Definitely lived up to the hype! Well written, engaging, and full of twists. The world building is super intriguing!

Been dying to read this one and when I got approved for the ARC I was so excited and it didn’t disappoint! I really enjoyed the world building and the representation was fabulous. Character driven, morally grey characters, science and magic? Say less. 4 stars!

Thank you to netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for sending me a copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

At first I wasn't sure I was going to be smart enough to understand this book. The writing was so lyrical and prose-like that it almost felt above my pay grade to try to read it. But I ended up loving that about it because it made everything so beautiful! It made the emotions deeper and the setting more gorgeous and the mystery more haunting. I loved the way that the writing flowed and how much it really added to the story.

I feel as though half the characters were super likeable and half were super unlikeable. I know it was likely meant to be this way, but I couldn't get past it. I really liked how unique they each were and how their powers and their personalities brought a specific purpose to the story. Having so many main characters can easily result in confusion and some of them getting lost, but this was really well done so that I always knew who was who and what their purpose was. I was impressed that it was written so that I could keep up with them and their different stories.

I really liked the ending and thought that it was a great setup to the next book! I loved the way that we saw from a "new" person's eyes and that it really tied everything together. All the intrigue of this book was satisfied but then new doors (no pun intended) were opened for the next book that left you asking a million new questions.

If you're a fantasy lover, you definitely won't want to miss out on this one!

I could not get into this book, though I started several times. The plot does kick off very early on, with the six special magicians being chosen in the earliest pages, but I found nothing to hook me and keep me going. I did not finish it.

3.5*** Idk. It took me forever to get into, very character driven, and I felt like I was always meeting new people but the plot wasn’t going anywhere. (There’s also weird timeline jumping). The magical elements and theories made it more interesting, and the hunger game vibes kept me going. The twist I didn’t see coming at the end. Because the audio threw me off, I was switching back and forth a lot and feel I owe this one a reread, eventually.

2 Stars!

Atlas Six is the first book in the Atlas duology. It follows six characters, each with a unique magical ability as they compete against each other to become one of the top five students.

This book didn't work for me. It takes place in a fantasy world with absolutely no world building and no explanation of the magic system. Then, there is talk of time travel, which 9 out of 10 times just ruins the plot. PERIOD. Very rarely is time travel done well, and by the time this book started heading in this direction, I already didn’t like any of the characters, and found the book to be incredibly boring. I’m so happy it got major hype, but this was a huge miss for me. I’ve never read a character analysis like this before in a fantasy world. This book took everything I love about the fantasy genre and stripped it all out and added six points of view unlikable and untrusting characters. I didn’t care which one got eliminated.

I honestly can’t tell you much about this book. I don’t even really know what I read. I don’t know if that makes me a little on the stupid side, or if the writing is a bit on the pretentious side. I’m glad it worked for all the other smart people in the world, but I will not be continuing this series.

Definitely not my usual thing, but that’s the joy of reading challenges. This story of a secret magical library and its strange manipulative competition, had a bit too much world-building, magicy stuff for me, but I enjoyed following the chess-like moves and POVs of each of the six young people chosen to protect and learn at the library. I love a Dark Academia vibe, and the complexity of characters kept me engaged. A fun read.

I originally heard of The Atlas Six through tik tok like most people. It sounded like it would be right up my alley. This is a good start to the series. I really liked the different characters and the magic system as well. I also loved the premise that the library of Alexandria is not gone but transported to different areas across time.
I look forward to reading the next book in the series especially since this book ended with a cliff hanger.

I thought this book was okay. I liked the idea of the book and I thought the book had a great storyline. I also thought the characters were great. As the reader I could not tell if I even liked any of the characters but I somehow still cared about them. I like when stories don't have clear good and bad guys. I like when every character has their own flaws and none of them are perfect.

The main reason I gave this book three stars was because I did not like the writing all that much. I just felt like the author went through the book with a thesaurus and changed every word she possibly could. This could also be a personal problem. I read about 50 books a year with a wide variety of genres and I never read a book where I had to look up the word on my dictionary app every few pages. That kind of took away from the story for me. Again, it could easily be a me problem, I wouldn't say I have a massive vocabulary but I did learn a lot of new words!

