ellie
Maybe I shouldn't have left so much time between books, maybe it was supposed to go this way, maybe it's just part of my reading slump making me write this review and maybe the political context we're dwelling with right now is not helping.
I love Olivie Blake and I love the other two books in the series but I can't seem to grasp the same love I had for them for this one. Her writing is impeccable and so it's the critic, give unlimited power to six kids and see how it ends for them and the adults around them who should've stopped it in the first place but are as broken and corrupted by the system as they're. I love the premise, i love the critic and i love almost every kid on that house but, and it's a big but, i just couldn't handle the hopelessness throughout this whole book.
As i said maybe i should've read it before when the world wasn't as much on fire as it is right now but i haven't so that's that. I've been reading her work for a while now and while some characters and stories are more darker than others for me Olivie has always let hope filter through, it doesn't seem like the case in this book. At least for me. And if we can't find hope in a fiction of power that in a way resembles more and more reality, what's the real point of fiction anyways? I loved the series, but I also didn't if that makes any sense.
The Atlas Six will always have a special place inside my heart and brain, I just wished the aftertaste wasn't that sour.
(En algún momento, la traduciré en inglés)
Si habéis hablado conmigo estas últimas semanas sobre este libro ya sabéis lo que voy a decir pero procedo a resumirlo.
No voy a entrar mucho en la autora y en el hecho de que mucha parte del libro sea propaganda f4scist4 de guerra, pero es propaganda f4scist4. Los primeros 40 capitulos, han sido un fanfic de cómo se imaginaba ella con su pareja (que si mal no recuerdo es militar y piloto). Hemos pasado de 2 libros donde tanto Xaden como Violet son adolescentes aprendiendo a tener una relación (por supuesto con muchos rasgos tóxicos y dañinos) a verles tener una relación adulta. Lo normal, si hubiesen tenido algún tipo de desarrollo o conversación. Su relación ha avanzado un camino que ellos como personajes no han avanzado en ningún momento y mucho menos verbalizado.
El concepto de the empyrean es súper interesante y bien desarrollado podría ser un saga brutal pero en mi humilde opinión se queda en eso, potencial.
Lo que es el libro como concepto ejecutado, es demasiado personajes, malas ediciones y traducciones y una manera de escribir que te acaba sacando todo el rato de lo que estás leyendo. Hay personajes que no han sido ni descritos y luego personajes principales que están siendo descritos, ahora, en el tercer libro. No me preguntéis los signets de muchos de ellos o ni siquiera me preguntéis quiénes son porque hay varios que a no ser que hagas un relectura previa simplemente no calan, y es algo que te ocurre con la mayoría. Vamos que en general de la gente que ha muerto yo simplemente tengo por comentar que ok, sin más, quién eres.
El 40% final del libro es interesante, responde preguntas que nos hemos hecho inicialmente y lo agradeces un poco porque te has pasado un 60% previo preguntándote qué coño hacen. También he de decir que lo de añadir otro signet, las deidades, la búsqueda de la cura y la respuesta a dicha cura, entre otras muchas narrativas que no voy a añadir por mantenerlo spoiler free es simple y llanamente absurdo. El potencial está ahi, pero el amasijo de conceptos es tal y se resuelven todos tan rápido o tan lento (porque no tiene puntos intermedios) que es simplemente difícil que te acabe interesando saber más.
El libro se lleva un aprobado raspado porque hay momentos que me han llevado a sentirme como cuando leí los dos primeros y porque lo he comentado con una amiga. Si me lo tuviese que leer sola, probablemente lo dejaría aquí.
It's actually exciting that my first read of the year ended up being a 5-star and a new favorite. There are a lot of things about the plot and the characters I still have to digest (like the groom being called Gary—because why would you hate your child so much??) but overall it has felt like a warm hug to all the past and future versions of myself.
I'll potentially reread it, but the first read timing has been perfect. Happy 2025.
“Nothing stayed—or so I had always thought. Nothing stayed and nothing lingered.
But I was wrong.
Because there was an apartment in the Monroe on the Upper East Side that was full of magic, and it taught me how to say goodbye.
And it was no longer mine.
That didn't matter, though, because I carried all of the good moments with me, the walls and the furniture—the claw-foot tub and the robin's-egg blue chair—and the way my aunt danced me around the living room, so no matter where I was, I would always be home.
Because the things that mattered most never really left.
The love stays.
The love always stays, and so do we.”
actual rate 4.5/5
I don't know how to start this review.
In my humble opinion, this book contains the best prose written by Holly Black to date. The characters are well-rounded and it's almost impossible to not fall in love with them, the world-building is astonishing and every single description is better than the previous one. I honestly believe there's not a better ending than the one in this book.
Buuuuut, while I've enjoyed it with all my heart and wouldn't change one bit of the events, the pace for me was all over the place. I loved it, but the previous one felt more fluid than this one. It feels to me as if Jude and Cardan were rushed there with those interactions because, in the last book, everyone complained about them not being, and while as a big fan of them, I enjoyed them, I would've loved to see more of Hyacinth and Tiernan, especially towards the end.
I don't know, I wouldn't change a thing but at the same time, there are many things I would've enjoyed being there to make it a more fluent read.
Still, I am super excited to keep on reading Holly Black's work, and this spin-off has felt like a beautiful gift. Oak and Wren have a special place in my heart.
