Roo
Rating: 2 Stars
Ah, the Atlas Six. It's one of those books to me that though I liked it at the start, the more I read of it, the less I liked of it.
This is my second Olivie Blake book, and I think her style of writing is something that one can bounce off quite easily. In Masters of Death, the need for all the characters to say witty one liners drove me away. In this, it was the endless nihilism and cynicism that was on display that drove me away. I think if I found the right combination of characters, then maybe I would enjoy an Olivie Blake book, but once she commits to an idea of the vibe and the theme, she seems to double down and make it central. This is perfectly fine, if you are the person who enjoys that particular vibe, but for this book? That wasn't me.
I had issues here, more than just the style. To me, this is a dark academia novel weighed down not only by nihilistic or ego driven characters that make being in their heads sometimes an experience that ranges from being a chore to an actually unpleasant experience, but also by inconsistencies with its own magical system. It pretends at being greatly scientific and intellectual, and yet, breaks its own rules. How does an empath for example, use magic to summon glasses to drink scotch? Beats me, but then the next chapter has everyone wondering about how time travel is possible through telepathy because time is a construct of memory and psychology, even as we talk about time as particle and quanta. The end result becomes a muddled mess where magic is simply what seems pretentious to talk about in one moment, and then convenient to use in the next. I have nothing against a marrying of concepts of magic and science, but if you walk that line, then to me, you have to pay homage to the fact that science is full of rules and inherently lends itself to a hard magic system. You can't treat a hard magic system as if it was a soft system. You have to stick to your worldbuilding, even if it uncool.
And there's a thick layer of pretence in this novel. These characters are smart and powerful, so to view the world with that pretence in mind makes sense, but it becomes grating. The prose doesn't help either, becoming very purple, especially in some large speeches were you just think, no nihilistic twenty odd is going to be talking this way, so it feels needlessly ostentatious. Still, despite all this, I'm compelled. I somewhat do want to read forward, to see if, against all these odds, these characters who are driven by self interest, arrogance, greed and cynicism can turn into people rather than just their own egos. If the other books hadn't already been out, I would have bought the second, because I can see a fragment of possibility for this to lend itself to a story I would personally like.
However, the sequels are out, and this is the book that most people say is the best. So, to that I say, I will not continue. Or perhaps, I might get the second from my library and judge for myself, but hold little hope. I do think there's an Olivie Blake book out there that suits me, because Masters of Death was a fine time, just a little bit too flippant for the heart that it wanted to sell to me, but if I had read the Atlas Six first, I don't know if I would have believed it. It takes too much from its characters, and they are not the characters I enjoy.
Rating: 2 Stars
Ah, the Atlas Six. It's one of those books to me that though I liked it at the start, the more I read of it, the less I liked of it.
This is my second Olivie Blake book, and I think her style of writing is something that one can bounce off quite easily. In Masters of Death, the need for all the characters to say witty one liners drove me away. In this, it was the endless nihilism and cynicism that was on display that drove me away. I think if I found the right combination of characters, then maybe I would enjoy an Olivie Blake book, but once she commits to an idea of the vibe and the theme, she seems to double down and make it central. This is perfectly fine, if you are the person who enjoys that particular vibe, but for this book? That wasn't me.
I had issues here, more than just the style. To me, this is a dark academia novel weighed down not only by nihilistic or ego driven characters that make being in their heads sometimes an experience that ranges from being a chore to an actually unpleasant experience, but also by inconsistencies with its own magical system. It pretends at being greatly scientific and intellectual, and yet, breaks its own rules. How does an empath for example, use magic to summon glasses to drink scotch? Beats me, but then the next chapter has everyone wondering about how time travel is possible through telepathy because time is a construct of memory and psychology, even as we talk about time as particle and quanta. The end result becomes a muddled mess where magic is simply what seems pretentious to talk about in one moment, and then convenient to use in the next. I have nothing against a marrying of concepts of magic and science, but if you walk that line, then to me, you have to pay homage to the fact that science is full of rules and inherently lends itself to a hard magic system. You can't treat a hard magic system as if it was a soft system. You have to stick to your worldbuilding, even if it uncool.
And there's a thick layer of pretence in this novel. These characters are smart and powerful, so to view the world with that pretence in mind makes sense, but it becomes grating. The prose doesn't help either, becoming very purple, especially in some large speeches were you just think, no nihilistic twenty odd is going to be talking this way, so it feels needlessly ostentatious. Still, despite all this, I'm compelled. I somewhat do want to read forward, to see if, against all these odds, these characters who are driven by self interest, arrogance, greed and cynicism can turn into people rather than just their own egos. If the other books hadn't already been out, I would have bought the second, because I can see a fragment of possibility for this to lend itself to a story I would personally like.
However, the sequels are out, and this is the book that most people say is the best. So, to that I say, I will not continue. Or perhaps, I might get the second from my library and judge for myself, but hold little hope. I do think there's an Olivie Blake book out there that suits me, because Masters of Death was a fine time, just a little bit too flippant for the heart that it wanted to sell to me, but if I had read the Atlas Six first, I don't know if I would have believed it. It takes too much from its characters, and they are not the characters I enjoy.
