I should have really liked this book; I loved the idea of the world’s six best magicians being invited to fill five coveted places to a secret society, and I appreciated their character development, even though I didn’t particularly like any of them and I enjoyed finding out about their individual magic powers. However, I found it too complicated, lots of words not really getting to the point, large passages especially in the middle of the book with not much happening. I ended up skipping large paragraphs trying to move the story on, and then not engaging with the rest of the book. At 65% I gave up as I wasn’t interested enough to find out what happened.
Thank you to Netgalley, Pan Macmillan and the author for allowing me review an advance copy of the book.

“The moral of this story is: Beware the man who faces you unarmed. If in his eyes you are not the target, then you can be sure you are the weapon.” ― Olivie Blake, The Atlas Six.

WHAT. A. BOOK! The Atlas Six was my first book by Olivie Blake and, honestly, I just jumped into this adventure because one of my dear friends (@callmeluh), who read The Atlas Six not so long ago, was repeating over and over again how good this book was. And she was so right! I finished the book this morning (very early—that tells you how impossible it was to put it down), and I have a lot to say about it.

The Atlas Six is a story mostly centred on six characters: Libby (Elizabeth) Rhodes and Nico (Nicholas) de Verona, who are two physicians; Reina Mori, a naturalist who's very quiet yet very observant; Tristan Caine, the lone boy who's completely lost with his powers; Callum Nova, an empath who knows he's good at what he does, and Parisa Kamali, a sexy telepath who doesn't hesitate to take drastic measures when this is necessary. All of them are medeians (a term for 'magicians') and have been chosen by Atlas Blakely, the Caretaker of a mysterious Society that promises them more knowledge and power. To be considered for initiation, they will have to enter a program for two years and prove themselves worthy of being among the five that will be initiated. Of the six of them, one will be eliminated; that's the only thing they were told and, now, they have to fight to survive.

Where to start? The first chapters of The Atlas Six were a real pleasure to read; I was completely taken in the story and the different personalities of the characters. There was frankly not two characters the same, and I think that's what made the story very interesting. The characters' development was well-done from start to finish, and the dynamics between them, their conversations and collaborations really helped to identify their personalities. Yet, I'm still not sure I know them well. I actually struggled so much to figure out some characters that, when I expected them to do something, they were doing something else and I was constantly taken aback, which was a good thing because the story kept being unpredictable. However, I have to admit that, near the end, I already had predicted a few things that would happen, especially concerning a specific character. Olivie Blake let some hints here and there, that direct us on how this first book will eventually conclude. It didn't prevent me from loving the story nonetheless.

I'm very interested in seeing what role Atlas Blakely will take in the following books. Him, too, I didn't really figure out his character; I couldn't say if it was the 'helper' or the 'villain' of the story. I have my opinion on the subject, which I will keep for myself to avoid spoilers.

There were a few moments when I thought it was a bit dragging though—I was warned it would be like this, so I wasn't surprised by this point. I think Olivie Blake stopped some events exactly where they should have because, if not, the story would have been very repetitive. This makes me curious about the second book, I wonder what turn the story will take!

On the whole, I found The Atlas Six very clever, the story was more scientific than magical in my opinion, but I really loved that! The main theme around knowledge and power was riveting, and Olivie Blake magnified everything with her beautiful writing style! So, this book was a very good discovery, and I can't wait to read the next books!

Thank you so much Netgalley and Pan McMillan/Tor Books for the opportunity to review The Atlas Six! It was a real pleasure!

The Atlas Six is like a cross between the Betrayals and A Deadly Education. Six of the bestest best magic practitioners in the world are invited into the Society, but only five will be initiated. They are all openly suspicious of each other, but they must work together to protect the precious Alexandrian archives, and to further their own magical prowess to come out in top.

I really enjoyed this one. It is excessively verbose in places, and I’ll admit to skimming over some of the characters’ more cerebral dialogue — if they understand what they’re talking about, that’s good enough for me! I didn't have the patience to truly untangle the science or philosophy behind some of their discussions, but it was interesting to see the concept of magic approached in such an academic light.
I liked the characters, they each have their own reasons for being there, and they each hold their mistrust of the others very close. I found that their personal differences were best gleaned from how the others saw them (the book is told from multiple POVs) rather than how they read on the page, but as that's how we interpret individuals in the real world, I thought it worked well. Their different backgrounds are widely varied which I appreciated. We had less fortunate characters who had to graft to get to be their best, and then some who've never had to lift a finger in their life. Each have different powers that seem to stem from how they'd grown up, or from some deep-seated emotional trigger.
Their different powers are all pretty cool, some more obvious than others, and when they pit themselves against each other it can result in some pretty impressive outcomes. I particularly like when they are forced to work together to defeat a common enemy, offsetting their strengths and weaknesses against each other to bring some of the quieter characters to the fore, which was really good fun.

