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A review by amelianotthepilot
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I absolutely loved this book and think its now in my top of all time. It's a dark academia fantasy book that's got such heavy harry potter influences without being copy and paste it was delicious.
6 adults from around the world (literally) are chosen to be apart of the secret society that protects/uses the library of Alexandria. First off I was already impressed that the characters were actually diverse and from all over the world since most books seem to say things like 'you are the top most powerful in the world' and then they all come from NYC/the US which is definitely not realistic. This cast of characters comes from Japan, US, England, South Africa, and France. The story is told from all of their perspectives which is interesting and complex, giving you everyone's separate motivations, secrets, and personalities. Elizabeth "Libby" Rhodes is an anxious bookworm rule follower white girl from NYC and Nico de Varona is a Cuban wealthy privlidged golden retriever adhd sunshine boy from NYC. They are 'physicists' as they study physical magic (ie levitation, gravity morphing, etc) and have recently graduated from magical NYU lol. They are class rivals and love/hate each other but are also equally extremely overly powerful. Reina Mori is an emotionally repressed classicist booklover who works at a coffeshop from Osaka and is a 'naturalist' (can control plants) but she is more than just a normal naturalist she doesn't put any effort into manipulating plants, they just feed off her energy and emotions. Tristan Caine is a anxious low achieving son of a mafia guy. He has worked his way up to corporate ladder with his powers and by dating a CEO's daughter he plans to eventually marry her and inherit the company. He is an illusionist (can create illusions) but not actually...it's more accurate that he can completely see through any and all illusions without trying. Parisa Kamali is a slut(positive) she is beautiful and uses her beauty and body combined with her power of mind reading to infiltrate anyone and get what she wants/needs. She is from Iran but lives in Paris and lol this is one of my biggest problems with the book is that her name is Parisa and shes from Paris. It's the only lazy thing in the book. Last but not least Callum Nova is the character we don't know much about. He is wealthy and good-looking and from South Africa where his family owns a rich international cooperation. His magic is empathy...
Overall the worldbuilding is very interesting, a very small percent of the world is capable of magic but only simple things like prestigitation-esque (warming things, turning on lights, opening doors) and are called witches. Then an even smaller percentage of that population are qualified and magical enough to be called medians and attend magical colleges like magical NYU. Then an even smaller percentage are considered for the atlas six initiation. The Atlas Six are six people chosen from around the world to be inducted into the Alexandrian society that protects the library of Alexandria (which has moved around over the years and now resides in England as most stolen things go lol). The 6 must attend a year of within the society before collectively choosing 1 of the 6 to eliminate and then becoming initiates.
This book has it all truly, It's diverse, it brings up deep moral dilemmas such as who deserves to have access to knowledge, should everyone know everything or is that dangerous, would you kill for what you want most in the world, are evil and good so black and white, and the morals of fantasy elements such as mind reading and emotional control. It was truly delicious.
But what really had me even more full-throttle invested is the clear harry potter influence. Atlas Blakely, the man who chooses the 6 and the caretaker of the society, is clearly a Dumbledore character- he's older, aloof, reserved, and only shows up to inconveniently drop lore before unhelpfully disappearing, he clearly has an alternative perhaps evil motive. Then we have Nico. Nico is so obviously a James Potter it hurtssss meeee. Nico is an energetic golden boy who cares so deeply for his friends and will do anything for them. He so obviously gryffindor but is so obviously James in the way he is attractive and knows it, has curly black hair, taught himself difficult magic in order to shape shift and be able to help his best friend. Like guys its right there. And if that's not obvious enough, he has two roommates, one a shapeshifter who changes into a black dog and is annoying but everyone loves (cough cough sirius black), and the other a guy inflicted with a genetic problem who is not quite human and has horrible parents and a tragic past (see Remus J Lupin). And no these roommates arent copy paste wolfstar, in fact the romance doesn't seem to be between those two, but they are blatant enough for me and i ate that uppppppp. Furthermore, I think the 6 clearly fit in hogwarts houses (Libby+Nico in Gryffindor, Paris+Callum in Slytherin, Reina in Ravenclaw, and Tristan as Hufflepuff). Apparently the author used to write harry potter fanfic under the same name so I think these aspects are obviously purposeful.
I loved this book 10/10 loosing my minddddd at the end! I also don't get surprised very often by plots and this one really had me going. This is the first booktok book that I've actually thoroughly enjoyed and understand the hype.
