I originally read this book when it was self-published, and wanted to see the changes that had been made since being picked up by a publisher.

This book is one I didn't expect to love as much as I did. As someone who primarily reads high fantasy, this book took me by surprise with how much I enjoyed it.

Although there is not lots of plot in this novel, the characters kept me heavily invested. They all had something that kept me invested in their story arcs and the dynamics between the group were equally as interesting. Libby, Parisa and Nico were my favourite characters to read, with their chapters always being something I looked forwards to. Blake does an excellent job of balancing six different main POVs, and by the end of the novel you feel like you know the core of the motivations behind each character's actions.

The twist at the end of the story was also masterfully crafted throughout, and this was one of the main changes I remember from the original release of the novel. While nothing major has changed, there is definitely more fleshing out to this twist, and more of a look at the motivations behind certain character's actions. I would definitely recommend that if you were thinking of not reading the revised version before reading the sequel, The Atlas Paradox, that you potentially give the revised version a read, as it definitely adds a lot to the end of the story.

Overall this book was one I thoroughly enjoyed and I am very excited to read the second book in the series when it is released later this year.

There isn't a lot to say other than the hype is real; I was worried that I would be disappointed but I definitely wasn't. Can't wait for book number 2.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review

In The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake every 10 years, 6 of the world's most uniquely talented magicans are chosen to try for the Alexandrian Society initation.  These 6 have to spend a year together, and only 5 of them will be initiated.  Atlas Blakely is the one who contacts them, and is the one they have the most dealing with, but they don't feel he's telling them everything.

There is manipulation, deception, powers being used, and all that you would expect of a group of young people trying to fight for a place.

It's not a school of magic book as it's about graduates, but there are some of the tropes, like clichs.  

I enjoyed the story, and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series!

The Atlas Six was published on 3rd March 2022 and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Olivie Blake on Twitter, Instagram and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Pan Macmillan.

The Atlas Six is a well-written, thought-provoking story of magic and power, and the consequences of that power. What people would do for it.

I think it had the potential to be an amazing book but it failed on one key aspefct for me. I loved the beginning and the ending, but the middle was slow, nothing big really happened. There was no deeper development of the characters, no engaging plot events.... it was boring.

The characters are all quite interesting, as morally-grey and unique as each of them is. Naturally, I disliked Callum (and also Tristan), but his chapters were particularly interesting. I liked Libby and Nico the most, and I felt that Reina's character development wasn't given as much attention as the others.

Overall, it was a unique reading experience, and like I said, I loved the ending, it was so unexpected. So I'm most definitely interested in continuing the series. I rated this book 3.5 stars.

Just from reading the premise i thought this would be a book i'd love, but it didn't live up to that. I still enjoyed it, and it was an interesting story, but overall i was slightly disappointed. The characters, while interesting, weren't very likeable, and the mystery surrounding the titular organisation wasn't all that compelling. The system of magic created was indepth but i personally found it a bit too confusing, its a very scientific based structure, so for readers who aren't well versed in that sort of thing already it can be a bit overwhelming. That being said i enjoyed the writing style and storytelling, the author certainly is talented, it was just the subject matter that i didn't find all that incredible.

I cannot get through this book. I have been reading the most inane drivel for 3 hours and I am not even 20% through. I cannot do this

I liked the premise of this book and i do enjoy dark academia in books but the academia in this book was too much for me. I read books to escape and not have to think for a while but this book hurt my brain.

This doesn't mean this wasnt a great book. I can understand why so many people rave abourt this book. I'm hoping that if i re read it will make more sense as like i said the premise is great.

Olivie Blake makes clear from the very first page of The Atlas Six that it is set in a rather... different world. The Great Library of Alexandria was, we are told, saved from destruction by a Society which has nurtured it, and its knowledge, in secret ever since, growing wise in the ways of science and of magic. That's a terrific hook for a bookworm like me!

The 21st century that results is one in which magic is freely acknowledged (the opening of the story takes place at a graduation at the New York University of the Magical Arts), but in which the Society still exists, remaining secret and holding greater powers, greater ability, than the generality of humans.

When the story begins, six talented magicians ('medeans') are about to be recruited for a gruelling selection process at the end of which five will be chosen for stardom in the Society - allowing them wealth, power and knowledge. They will live together in a remote mansion, seeking to prove themselves, and after a year, they will select one of their number to be eliminated from the process.

