Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - The Atlas Paradox: Schicksal ist eine Entscheidung

Did you read A Deadly Education and wish the characters were infinitely more unlikeable? Did you read The Magicians and wish there was zero atmosphere or world-building and the magic system was way more incomprehensible? This book is for you!

Also, skip the audiobook. Half the narrators are so bad it actually ruined my mood.

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booksemmahasread's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

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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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cnannery19's review against another edition

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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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allorah's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective 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

3.25

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stormeno's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The first book in this series was book club’s choice of the month for September, when I read it and it ended on cliffhanger, I knew I was going to have to read the next one in series.

This book is based on the Alexandrian Society who are the caretakers of lost knowledge from the civilizations of antiquity, and they are a secret society for the magical academicians in the world. Those who earn a place among the Alexandrians will secure a life of wealth, power, knowledge and prestige beyond their wildest dreams, and each decade, only six of the most talented magicians are selected to be considered for initiations. In the last book, we meet the newest initiates: Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona are the unwilling halves of the unfathomable whole, who can control every element of physicality. Then there is Reina Mori, she is a naturalist who can speak the language of life within itself. Parisa Kamali is a telepath who can traverse the depths of the subconscious and navigate worlds inside the human mind. Callum Nova is an empath easily mistaken for illusionist and he can influence the intimate workings of a person’s inner self. Finally, there is Tristan Caine, who can see through any illusions to a new structure of reality – it's an ability so rare that neither him nor his peers can fully grasp its powers. All of them now must pick if they wish to preserve the world or to destroy it. The Atlas Six is revealed for what it is, and it is headed by man whose plans to change life as they know it is already under way. But the cost of knowledge is steep and as the price of power demands each person to choose a side, which alliances will hold, and which will see their enmity deepen?

This is another book where I was ignoring the hype on BookTok and was glad to ignore the hype on BookTok. I still don’t get the hype of it. I think my main issue with this book is I hated all the characters; I am all for rooting for the main character within a book. Due to this book having all six POVs, there wasn’t a good person who you knew was going to be safe. Libby should have just actually died instead of disappearing. Nico was still two-faced but then took Libby’s people-pleasiness and then just was trying to be friends with everyone. Reina has finally got some personality but now she wants to be a God and create a new world. Parisa drove me up the wall with how bitchy she was – the mean girls called, and Regina George wants her personality back. She was all about being open about sex and things which is all great but then she has all these love triangles and still sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong. Callum still gives me a headache and I'm confused with what his part was in his book expect for the fact that he didn’t die. Tristan was the only one with his head on his shoulders last book, but then he lost his head in this book because Libby was gone. It felt like some characters were more favoured so had more of a personality and then others were literally there to remind us of information we already knew. I felt like the storyline and world building was a bit all over the place especially with the whole time-travelling and let’s make a new God.

The book was a bit calmer, where I felt like everyone had lost their head in this book. I loved the multiple POVs, I just wanted more from them. I was more interested in Gideon’s drama which hasn’t really progressed since the previous book.

Gideon and Libby are probably the only reason I might pick up the third book, just to see what’s going on and if Gideon’s drama is every resolved.

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