I loved the authors ideas and how the magic was portrayed throughout the story. It felt very philosophical at times and it was brilliant on how she could explain these complicated issues like time travel. It was extremely well done and I was blown away at some points. I do not know much about the author but if she studied some sort of physics it would make sense. If she did not then she definitely put a lot of effort into knowing her stuff and that is super amazing.

Other then that I thought it was good. I would definitely recommend it to someone who likes dark academic.

if you love lush building descriptions and absolutely despicable characters constantly haranging each other and also weird magic you will love the atlas six

This is one of those books where the originality lies primarily in the execution, rather than the initial premise. And this is in no way an insult! Reading a new take on old ideas is exciting.

The basics: six people with extraordinary gifts are chosen to learn about a secret institution. Things are, unsurprisingly, not what they seem - and there is a lot of interpersonal tension as well.

See? Not a radically new idea. But the execution and the details made this a deeply intriguing book.

The world is one where magic is real, and even the non-magic users know about. Hard to hide a magic university in the middle of New York, I suspect. Also, some people have used their talents to get (legally) spectacularly rich. Anyway: it seems most people don't have astounding levels of magic. So the six people chosen to learn about the secrets are told they're pretty much the strongest, most gifted magic-users of their generation. Great way to manage those egos right up. Anyway, they are invited to learn about the Library of Alexandria - now somewhat metaphorical, as it's not in Alexandria, although it is still a library. And that's one of the key drawcards: the right, and ability, to search the library for anything they want... if they get through the year.

So we have magic, and we have knowledge, and we have massive personal conflict - mostly because of the individual personalities. Intriguingly, the narrative moves between all six of the initiates, meaning that there's not automatically one of them the reader is guided towards supporting. While some of them are absolutely unpleasant people, this multi-focus allows the reader to see their complexities and thus make the story that much more complex.

It's a clever set up, and the twists are just as clever, and the characters are right on that borderline of horrible-but-not-so-horrible (unlike, say, Heathcliff). Clearest sign I enjoyed it? Can't wait to read the sequel.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book!

"The Atlas Six" has been on my radar well before I heard it was getting trad published. As soon as it became available to request on NG I was super excited. This book is a very different read to what I pick up normally, but the premise sounded so intriguing that I couldn't pass it up and it gave me the opportunity to step out of my reading comfort zone as well.

I'll be honest, I struggled with a good 60% of this book. I normally love multiple povs but I found the constant changes jarring, I didn't feel like I had the time to connect with each character and get to know them before being pulled out of their perspective and into someone else's. The plot felt very slow going as well.

The last 40% picked up for me. I started getting invested in the characters and anxious to where the plot was heading. There were some twists and turns I didn't see coming and the ending has left me intrigued for book 2!

Overall, I'm very happy I decided to give this book a go, I'll definitely be picking up book 2 and I would recommend this novel to fans of dark academia with diverse characters.

This was one of my favorite books of 2021 and I'm happy to say that is still remains as one of my favorites! It explores science, magic, philosophy, and history in such a unique manner. With a pretty big cast of characters, they were all explored just as exceptionally. I'm so excited to see more of this world in the series!

I have tried to read this book several times now and every time I’ve picked it up I’ve put it back down. This book is very character driven and if you like books like that this will be the perfect read for you. I have made it to around 30% and i found the characters kinda annoying to be honest. i have requested the audiobook from my library and hoping that will give me the push to finish up the novel because i am pretty invested overall of the story.

I love this book and the magic system. While it is hard to slog through at times, my curious nature kept me going and I am grateful for that.

I had really high hopes going into this one. Dark academia, unique magic systems, multiple POVs and a found family vibe? Sign me up.

It didn’t quite live up to that for me, unfortunately. It took me a long while to begin liking any of the characters (except Nico who had my heart from the beginning) and I really didn’t care about the plot for ages. Once it kicked off I did find myself enjoying it. I really enjoyed the magic in this, I loved learning more about the characters and the society. I will definitely be reading the sequel but my expectations will just be a little lower.

Can't wait for the next one!

Heard a lot about this book and after reading it I can understand the hype. I'm excited to see what comes. The first was an excellent introduction to the world and the characters and should line up to be a really good series.

4.5 Stars

I was first drawn to The Atlas Six by the blurb: secret society, magicians, competition, dark academia… I was in. And I wasn’t disappointed. The pace is a bit slow sometimes, but the plot is gripping, characters-focused, and intense, and the characters are intriguing, well-written, and well-developed, although not always very likable.