6 adults from around the world (literally) are chosen to be apart of the secret society that protects/uses the library of Alexandria. First off I was already impressed that the characters were actually diverse and from all over the world since most books seem to say things like 'you are the top most powerful in the world' and then they all come from NYC/the US which is definitely not realistic. This cast of characters comes from Japan, US, England, South Africa, and France. The story is told from all of their perspectives which is interesting and complex, giving you everyone's separate motivations, secrets, and personalities. Elizabeth "Libby" Rhodes is an anxious bookworm rule follower white girl from NYC and Nico de Varona is a Cuban wealthy privlidged golden retriever adhd sunshine boy from NYC. They are 'physicists' as they study physical magic (ie levitation, gravity morphing, etc) and have recently graduated from magical NYU lol. They are class rivals and love/hate each other but are also equally extremely overly powerful. Reina Mori is an emotionally repressed classicist booklover who works at a coffeshop from Osaka and is a 'naturalist' (can control plants) but she is more than just a normal naturalist she doesn't put any effort into manipulating plants, they just feed off her energy and emotions. Tristan Caine is a anxious low achieving son of a mafia guy. He has worked his way up to corporate ladder with his powers and by dating a CEO's daughter he plans to eventually marry her and inherit the company. He is an illusionist (can create illusions) but not actually...it's more accurate that he can completely see through any and all illusions without trying. Parisa Kamali is a slut(positive) she is beautiful and uses her beauty and body combined with her power of mind reading to infiltrate anyone and get what she wants/needs. She is from Iran but lives in Paris and lol this is one of my biggest problems with the book is that her name is Parisa and shes from Paris. It's the only lazy thing in the book. Last but not least Callum Nova is the character we don't know much about. He is wealthy and good-looking and from South Africa where his family owns a rich international cooperation. His magic is empathy...
Overall the worldbuilding is very interesting, a very small percent of the world is capable of magic but only simple things like prestigitation-esque (warming things, turning on lights, opening doors) and are called witches. Then an even smaller percentage of that population are qualified and magical enough to be called medians and attend magical colleges like magical NYU. Then an even smaller percentage are considered for the atlas six initiation. The Atlas Six are six people chosen from around the world to be inducted into the Alexandrian society that protects the library of Alexandria (which has moved around over the years and now resides in England as most stolen things go lol). The 6 must attend a year of within the society before collectively choosing 1 of the 6 to eliminate and then becoming initiates.
This book has it all truly, It's diverse, it brings up deep moral dilemmas such as who deserves to have access to knowledge, should everyone know everything or is that dangerous, would you kill for what you want most in the world, are evil and good so black and white, and the morals of fantasy elements such as mind reading and emotional control. It was truly delicious.
But what really had me even more full-throttle invested is the clear harry potter influence. Atlas Blakely, the man who chooses the 6 and the caretaker of the society, is clearly a Dumbledore character- he's older, aloof, reserved, and only shows up to inconveniently drop lore before unhelpfully disappearing, he clearly has an alternative perhaps evil motive. Then we have Nico. Nico is so obviously a James Potter it hurtssss meeee. Nico is an energetic golden boy who cares so deeply for his friends and will do anything for them. He so obviously gryffindor but is so obviously James in the way he is attractive and knows it, has curly black hair, taught himself difficult magic in order to shape shift and be able to help his best friend. Like guys its right there. And if that's not obvious enough, he has two roommates, one a shapeshifter who changes into a black dog and is annoying but everyone loves (cough cough sirius black), and the other a guy inflicted with a genetic problem who is not quite human and has horrible parents and a tragic past (see Remus J Lupin). And no these roommates arent copy paste wolfstar, in fact the romance doesn't seem to be between those two, but they are blatant enough for me and i ate that uppppppp. Furthermore, I think the 6 clearly fit in hogwarts houses (Libby+Nico in Gryffindor, Paris+Callum in Slytherin, Reina in Ravenclaw, and Tristan as Hufflepuff). Apparently the author used to write harry potter fanfic under the same name so I think these aspects are obviously purposeful.
I loved this book 10/10 loosing my minddddd at the end! I also don't get surprised very often by plots and this one really had me going. This is the first booktok book that I've actually thoroughly enjoyed and understand the hype.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Child death