Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

62 reviews

tinyjude's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

Reading the first pages I didn't have many expectations but I was nicely surprised by the complexity of the characters. Now I am kind of curious about how will the story continue, although the revelation made me feel like the antagonist turned into a simple caricature of a villain (hopefully their motivations and personality will be further explored so they feel more complex and interesting)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Incest

revengesrose's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Death, Sexual content, Grief, and Toxic friendship

booksthatburn's review against another edition

I was initially drawn in by the premise, a group of magicians brought to the Library of Alexandria have a year to decide which one of them will be eliminated and which five get to stay for another year. The cast of characters is pretty diverse (though a bit of that initial feeling of diversity was dampened when I realized all of them seemed to have English as their first language, which instantly shrunk the practical candidate pool. Part of the story questions the validity and methods of the entire enterprise, so that leaves some wiggle room for explaining why the candidates aren't actually very diverse (only six total, and two are from the same school in the USA?). Additionally, this could have been the library of Atlantis or Boston and it would have had just as much relevance to the plot. The latest incarnation of the "Library of Alexandria" is physically located in London, in the UK. It became clear pretty quickly that "Alexandria" is just a name, and an indication of thousands of years of whatever this thing is (or at least a claim to that long legacy). There are vague descriptions of the category of study and experiments which the candidates are pursuing, but most of the story is actually a very intense and complicated web of power plays and personal dynamics between the six candidates and the two Alexandrians who oversee them (mostly one of them). There's a pretty intense sex scene about halfway through which I actually didn't mind, but it felt like a sudden shift in tone from the rest of the book. 

The characters seemed initially pretty interesting, but there's very little description of how their powers actually work. There are discussions of magical theory which I enjoyed, but they were usually couched in ways where the magic is actually secondary, which made them feel unmoored from the world being built. 

It's six (sometimes eight) people in a house, talking to each other and slowly changing how they feel about one another, which is not what I was expecting in a book about "magicians living in the Library of Alexandria".

Ultimately I stopped because it became clearly stated that the whole thing is a slow burn trolley problem, and I don't like trolley problem situations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death and Fire/Fire injury

em_of_swags's review against another edition

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

thought the magic system and motivations of the characters were pretty interesting but the amount of sexuality made me uncomfortable (yes I know this is an adult book, it could have been violence ok?) and I didn't fully grasp the clear line of the plot

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Terminal illness

thaliareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Really interesting concept and a diverse cast of characters. I do sort of wish I had read it as a physical or e-book the first time instead of listening to the audiobook. It was a bit tough for me to separate the characters at first since the way I listen to audiobooks while I'm doing other things I sometimes missed when a switch in character was announced. However, this is my personal experience and overall I really enjoyed the narration of this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol

The main plot does involve the six initiates protecting the society which does involve fairly detailed fighting with enemies who try to break in

this extends to torturing and killing some of those who made it through the wards.

. Minor spoiler

one of the initiates had a sibling who died from an incurable terminal illness.

Large spoilers

One of the characters had to watch his mom die in a mass shooting and relive that day over and over again. Additionally, the initiates realize that while there are six of them - they won't have to pick one of them to leave - they have to pick one of them to kill. There is some graphic sexual content in multiple instances. Some is a M/F pairing, the other instance is a M/F/F threesome.

avie_j's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, and Grief

katvou's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

luciiee's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

anniereads221's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

4.5
I wanted to come back to this book to review because why not and maybe I will do more reviews like this, probably not though.

The characters are all pretentious assholes, there I said it, but they all have their flaws and things that make you like them a little bit at least.

Though I did expect everyone to kiss in this book or be a thing, I was like these two should date, not these two. but whoever gets with who I am just having a good time that is for sure.

I resonated with Libby more than I thought I would, but her anxiety really came through and her just asking all the questions to be absolutely sure of something, that is me all over.

The only character that I ever had trouble liking out of the main 6 was Callum and I am hoping for that to change in the second book because there is definitely more to him than we get to see. But if not oh well I will continue to root for the others over him. no biggie.

Give me fantasy elements, dark academia and asshole characters that have to interact, and I am probably gonna have a great time!! I am excited to see where this series will take us too next

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sandreamy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol