I had been waiting for this sequel since the moment I finished The Atlas Six. With the first book ending on several cliffhangers, The Atlas Paradox picks up where The Atlas Six left off, but throws in more twists and turns. I was left with even more questions than the first book, which is right on brand for this trilogy. I loved the enhanced character development and the new characters. The plot sometimes got confusing with several different storylines going on, which left me eager for the third book to come out.

God. GOD. Olivie Blake is a master at weaving together the smallest of details, the most inconsequential of plots into something that leaves you winded.

I'll do my best to avoid spoilers since this is still a few weeks out from publication! Though I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as The Atlas Six - mostly because it is somehow even slower, almost like starting from scratch - I still greatly adore this world Blake has created.

In The Atlas Paradox, readers will find the story gaining layers of real-world application in-line with their studies and the opposing forces of Atlas, Ezra, and everyone else fighting each other to take hold of power. This book tackles creation myths and time travel and godliness itself. It completely breaks apart your understanding of these characters and their alliances, debuting so many new and interesting groupings that kept me enthralled even when it seemed that nothing was happening.

I do think it gets pretty messy in the middle and there is so much less of them working together or even against each other here that left me disappointed. For a character driven story, The Atlas Paradox is largely solitary, defined not by their interactions with each other but with the independent studies forcing them to reckon with themselves and their own belief systems. Even though it is a lonely read, devoid of most of the interactions I enjoyed in The Atlas Six, they are never not thinking of each other. And the moments characters do get together are the ones that really propel the plot and make that cliffhanger ending so worthwhile.

The characters I enjoyed most were a bit of a surprise. I greatly enjoyed Callum's perspective above all, which is such a shock! I'm so invested in what comes next for him. I also found myself really enthralled in Nico's, and I hope the end means we get a lot more Gideon in the next one. For so, so many reasons. :) Also, Libby's entire story is just off the walls insane. I literally cannot imagine how this all plays out but what a fascinating way to explore her character.

We also finally got the Dalton reveal which was NOT what I expected and seems like it'll be a pretty dangerous spark to whatever happens next.

All in all, even though it took me longer to really get through the first half, the second half was a homerun. I hope the next book brings them all together again because that will really make whatever chaos is coming the perfect storm!

To say that I was obsessed with the first book would be an understatement. I loved the plot, the characters, the world-building, the academia, EVERYTHING. All that said, this sequel was a huge disappointment.

The biggest problem for me was how tension was dealt with in the story. There would be a huge moment of plot that would be left in the air for six chapters while you were reading about random pursuits of other characters (and you read from EVERYONE’S point of view). It made me not care because I was never allowed an ounce of satisfaction.

Also if you loved how certain characters were set up in the first book, then you will be annoyed by this one because they will never speak.

I am sharing my thoughts on both the book and audio - between the two, I think I enjoyed the audio version best with its extremely well done full cast audio. It was nice also to read chapters on my own and give additional thought to the depth of Blakes words.

I eagerly awaited book two, The Atlas Paradox, by Olivie Blake after reading book one and being left on that cliffhanger. And while we didnt have to wait long, I wish I had reread book one again before starting this book.

From the authors blurb: The Atlas Paradox is the long-awaited sequel to dark academic sensation The Atlas Six—guaranteed to have even more yearning, backstabbing, betrayal, and chaos.

Six magicians. Two rivalries. One researcher. And a man who can walk through dreams. All must pick a side: do they wish to preserve the world—or destroy it? In this electric sequel to the viral sensation, The Atlas Six, the society of Alexandrians is revealed for what it is: a secret society with raw, world-changing power, headed by a man whose plans to change life as we know it are already under way. But the cost of knowledge is steep, and as the price of power demands each character choose a side, which alliances will hold and which will see their enmity deepen?”

There's alot to unpack in this Blake series - many characters with multiple POV, many super powers (each different), heavy science and philosophy (yes, this is dark academia at its best), characters locked in the past, struggles with powers and motivation and politics thrown in.

Book two does start off at book ones end - we return to the point where the students have avoided the obligation to murder a classmate by Libby being banished into a past timeline. (I have to say, this was brilliant). Ezra has dropped her into the past, hoping to save her or save the world or... gosh I dont really know - this is the magic of Blakes writings. We want to know and she doles out answers extremely slow and from multiple angles keeping us a bit lost. With Libby gone, the present and future for the group is forever altered. Libby was the moral compass for the group and change comes for the group and newly introduced characters..

While complicated, The Atlas Paradox is a story with so many hidden little details, from time to time I found myself urging the book to go faster. I am not sure if I tuned out and missed something in the moment when I felt deluged with detail after detail or if I got mired down in the magical theory. Sometimes, I just disconnected with the story and this is a book that you cant miss a single piece or you feel lost. Olivia Blake is an author that demands time and thought. And just like book one, we are left wondering what??? and left waiting for book three hoping that we will finally have answers we need.

