There was so much potential for The Atlas Six. Unfortunately, for me it did not live up to its premise.

The characters felt flat & unlikeable, and it was very clear the author chose favorites and dismissed others with surface level characterization. There were interesting backstories here, but ultimately it's a lot of telling the audience each character's trauma (lazy writing) instead of expanding on their thoughts & lives organically. And the stakes weren't clear ... why exactly was each character so compelled to join the Society (the, um, very-clearly-evil Society)? Also, the way they all talked about Libby was so off-putting and uncomfortable to me.

The plotting ... was painful. Way too slow and overwritten (put down the thesaurus, please!) and oftentimes scenes would skip around without establishing essential action. We're told interesting tidbits but only given description of mundane moments. The magic system was  interesting but under explained. I didn't believe that the six had bonded in any way because there were hardly any group scenes or group interaction at all. 

At times, it felt like a meandering philosophy paper. Lots of thought-provoking questions and curiosity, but ultimately not a lot of real depth. Overcomplication for the sake of overcomplication. Which made it kind of boring. The stakes should have been SO HIGH. But it was too convoluted and vague and hollow.

Olivie Blake has great ideas. Really! Maybe in the future - with a better editor - I'll have a more favorable experience with her writing.

I did like the talking plants. :) 

CW: death, murder, suicide, alcohol, toxic friendship, emotional abuse, kidnapping, gaslighting