Book Review: The Atlas Six

I wanted to read a dark academia novel this winter and The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake was the first one that came to mind.

What a rollercoaster of a book!

In the world The Atlas Six takes place in, there are some people who are medeians or magicians. Medeians all have unique gifts or powers. For example, you might be a telepath and can read minds (and also plant ideas in minds) or be a physicist and be able to manipulate matter.

Every 10 years, 6 of the most powerful medeians are selected by the Alexandrian Society – a secret society of medeians who have access to the ancient Library of Alexandria giving them fountains of knowledge at their fingertips. Atlas Blakely is the current Caretaker of the Library and recruits 6 new people – Nico de Varona, Libby Rhodes, Tristan Caine, Reina Mori, Callum Nova, and Parisa Kamali. They all range in age from early to late 20s. They will spend a year together learning and protecting the Library and if they make it through the year they will be initiated into the society. Then they will spend another year as new initiates and then can go about their lives having the full power and knowledge of the society behind them. The catch? Only 5 of the 6 can make it through to initiation.

The book was fantastic, but it was not an easy read. By that I mean you really have to take your time with it and digest everything – it’s not something you can read quickly. There’s so much information at all times. Sometimes it felt a bit slow, but it was so captivating that I could not stop reading because I needed to know what was going to happen. My opinions on the characters changed constantly but from beginning to end I liked Libby, Nico, and Tristan. The other characters had me skeptical or going from not liking, to liking, to not liking, to hating, to being unsure of, etc.

The ending blew my mind – I did not see the twists coming! I’m looking forward to reading the second book soon to see what happens next!

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