Those who enjoy twisty mind blowing sci-fi/fantasy adventure will enjoy Olivia Blake. For me, I am firmly on team Gideon. I really enjoy seeing other reviews and noting people have favorite characters. This I believe shows the strength of Blakes character development.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Olivia Blake for a book that keeps you wondering what now??? By the way, I also listened to this on audio. Its full cast and very well done!

Sequels are hard. You have to win back the audience that was captivated with the first book and keep them coming on their toes. The sequel gives you time to spend fleshing out relationships and characters - to give them mor dimension and to make them come alive for the reader again.

Blake’s <i>The Atlas Paradox</> did not do any of those things. The first half of the novel literally read like stereo instructions. I was <b>so. bored. </b> The characters, who learn a bit more about {thanks to a stunt that literally served no purpose}, suddenly are all flat and boring. Their individual storylines are for lack of a better term - uninspired and boring. Time has no bearing (in one plane!) and MONTHA go by in the blink of an eye. Most of what happens in the first 60% of the novel had no bearing on the rest if the novel - at all.

Now, the book <b>finally</b> picks up its snails pace and the action is in FULL swing. For the last 10 percent. To end with a haltingly fast moment that literally felt like a scene from "Back to the Future".

As much as I did enjoy this book it didn't hit me as much as The Atlas Six.

I was waiting for more characterisation of certain people and it just got swept under the rug. One person's story I can imagine will be fleshed more in the third novel of this trilogy and if it is I'm sure I will find myself liking this book a bit more.

All in all it is a good bridging book, I just would have liked to see characters take a step forward before getting pushed two steps back.

Definitely excited to see where the trilogy goes though.

The Atlas Paradox by Olive Blake is a fun sequel to The Atlas Six. The story picks up shortly after the first book's events, and it is exciting to find out what happens next. I feel this book wasn't as strong as the first one, but I hope the third book will help bring everything together. I can't wait for the next book and to continue this adventure!

Both The Atlas Six and the Atlas Paradox are so creative and ambitious. I love how joyfully Blake weaves magic and science and I really enjoyed the greater real world ramifications this book brought into play. In the beginning I found myself struggling to reconnect with all the characters and to see not only the distinctions in their voices and feelings, but how they were all pinging off each other and setting off on their own trajectories. However, I thought the ending was fantastic and I'm excited to see where she goes with this next!

I loved this even more than the first. THAT ENDING DAMNIT I NEED BOOK 3 NOW!!
I love the character focus this time and the timelines and builds to making it all come together.

Still love the series but the plot was wobblier in this one. I feel like the structure and dialogue could be tighter too. I loved the dark academia discussions in book one but here they became disconnected from the plot. Hoping the final book will take us back up to spec.

I enjoyed seeing more of the characters from the first book and seeing how the story evolves from what has been established. I wish there was more world building since the magic system still isn't fully comprehensive yet and the beginning was very slow. Hopefully, the next book will wrap everything up nicely and will be satisfying in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the anticipated follow up to The Atlas Six and I was quite excited to jump back into this world. We pick up a short while after the events of book one and follow our characters as they try to deal with the events of the last book and move forward. I thought overall that this was a solid follow up. I enjoyed seeing the fallout from book one and seeing more of what the characters were up to in the archives.

I found the writing less enjoyable than the first novel mainly because the narrative voice’s vagueness was no longer as compelling. While in book 1 I was ok with having less information and being left somewhat in the dark as the mystery unfolded, this time around I found the evasive narration more tiresome. I found myself exasperated with the constant miscommunication between characters. After this much time together their utter inability to understand each other got kind of old. It felt like no growth or progress happened in their relationships which was disappointing even if unsurprising.

The pacing here felt particularly slow despite the timeline of the story. I found the plot ineffectual or rather anti climactic. Reading this I felt like I got more of an outline for what could have been a great story but ultimately didn’t deliver on its own potential. Based on the ending I’m assuming (hoping) that the next book will provide more cathartic plot points and a more satisfying conclusion. I do plan on continuing on with the series because of this.

An incredible sequel to Olivia Blake’s first novel. Expanding on the universe introduced in the first novel Blake explores a wide genre of academia science and ethics within this novel. It isn’t just the writing that I loved about this novel, it was the characters and the depth of their relationships. Characters in the novel are not good or bad, they simply exist in shades of grey.

Highly recommend this novel to anyone looking for interesting take on ethics in magic.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC for review.

Apparently I'm on a dark academia kick, since I finished Babel and then went straight in TAP. The highly anticipated follow-up to The Atlas Six delivered most of what I was hoping it would.

