters. The third installment will be a pass for me.

Thank you thank you thank you for the introductions at the beginning of the book. I’m gonna be honest, I would’ve been completely lost without them as I’ve already forgotten soo many things from the first book.
Well. I was kind of lost anyway. Once again, this book is soo confusing. There is so much going on, so many theories, magic, time travel, animations, illusions, talk of multiverses, betrayals. A bit hard to keep track of everything and I actually contemplated writing down some kind of mind map to get my thoughts in order.
To be fair, that’s a problem I have with many dark academia books. They often have a very, well, academic plot, but it’s usually so much information crammed into one book that it’s almost impossible to get all the information with the first or second read.
But even though it was confusing and half the time I had no idea what was going on, it was still interesting! I really wanted to know what was behind everything and how everything would turn out in the end.
And the ending was epic. I need the third book. The plot is also commencing and finally everything is starting to come together and make sense.
The characters are once again what sold the story. We get to know all of them better and I managed to enjoy every POV. Nico is now very much my favourite character and he deserves a hug.

The Atlas Paradox is the sequel to the much hyped The Atlas Six. I adored the first book, with a few minor complaints and this was one of my most anticipated books of 2022.

I'm not going to lie, I had high expectations going in and I was underwhelmed. This book is maybe a bit more fast paced than the first, but at the same time less relevant things happen in it. I feel like there was so many stuff this book could have adressed after the ending of TA6 and it just didn't. Only Nico and Tristan cared about Libby being abducted, and Gideon was helping, but the other characters were in a completely different vibe.

The first 50% is pretty boring, I found myself wanting to skip many of the character's POVs and focus more on Libby. Whatever was happening with the other characters I wasn't interested or I didn't understand enough to be interested.

I like the theme of the series, I like the science aspect blended with magic and academia, and there's a few concepts about time that are super intriguing. I am a fan of time travel plots, so I expected a bit more from that, but turns out that wasn't even a big thing in the book. Nedless to say I was disappointed.

I liked the first book better, I liked the character's dynamics better. I don't know if i don't rebember enough about the first book, but I thought Callum was so weird in this? I'm gonna be honest, I don't care at all about him, or about Reina.

I loved that NicoGideon is finally a thing, and even though I think I'm gonna take an L with LibbyTristan I can't help but love them as well.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this sequel. I didn't hate it, but I didn't feel excited about anything that was happening maybe until the 65% mark or so?

I am going to read the last book out of curiosity, but I really hope Olivie has something great in store, cause the series has great potential.

Olivie Blake doesn't fail to meet the standard. The Atlas Paradox follows on from the first book and picks up right where it left off, jumping straight back into it. Olivie creates a world that you can picture in your mind, characters you rally behind and those who you know are going to stir up trouble.

Thank you so much to Macmillan for giving me the chance to read this early!
I first read The Atlas Six when it was still in its self-published form and admittedly, it took me some time to get into it. But I’m glad I gave it another chance because The Atlas Paradox is absolutely worth it.
This sequel takes the story to new heights with new complications and I could hardly put it down. I wasn’t expecting where the story would take us and that was half the fun. Each of the characters grew in complexity and truly felt fully formed. I was most excited to see how the characters matured alongside the writing, and I was not disappointed.
This is the perfect book to dive into this autumn.

I really enjoyed The Atlas Six and after how that ended, I couldn't wait to dive into this book!

So we are back at the Alexandrian Society with one notable abscence (I can't say more here or it will be a spoiler to book 1!)

So the 5 are basically floundering, they seemed lost, slightly insane even and new alliances are formed.....sort of!

All I want to say really is Libby....you go girl!

My hopes and dreams for what I wanted in this book were dashed (yes cryptic because spoilers!) but there is another book so I can hold out a sliver of hope I guess!

A big thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read Atlas Paradox!

Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake is the sequel to the Tiktok sensation Atlas Six. It follows the same characters and picks up where the first book leaves off.

Without spoiling the sequel, what I can say is that this book took a very close look at how the dynamics between the initiates have shifted and which of them allign now after the the happenings in the initial book. It also focuses on each character and how the repercussions of the initiation affect their own psyche. It's an interesting study on guilt and how different people adapt to events.

