Book Review: The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake

As the third and final installment in Olivie Blake’s Atlas trilogy, The Atlas Complex had a tall order to fill as the conclusion to a thematically intricate and character-driven series. And while this conclusion was just as compulsively readable as its predecessors, the meat of the story tasted familiar in a way that was slightly disappointing.

Note: This review will contain spoilers for The Atlas Complex. Read my spoiler-free review of book one, The Atlas Six here, and my spoiler-filled review of book two, The Atlas Paradox, here.

About the Book

The Atlas Complex marks the much-anticipated, heart-shattering conclusion in Olivie Blake’s trilogy that began with the New York Times bestselling phenomenon, The Atlas Six .

Only the extraordinary are chosen.

Only the cunning survive.

An explosive return to the library leaves the six Alexandrians vulnerable to the lethal terms of their recruitment.

Old alliances quickly fracture as the initiates take opposing strategies as to how to deal with the deadly bargain they have so far failed to uphold. Those who remain with the archives wrestle with the ethics of their astronomical abilities, while elsewhere, an unlikely pair from the Society cohort partner to influence politics on a global stage.

And still the outside world mobilizes to destroy them, while the Caretaker himself, Atlas Blakely, may yet succeed with a plan foreseen to have world-ending stakes. It’s a race to survive as the six Society recruits are faced with the question of what they’re willing to betray for limitless power―and who will be destroyed along the way. (Via Goodreads).

Review

I figured I would have more to say about this finale since I loved the previous installment so much (in my review of the book two, I wrote that it was the “sequel of my dreams”). However, after finishing The Atlas Complex I was left with thoughts that were quite neutral and concise. Since I finished the book late at night, I figured that I would sleep, think more about it, and then take down notes for my review. Those thoughts never came. Instead, my feelings about the book can be summed up through one word: welp.

On the one hand, I dragged out my reading process with the book as I came to realize my own anticipation for the concluding storyline was beginning to ruin my reading experience. When I finally picked the book back up, I was ready for whatever Olivie Blake had to throw at me—personal expectations aside. 

The Atlas Complex is a lot like its predecessors in that it feels like a book of long conversations and reckonings with big ideas. The taglines of each book in the trilogy truly encompass this sentiment (e.g. knowledge is carnage; destiny is a choice; power is taken). There’s action, yes, but those scenes are never the true crux the story. So when we finally arrive at the moment the multiverse experiment is underway,—the moment we’ve built up to over the last two books—Blake’s tactic of making the scene not about the event at all, but instead about the choices and reasonings that weigh on each of the involved parties, I wasn’t all that surprised. Ambiguity, drawn out internal monologues, and flashbacks are part and parcel of what make this series what it is—it’s exactly what I enjoyed so much about the books in the beginning. I still read on, but I came to realize that those familiar strategies weren’t as compelling as they once were. I was immune to it now, and left longing for more.

In the end, the questions about why each of the Six accepted the Society’s invitation, how access to knowledge is futile in the end, and how power will always come at a large cost, were the big ideas left with the reader. Notions that were explored so thoroughly in the previous sequel, but not complicated enough to sustain this third and final installment. It had been done before, and more successfully, in the earlier works, which hurt the impact of this conclusion.

I still thoroughly enjoyed the structure and pacing of the novel, as well as the some of the unexpected character revelations. And who knows, maybe it’ll be better upon a re-read. But overall, The Atlas Complex wasn’t complex or subversive at all. It was a fun read at some parts, but the trilogy’s formerly sharp edges were ultimately dulled by this finale.

My Ratings

Grade Scale

Star Scale