Plot: Seeing the group adjust to living without Libby brought in a whole new group dynamic. Every one of these characters is so intrinsic to this "perfect group" that we know Atlas was attempting to make - and it shows. I honestly wish we got more of the planning for getting her back though. Most of the salient plot for the remaining five focused on an independent research project - which I also wish we got more of. Despite Callum's flippancy, I wanted more of Reina's independent research on the Society and Gods. Deviating from the first book, the external politics of the Society and the interwoven history resulting from Ezra's time travel overtake the main plot. I didn't mind this and actually really enjoyed Libby's chapters.

Themes: Like I said, book 2 delivered on a lot of the themes that I was excited for. For one, the concept of having so much information but doing nothing with it has always been a theme for this series. Bringing in climate change and disease control as issues that could technically be solved with the knowledge of the Alexandrian Society, but aren't, is excellent commentary. An elite ruling society has access to bountiful knowledge and funds but chooses to focus on internal power struggles instead of sharing resources? Sounds just a bit too familiar.

Also, the characters ponder who should have access to such knowledge; should it only be a few elite members who presumably have the intellectual ability to handle the world's knowledge get to wield it, or should knowledge be free to all who want it, no matter how they may use it? Anyone working in libraries right now has had some version of this moral argument, just without the time travel and murder (as far as we want you to know...) From a research standpoint, it was also so morbidly fascinating to watch every character as they progress their independent research, feeding the Society at their own detriment.

The time travel provides an extra layer to the knowledge as power theme. Ezra taking Libby to 1989 and leaving her there to fend for herself directly leads to Belen's radicalization and her hatred for the Society. Libby tells her that in 30 years, nothing changes re: climate change and island nations specifically are still in danger. TAP provided such a smart commentary on so many current issues and I loved every second of it.

4 stars, I really did feel the absence of the academic setting and the original urgency from the first book, but I still loved the pivot to the larger plot in this book.

Dislikes
* Although I didn't mind the pretentious writing in the first book, it bothered me in book two. I felt like it was a lot of standing around in different rooms waxing poetic on topics that could have been summed up in five pages rather than 15. There were several moments when I yelled out loud, "Get to the point already!" I didn't mind it in book one because it was a new style of writing for me and I found it unique and interesting but in book two it's no longer unique and it became frustrating. This was my biggest problem in this book.

* The ending was anti-climactic unlike book one. This series does not allow the reader to guess the twists or the ending and I wish it did because it's such a cerebral book. I've spent so much brain energy on this book; it would be nice if I could use some of my brain to try to guess the ending through clues left by the author. Because I'm just a spectator and not a participant, the ending left me unsatisfied.

Likes
* Libby. Libby is the center of this book and readers will take this two ways. It will either frustrate readers because they will feel like she's a variation of the unlike-any-other-girl trope or readers will like her because she's affected so many people differently. I am the latter. I liked the way she affected everyone differently and I won't say how because that's for you to discover but I liked that this seemingly unremarkable girl had such an impact.

* The characters in general. The strength of this book in book one was the characters so I was worried that their development would end in book one but Blake took them in. a new direction. The disappearance of Libby definitely affects their development. Although these are the strongest people in their world, they are still insecure humans.

*Themes. There are several themes including love but I really liked the theme of ones purpose in life. Every character believed they had a different purpose in life and once again, it just contributed to their development.

Overall, I didn't like this one as much as the first one because it liked to hear it's own voice a little too much and it was a bit too slow even for me but other than that, it was a good read.

I feel like there's a lot of academic discussion in this series that just goes over my head. Blake does a good job at explaining most of it, but sometimes I just find myself zoning out and not understanding what's happening. The flips between present, past, and future tense are also super unclear like in <<The Atlas Six>>. I'm not a huge fan of that especially with all of the characters involved.

I really liked Libby's character development; I feel like she really came into her power and confidence in her ability. Reina's arc confused me though; it felt like she had no direction.

My greatest hope is that the picture is too big for me to see all the moving parts right now and that everything comes together really smoothly by the end.

I wanted to love this book. The concept is really cool and I love the worldbuilding Blake has done. However, I felt that the complexity of the book detracted from the reading experience. There are chapters from (if I am counting correctly) nine different points of view. The plot jumps around depending on which character is focused on. It frustrated me that the plot wasn’t super linear.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, but unfortunately it fell a little flat. I feel like the charm of the first book was getting to know these incredibly complex characters, and that felt a bit lost in the sequel. Unfortunately this book was struggling with second book syndrome and was lacking a sense of direction. I ended up giving it 3 stars and my fingers are crossed that book 3 redeems this one.

If the author dropped the magic and increased the plot this book and its predecessor would be very interesting character driven novels. As it stands…not for me. The language is gorgeous. The premise is interesting. The execution missed for me

I love Olivie Blake's book! This one was just as good as the 1st! I will now read anything she writes.