The Atlas Six (Blake)
(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)
This was a book club selection.
Since it's a recent book, getting an ebook wasn't easy to do. I managed to get the audiobook, which I didn't have time to finish, and then picked up the hardcover to finish it. That was an interesting ride. I listened to the first two chapters twice each to make sure I'd heard everything. My mind can wander while listening and I can put myself to sleep. I put myself to sleep with print and electronic books, too, but with those, you don't miss anything. I was about 2/3 of the way through when I had to return it and couldn't renew it. So I took over with the hardcover where I started with Chapter 3 so I could reread a lot of what I'd heard.
There were six readers, but they each took a POV, so it wasn't a "full cast" recording. Some were better than others, but I still heard them while I was rereading the parts I'd heard. Their voices faded a little at the end, but I still heard one male and one female voice in my head. Listening can be confusing, as the dialogue can run together and you can't always be sure who said what. Worse, you might believe the wrong character said something.
There was also a problem just in the structure. Someone's POV chapter would start and they would be with another character, and they would recount an event that happened with a different character during a time covered by a different POV section, and then the present character would speak, and I'd forget that they were even there. The chronology is just messy.
So the story: A man named Atlas approaches six people about a chance at joining a secret, ancient organization. It's the Library of Alexandria, which still exists. Okay, so now I'm thinking about The Librarians from cable TV, which I've only seen a few episodes of. After one year, five of them will move on and one will not, so there's some competition, even though they are supposed to be creating a team. We later discover that the one who doesn't make it will be killed. Now I'm thinking about Scythe, which I read last year (Link pending), and wondering how are they going to get around this. The characters are too well-developed and there's too much backstory to just pick one to eliminate, especially since there are sequel books.
Of the six of them, two of them have power over physical forces, Nico de Verona and Libby Rhodes, there's one, Reina, who has power over plants and can hear them all the time, someone, Tristan, who sees through illusions and sees the very nature of things, a mentalist, Parisa, who's a mind-reader and sexpot, and an empath, Callum, who can influence people, and is the other side of the coin from Parisa. There isn't much interesting or compelling about any of them, and you won't find yourself rooting for any of them (and if you do, it won't last long). Additionally, there is Nico's roommate Gideon, who is part mermaid and his mother is looking for him, and Ezra, Libby's boyfriend/ex-boyfriend. And there's Dalton, who has been living at the library for the past 10 years, since the last cycle, and seems like he can't leave.
There was an online review that said if you read the first and last chapter, you didn't miss anything. That sums it up very well. A lot of stuff goes on in the book but nothing happens. One of the people in my book club decided to read the entire series and (when I spoke to her) was in the middle of the second book. She mentioned that some of the threads from the first book pop up in the second. That's all fine and well, but there was too much in the book that either went nowhere (or was never mentioned again) or was setting up the next book.
The shocking twist, which wasn't much of one, was introduced at the end of the book and wasn't resolved. If anything, more questions were raised, but I don't want to sit through the answers.
Of the characters, Libby had a complex and couldn't be as good as she should be. Parisa tells her this much right before seducing her into a threesome. I was waiting for Libby to assert herself and walk away. (This was also an interesting section to hear narrated.) Libby could have overcome and be a hero. Then there's Nico who thinks too much of himself. He might've found some humility and then course-corrected. Tristan seemed to be the most timid, even more than Libby, and the most powerful once you learn of his nature. If I understand it correctly, he could change the nature of atoms, which means he could transmute one metal into another. Maybe this comes up again. Finally, Reina never seemed to use her power over plants except to hear them talking to her and telling her when they're suffocating and such. It seems like she could be more powerful than everyone except Tristan.
As for Parisa and Callum, they seemed to be set up as which one do you hate more and which one do want to see die. Whereas Nico and Libby are "frenemies" who can work together, Parisa and Callum are enemies, or at least antagonistic to each other from the start. Despite the references to Nico and Libby having the same power, so one of them is expendable, it's Parisa and Callum you want to see go. I wasn't on either team.
We find out that the house is basically sentient, or even alive, and it needs the sacrifice of magic every ten years. I thought it would turn out that Dalton actually died 10 years ago and is the living embodiment of the library. That wasn't the case. We also learn that this has been subverted with apparently no consequences. Maybe there are in the sequel. I won't be reading it.
There were some missed opportunities here, like maybe Callum influencing Libby to have Tristan do something that Callum would then know about in advance. Or just about anything, really.
Final judgment from the book club: not overwhelmed, didn't understand the hype, thought it dragged and nothing happened until the end to set up the next book, which all but one have no intention of reading, so she spoiled some of it for us, just to answer some questions.
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