The writing style is quite heavy but it suits the academic superiority vibe well. This story somehow manages to make a year of study interesting, and the challenges the characters face throughout are gripping, with high stakes and real tension.

And after that ending, I’m afraid I’m going to need the next one. Right now. Many thanks.

The manipulation, the intrigue, the secrets! Wow this was such a great book. From the beginning you're introduced to the 'Atlas Six' the six best magicians in the world and they're all out for themselves. If they want to progress to the next year and past initiation they must choose one to be eliminated from the process and decide which of them is the least valuable, or perhaps the greatest threat. Parisa was my favourite character, I'm not sure what that says about me!

This book was fascinating, the physics in it washed over me a little but I kept wanting answers, kept dipping into the different POVs wanting to know more about these hugely flawed individuals with immense powers. I'd give this a 4.5 stars in reality, it lost the half a star due to the ending leaving me wanting. But I'll definitely be looking out for the next book when it's released.

An atmospheric dark-academia fantasy. An interesting mix of magic, philosophy, science and some very interesting, layered characters. Slightly too much focus on the complex physics over the characters for me, but a very solid read.

The Atlas six is an incredible novel which takes excellent characters and adds them to an incredible fantasy storyline.

I was entirely riveted and cannot wait for the next installment

Book Review (Donna) - The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

With thanks to @netgalley, @panmacmillan and @torbooks for this arc.

The library of Alexandria was never destroyed - it was hidden. And now its knowledge is safeguarded by the secretive Alexandrian Society who, every 10 years, select the 6 best magicians to enrol with them. After a year, only 5 will be initiated - and it is up to the magicians themselves to decide which of them will be eliminated.

I have seen so much about this book and went in with high hopes, and it did not disappoint. This is what I consider a slow-paced, character-driven book. Whilst I didn't really like any of the characters, I found them all incredibly interesting, so it didn't take away from the general enjoyment. The chapters are written from their differing POV throughout, and it really helped add the layers of their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs and was a masterclass in exploring these morally grey characters.

The ending was unexpected and added a complexity I appreciated, setting it up nicely for a second book.

I'm going to start this review with: Libby supremacy. If you like dark academia I highly recommend this book. It has pretentious characters, but I still loved them all. I am still confused by the ending of this book, but I think this has a good set up for the second book and I can't wait till this comes out. I would describe this book as no plot, just vibes and I'm not saying this is a bad way as I enjoy and love reading character driven stories.

I loved the premise of this book. A group of 6 of the magically gifted, invited to fill 5 spots of an elusive membership into the Alexandrian Society. From the start, you immediately got a sense of the competition, and found myself immediately drawn into the story.

The book starts introducing each of the characters who will later be fighting it out to join the society. We got to see each of their recruitments as well as a backstory to their characters and lives, which was a great way to ease you in. It actually didn’t take me too long to get to grips with all the characters (as sometimes with this many on centre stage, it can get a little confusing) but I didn’t find it hard to follow them at all.

There were some characters I liked more than others (intentionally written that way I think!). The dynamic between Nico and Libby I loved and they were definitely a favourite. Every split chapter perspective on them was bound to be a guaranteed enjoy for me but I found that I actually enjoyed reading every single character perspective, which is rare for me. There’s always a few characters that I’m less keen on following however, here, every single page I was kept enraptured.

I loved seeing the different vantage points of the six: what all the different characters were thinking and thought about each other, what they were planning and how they were getting on. The more and more I read, the more I got a feel for the characters and the more I started to love them. Even Parisa (who I hated with a vengeance at first!).

This book was seriously compelling and it was one of those that I couldn’t wait to get stuck back into whenever I had to put it down. The whole vibe of the book was great and it really kept me hooked throughout the story. I didn’t want to finish it because then it would be over! I honestly can’t wait for more. I need more!

Read it! Don’t be put off by this being YA fiction, in my opinion its for all adults regardless of age. The writing is fun and kept me engaged, i learnt new things whilst being totally engaged. Brilliant!

