amelianotthepilot's Reviews (835)

Miriam Margoyles is truly a fun and wild person. In this memoir she tells of her adventures from her childhood through her acting career including Romeo and Juliet, Charles Dickens, Harry Potter, and her sexual exploits. She reads the audiobook which is 10/10

there’s something ironic about listening to this time management self help book on 2x speed but we’re not going to get into that

some good advice but most of it seemed sort of obvious to me, it was still nice to hear though and i’m sure certain people out there need to hear it for the first time. Didn’t love the suggestion to give up the idea of your ideal self, i understand it’s unhealthy to hold yourself to unreachable standards but I also think there’s benefit it aiming high because if you don’t, how will you ever achieve anything noteworthy. It doesn’t give an substantial suggestions until the very last chapter so if u want to skip the theory and get straight to the action that’s where it is.

first off this is listed as 2.6 in the series but it has major spoilers for book 3 so it should definitely be read after 3

Surprisingly this was better than the second one. Honestly completely skip the second one and you won’t miss anything. The beginning of this book was pretty boring and as per the other books has a lot of racism classicism and sexism baked into it. However toward the end we get some girls supporting girls moments and the ending is truly wild 10/10 great ending. Also loved when America’s sister finally called her out for stringing two guys along, it’s what ever reader is thinking. But the ending is wow truly a mess of absolute wild events. I fully felt the shock of reading it yet again. A true plot twist resolving the whole plot. idk why there are two more books but i guess we’ll see
fr what was 2014 me on about tho 😂

I absolutely loved this book and think its now in my top of all time. It's a dark academia fantasy book that's got such heavy harry potter influences without being copy and paste it was delicious.

6 adults from around the world (literally) are chosen to be apart of the secret society that protects/uses the library of Alexandria. First off I was already impressed that the characters were actually diverse and from all over the world since most books seem to say things like 'you are the top most powerful in the world' and then they all come from NYC/the US which is definitely not realistic. This cast of characters comes from Japan, US, England, South Africa, and France. The story is told from all of their perspectives which is interesting and complex, giving you everyone's separate motivations, secrets, and personalities. Elizabeth "Libby" Rhodes is an anxious bookworm rule follower white girl from NYC and Nico de Varona is a Cuban wealthy privlidged golden retriever adhd sunshine boy from NYC. They are 'physicists' as they study physical magic (ie levitation, gravity morphing, etc) and have recently graduated from magical NYU lol. They are class rivals and love/hate each other but are also equally extremely overly powerful. Reina Mori is an emotionally repressed classicist booklover who works at a coffeshop from Osaka and is a 'naturalist' (can control plants) but she is more than just a normal naturalist she doesn't put any effort into manipulating plants, they just feed off her energy and emotions.  Tristan Caine is a anxious low achieving son of a mafia guy. He has worked his way up to corporate ladder with his powers and by dating a CEO's daughter he plans to eventually marry her and inherit the company. He is an illusionist (can create illusions) but not actually...it's more accurate that he can completely see through any and all illusions without trying. Parisa Kamali is a slut(positive) she is beautiful and uses her beauty and body combined with her power of mind reading to infiltrate anyone and get what she wants/needs. She is from Iran but lives in Paris and lol this is one of my biggest problems with the book is that her name is Parisa and shes from Paris. It's the only lazy thing in the book. Last but not least Callum Nova is the character we don't know much about. He is wealthy and good-looking and from South Africa where his family owns a rich international cooperation. His magic is empathy...

Overall the worldbuilding is very interesting,  a very small percent of the world is capable of magic but only simple things like prestigitation-esque (warming things, turning on lights, opening doors) and are called witches. Then an even smaller percentage of that population are qualified and magical enough to be called medians and attend magical colleges like magical NYU. Then an even smaller percentage are considered for the atlas six initiation. The Atlas Six are six people chosen from around the world to be inducted into the Alexandrian society that protects the library of Alexandria (which has moved around over the years and now resides in England as most stolen things go lol). The 6 must attend a year of within the society before collectively choosing 1 of the 6 to eliminate and then becoming initiates.

This book has it all truly, It's diverse, it brings up deep moral dilemmas such as who deserves to have access to knowledge, should everyone know everything or is that dangerous, would you kill for what you want most in the world, are evil and good so black and white, and the morals of fantasy elements such as mind reading and emotional control. It was truly delicious.

But what really had me even more full-throttle invested is the clear harry potter influence. Atlas Blakely, the man who chooses the 6 and the caretaker of the society, is clearly a Dumbledore character- he's older, aloof, reserved, and only shows up to inconveniently drop lore before unhelpfully disappearing, he clearly has an alternative perhaps evil motive. Then we have Nico. Nico is so obviously a James Potter it hurtssss meeee. Nico is an energetic golden boy who cares so deeply for his friends and will do anything for them. He so obviously gryffindor but is so obviously James in the way he is attractive and knows it, has curly black hair, taught himself difficult magic in order to shape shift and be able to help his best friend. Like guys its right there. And if that's not obvious enough, he has two roommates, one a shapeshifter who changes into a black dog and is annoying but everyone loves (cough cough sirius black), and the other a guy inflicted with a genetic problem who is not quite human and has horrible parents and a tragic past (see Remus J Lupin). And no these roommates arent copy paste wolfstar, in fact the romance doesn't seem to be between those two, but they are blatant enough for me and i ate that uppppppp. Furthermore, I think the 6 clearly fit in hogwarts houses (Libby+Nico in Gryffindor, Paris+Callum in Slytherin, Reina in Ravenclaw, and Tristan as Hufflepuff). Apparently the author used to write harry potter fanfic under the same name so I think these aspects are obviously purposeful.