Like candidates in The Apprentice, then, dynamics between the six - Libby, Nico, Reina, Tristan, Callum and Parisa - will be key. More so, perhaps, than ability or accomplishment. We're introduced to each as they are recruited, with Libby and her frenemy Nico intended, I think, to be our main way in: both awesomely powerful in physical magic, Libby insecure and introverted, Nico aristocratic and arrogant.

Chapters then follow the members of the group through, largely, a process of discovery and of alignment - while the year that The Atlas Six chronicles is ostensibly one of study and development this isn't primarily a "magic school" story and the limited descriptions of "classes" are mainly hooks for philosophical and psychological clashes, a method of fleshing out the characters of the six and their likely attitudes to one another. Both we, and the other rivals, are shown strengths and weaknesses, and we see alliances form and dissolve, romantic encounters, and especially, Libby's and Nico's struggles to balance induction into a secret society with their home lives. (Libby has a rather irritating boyfriend, Ezra, who is something of a drag on her; Nico has attachments too).

There is, I would say, a great deal of setting up going on, in fact most of this book feels as though it is grounding the six - together with Atlas himself, who's more or less in charge, and Dalton, his sidekick - and their world. There are a couple of set piece events, but most space is given to these - quite complex - relationships, approached through third person narratives in the voices of the six.

The book has been widely praised, but I think this is where it may lose some and, I have to say, where it largely lost me. It just feels as though there is so much verbal fencing (and interior monologuing about the verbal fencing). Maybe this is because I mostly experienced the story as audio. The audio production is excellent, with appropriate readers for each part, but it does underline just how much talking there is here, and how little actually happens (until the end). The effect for me was rather like listening to a group of students have one of those late night conversation, perhaps assisted by some substance or other, in which the world is put in order and everyone (slightly over) shares about their own lives.

That isn't intended as criticism, I think that some readers will just love this. The book is well written and its characters powerfully and deeply realised; I really sensed by the end that I knew them, and I also knew who I liked (Libby; Reina; Tristan) and who I didn't (Callum; Parisa) and who was most interesting (Nico). But I frequently found myself wishing that things would just move on a bit.

For many, this may not be a problem - we all enjoy different things and get into books in different ways - and possibly, on the page, this would be less of an issue anyway. But for me it did underline that a book can be terrifically written and yet still not suit.

I would point lout that the story ends on a huge cliffhanger - I've tried to write the above without spoilers, and don't want to say much more about the ending, but for the sake of balance I would add that there is something going on here apart from relationship building. Blake springs a surprise which I certainly never saw coming. Oddly, I wonder if, perhaps, that had had been slightly more prefigured than it is, the story would have had more of a hold on me?

Do you like morally grey, complex, sarcastic characters you instantly fall in love with and would defend until your last breath? Yes? Read this book.

I love a multiple POV book, I know you know that I love them, but I can’t help but bring it up every.single.TIME. Sorry, not sorry. Anyways where was I? Ahh yes, this wonderful little book that gripped me by my womanly parts and refused to let me go. What I loved the most is that the Library of Alexandria is still around in this one, not gone like in our sad little lives, but still very much there and thriving, except that it’s hidden. So this is a world in which magic is very much prevalent and honestly I kind of got lost in all of that because the author actually had me convinced that it was all real.. I couldn’t, for the life of me, sort out what was reality and what was made up scientific knowledge.

The only thing I didn’t really care for was the amount of sexual activity between all of the characters, it was just unnecessary to me, this book isn’t really marketed as a romance at all and there was a LOT of it in here and I found myself skipped over those parts to get to the magic and dark academia vibes.

If you haven’t read this book yet then you need to, pretty please and thank you. Now I’ll not-so-patiently wait for my Fairyloot edition to be delivered.

This book is a bit of a mixed bag for me. I loved the scientific and theoretical concepts being explored, however I did not not like a single character and I normally love unlikeable characters. I just didn’t care what happened to any of them so the stakes were really low for me. I would still recommend this book, it’s definitely worth a read, I however won’t be reading the sequel

This followed the teen superhero assembly X men type of storyline.

There were some interesting characters but to be honest I was getting bored by some of them (Libby and Nicolas) . I was interested by Parisa It certainly perked up with the arrival of Atlas.

I got as far as a trial which was near the beginning which involved a shoot out but then didn't go any further. Sorry I guess I'm not the target audience I prefer a Garth Nix Old Kingdom book or Genevieve Cogman to this.

However it has proved very popular with our customers so that's why I give it 3 stars as I am sure that it is a special book for other readers.

