The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

I would like to thank Black Crow PR and Tor for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for fair and honest review

Publisher – Tor

Published – Out Now

Price - £16.99 hardback £4.99 Kindle eBook

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.

Reviewing is ultimately a subjective experience. I like to tell you why a book works for me. Every now and then I’ll encounter a book that really doesn’t work for me. Slightly more unusual are books where I can see why I haven’t clicked with it but I can think of the people who may actually enjoy this far more. With Olivie Blake’s puzzling The Atlas Six we get a start to a new contemporary fantasy series exploring ambitious and competition that ultimately left me cold.

The secretive Alexandrian Society houses millenniums of knowledge both magical and scientific. It long ago used to be the Library of Alexandria before going deep undercover. The world has since evolved with mortal and medeian (magical) skills developing. A world where those with the talent can use it for personal gain or wealth. The Society looks every ten years for the best of the best – six candidates who will work to be rewarded with five places and then the opportunity for even more knowledge and either a position at the society or the pick of prime roles in the outer world. The mysterious Atlas Blakely is responsible for recruiting this decade’s students – the constantly arguing Libby and Nico who can control matter at the atomic level; Callum who can talk anyone into anything; Tristan who can see through any illusions and gain insights from any object; Reina who can boost nature and finally Parisa who can read minds and is very much focused on more power. This group need to learn either to work together or beat the others for the five places, but they also are about to find there are more dangerous forces with plans for this new crop of students.

OK unfortunately I found this book quite a disappointing experience, but it was one where I have taken a step back thinking and I think this one that its ultimately a question of various writing choices that I find very ineffective on me. For me the characters are fairly standard stereotypes initially all set up to be unlikeable and in conflict with one another but revealing aspects that suggest they are a bit more human and can actually work together. For me I found them very broad brush, overly privileged and very predictable and while Blake pushes them for the emotional conflict and very much explains the characters motivation and rivalries, however, I really didn’t think any of them stood out. However, those who enjoy broad characters verbal sparring, and changing rivalries may enjoy this soap-like dimension.

The worldbuilding I found again not that original nor broadened out. There is very little of it shown or explained. It’s all about character and plot mechanics. At one point our two physicists create a wormhole in space for the first time and it hardly raises an eyebrow even though allegedly this will change science. Its just a plot point. Two days into their role they have to take on an armed squad of killers and it all goes pretty well without any real prior training. This is a story where suspension of disbelief needs to be set high and again those who enjoy fast changing situation and watching characters negotiate their way through the story will instead probably enjoy it.

My biggest issue is the excessively verbose style of the narration. Because this is an elite academic setting Blake has opted for a story style that reads like a university academic text. Everything is described in lengthy detail and while I see that this is used to suit the Society’s own tomes I found it hugely distracting and overblown. It though for me felt very artificial and on top of that we get lots of character back story explained in lengthy episodes just to help support the story. Again, readers who like long descriptive passages and lots of asides and detours will probably enjoy it more but I’d have preferred a more organic style of storytelling.

The Atlas Six very much felt to be like a premise for a long running and successful series and I’m not surprised it has already got a tv series in development. It’s got broad character stereotypes that can be gently teased by the right actors; secrets and twist ideas to make an audience gasp and would require high levels of production design to make you appreciate the budget. But for me the story in novel form lacks depth, character and there is no interesting theme to the story. A story about elites in the 2020s should perhaps be a little more questioning of the type of people who want to be the best. This is very much a book not for me and it’s disappointing as so many I know love it; but it would be boring if everyone liked everything at the same time! But for me if this is what Dark Academia has to offer then this sub-genre if it is to be making a lasting impact needs to find something to actually say beyond stylish set-pieces or else will be pretty forgettable.