I loved this book 10/10 loosing my minddddd at the end! I also don't get surprised very often by plots and this one really had me going. This is the first booktok book that I've actually thoroughly enjoyed and understand the hype.

This was simultaneously the most interesting and most boring so far. We are introduced to so much random information that is somehow left out of the main plot. 
-The guards are being drugged?!?!! As part of their training TO RECIEVE PAY they receive steroid injections which then obviously bulk them up but also give them massive amounts of adrenalin that they then naturally also work off with exercise.  Resulting in all the guards being super bulky beefy men.
-We also find out a handful of the other relevant guards names finally, and their backstories.

But what's truly annoying is yet again how Aspen, now elevated a few classes in society, seems to have completely forgotten what it was like being a 6 and is fully devoted to the crown, the king, and anything he wants. He is such a rule follower that he delivers a message from the king to murder a bunch of the lower class but at least his coworker also happens to read the message and 'accidentally' put it in the burn pile. ugh

I actually liked Maxon before this. It paints him in a sort of privileged player light that I don't love. Previously, to me, he has seemed kind and caring despite his upbringing and despite coming from a place of privilege seems to acknowledge it and try to be considerate in the selection process. Somehow these 64 pages have made me loose respect for him.

Yet again this series is rough. The book cover is truly doing so much work here it is gorgeous. 
damn these suck. it’s so back and forth the whole time, within one sentence America decides she's fully into maxon only to decide in the next sentence she’s actually going home and will date aspen. Aspen sucks and Maxon is too mature and kind to her. I still don't understand how these books were spread out like this, I think the whole selection plot could be one book instead of 3-absolutely nothing happens in this book you can honestly skip it. Yet again the rebels are still meaningless.
lol at my old 2014 review tho💀 (I was 15)

repeat: My main problem with the series in general is the random blatant sexism and racism. The girls in the selection are just wives who will bare children, they're objects, and while this is poked at (maybe once) it's not actually called out for being bad. The racism lies mainly in one character being Asian and is referred to as 'exotic' and also seems to be a 'conglomerate Asian' of just random various Asian stereotypes and cultural dress. But furthermore the  two groups of rebels the north (implied Canadians) are described as 'civilized' and 'smart' while the south (implied Mexico and South America) are described as 'barbaric' and 'uncivilized', attacking viciously without purpose. There is also heavy classism. Although this is meant to be a dystopian plot device dividing the characters and their upbringings, the characters who rise classes basically immediately forget their struggles and upbringing and the commentary and morals end up not existing. America easily fits into her new raised class and bosses her maids around while displaying minimal niceties the reader is supposed to commend her for. 
Overall this is a simple, albeit lacking 2000s dystopian with blatant problems and racism but at least it has pretty dresses and a fun little plot I guess....

Man this series is rough. The book cover is truly doing so much work here it is gorgeous. I still stand by that this would make a great tv show, the reality tv, pretty dresses, PeasantxRoyalty would be fun. Bummed the tv show never panned out lol
It's a fun trashy dystopian YA read from the 2000s. The love triangle is ridiculous and I can't believe this selection plot spans three whole books before the ridiculous ending it has. America and Aspen's relationship immediately falls apart in the beginning of the story only for her to pick it up again when he returns later in the book (spoiler i guess). 
My main problem with the book (and series in general) is the random blatant sexism and racism. The girls in the selection are just wives who will bare children, they're objects, and while this is poked at (maybe once) it's not actually called out for being bad. The racism lies mainly in one character being Asian and is referred to as 'exotic' and also seems to be a 'conglomerate Asian' of just random various Asian stereotypes and cultural dress. But furthermore the  two groups of rebels the north (implied Canadians) are described as 'civilized' and 'smart' while the south (implied Mexico and South America) are described as 'barbaric' and 'uncivilized', attacking viciously without purpose. There is also heavy classism. Although this is meant to be a dystopian plot device dividing the characters and their upbringings, the characters who rise classes basically immediately forget their struggles and upbringing and the commentary and morals end up not existing. America easily fits into her new raised class and bosses her maids around while displaying minimal niceties the reader is supposed to commend her for. 
Overall this is a simple, albeit lacking 2000s dystopian with blatant problems and racism but at least it has pretty dresses and a fun little plot I guess....

Please ignore 2014 me's review lmao I was 15

Absolutely what is this. It romanticizes abuse by showing the king as class/status upgrade but also excuses his actions by blaming it on the job and his upbringing. fr this whole series is oof