Series: Atlas Book 1
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 384 pages
Audiobook Length: 16 hours and 59 minutes
First Published: 2022
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Rachael’s Review
Although the Library of Alexandria burned down centuries ago, the Alexandrian Society has always existed in secret, a vast repository of magic. When Libby graduates from a magical university, she hopes to never see her annoying co-valedictorian Nico again. But when Nico and Libby are both selected to compete for an exclusive fellowship with the Alexandrian Society, they join four other candidates vying for five open spots in one of the newest dark academia books.
At first, I was hooked by Blake’s compelling premise and the fun interplay between Nico and Libby. Yet, the further along I got in the narrative, the less I liked The Atlas Six. The book splits the story equally between the six candidates, which quickly became a problem because I detested half of them. Additionally, instead of building to a dramatic climax, the novel bores you to tears with an uninteresting lead-up devoted to the characters’ contemplation of a moral dilemma.
Publisher’s Description
The Alexandrian Society, caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity, are the foremost secret society of magical academicians in the world. Those who earn a place among the Alexandrians will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams, and each decade, only the six most uniquely talented magicians are selected to be considered for initiation.
Enter the latest round of six: Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona, unwilling halves of an unfathomable whole, who exert uncanny control over every element of physicality. Reina Mori, a naturalist, who can intuit the language of life itself. Parisa Kamali, a telepath who can traverse the depths of the subconscious, navigating worlds inside the human mind. Callum Nova, an empath easily mistaken for a manipulative illusionist, who can influence the intimate workings of a person’s inner self. Finally, there is Tristan Caine, who can see through illusions to a new structure of reality―an ability so rare that neither he nor his peers can fully grasp its implications.
When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they will have one year to qualify for initiation, during which time they will be permitted preliminary access to the Society’s archives and judged based on their contributions to various subjects of impossibility: time and space, luck and thought, life and death. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. The six potential initiates will fight to survive the next year of their lives, and if they can prove themselves to be the best among their rivals, most of them will.
Most of them.
Quotes from Atlas Six
The problem with knowledge, is its inexhaustible craving. the more of it you have, the less you feel you know.
Really, there was nothing more dangerous than a woman who knew her own worth.
Knowledge is carnage. You can’t have it without sacrifice.
About Olivie Blake
Olive Blake is an author whose works include The Atlas Six, Masters of Death, and One For My Enemy. Blake currently lives in Los Angeles. Visit the author’s website →
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