Every ten years, six people are chosen to attend the Alexandrian society and discover its secrets. The six people chosen are talented magicians, the best of the best. For one year, they live together inside the society where they study and research, but they can’t tell anyone outside of the society where they are or what they are doing. At the end of the one-year period, they will have to choose one of them to eliminate. The remaining five will have power, wealth, and prestige.

Atlas Blakely is the curator of the Alexandrian society and he’s chosen six unique magicians. Nico de Varona and Libby Rhodes have been rivals all through college and they both have the power to manipulate the elements. While Nico is witty, charming, and easy-going, Libby is more sensitive and direct and eager to fit in the society. Reina Mori is a naturalist and she is a character that remains a bit of mystery. She keeps mostly to herself, apart from training with Nico, so I look forward to reading more about her in the next book. Parisa Kamali is a telepath, she can read people’s minds and she uses her power to her advantage. She is a character with many layers and I honestly haven’t decided yet if I like her or not. Tristan Caine can see illusions. He’s left behind a life of promised wealth and betrayal to enter the society, but he’s struggling and he’s not sure about his role in it. Callum Nova is an empath, meaning he can manipulate people’s emotions which he has no trouble doing. So far, he is the character that I like less because I don’t trust him, but I think and hope there is more to him than what we have read so far.

The six of them are supposed to work together as a team, but alliances and loyalties are formed and switched because, in the end, one of them will have to be eliminated. The story is told from each character’s point of view so we know that each of them is keeping secrets from the others and has their own reason to attend the Alexandrian society, beside the promise of prestige and power.

The story ends with a cliffhanger and lots of suspense so I am really looking forward to reading the sequel, The Atlas Paradox, to see what happens next.

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

The Atlas Six is an exposition of what six individuals do when offered knowledge beyond most people's grasp and a promise of power beyond comparison. The story starts out with these six uniquely gifted individuals being offered, essentially, the hidden world: the entire catalog of the Great Library of Alexandria, filled with lost knowledge from ancient civilizations. The Alexandrian Society is an elite secret society in which these super-powered people have to compete to become initiated as only five members out of the six are ushered into the Society. Queue the rivalries, betrayals, friendships, seductions, and everything in between.

This book is a slow burn, to be sure. It’s heady, a bit cerebral, and philosophical. To me, this is like The Secret History meets Vita Nostra (highly underrated, read it if you liked this book) meets The Magicians. It's character-driven while the actual plot moves along like a turtle racing to the finish line. That being said, I really enjoyed it. Once I realized that it was very much a character story, a story of questions without many answers, I started to get more and more into it. Though I will say that I feel that there is not much character development in this story... yet. I think it started to go in that direction later in the second half, but I did not feel that each character had grown a ton. Each character is unique and complex even without further development. They each have their own secrets and motivations, and I would say that they are all morally grey in a way, and it does intrigue me to see where they are going with their arcs. I can't say I disliked anyone fully! Olivie Blake has a knack for making you sympathize with every character even when making distasteful decisions. The characters orbit around each other, and I think this is the type of book where almost anyone could end up with anyone, or no one, or hell, even all together (basically it’s very “shippable,” and this is why I feel a strong comparison to The Magicians), but it's undeniable that they all become deeply connected throughout their time together. The character dynamics are interesting, to say the least.

“We are the gods of our own universes, aren’t we? Destructive ones.”

I enjoyed the discussions on morality, mortality, and whether knowledge should be shared and not coveted (especially by the ultra-elite)--I think these themes were among the strongest in the book. The writing is quite beautiful, as well. Blake writes with ease, discussing concepts that are labyrinthine, yet it flowed easily. I really can't say that I would have liked this book as much if not for Blake's style of writing.

"No one here is good. Knowledge is carnage. You can’t have it without sacrifice."

The story itself grows more and more tense and suspenseful as it goes on as more hidden agendas are revealed. There are a few twists and turns and one, in particular, that was very fun. The last 50 or so pages are superb and left me feeling dizzy and extremely ready for the next installment. 4 stars! I will be reading more of Blake’s work.

Easily one of my top 5 books of the year, it was absolutely amazing, and I look forward to recommending it to every. Single. Person.