I have lost interest in this series. I thought I'd try to continue on with this one to learn more about the characters, but the plot and world isn't interesting enough for me to go on.

Slower off the blocks than the first book and with less urgency until the final crescendo, Blake nevertheless crafts a compelling and fascinating read. Questions of time, fate, agency... and while the characters are all a bit more insufferable, they're all also still so damn real.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was like… a 3.5, but I’ve rounded up because half stars aren’t a thing on here.

Let me start off by saying that I love these characters, but sometimes you just want to shake them for being emotionally constipated little idiots, which is very in character for most of them, so the author is doing a great job there.

I enjoyed this book as I was reading it, but then looked back and realized… nothing really happened in it? At all? Until like… the last 5-10%? And honestly, besides Gideon, the only person who was consistently making sense was Belen, who everyone else dismissed as a nut, poor thing.

Overall, while this book did feel a little like filler, I still love this series and would like to have some more, please and thanks.

To enjoy this series, a reader has to be okay with a slow burn. If not, these are not the books for you. As it happens, I tend to enjoy a slow burn and Blake does it perfectly. I don't love the way the book is structured, as if there is a character you don't like, you have to suffer through their chapters. Which is fine. But can really be a slog sometimes.

Libby will always be my favourite character. I love her characterization and development and competitiveness. This book should have had NICOLIBBY moments and for that, it loses a star.

Blake's writing is flawless - beautiful philosophical prose.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for this digital ARC!

So I personally loved this book. Honestly around a 4.5-4.75 for me, and I will tell you why…

So we pick up a few days or weeks after The Atlas Six leaves off, and we find out where exactly Libby is, and it sounds like Ezra has informed her of just about everything. In my opinion, this book is largely focused on Libby’s character arc, and I loved it. I loved the development and how we saw her trying to cope with her new reality, and how that changed her. Her whole way of viewing the world has changed, and it makes for one of my most favorite character development arcs of all time. I don’t want to give too much away, so I will leave it at that.

I also really love seeing how the rest of the crew has changed and developed with Libby gone. It has created such a different and somewhat chaotic atmosphere, and we see other sides of characters we didn’t quite get to see. I will say that my second favorite character development to Libby is definitely Callum’s. He has so many great one liners and little quips, and honestly, I went from hating him deeply during book one to loving him in this book.

The one thing keeping me from a 5-star rating is honestly just the pacing of the book. It was mostly chronological in each characters POV, but it would kind of jump around a bit… like we would see character 1 have an interaction with character 2, say on the front lawn when the last we saw character 2, they were in a completely different city, not doing anything related to what they are discussing with character 1… but then we don’t see how they get from point a to point b for 2-3 chapters after that interaction (I can’t really be more specific without spoilers), but it just got a little frustrating. Some of these lapses in pacing made sense why we waited to see that character’s POV until later, but honestly it was mostly just confusing and frustrating. But it didn’t take away from the story or the plot at all, so just a minor inconvenience.

Anyways, I loved the book, I’m excited for it to come out and hope not too much changes in final edits!!

The Atlas Paradox did not disappoint as a follow-up to the riveting story that was The Atlas Six. With our six main characters spread out across time and emotional distance, the many moving parts of this story were adeptly navigated and all completely captivated me. I really enjoyed the fraught interactions between our main cast and the tension that permeated throughout. The plot continued to expand throughout the novel and really exploded towards the end. I can't wait to see what happens in the final book!

Minor spoilers below

I enjoyed this book and the characters (even though they are mostly insufferable and pretentious) but I am still walking away from this book confused. Libby is lost somewhere out in the ether, the others (especially Nico) are lost without her, Callum is slightly less evil (and more drunk), and the society is being run by evil billionaires who want to create a different world.

I think my issue though is Blake throws all this information out there but it is never explained in a useful or concise way. I know this is the second in the series and so there needs to be some build up for the next book. We get half explanations buried between lines of excruciatingly "smart" dialogue. Or dialogue pulled from tiktok (since this is a booktok sensation). For example, no science, just vibes, or the colonialism just jumped out. These are not exact quotes (mostly because I don't have the book in front of me) but you get the idea. I think Blake wants their audience to be as smart as them and unfortunately that's not always the case.

I liked the alliances though I agree they were strange and am looking forward to reading more about them in the next book. I think Libby's corruption arc will also be fun to read. I just want a little bit more.