This book seems to be a real Marmite book. The reviews range from love to hate. I like to read all sorts of books , not sticking to any specific genre and go to each book with an open mind. I started off loving the idea of a magical library of Alexandria but really the story was about the personal growth of the atlas six ; chosen for their talents and ripe to learn more to develop them. This may not have been quite what I had expected but turned out to be interesting enough for me to want to buy the next book to see what happens. I look forward to seeing how the story develops.

I had seen so much about this book that I was really excited when I was approved for the ARC. Sadly, for me, it was another book that didn’t really live up to the hype.
I loved the ideas of the ancient library of Alexandria still surviving and magic being an everyday part of our world. Also, the premise of the 6 best magicians being selected to study at the library was one that intrigued me. The fact that magic had a scientific basis was something that appealed to.
The book just didn’t work for me though. I found the characters all to be very two dimensional and as someone who loves character driven books, this was a real problem. I didn’t feel a connection to any of them which might well be in keeping with the type of character they are supposed to be but it did make the novel less enjoyable. A lot of the book seemed to be where the characters were just sitting around and trying to score points off each other and there was a lot of book where nothing of any note seemed to happen.
I did enjoy the ending but this isn’t going to be enough to make me want to read the sequel.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers Pan Macmillan for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

You know when you hear a lot of hype about a book so you're afraid to read it and be disappointed?

This was not the case.

4.5/5 Cups of coffee from me, full RTC this week!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC of this in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed reading this fantasy novel! Six are chosen. Only five will survive. All six main characters are so different in their flaws. Secret societies and untrustworthy characters: what's not to love.

An intriguing plot kept me guessing till the end and sets up the sequel perfectly. While reading, I kept thinking this would make a great series. When I finished reading, I did some research, and it seems it will be made into a series which should be good. It has a real, Vampire Diaries/ Pretty Little Liars vibe. I predict this will be a very popular read.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

I have to say I didn't love this one. It started well and the ending was fantastic, but the middle really struggled to hold my interest and I don't have a lot of patience for people sitting around and trying to sound clever. I really disliked one of the characters, and I get that we were supposed to dislike him, but there should be some sort of redeeming feature. Nico, Libby and Tristan were my favourites because they at least showed some growth over the course of the book. I will be reading the sequel because that ending still hasn't let go of me, but overall this was a bit disappointing.

My full review will be posted on my blog on 8th March.

An interesting delve into dark academia! The characters all have their own interesting backgrounds and motivations, and I loved the dynamics between each of them as they try to navigate the society and form tentative alliances. There were definitely sections where the pace fell off a bit for me, but I think the author has laid a good foundation for the next instalment and I'm excited to see where it goes!

“The problem with knowledge, is its inexhaustible craving. the more of it you have, the less you feel you know.”

To be honest with you, I’m disappointed by this book. All I’d heard was praise and my reading experience just left me wondering if I’d read a different book.
I optimistically said, when I initially finished this, that I don’t always like dark academia, I have historically rated them 3 stars or less, I shouldn’t be surprised by what I thought of this. But, rereading the blurb, I should have liked this. It almost sounded like an adult THG, but based on magic and its history. Sure, we got that, but only in small amounts.
Despite magic being a key part of it, it honestly felt like it wasn’t there. In theory, I liked how magic was scientific and how science was used to explore it, but I just felt lost whenever it was spoken about - I feel like I needed a degree to just understand what happened. I’m sure I will understand it more with a reread (which I will do… in theory), but it’s the kind of book that makes me feel like I should reread it straight away so I know the plot and only have to worry about understanding what’s happening.
I also wish we’d got to see more of the history - we were promised a society hundreds of years old, but we barely scratched the surface. I understand the six were only in their first year so couldn’t access everything, but I feel like we should have been given more.
It’s not worth saying I didn’t like the characters because they’re not the kind of characters you’re meant to like. They’re prickly and unlikeable and they’re pretentious. And maybe they accurately represent academics - because I think that’s what this book is about, the competitiveness of academia. But they spoke like literary fiction characters trapped in fantasy, I just couldn’t understand what they were saying. Plus, my favourite was Reina, she had a really interesting power, but I feel like she was only there to be an inoffensive filler.
Finally, nothing happened. It felt like a drag to get through. There was a bit of action about 100 pages in and that was about it - apart from the drama at the end that I didn’t react to because I was still trying to understand everything before.
Well. I didn’t intend to rant and I did intend to rate this 3 stars - I think this was probably rated on the potential that I didn’t see - but I’m struggling to find anything positive to say about it - which explains why I struggled to film a video review.
Please let me know if someone else out there didn’t enjoy this.

