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A review by starstrays
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I'd like to start this off by first saying: If you're reading this for the LGBT tag, it's... not inherently wrong? But the book personally could've lived without being tagged as LGBT. The closest to a legitimate LGBT pair there is in the book is left up in the air, and a threesome happens with two women and a man, but that's really only it? So uh, it's a Thing, but not at all central to the book.
Anyways.
SPOILERS AHEAD
This book was frustrating to get through and I was simply eager to get through it. Yes, it's one that provokes a lot of curiosity and Olivie Blake's writing remains excellent. But there were just so many reasons nearly compelliny my need to finish it to just drop it entirely.
For one, her writing style feels so introspective, fitting her other boom Alone With You in the Ether, whereas in a book that features six characters competing and monologue is primarily happening, the book's world feels too small despite all her efforts to worldbuild.
For another, because of the topics jt discussed, TAS also felt like a remix kf AWYE except it threw in more characters into the mix. It's all talk about space and time and dimension without AWYE's bees.
The book is also annoyingly slow, yet once again the writing makes it feel like there are portions it's forced to speed up. There are sudden dialogue topic changes that feel unnatural. The timeskips get so repetitive. These are things that worked for AWYE which is, once again, a book heavy on introspection. Whereas TAS is a book that tries to be full of research, discussion and theory, but the way it attempts to execute all of these feel so passive and unmoving to the plot.
Once again an incompatibility with Olivie's writing and the book's nature, for all the interest each character has built up, I will immediately stop caring about them in the next chapter. I don't get to see them bond and fight in real time often enough despite living in the same quarters for months because of these structural flaws. I know who these characters are on an individual level, but who are they together as The Atlas Six? I am forced to only care for one character at a time.
The book is decent, and surprisingly I would not say I hated it. But it felt like I exerted too much effort trying to finish it because of how the book is structured. This is where my curiosity for TAS ends, and hence it is unlikely for me to read the sequel.
Anyways.
SPOILERS AHEAD
This book was frustrating to get through and I was simply eager to get through it. Yes, it's one that provokes a lot of curiosity and Olivie Blake's writing remains excellent. But there were just so many reasons nearly compelliny my need to finish it to just drop it entirely.
For one, her writing style feels so introspective, fitting her other boom Alone With You in the Ether, whereas in a book that features six characters competing and monologue is primarily happening, the book's world feels too small despite all her efforts to worldbuild.
For another, because of the topics jt discussed, TAS also felt like a remix kf AWYE except it threw in more characters into the mix. It's all talk about space and time and dimension without AWYE's bees.
The book is also annoyingly slow, yet once again the writing makes it feel like there are portions it's forced to speed up. There are sudden dialogue topic changes that feel unnatural. The timeskips get so repetitive. These are things that worked for AWYE which is, once again, a book heavy on introspection. Whereas TAS is a book that tries to be full of research, discussion and theory, but the way it attempts to execute all of these feel so passive and unmoving to the plot.
Once again an incompatibility with Olivie's writing and the book's nature, for all the interest each character has built up, I will immediately stop caring about them in the next chapter. I don't get to see them bond and fight in real time often enough despite living in the same quarters for months because of these structural flaws. I know who these characters are on an individual level, but who are they together as The Atlas Six? I am forced to only care for one character at a time.
The book is decent, and surprisingly I would not say I hated it. But it felt like I exerted too much effort trying to finish it because of how the book is structured. This is where my curiosity for TAS ends, and hence it is unlikely for me to read the sequel.