This was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I loved the dark academia setting, that each of the main six characters had their own unique magical ability and I liked the scientific approach to the magic system. However The Atlas Six suffers when it comes to plot. The plot is, most of the time, meandering apart from the final 50ish pages. The mystery that is threaded throughout the story was not enough to keep me interested and I found that I kept reading just to see what the hype was about. I'll admit the ending was quite satisfying but not worth the 300 page slog to get there.

I was eagerly awaiting THE ATLAS SIX after hearing about all the hype. It sounded right up my street: magicians competing for a place in a secret society that is protecting the lost Library of Alexandria, What could be more incredible?

Well...

The characters are interesting, though towards the end, I realised how little time we spent in Callum's POV; perhaps a deliberate choice, to distance the reader towards what is the expected finale of his arc. They're all flawed, though Libby was my favourite: her anxiety, and desire to prove herself, was the most relatable to me.

I think the biggest problem is that for the vast majority of the book, until the last 15-20%.... nothing happens. It's character work to the extreme, all internal motivations with little hint of an external plot. There is no competition, as such, apart from alliance manoeuvring, which was extremely frustrating to read. There's little depth in the knowledge available to the six, and their classes are brushed over: it felt like university posturing again. I also really disliked the way Nico and Libby are infantilised by the others, when there is only about a decade or so between them, and Callum's attitude towards her was revolting to read, no matter that being part of his character.

There is a scene between Libby, Tristan, and Parisa that was extremely uncomfortable to read, as there's heavy implications that Libby is being influenced in such a way that she can't give consent, and this is a big problem with how I feel the magic of mental manipulation and suggestion is treated in this book: there is seemingly no morals or ethics attached to it. You either protect yourself from having your thoughts read or to be manipulated into committing suicide, or you don't and it's your own fault, as the people with this magic just... can't help themselves, and aren't obliged to constrain themselves. I had these concerns from Parisa and Callum's first POV chapters and they only grew stronger as the book went on. I don't think it was handled well at all.

Overall, I'm disappointed. Two of the twists I guessed early, even if not fully, but got no satisfaction from doing so. And while I love character-driven books, the lack of external plot frustrated me, and even when things started to be revealed, I'm not sure I fully understood them. The time jumps were also extremely jarring, often happening mid-scene. Sadly, for me, THE ATLAS SIX didn't live up to its glimpses of potential. However, Olivie Blake can write, there's no question of that, and I'll be interested to see how the second book goes with an editor on board from the start.

I really did not know what to expect from this book as I'm not a huge fan of dark academia and the book was so hyped up on TikTok and Instagram that I was really nervous about diving into it but I really loved it!
This book is really complex and can be confusing with so many POVs and stories to remember but once you're immersed in this world it is so fascinating and magical. This book weirdly reminded me of a more mature version of 'magical boarding school' YA novels like Harry Potter, Vampire Academy and The House of Night series because it is filled with shenanigans and a small group of characters whose relationships are some of the most interesting parts of the book. Personally I loved Libby and Reina but there are definitely some really complex, multi-dimensional characters who you both learn to love in this book and love to hate!
I'm so intrigued as to where this story is going to go with the next book and I definitely recommend this to lovers of dark academia and magical books!

I think I read this at the wrong time and it's seriously affected my view on the book and why I dnfed it. I picked this up while I was sick as a dog with covid and I did not have the focus that's probably needed to enjoy this. It made what could have been a forgivable flaw into an insurmountable obstacle. The world-building was just so confusing. I don't understand what the library does or what the characters are meant to be studying. In parts, I wanted to know so much more about what they were learning but then half a year goes by and we've bearly seen a glimpse. But when we do see a sliver of their studies it went over my head and I had no idea what was going on. I tried sticking with it because I did love the characters and for such a large cast it did a great job in getting you to route for them all but once I got over covid I didn't come back to this and it's been sat at 80% read ever since. I probably won't finish it or read the sequel.

The Atlas Six is the type of book which as soon you begin reading you can just tell is incredibly well written. The narrative is beautiful, but not purple, complex but not complicated and has a really refined feel to it. It is, even putting the story itself aside, a real pleasure to read.

I think I expected a little more from the plot, but it was still solid. The general idea is that six individuals with unique abilities are selected for The Society by a gentleman named Atlas. The reason behind this is largely unclear, and even so it is very quickly lost in the overload of information you need to toy with in order to learn as much as you can about the abilities and backgrounds of the six individuals.

Each character eventually becomes well developed, some much sooner than others, and some of the background motives are not revealed until much later in the story than perhaps they ought to have been for our six delegates. Having said that, a large(ish) cast like this is often hard to develop, or remember for a reader, and Olivie Blake manages to pull this off with style.

The plot is very slow - it's quite typical to be honest of a Dark Academia slow burn actually - and the world building is virtually non-existent. Instead, the story is very much a character assessment, perhaps even an exploration of magic, physics and energy more so than a plot centred story in any case.

So, I enjoyed reading it, absolutely, but I think it's fair to say that it takes quite a lot more commitment than its reasonably short size might initially lead you to believe.

Thank you so much to the Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for providing me with a digital arc of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Every ten years the secretive Alexandrian society recruits six talented magical academic candidates to compete for initiation into the society. Six are chosen, but only five will be initiated into the society. Membership will guarantee them power and knowledge beyond their wildest dreams... but at what cost?

This book is adult fantasy and the plot is really character driven. If you like dark academia, magical realism, academic rivalry and secret societies, you need to read this.

Olivie Blake creates such rich and incredible world building. I loved the magic system. I really enjoyed this book and rated it 5 stars. I haven’t read the original self published version, so can’t comment on if it’s changed much.

I can’t wait to read the sequel.

Olivie Blake tells the story of a world where only the greatest magicians are invited to join the Alexandrian Society who guards lost knowledge from ancient civilisations. Tradition only allows six practitioners to compete for the five available places.
These include Libby Rhodes and Neo de Varona who are enemies and cosmologists, Paris Kaman is a telepath, Reina Mori is a naturalist and Callum Nova is an empath. Lastly we have Tristan Caine who is mystified by his own powers.
Atlas Blakely is their recruiter and they must fight it out to survive anything that is thrown at them.

This first book in this new fantasy series has already caught the attention of many readers. I was familiar with it going in so I sort of knew what to expect.

The story has so many twists and turns, dark and magical events occur every moment testing the abilities of the characters. There is a bigger dilemma and many secrets working against the practitioners. A lot of mystery behind the figure Atlas which always envelopes every thing that takes place.

This was addictive in that I kept on reading to try and discover what the truth is behind the strange events. The characters are unique, the reader definitely develops a love hate relationship with a few of them. The in depth history of this legacy is explored and secrets are unveiled which were kind of unpredictable, I just knew that there was something looming behind what was being insinuated.

Overall this is a jam packed fantasy story, theres a lot to take in and many things to keep note of, it keeps the reader on their toes with themes of secrets, betrayal and seduction. I am intrigued to see what happens next in this series.

Really enjoyed the premise of this boook but also felt it was lacking something
unfortunatly not for me

Rating: 3.5/5

"Knowledge is carnage. You can't have it without sacrifice."

Six of the most powerful people in the world, chosen to be part of secret society that could give them access to a knowledge no one can imagine, six people forced to work together for a year, knowing that only five will get initiated, only five will be chosen. Six people asking themselves how far they would go to have a shot at that greatness, would they be willing to lose their humanity?

With a premise like that, I really wanted to love this book. It had everything I love in a story. Multiple point of views. Morally grey characters I always end up loving. Power, love, academic rivals that might not really hate each other that much, dark pasts, mystery, friendship, a psychopath you love to hate... I could go on forever.
Unfortunately something was missing. I ended up highlighting almost every page in the book, but it wasn't enough to make me fall in love. Yes, I was invested in Libbie, Nico, Parisa, Callum, Tristan and Reina, but not as much as I was expecting (I was also comparing it constantly to Six of Crows, which admittedly didn't help because hello Kaz and gang, no one can compare to you).
The story is slow, nothing really happens, but the characters were not enough to justify 350 pages of this book on their own merit. There were also things that were not developed properly, and I don't think it was because of a conscious decision to write a second book, but more because of some plot holes not filled properly to begin with. Even with the different point of views, I felt some characters like Reina were more background noise, and it was a real pity.

I will read the second book to see where Libbie's storyline is going (and ok also because I love Nico lol). Overall I'd say a good read if you are into dark academia, magic and characters driven slow plots. Also if you can stand an almost pompous way of writing.

Dark academia book full of interesting characters and a complex magic system.
Yes, some of the language used was used for the sake of throwing in fancy words.
Yes, you lose track of some of the characters throughout.

However, this is 100% a set-up novel and I can't wait to read the next one to see these characters being fleshed out more.

A heavily hyped fantasy novel. Unfortunately, the narrative and the story failed to excite me and I struggled to finish. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

E-arc expired before I could fully emerge myself into this story but I fully plan on buying myself a copy of it to read and I can’t wait!

I went into this book expecting high things and a fantastic fantasy setting, unfortunately I was let down slightly until the last 20 pages! I am wondering where the story will go in the next book but I do think the physics textbook needs to be left on the shelf and not retold in story format

Overall, a great, memorable magical find, with lots of twists and turns and suspense. The main thread was simple - Six of the worlds best magicians are offered a place at the elite Alexandrian library. But only five will keep their place, with its accompanying power and prestige. The competition is on - and together they must choose the loser.

