heartbrekker's Reviews (797)

I'm going to come back to this review to dive into spoilers once The Atlas Paradox releases because I have some very specific character decisions and plot points to unpack/ discuss with y'all. But for now I'm going to dive into non-spoilery feelings.

After rereading The Atlas Six when it republished under Tor earlier this year, my expectations for this sequel honestly went up quite a ways. They didn't skyrocket by any means, but I took from the changes the notion that Olivie would be better with her world building and magic system explanations. I did a detailed comparison of the indie and Tor version of The Atlas Six, so I saw with my own eyes the distinct difference between the two in terms of world building/ magic. But somehow within The Atlas Paradox all of that progress evaporated like water to the clouds above, and to be perfectly honest, it really upset me. Like this review is more of a mourning review than anything else.

Nothing happened within this book. Okay—did conversations happen? Yes. Did time move forward? Yes, occasionally, but it also bored me so much that I took thirty four days to read this book. The only reason I finished this was because I promised to review it before publication, and I couldn't procrastinate any longer. Progress was made but with hardly any context/ elaboration, and decisions were made that only make a little bit of sense. Parisa was one of my favorite characters from the first book, but somehow she loses complete authority over her own storyline. She felt like an extension of Dalton or even Atlas because they drive her to make so many decisions, and I get that characters are affected by those around them, but it didn't feel like her! She paled in comparison to her previous book self because she is dedicated to these men and their antics. Then, Tristan just completely alters course and starts to be chaotic as hell to the point where he's literally gonna burn everything he touches. Callum drinks and sits on a couch 99% of the time. Reina actually does have more authority, but she just is angry 24/7, which didn't feel like her... but maybe that's also because she was extremely underdeveloped in the first book. Libby, what should arguably be the most interesting POV, gave me literal nothing ultimately. The climax of the sequel is basically “she felt this”, “she felt that” on repeat for the entire scene. No, WHAT IS HAPPENING. Tell me the logistics of her surroundings, the feeling of her magic, ANYTHING(!!!) as this integral moment is unfurling… But we get absolutely nothing. Nico is probably the only character that didn't aggravate me to the utmost degree in some way, but he's also so scatterbrained on either Libby or Gideon for the entirety of the book that I cut him some slack due to his stress.

Disappointment. That sums up my feelings and the numbness within my chest. This is a dark academia fantasy book at its heart, and while Olivie's writing style of internal thought and dialogue is refreshing for the fantasy genre in particular, there is a point where you need to tone it down to move along the plot. Fantasies need a plot and direction. Not stream of consciousness for 350 pages.

Thank you Tor Books for gifting me an ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

10/16 Edit: It’s a two for me actually, maybe two and a half. The three is too generous. Man—the underwhelming, disappointing aspects to this book just made me numb. It took me over a month to read this book. I read A Day of Fallen Night in four days. How is this possible? UGH. Im so upset.

I'll admit—I think my sapphic hopes were a little bit too high with this one. I was thoroughly enjoying this book because it is marketed as sapphic Dracula's Brides (or Dracula's Wives), so you can imagine my confusion when the third and final addition to Dracula and the first two wives is none other than... a husband. *Blinks multiple times* Dracula's Brides have always been three women, so I was just thrown for a loop when Alexei showed up. Now don't get me wrong, I'm always down for bisexual/ pansexual representation within books, but I felt led astray on this one. It took me out of the reading experience, yet I know that's my fault because of my expectations. But also don't compare it to Dracula's Brides! Truthfully, I'm probably in the minority of people who actually care about this detail so do with this information whatever you want.

Besides that issue, I did have a really good time with this book. I loved that much like Dracula by Bram Stoker, Gibson uses letters as the writing style for this book. Constanza is writing letters to Dracula—what we assume because Constanza never mentions his actual name besides "Master"— after he has perished, and it was a great contrast to see both Constanza's feelings in the moment and the change to present day writing the letters. It gives readers the chance to understand not only Constanza better because of her stream of consciousness perspective but also her relationship to Dracula. She is looking back on their experiences and piecing the puzzle pieces together of his motivations and manipulations, and it is genius to sprinkle in her rage upon looking back at this moments.

Unlike Dracula's other partners, Constanza has the most character growth because she goes from fawning over Dracula to ultimately leading the plot to stake him. I found her to be the most compelling character within the book, which is largely due to the writing style, and I think for that alone people should pick up this book. It was interesting to also see the contrast between Constanza and Dracula when their relationship was merely the two of them. Constanza is brutally assaulted by men at the start of the book and specifically targets abusive men for meals as a vampire, yet Dracula condemns her constantly for her "emotional eating" as he terms it because Constanza cannot forget the reason for her vampire turning. Notably, the targeting of abusive men is Constanza's only main form of rebellion to Dracula throughout the entirety of their relationship, and it's sad for the reader to know that she herself is still being abused by a man—although an undead one.

A Dowry of Blood will definitely fall into my yearly reread pile for autumnal, spooky books. It's a quick, dynamic read and one of the few BookTok books that has pleasantly surprised me.

Thank you to Orbit Books for gifting me a finished copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.