Reviews

Edit: reread the trad pub version because I heard it was different to the self pub. Couldn’t see many differences but GOD this thing is still so over written. Characters monologue for twenty five minutes. The prose is prosing. I’ll read Paradox because I want to see where it goes but I did find myself skipping over so many unnecessary “I’m so intelligent” paragraphs.

Read this in about 36 hours and it blew the top of my head off

charlottegouldbourne's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

I was so ready to enjoy this book more than I actually did! I really enjoyed the concept and I was excited to see what Blake would do with it, but unfortunately The Atlas Six just didn't quite hit the mark for me.

The story essentially revolves around six magic-users who are selected to study at the most prestigious and secretive magical library in the world, with the promise of untold opportunities and riches in the future... as long as they're not the one out of the six rejected after the first year. It's a clever idea, and I enjoyed the way the magical universe was structured, but I didn't always feel like the world-building was sufficient to really get Blake's ideas across to the reader. I'm still uncertain of the point of the library in the first place, and the divisions between the different classes of magician were unclear.

I probably could have handled that were it not for my other main problem with this book, which was the sheer number of characters and storylines. All six protagonists were given equally-weighted POV chapters, which meant that a) there just wasn't enough space in the text to really feel like you understood any one of them, and b) I'd often forgotten details about some of the individual storylines by the time we circled back to a particular character. Reina in particular felt like an entirely unnecessary character, and oddly enough, so did Callum.

The dynamics between Nico and Libby were good fun, and I was pleased Blake didn't go down the obvious route with their relationship. Similarly, I thought the final twist was cleverly plotted and well-foreshadowed without being too glaringly obvious. There were lots of storylines I would have liked to see more from - Nico and Gideon in particular - but again, time was wasted on characters and viewpoints that were more forgettable.

It's a shame, because The Atlas Six is my sort of book and I love the idea, but I was frustrated by the execution. I haven't decided yet whether or not to push through to the sequels! Maybe when some time has passed - I do genuinely want to know what happens.

bookworm_123's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

4.5

bonnygreen98's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense 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

4.0

spunkyfunky's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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