Its a long story (perhaps too long and a bit convoluted), so there is a level of commitment required especially as some of the concepts require a second read but overall the story has big impact. Lots of cool, magical characters with multiple shades which made them believable. No one character is all good or all bad and each has an interesting back story, providing motivation for their actions and decisions. Magic was creatively explored, with each character wielding a different facet. A lot of thought went into creating this world and the way magic is displayed. Loved the many original and creative concepts and the way the characters interact with each other. Even now I can see certain scenes playing out like a movie.

Looking forward to the sequel!

I didnt expect to love this as much as I did. Dark academia is hit and miss for me usually but I loved this.
The audiobook is incredible as well. It was easy to get lost in the world.
The magic system is really interesting. We learn more throughout the book. But never in an info dump way. Just enough to help things in a moment make sense and stop you from getting lost.
Although I understand how it works. Well at least enough to not be confused. I probably would be terrible at explaining it.
The characters were all morally grey. But each one felt different. I found I never got them confused which has happening in the past with multiple POV books.
The Ezra twist left me intrigued. I really need to know where his part is going. Things are definitely not as they seem with Atlas Blakely. But Dalton also I'm unsure of.
Then there's the disappearance of another character and a side story of Nico and Gideon. All things I'm interested in knowing more of in the next book.

From the synopsis, I found the idea of this book extremely exciting. Six magicians but only 5 of the special people can be chosen to join the elite Alexandrian society. It started off with great promise but then started to drag. Some if the characters were very uninteresting from the very start, especially Callum whom I found really irritating.

I ploughed on with the book until the very end expecting some momentous event to take place but alas it was not to be. I believe there's going to be a sequel but I'm afraid I won't be reading it after this poor experience.

Okay… first of all, huge whoopsie on my account - I’ve posted on my instagram twice about this book. The first time was when I read the book and I explicitly said my review would be out closer to release date. Then around release I posted again saying my review was posted earlier, go find it … my bad!

So, here we are. Massively past release and comfortable my review is out there waving to the world. Like I said, whoops!

I read The Atlas Six at the end of 2021 after buying the pretty independently published edition (pictured above) and I’ve since acquired the Waterstones, Fairyloot and Illumicrate editions. A few weeks ago I attended the Olivie Blake event in Manchester that Black Crow organised - it was great to hear Blake talk about the book, some little tidbits ready for book two and generally fangirling over everything. She has a great sense of humour (quite dry, a bit dark and sometimes self deprecating) and I loved how honest she was about anything and everything.

The Atlas Six was a stand out read for me in 2021, it was something different and I was ready for it. While it follows several characters (the book has illustrations of each too which were a nice touch) and it took me a while to get to grips with all of them, I loved the magic system and the mystery of the society which kept me reading. The character interactions were fraught with tension and let me just put this simply - none of these people are especially ‘nice’ - you get an insight into all of their thoughts, sexualities and judgements through the multiple POVs - a technique which kept me from getting comfortable - and they are all sneaky and plotting against each other.

While I truly enjoyed reading The Atlas Six I would be lying if I didn’t get a smidge overwhelmed with some of the science and methodology descriptions - it was a bit of an info dump in places which made the story go through moments of slowness and a feeling that nothing was progressing but it got there in the end. It felt like it was trying to answer the meaning of life in some places which is a very heavy topic! Good job the characters were entertaining and offered relief while they snarked each other out although a few less POVs would have been welcomed. I don’t think I could choose a favourite as we barely got to know them - I do enjoy anti-heroes and all of these people had powers that were in various stages of mastery- learning about each ones magic abilities was a highlight but I’d have liked even more depth so I can psychoanalyse a little bit more ha.

At the event mentioned earlier, Blake commented that changes have been put in the finished editions from the version I read so I’m looking forward to giving this a re-read a bit closer to the release date of book two and I’m hoping I’ll get a bit more to grips with the science ready to fully follow along!

All in all, a great read from my perspective but just prepare yourself for that heavy subject matter. I’d love to post more thoughts on this after I’ve read it again so I can really get into the characters but it will definitely be spoilery!

I LOVED THIS BOOK! Admittedly this isn’t my usual genre but I’d heard such good things I just had to request it and give it a go! Olivia Blake is phenomenal and this is such a great book. The characters are all so well developed and you can empathise with all of them. The storyline that one would be eliminated, oh my gosh. I will definitely be reading more of Blake’s work.

Note to self: Must not fall for overhyped books again. 2.5 stars from me

What I liked:
Atlas Six has a great concept with characters that could be good if they weren't so boring.

What I didn't like:
There isn't a single character fleshed out properly.
The dialogues can only be described as 'pseudo-intellectual banter' and they more often than not not go anywhere, or they don't add anything to the story.
There are too many loose ends and orphan threads stifling the story..
The book uses frustratingly self-indulgent language and it is lengthy at places.

Very dissapointing. Shame ... I had high hopes for this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a review copy.

This book was so intricate and complex. The magic was amazing and characters likable. I was excited to read this book and can't wait for the sequal