I was provided a free copy of this book through NetGalley

Thank you Net Galley for this ARC. I was really excited as I typically love Olivie Blake's writing and really enjoyed The Atlas Six. This one wasn't as much my cup of tea, I found it meandering and kind of boring, but I'm sure other readers will be very excited to see the conclusion to the story

Absolutely fantastic! Just as great as the first, I was so excited to see what would happen and gobsmacked by the end. I thought about this for days afterward

Honestly, this book was boring.
It took a lot of effort to finish it! The last bit was good but it took so long to get interesting.

As much as I tried, this book was not for me. It's likely mostly a genre problem on my end. I've tried through various books to get into dark academia, and it's not my thing. I will, however, gladly recommend it to my readers and patrons who do happen to like it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a solid second book. While it's mostly a set up for book three, but these books are really more about the vibes anyway. I do find some of the writing convoluted and not as easy to follow as the first book, but I still really loved it.

I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

This sequel was very much like the first....disappointing. There are too many things going on and too many characters and it just does not makes sense. The interesting thing was in the acknowledgments the author wrote something akin to, 'this is proof you can write a book while sleep deprived.' Ahem....can you though? This was so confusing and disjointed and NOT enjoyable at all. I thought I would get some answers but instead the novel took a weird turn into maybe we are gods and then time travel that didn't make sense. Just in general, this novel did NOT MAKE SENSE. It was awful and I will absolutely stay away from anymore sleep deprived, disjointed, wordy nonesense this author writes.

When I first got this ARC, I was really jazzed, and when I started reading it, I honestly couldn't remember why. I gave the first book three stars and had to reread it before I could really get into The Atlas Paradox because I couldn't remember enough about the plot of the first book to get into the second. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing - I had to read Gideon the Ninth twice and Harrow the Ninth two or three times before I could read Nona the Ninth and I still didn't completely understand it and I had to literally make notes and consult the wiki, but it was fascinating and I didn't mind putting in the work. I kind of minded in this case. I was initially attracted to The Atlas Six for the same reason everyone was - a dark academia book, a great setting, a life or death contest, etc. But it just...didn't work. It was too complicated, the characters too unlikeable and at the same time, completely forgettable, and it ended up being just meh. Yet somehow, that hype stuck with me for two years and I sat down with this book excitedly only to find that it, too, was just meh. There's a third coming out and I don't know if I'll read it or not. I think the hype has finally faded from my brain.

Olivia Blake does not fail to disappoint with this second installment, though it definitely feels like an interlude between the first and third books.

Thank you netgalley for an ARC : )

With how the first book in the series ended, this one had a high bar to live up to. It did— in some ways. The tension and the conflict between characters was still the best part and it was fascinating to watch them deal with the pressure of their new situation. Libby fans will not be disappointed, her parts of the book make her an even better character than she already was.

Though the characters were strong, the pacing of the book did slow down (which was a problem given how slow book 1 already was) and the stakes felt like they were falling off a bit. After how intense the ending of the first book was, I was disappointed that this one didn’t maintain the same vibe to it. But the ending was yet another surprise, and I am absolutely dying to read book 3!

I've been waiting for this sequel for AGES and it absolutely did not disappoint.
This was amazing, all the stories crossing together never knowing who I could trust or whose side I was on? Loved loved loved. I love these characters, I love their dynamic, and I'm so excited for the next book. Being in the 'school' was exciting but it did start to feel claustrophobic. Very excited to see our gang out in the world making trouble.

Did I think it was possible for the sequel to be even better? No. Was it? Absolutely! I had high hopes and Olivie Blake delivered. The story continues from The Atlas Six and along the way answers a few burning questions that were left from the initial installment. I don't want to give any spoilers, but trust me, this is a must read. I can't wait for the third. This series has absolutely blown my expectations out of the water.

First, I would like to say thank you to Netgalley for granting me access to an eARC. While I did not love TA6, I was so ready to dive into TAP, which was a bit of a disappointment. I found the majority of the book to be tedious and unnecessary. The scientific and philosophical theories presented were interesting but too difficult to follow. The characters were exhausting, juvenile, and cagey.

I think that Blake is an imaginative writer, who can weave scientific methods and logic into her made-up world well. While this book was not for me, I think that it's a decadent escape for lovers of dark academia. I'm beginning to realize that this genre is not my cup of tea, but would I read another installment to this series? probably...

I found this sequel much more enjoyable than the original! The characters felt more believable and well rounded, and Rhodes didn't annoy me anywhere near as much as she did in the first novel. I liked that we got to see more of Ezra's perspective this time around. Can't wait to see how it all wraps up!