i just finished this book and man, was it a hard read.
i first saw this book in my local bookstore, read the blurb and nearly bought it right then and there, the only reason i didn’t, was because i wanted to buy the hunger games ballad of songbirds and snakes first.
anyways, i read the book online and am so glad I didn’t waste my money on it 😭
the idea of a secret society of magicians thst have access to indispensable knowledge is fascinating, and the “knowledge is carnage” part in the corner would draw anyone in, but the book itself was so poorly executed that the only thing i really enjoyed were the illustrations and cover.
There are four main points I’ll be touching about this book that, there are many others but these are the ones at the forefront of my mind
WARNING: There are spoilers in this post so please don’t read if you intend on keeping the surprise <3
I apologise in advance for any spelling errors and grammatical mistakes, it’s 1am and I am exhausted:P
WHY I STRONGLY DISLIKE THIS BOOK:
1. Pathetic World Building
As a predominantly fantasy reader, I am used to intricate world building and lore, for example: The Cruel Prince and Hunger Games, beautifully executed worlds that made me want to read more.
Calling TAS a fantasy book is honestly disrespectful to genuine ones because of the unenthusiastic world building.
We are told that this is not present day , because of the dying planet and large population, but apart from a few instances where there are mentioned, almost nothing is ever brought up about the world the characters live in itself.
Moreover, the setting is hard to grasp and visualise, for example, the Library house thing itself, I had a hard time trying to imagine it using only the sparse description we were given right when the characters walked in. Apart from the brief introduction to the setting in the beginning, we were given no description or acknowledgement of the surroundings and environment to the point where the characters may as well have been floating in an endless void.
There was also a disappointing amount of sensory information, the descriptions we did get were almost always (if not always) visual. A combination of the senses would’ve been much more immersive and interesting to read imo.
2. Annoying Characters
I did not like any of these characters, period.
Normally, there is atleast one character is vibe with or am rooting for, but with TAS, all I was doing was desperately waiting for the end of one chapter so I could start another.
The characters were all all so dramatically overbearing with their given tropes; Parisa the femme fatale, Lobby being an anxious, OCD nerd, Nico and his obsession with protecting Gideon, Callum a cold sociopath and Reina just plain unbothered and blunt.
The only bearable character was Atlas himself, but we got so little of him that it was barely enough for me to like the characters as a whole.
The writing of the characters was also shallow and alot of the chapters were mushed together in the sense of the voice of characters because of how little distinction there was between them.
There were SO many instances where details were so dramatically overstated– like Libby’s anxiety and Tristan’s cynicism– but rarely ever acknowledged in the character’s own POV$ that it just felt like unenthusiastic afterthoughts
wtf is Dalton??? why is he necessary and what is happening with the relationship between him and Parisa?
Why did they hate eachother so much?
How did they go from hating eachothers asses to suddenly teaming up to find Libby (whom they also hated)
Overall, the characters are just shallow and plain boring, end of discussion.
3. Half-Assed Plotline
This book felt like it was written in one sitting with no previous planning whatsoever.
The plot meanders so much that half the time, even I didn’t know what was happening. I had no clue what the storyline and what the characters were working towards was until the last few chapters which is frankly disappointing.
The plot jumped so many times from being initiated into the Society, being liked by other members, killing/be killed to saving the world? It felt like a series squished into 400 pages but also felt so unnecessary at the same time.
Moreover, there were so many unanswered questions and random plot holes and half thought of details in this book. I understand it’s part of a trilogy but the amount of plot holes made it sooo not enjoyable to read.
4. Random Tangents + Confusing Details?
The characters in this book often went on long boring tangents about philosophy or science to the point where they sounded like pretentious try hards, sorry not sorry.
For a book that talked so much about the physics and laws behind the magic, it felt so confusing as a reader, and the lore they talked about what little lore there was, the more confused I got.
The long winding paragraphs about philosophy were also mind numbing, sure it may be because I rarely read philosophical texts, but in what universe is pages upon pages of random jargon interesting? At that point, just pick a book about Quantum physics or something, it’ll be of more use 🤷♀️
The characters also went on for pages about unnecessary stuff that barlt added to the plot that the only thing I could think of while reading was… spinach.
Like when you can put a giant bunch of it into a pan for it to end up barely a handful when cooked
…yeah, that’s how i felt about the writing. So many words but hardly anything said.
Although TAS had a few merits, like the somewhat interesting mechanics of the character’s powers, the weaknesses greatly outweigh the strengths, which is why, I’d give The Atlas Six a 1.5/5
I doubt I’d read the sequels unless I had absolutely nothing else to read, and considering the reveiws of those, I doubt I’d finish both of them.
by ashyytrashyy