Personally, this book felt a little slower than the first - especially in the beginning. I think it's because of the fallout being discussed and the initial reactions of each of the cast, but it took a while for anything to happen. This made me prefer Atlas Six over the sequel. There was also a little less of a science feel to this as opposed to a philosophical focus.

In all, it was a solid sequel although it was a bit slow. I will still eagerly wait for the next book in the series!

When I read the Atlas Six (TA6), I wasn't sure how to rate it, because while I loved the book very much, the characters annoyed me to hell and back, so I stuck with a rating of 4 stars without any explanation.

This book (TAP) takes everything I loved about TA6, puts it in trash bags, and takes it out back to be collected.

So, when you write a book, you generally have to have something the book is about, a.k.a a PLOT. P-L-O-T. In TAP, we look for this in vain.
As a reminder, we left TA6 with Libby abducted to the past, and the other characters swearing that they will search for her. As TAP begins, they have abandoned this search completely. "We have looked everywhere!" they say "she simply isn't anywhere. Let's give up and be sexy instead."

Ok. Great.

So this book consists of five characters being incredibly bland, just existing. Callum, at least, puts it into words: He's got nothing to do, so he just idles for this year and then sees what'll come to him. I wish the others were as honest. In TA6, at least there was this looming sense of danger by them having to kill one of the six, but this has completely disappeared. There are no stakes left. None of these five remaining people have any kind of goal, nothing to work towards, no aspirations or anything they even want. And that, my friends, makes for very dull reading.

Then, once in a while, we get a breath of fresh air - A Libby Chapter!!! Now, Libby is my favorite character, anyway. It really is funny that all the others say she's the most annoying and unbearable, but then she's actually the only one who isn't pretentious as fuck. And even if I didn't like her, her chapters are just something special, because they read like an actual book, and not just an anthology of boredom. She actually has a goal she's working towards! She wants to find a way back home! How refreshing, how novel, how - utterly expected. The bar is on the floor, and yet Libby is the only one who manages to step over it.

So what do the other five do while Libby carries the book on her shoulders? Nothing. I admit, I actually quite liked the discussions of how magic worked in TA6, because I could still kind of see a connection to our own physics. It all made sense.
The discussions of magic in TAP have left the realm of understandable. This book is dark academia in a way that it feels like me reading a dissertation on quantum physics in a room with no light. Either Olivie Blake has the understanding of quantum physics of a Nobel laureate, has access to one of those, or she's talking bullshit in complicated words and hopes none of her readers understand enough of her ramblings to call her out on it.
About 80% of this book is theoretical musings on how magic works, with 15% being people sleeping wth Parisa, because she is oh-so-hot, and the other 5% being actual P-L-O-T. It's honestly quite a tragedy.

Once again: NOTHING HAPPENS IN THIS BOOK. Reina thinks she's a god, and instead of getting her help, people shrug and say "okay". Callum just exists. Parisa thinks she's better than everyone. Tristan? Well, I couldn't tell you anything about him, to be honest. Nico just sleeps for the entire thing.

I can't even tell you how absolutely mind-numbingly bored I was reading this book. There's even a goddamn gala-ball situation, and nothing happens! It's done with in one POV chapter, what a goddamn waste!
One can only read so many theoretical musings on the nature of hypothetical magic.

So, yeah, in conclusion: Considering this is a trilogy, this second book was not needed at all. Why not make it a nice duology instead, where things actually happen in both books, and forget this ever existed?

Reading Progress
August 13, 2022 – Shelved
August 13, 2022 – Shelved as: to-read
September 8, 2022 – Started Reading
September 13, 2022 – page 90
21.63% "My GOD why are these people making everything so complicated"
September 15, 2022 – page 160
38.46% "babes where is the PLOT"
September 15, 2022 – page 190
45.67% "I’m so bored"
September 19, 2022 – page 352
84.62% "Desperately trying to finish this book buts it’s so boring that I can barely read a chapter before I’m sick of it"
September 20, 2022 – Finished Reading