#what can I say I do love a scifi plot that I can't predict what's gonna happen

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

never stop playing dudes in strange, conceptual sci-fi dramas, you beautiful, beautiful nepo baby

[belle-keys]

raves about the atlas paradox!

so basically TAP is like my favorite book of the year and I loved it so damn much like more than babel like can you IMAGINE?!?!?! more than BABEL??? omg like I'm gonna do a proper review this week on my booksta but I loved this one ever MORE than ta6 and I didn't even think that was possible, this book was like a comfort to me like reading it felt like home it felt like my happy place it's the kind of thing I crave intensely it's the best blend of scifi-fantasy and cosmology and it's so easy for me to slip into olivie's narrative voice ugh

like as soon as she got into the philosophy and the physics I inhaled and was like yessss this is what I need in my life this is what I love and omg like the way she structured the story to keep it character-driven and like a whole socratic discussion??? amazing like wow like I swear that there's about 3 different paradoxes and loops in terms of the structure of the story

callum. callum nova. like I post about callum all the time so I think it's a given that he's my favorite and I was just so happy he was still as deranged and sad and maniacal as I would have hoped and OMG this boy not only has an oedipus complex but is hilarious and petty and I don't believe in astrology at all (because, Muslim) but he's very much a leo moon... and on the note of callum, he very much gives me Dark Fic Draco energy more and more like in the first book I was getting those vibes and was like "maybe it's cus he's blond and rich and evil" but nah he has the right amount of aristocratic pomp and sad boi vibes and he's defending draco's twin idc and on that note libby is evil hermione and don't bother fighting me on that

I just absolutely loved the characters dynamics and the fact that the whole book explored new dynamics like the character dynamics in olivie's works is ten times more important than plot and I love it like that like each voice is just so distinct and fushhsjsja like callum and reina had me SHORT CIRCUITING like bruh I loved it

and on that note, I notice the book only has a 3.86 on goodreads which is suspiciously low for a big sequel that's entirely in the vein of its first book (proof booktok viralism is not real) and I think it's because 1. people wanted the book to be nicolibby and GUESS WHAT HOES THIS BOOK IS BIGGER THAN NICOLIBBY like I love nicolibby but cmon, the fact that there's not much nicolibby is not an excuse to low-rate the book cus you have MISSED the point fo sho like I will eviscerate the people giving TAP 1 star because there wasn't enough nicolibby like??? way to be predictable

and 2. people just can't handle the fact that the dark academia book is ACADEMIC and teaches you things and messes with you and ignores all morality and that's the POINT of good academia it can't just "be gay do crimes" like academia is about life and life is about conflict and conflict is about philosophy, like of course the book is about consciousness so if you're looking for a traditional book then you're looking in the wrong place... like would you read lolita if you hate reading the thoughts and justification of bad people NO you wouldn't and literally olivie's setup for this book is "the bachelor but with law students but magical" and that's the POINT it's not about what's right or wrong it's about what you CAN do within the frame of the so-called rules until you write your own rulebook ya feel

like the sheer use of synthesis and irony and paradox in this book is amazing it's supposed to be a study in academia and a study of the psyche by making sure the ensemble are all walking hyperboles it's not mindless entertainment like olivie makes you work for it and I like an easy read now and then too but people saying the book is "pretentious" like lmfao? a book on academia? a book about philosophy and physics is "pretentious"? lmfao. say you missed the point of the genre and GO @ olivie haters