This book totally took me by surprise. I didn’t think I’d love it as much as I did. I’m usually someone who prefers rigid world building and a plot driven book but this was just vibes. Olivie Blake managed to pull that off, however, through her lyrical writing and compelling characters. This book can solely be defined by its characters and they all feel uniquely complex and real. The only thing I can fault is the South African representation. Callum just doesn’t read like a rich white boy from Cape Town. South Africans are so distinct and you just don’t get that from this book. Overall, I’m excited to read the next book to see what happens!

I feel like I’ve been hearing about this dark academia fantasy novel for years and when Sarah and I came to throwing around some suggestions for the titles we’d focus on for season 2 of ‘The Dark Academicals’, ‘The Atlas Six’ went straight to the top of the list.

Following the self-published release in 2020, the book exploded on the platform so thoroughly that it was picked up by Tor and given a professional refresh and republished last Autumn with a stunning new cover, a Waterstones exclusive edition and another for the sequel that’s coming this September, ‘The Atlas Paradox’.

Secrets. Betrayal. Seduction.
Welcome to the Alexandrian Society.

When the world’s best magicians are offered an extraordinary opportunity, saying yes is easy. Each could join the secretive Alexandrian Society, whose custodians guard lost knowledge from ancient civilizations. Their members enjoy a lifetime of power and prestige. Yet each decade, only six practitioners are invited – to fill five places.

Contenders Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona are inseparable enemies, cosmologists who can control matter with their minds. Parisa Kamali is a telepath, who sees the mind’s deepest secrets. Reina Mori is a naturalist who can perceive and understand the flow of life itself. And Callum Nova is an empath, who can manipulate the desires of others. Finally there’s Tristan Caine, whose powers mystify even himself.

Following recruitment by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they travel to the Society’s London headquarters. Here, each must study and innovate within esoteric subject areas. And if they can prove themselves, over the course of a year, they’ll survive. Most of them.

Sounds brilliant, right? But is is dark academia? That’s what we were on a mission to find out.


Regardless of whether ‘The Atlas Six’ is dark academia or not, it’s an extremely fun read. There’s a lot of wade through in the writing style, the set up and the characterisation (and I think that could have undergone a further edit and made it a far better book, but that’s another issue) so it’s rather dense and there’s not a huge amount of movement in terms of plot, but it’s endlessly compelling and the characterisation is so strong that I quickly grew to hate some of them, and love a few others.

It’s a real achievement to balance six POVs and Blake does it beautifully. Each voice is distinct and there’s none of that ‘ugh, time to suffer through this POV while I wait for the next’ - they’re well balanced and there’s heaps of intrigue.

But for us, ‘The Atlas Six’ is just not dark academia. There are elements related to dark academia: discussions of wealth and status, murder, intense academic study and a higher education setting, but these fade into the background of the mystery elements, the fantasy and world building. The atmosphere and the ~vibes~ that really make something dark academia in the definitions we’ve surmised in the podcast just weren’t there. We explore this and much more in this week’s ‘The Dark Academicals’ episode.

In a world where magic exists, six of the finest young medians with untapped potential are scouted for a position to join the Alexandrian Society - but only 5 of them will remain at the end of the end, and an elimination round. Nico and Libby, friendly enemies in constant orbit around each other are talented physicists, capable of astounding bouts of physical magic, while Reina, a naturalist, controls the life force of everything surrounding her. Callum, a cold and calculating empath capable of ripping apart other's emotions, and Parisa, a telepath able to see the darkest secrets in a mind are terrifying on another level. And then there's Tristan, running from a violent upbringing, able to see things for what they truly are yet still in the dark to the true force of his own magic.

It was fun to finally pick up this hotly talked about book, and I really didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by the draw of the story from the first few chapters, and I enjoyed how a glimpse of each character in the first part of the book really began to build up the story for the reader, and introduce the main players arranging themselves on the chess board of the society.

There is something very darkly sexy about this book, and while reading it I was always aware of this chemistry just simmering away beneath every page and words spoken between all the characters. I genuinely wondered at one point if I was being a bit of creep hoping some of them would hop into bed together, but then a threesome happened and I was happy and also satisfied that I was meant to be feeling all that chemistry. I like hos sexuality also feels to very fluid within the story as well, and no one character seems to fall in line with the straight and narrow. The book itself is all sorts of shades of grey, with the characters really thinking about life, the science behind it, what makes humans human, and the dimensions of the world itself - and through all of this the actions of the characters examine what makes people behave the way they do. Does ability determine your nature, or does nature determine ability?

There were definitely some speed bumps here for me as well. Unfortunately it was not a perfect read by any means. I did find myself just wanting more of well, everything. I felt like we giving a wishy washy way of understanding this world and the magic - they have magic, they can use it, and that's about that - whereas I would have liked to know more about there what and whys of how this all worked. The same with the society - it was just this figure up above for a lot of the time, and it was hard to know what was really going on most of the time.

