Book two in Olivie Blake's The Atlas series, THE ATLAS PARADOX, is a bit of a paradox itself. While the story picks up shortly after the events of the first book and spans the initiates' second year at the Society, there isn't much in the way of action. And yet, despite the lack of action or significant plot development, the story grows ever more complex.

In my notes, I describe THE ATLAS PARADOX as a cerebral novel, maybe even more than the first book. In that, we were still meeting the characters, learning the world of the Society, and discovering this world's magic. In THE ATLAS PARADOX, we need none of that, and Ms. Blake wisely does not include any of it in her sequel. Instead, we get 400 pages of astrophysical theories, telepathic scenes, and dream hopping, all to explore what it means to have power and what changes having power will bring to someone.

While I am not a fan of any book that requires me to interpret what I read, I enjoyed every last page of THE ATLAS PARADOX. I might not have understood half of it and am still fuzzy on what certain characters can do, but the story is like a dream. In saying that I mean that the story feels very nebulous, very ethereal, as if you aren't supposed to understand all of it but rather pull out the salient points and learn from them. I enjoy these characters, none of whom are enjoyable, and all of whom suffer from narcissism and neuroses.

The idea we are left with as THE ATLAS PARADOX ends, that people in power or who have power will never do the right thing for the greater good, is a chilling one. At the same time, you don't have to look hard or long to find examples that fit this narrative in real life. And, just like in real life, it is difficult to discern the Big Bads in THE ATLAS PARADOX. Personally, I find the morally gray ground of the novel fascinating; I am excited to see how Ms. Blake brings it all together. ( )

Unfortunately, I liked this book less than the first one, but it still wasn't terrible. I felt this book suffered a bit from middle book syndrome; it took too long for anything to happen really. The most interesting part for most of the book was Libby's chapters which weren't that frequent. I'd still say that the conflict in the books is a bit confusing; I'm intrigued to see how this series will wrap up in the final installment. Overall, I just wished more had happened in this book, but I suppose Blake is just setting up the conclusion. ( )

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I liked The Atlas Six a bit more than this one but still a really solid middle book of a trilogy. I also had a lot going on in my life to distract me a bit from this. Paradox had less of a solid goal/climax it was working towards than Six which can be a struggle for me. This was a lot of character development and/or growth and setting things up for the next book I think. I just absolutely love Blake's writing though and need to read everything she has done. Looking forward to The Atlas Complex! ( )

I did NOT expect myself EVER liking Callum's character. Lol..it felt new. I can't wait to see what happens next with some of the unexpected alliances now made ( )

*2.5 stars*

I’m mostly confused but this was definitely better than the first book in the series.

So I actually hated the Atlas Six so what did I do? I bought the second one, naturally. This one surprisingly was a bit better. The characters interacted with each other a bit more though still not enough for my liking. I liked Libby’s journey and Gideons POV too. Honestly I think this book would be so much better if just Libby and snick were the main characters. I couldn’t care less about the other characters tbh.

Unfortunately this book still remains extremely abstract. The main conflict seems to be Atlas wanting to create a new world, which like, what does that even mean??? Why would he want to do that? What is supposedly this master plan that everyone needs to participate in but never seems to get even close to being played out? And because of this possible threat tons of people are killed (or attempted to be killed) or even trapped in the past?? I don’t really get it.

With this book I can’t really tell who’s the villain and who the heroes are and all the characters besides Gideon and Nico confuse me. They don’t seem like they would have been willing to kill for a library. Idk. This just is not as good of a book as it’s hyped up to be. I’ll still prob read the third one though. ( )