The Atlas Six

I am making this review after also reading the sequel so I'm trying to be conscious of me mixing together the two plots; please read spoilered text with caution. I have also read 10+ books since finishing this novel, so my memory is not 100% trustworthy.

The premise of this book has a lot of potential. I found a lot of the characters unlikeable at first. In particular, Reina felt very bland, Tristan was annoying and I wanted to punch Callum in the face on multiple occasions. It was a very slow read for me, but this may have been due to me being in a long reading slump prior to reading this book, though the twists were enough to keep me engaged particularly regarding Ezra, I did not see that coming, but I quite enjoyed it. Parisa was interesting; I didn't adore her, but I didn't have any strong negative feelings towards her like some characters, and she was intriguing enough to enjoy her POV. Libby... I wanted to like her more, but her character was quite frustrating at times.

Nico and his little cohort carried this book, I loved them to pieces, and the bond between them and Nico is so refreshing amongst the complicated relationships happening between all the main characters of the novel. I wish we could have spent more time with them, but considering there were 5 other main characters to develop, I understand that's quite unrealistic.

The writing style itself I think is quite strong, but drags a little in places (I am reviewing this by memory, but I've read 100+ books since this, so I could be wrong). I think her prose is quite strong, but her character writing could use some improvement.

Overall, a book with promise, but just felt a little flat. I usually enjoy reading books with more likeable characters than the ones in this book, so it just might have not been to my taste. I can enjoy unlikeable characters, but I would want a bit more depth from them to at least feel more invested in them, regardless as to whether I like them as a person, which I think this book was lacking. I think it would have benefitted from spending more quality time in each character's head, but this very much could be improved in the next book.