While I enjoyed getting to know our characters with the separate POVs, I do also wonder if we really got to know them and I don't think we did. I felt like there was a space between the reader and the characters within the POVs - the only one I feel like we truly felt everything he was going through was Tristan and that's because from the start he was so troubled, and fragile and easily led by others (which was disappointing in its own way as I really felt like he was going to be a strong one!).

The pace of the book, and the timeline was also confusing. A whole year passed in this book, yet I can't tell what happened bar a few conversations, some sex scenes and a moment when time freezes. The timeline felt fast, but the pace of the book was slow. When I'm reading a book about magic, and anything revolving around magic lessons or education, I like to be there for it all. I want to see the curriculum, the book lists, the timetable - not glimpses here and there of a conversation within a lesson (though it's a stretch calling them lessons and the society feels more like PhD level where everyone just does their own research). The reader was never aware of the passing of time until it was dropped into a paragraph in the middle of a chapter that a couple of months had passed, and I'd feel confused and disappointed we didn't get to really see those months. Some of the moments in the POVs/chapters as well felt a bit scattered, and I think the book struggled to hold everything together exactly the way the author wanted. It felt a little like there were moments in the book that needed to be organised a little bit better, mapped out properly and controlled. I'm eager to see if this is better in book two.

The ending, while not really surprising to me, was definitely intriguing if not slightly rushed. I will pick up book two out of pure curiosity for what happens next.

The Atlas Six is my first foray into reading Dark Academia, and I found the the world building and magic system really interesting. It’s philosophical, and scientific which makes it both believable and realistic. It’s a magic system that you could see sitting alongside our current lives. However I did find the physics and philosophy of the magic a little too much at points. I felt like I needed a degree to grasp some of the concepts. It’s a book that needs a lot of concentration and focus to read.

Another thing I liked about The Atlas Six was it’s morally grey characters, it’s interesting and refreshing to have a group of narrators that are all unreliable, suspicious and full of secret agendas. Although the downside of this was that I felt like I couldn’t really connect to the characters, and some of the narrators I outright disliked. However, despite all of this I did enjoy the blurred lines of good and bad, ethical and evil as it made for interesting dynamics in the group, I never really knew what I could expect to read on the next page. The characters are really diverse too with with lots of nationalities and cultures represented as well as hints of LGBTQ+ characters, and mental health issues.

There was a little touch of romance in this book, but it wasn’t a focus and I felt like it was a little lacklustre. I felt more connection from characters that were not together, than characters that were, and I was left wishing for a little bit more, especially considering this book is primarily focused on character, and relationships. To be fair it felt a little strange to me that romance was mostly absent considering this book is about a group of 20 somethings all living in the same house for a year.

To add to this I also personally felt like there was too much of a focus on character, and not enough on plot. The characters are well developed and each POV is very unique, but there wasn’t a lot of actual plot until the last quarter of the book. I found it hard to really get sucked in to the story, and it didn’t help that the pacing got very slow in the middle and I was left wondering where this was actually going for a while. There was one combat scene towards the start of the book but even that fell a little flat for me as the most interesting thing to happen in that scene actually happened off page. The last quarter did make up for it a little though, with lots of shocking twists and reveals that made me a little more eager to pick up the book and read.

As I hit the end of the book though, it did feel a little unfinished. I know there is another book The Atlas Paradox which is out this October, but it felt like we had stopped in the middle of the plot, with nothing resolved and most of the secrets still to uncover. So although I am not jumping to get a copy of the sequel, I feel like I have no choice but to read it some point in order to continue on and finish the story.

SUMMARY

All in all The Atlas Six wasn’t quite what I’d been expecting and I felt like it didn’t quite meet the hype. I know the book isn’t designed to be a light easy read, but sometimes I found it too much, a little bit pretentious even at times? And although it’s fine for a book to be character driven, this one felt like it was character driven at the expense of plot for most of the novel. However as I mentioned above I did really like the realistic magic system, and the moral-greyness of the characters. The twists and reveals at the end were intriguing too, so I do think I will read the next book at some point, out of curiosity to what will happen next. Part of me wonders (and hopes) that this is one of those books that is so carefully plotted that it will only really make sense once I have read the next book and therefore giving me a little more appreciation for this book that I have heard so much about. But at the same time I will not be rushing to grab a copy of the The Atlas Paradox when it comes out in October either.