I was really looking forward to reading The Atlas Six. I've seen so many positive reviews. However, I found myself struggling to keep interested. This kind of book is something I really enjoy. I love books about magic. I found the characters are unlikeable, but the story itself had potential, and I felt it didn't really pick up until the last few chapters. The writing was very descriptive and informative, so there wasn't any issue with the writing style. I hadn't realized it was originally self-published, but it feels like the 'big' publisher hasn't changed much. I do think that the second book will be better, and I do look forward to reading that.

Thanks to Netgalley and publishers for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I kept seeing ‘The Atlas Six’ pop up all over book tube and Instagram; so when I saw I could snag an ARC copy on NetGalley I leapt at the chance to read it.

I liked this book - but I wished I could have enjoyed it more as other readers have. It had such good potential but was let down in many areas which might also put off other readers.

The Characters:
I do enjoy multiple POVs and morally grey characters who start off rough around the edges before we slowly start to unravel a bit more about them and learn why they are the way they are (Six of Crows is a prime example).

Unfortunately, the characters in ‘The Atlas Six’ were so one dimensional I didn’t find myself caring all that much about them. They instantly come across as arrogant and egotistical, or downright annoying, that when we get to the snippets of backstory where we should start to feel sympathy or a deeper understanding of their character, I found myself not caring all that much as there's no character growth. I found myself shaking my head and muttering ‘you’re all terrible’ at the pages a lot.

Magic System:
I read this whole book, and I still can’t explain what the magic system is or how it works. I was left with so many questions; what’s the difference between a witch and a medeian? Is magic genetic or random? Is it actually magic or more like X-men powers? Where does it come from or how is it powered? It implies that regular non magic folk are aware there is magic...and are somehow cool with this and with this small magical minority group effectively running he world? Magic in this book seems interlinked with physics and psychology but is very poorly explained that I couldn’t grasp how it works at all.

Another point is all the main characters have an ability or a type of magic they can do (with some variation) and the author starts off the story introducing each person along with their skill…and then changes it, over and over. It’s a constant ‘oh they can do this…and now they can do that…oh and also this!. All without any training or moments of discovery so it comes across as super overpowering. There seem to be no limitations at all.

It got so bad that at one point a character is randomly revealed to be able to shapeshift and I just glossed over it without care because at that point I’d lost track of what everyone could do now anyway and nothing felt like a surprise anymore. I had to gloss over most of the magic talk between characters anyway as I don’t think anyone other than the author could wrap their head around it.

Genre?:
This book is marketed as a Dark Academia but I think the author forgot the academia part. It’s more of a Dark Independent Study Group. After being invited to the Alexandrian Society to study, the characters are then left to their own devices to do what they want apart from a few random topical lectures and getting together twice in the whole book to work on the group project they were assigned.

Overall, this book and universe have promise and I hope there are improvements for the sequel. However, it won’t be something I’ll be rushing to read at the moment.

I'd give this book 2.5-3 stars.

[This review is based on NetGalley ARC provided in
exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.]

The Atlas Six follows six candidates that are chosen to be a part of an elite academic Society. They each have incredible talents and are told that only five of them will be accepted to into the Society. None of them know the darkness that awaits.

First of all, the writing in this book was truly something else. each sentence was full with turning and twisting words. It was almost darkly poetic in a sense. The descriptions were deep and rich, full of so much imagination. I think it's amazing that someone has a brain that works like this and can come up with such an intricate plot and execute it in the way that the author did. That being said I can't really put my finger on how I feel after reading it. I know that there is a sequel coming out and I feel like because of this, this book was more of a set up of what's to come. There is a lot of new information and explanations that had to be given (which is obviously necessary) but I just felt like there was more to come.
The 'plot twist' I found to be slightly disappointing, especially because it was so near the end. I t felt like a huge lead up to something that wasn't really that insane or unexpected.

I really liked the dark academia atmosphere in this book. I think also because of this setting that the characters make more sense. To be honest, none of them were likeable. Even the ones that weren't overtly bad and acted poorly still weren't really characters that I cared deeply about. I think that the author can get away with this because it is almost the nature in highly academic settings in books for the people to be harsh and egotistical in a sense. I felt almost intrusive and uncomfortable at some of their actions and reading from their point of view felt like I was in their heads without permission. I will say that I think the author has an incredible talent for writing so honestly about humans and their nature, it was truly impressive. I do also think that in the next books I'll feel more amicable towards them.

Overall, this book is a refreshing concept, with great description and dark atmosphere and interesting characters. I'll definitely be reading the sequel when it comes out.