Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake

13 reviews

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

I liked this more than the first book! I know a lot of people didn't really care for it, but if you like character building more than overall plot, this could def be good for you. Yes, it was slow in plot progression, but I enjoyed all the messy interactions between all the characters. Honestly just a huge messy polycule with magic haha I really enjoyed Callum and Tristan in this. They became my faves out of the main 6 although I wish we got a little more clarity about their complex relationship and feelings towards each other. A lot happened between them off page that I wish we couldn't seen on page. I wish Reina was more engaging because I wanted to like her more than I did (she's an interesting character but compared to the others, she is a little lackluster. And it's not because she reads as someone who is aromantic/asexual or kind of monotone. I think she could've just been written better). I liked Libby's storyline overall but it seemed like it could've had a little bit more. I really enjoyed Parisa's time in Dalton's mind. Nico was probs the most annoying to me tbh out off the main six. I liked his relationship with Gideon and the time he spent with Tristan, but besides that I didn't care for him.
It does get a little confusing with all the povs and jumping back and forth in time. 
I used the audiobook in conjunction with the physical book and like the first book, I think it would've been difficult to finish without the audio. I will read the next (with the assistance of audio) because I need to know what they all do!!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexism and Sexual content

cnannery19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

amelianotthepilot's review against another edition

5.0

gah i love this series

yet again another intricate insanely interesting dark academia story following our six 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

alicelalicon's review against another edition

mysterious slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

aseel_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-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? Yes

4.0

On a technical level, this book should probably get a 3 something rating (because there was no real plot and the writing was so overly long and complicated and should have been edited) but I really liked the characters (except for Reina tbh) and connected with a lot of the gut wrenching sentences delivered by people like Callum, so it gets a 4 instead 
 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.75

OMG!! This series shot to the top of my favorite book series ever, it's only second to TRC. Love love love the writing, love love love the characters. I say this with nothing but love, I'm not sure there really is a plot here lol. But, as we know, I am a characters over plot ass bitch and I didn't even realize that I'm not sure anything much happened until I started writing this review.

I loooooved Belen (and her and Libby <3), so I  am a little disappointed she (Olivie Blake) killed her. She was just felt like a plot device and a waste of a good character.

Also, I know I said I love the characters, but I do not like Reina. Or at least, I feel like we didn't spend as much time with her, her motivations, her feelings, as we did for the other characters. And then when started spending more time with her, I did not really like what I saw. I guess really my only criticism of the series is that she doesn't feel as 3(4)D as the other characters. I don't even think she's 2D. Even when she started her whole "I'm a god" thing, I was like "oh alright, i guess...when is the POV gonna switch?" She just feels very bland, especially compared to the others. Unhappy about how the thing with her and Nico went? Like it was just so frustrating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexism, Terminal illness, and Stalking

frantically's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

was so focused on the girlies i completely missed the gays (this was so boring)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Misogyny, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Gun violence

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

 

this was my multiverse of madness

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Cancer, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

soniajoy98's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Confinement, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Ultimately not impressed. I just finished 10 minutes ago and feel extremely disappointed. The first book left off with big implications for the second, but it feels like nothing really happened. There was too much internal monologue, too much 'miscommunication' trope, and too much emphasis on POVs that ultimately weren't necessary or interesting. The character alliances in the first book were thrown out on a flimsy plot point just to further the miscommunication between the group, which is the only fuel for plot progression. All of this I could have let pass (solely because I love the characters) if I felt it led to a pay-off, which it didn't.

The narrative of Tristan-Nico-Libby focuses on trying to get Libby back. It is Tristan's singular motivator of the book. And Nico's torment over her absence is obvious but his focus on Gideon helps his character progress. We get a glimpse of Libby and Tristan reuniting in Scotland. But in the end there's no climactic reunion between Libby and Tristan OR Libby and Nico. This was their entire plotline of the book and it was left open-ended. And not like a cliff-hanger, but in a way that I feel there was no climax at all. Part of this, again, is time spent on relationships which prove fruitless, like Belen-Libby, Ezra-Atlas. These POVs are not our main characters, and its just time spent away. There's too many characters and plotlines to juggle, and they are disproportionately balanced.

For me, what started out as a story with intriguing morally-grey characters, suspense and intrigue, eventually turned out to just be tedious and disappointing. Might read the next book for the reunion scenes mentioned in the spoilers. Might just Google it. And maybe I just forget. 

Edit 5 minutes after finishing the review: I just read my review of the first book and forgot to mention the increased amount of pseudointellectual bullshit in the internal monlogues. Way too much freshman 101 class theories and not enough character interaction to make up for the increased use of the miscommunication trope to keep the plot going. Honestly I had high hopes for this book...

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol