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Title: The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1)
Author: Olivie Blake
Pages: 384
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: 28th September 2021
Blurb from Goodreads:
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.
My Review:
*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley*
Every ten years, six talented magicians are hand-picked for the chance to be initiated into the secretive Alexandrian Society.
The Society guards knowledge that cannot be found anywhere else, and offers its members the chance to develop their abilities.
The new candidates include Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona, who are physicists able to affect the world around them; Parisa Kamali, a powerful telepath; Reina Mori, a naturalist able to grow and understand plants; Tristan Caine, able to see through illusions; and Callum Nova, an empath with the dangerous power to persuade people to do what he wants.
All six of the candidates were chosen by Atlas Blakely, the Caretaker of the Society. He has given them one year before five of them will be initiated, and one eliminated.
Is the Society all that it seems?
Who will be eliminated?
Having heard a lot of hype around this book, I was very excited to read it. Unfortunately, I ended up being disappointed.
The characters were an interesting mix, with Nico and Reina being my favourites. Their chapters were the ones I looked forward to the most. There weren't any characters that I particularly disliked, but Callum was my least favourite of the main characters.
The abilities of the characters, and the concepts in the book were interesting and unique.
The plot was slow, and for me it felt like not very much actually happened and that the book could have been a lot shorter. I enjoyed the first half of the book a lot more than the second half, which I found rather boring. I even contemplated DNFing the book but kept on reading in the hopes it would pick up.
I think this was an occasion where the writing style just didn't work for me, as it meant the book was very character-focused (which is not necessarily a bad thing) and I struggled to gel with it, not really caring what happened to the characters.
It feels like a bit of a missed opportunity as I liked the concept, but I seem to be in the minority with most readers enjoying this book. I'm disappointed that this didn't live up to my hopes.
Overall, this was a mixed read.
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