Loved the original world Blake has created the characters are wonderful and I cannot wait for the next two

Thank you, NetGalley and publisher, for turning my skepticism of a hyped book into spectacular luck by providing me with a free copy of Olivie Blake’s The Atlas Six. Despite it being an urban fantasy, the book felt like a low-key psycho-thriller. And even though it started slowly, halfway through the convoluted plot truly ensnared me. If you’re not into purple prose, proceed with caution, but trust me when I say, that’s the kind of writing the story and setting need to create a very pleasing atmosphere.

Allow me to namedrop favorites – Nico and Gideon. Least favorite – Callum, but the story needed an obvious villain to retain its mystery. If you want a world of mind games, schemes, and backstabbing, go pick up The Atlas Six and prepare yourself for what I hope to be an even more exciting sequel – The Atlas Paradox.

The Atlas Six was an incredible book, with a dark academia theme. It was exciting and thrilling, although character driven, therefore please consider this before reading. Overall, it was an incredible book, but may not be for everyone as took a while to fully grasp the concept, and the plot was vaguely confusing.

Quick little disclaimer before we get into the review. This book wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I thought it was more of a trial competition - like the kind me see in Throne of Glass - rather than an academic style competition so, I just wanted to point that out in case anyone else had the same misconception. I don't know where I got that from to be honest but, I did find it surprising how strong the dark academia elements in this are because of it.

That seems like a good place to start. If you like dark academia style characters then I think you will like this book. The characters all display that kind of arrogance and desire to the best that is common within that genre and I think that worked really well in the context of this ruthless, secret society. Like a lot of other dark academia stories, this is also very much a character-driven story and there's really not all that much action until the latter part of the book. We have six characters in here as the main protagonists so, it does take a little while to get to grips with them all. Certain characters are also fleshed out more than others and therefore, I found that I liked some more than I liked others. My favourites were probably Libby, Nico and Tristan though I do believe that it was due to the writing style that that was the case.

The story is told through the six different perspectives of the characters and in each one we hear more about their opinions on each other than we do any personal details about themselves. This was a really interesting approach as we have essentially six pretty unreliable narrators as they're all caught up in how they feel about each other to get to the facts. They all have different agendas and purposes so it is cool to see how these interweave and clash with each other. However, as I was saying, because of this you become more attached to some characters than others. In all honesty, I think the reason that I didn't like this book as much as everyone else seems to was because I was less attached to the characters. I felt a detachment from them meaning that I thought they were okay but didn't particularly love reading about that. Because this is such a character driven story it definitely hindered my enjoyment overall.

As well as that, I found that the plot twist ending was rather lacklustre as its very obviously signposted throughout the novel. Olivie Blake tried to hint at something throughout and instead of being subtle, it's dancing right in front of your face. There were just too many instances where a certain character was talked about that it ruined the ending. It was supposed to be a plot twist but instead, fell flat. The last 50-100 pages or so lost my interest because of that. I saw it coming a mile away.

That being said, there are some interesting discussions taking place within the novel. There are some big moral questions within this book and I can't give too much detail because it goes into spoiler territory, but the line of morality and what becomes immoral is explored in a unique way. I really enjoyed that aspect of it. As well as that, there are conversations around who should hold power of knowledge and the monopoly of knowledge by one class - or society. I found these perhaps even more interesting as it really spoke to class divides and built a sense of mystery and intrigue around the society itself. It left the reader wondering about the true intentions of the society and did draw my attention.

If I was to describe this book in one word it would be....potential. I think The Atlas Six is an okay start to what could be a great series. The concept is definitely interesting and the plot does have some elements that I am intrigued about so, despite the somewhat negative aspects of this review I will continue with the series. I did like reading this book, I just didn't love it and therefore, settled on a solid three star rating.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book!

"The Atlas Six" has been on my radar well before I heard it was getting trad published. As soon as it became available to request on NG I was super excited. This book is a very different read to what I pick up normally, but the premise sounded so intriguing that I couldn't pass it up and it gave me the opportunity to step out of my reading comfort zone as well.

I'll be honest, I struggled with a good 60% of this book. I normally love multiple povs but I found the constant changes jarring, I didn't feel like I had the time to connect with each character and get to know them before being pulled out of their perspective and into someone else's. The plot felt very slow going as well.

The last 40% picked up for me. I started getting invested in the characters and anxious to where the plot was heading. There were some twists and turns I didn't see coming and the ending has left me intrigued for book 2!

Overall, I'm very happy I decided to give this book a go, I'll definitely be picking up book 2 and I would recommend this novel to fans of dark academia with diverse characters.