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Book: The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
Read From: 27th February - 12th March 2022
Rating: 3/5 stars
Summary: 6 intriguing yet dangerous magicians are invited to join the Alexandrian Society, which can give them a fountain of knowledge and incredible power. But only 5 of them can walk away.
Thank you so much to Tor / Black Crow PR for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for a review!
I’m desperately trying not to let the ending of this book skew my rating because it completely boggled my mind, made me question so much about this book and the characters in it and made me extremely excited for the sequel. On that basis, I’m sticking with my guns and giving this a 3 star rating. The first 20% and last 20% was absolutely incredible and I couldn’t peel my eyes away however I definitely felt my attention wavering in the remaining 60% middle section of the book.
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the writing style likened to that in The Secret History in its fluffiness and of course the dark academia elements - I can’t say that’s a book I was ever particularly interested in reading because I normally don’t get on with fluffy writing. That was definitely the case in some parts of this book. I think the beginning, where all the characters were introduced was amazing but as this is heavily character focused it was easy to get lost in the words sometimes. I can see why people love it but I’m a simple creature who loves simple writing so that’s definitely on me.
I definitely loved some characters more than others, Libby and Nico were amazing and I was very intrigued by Parisa and Tristan. I would have liked to have seen a little more Reina though. Saying that, they were all fascinating in their own way. I particularly enjoyed the first few chapters where they were approached with Atlas’ offer and we were introduced to each one. The rivalry between Nico and Libby was entertaining and a bit too relatable to me as someone who is ridiculously competitive.
Honestly, this isn’t one I would go out of my way to recommend but I also wouldn’t suggest avoiding it either. However, if you’re someone who absolutely doesn’t get along with books without a plot then I’d probably say to give this one a miss. There is a plot per se, but it’s definitely on the backburner for the most of the book in order to give these horny (lol), pretentious and intriguing characters the spotlight. On the other hand, if you absolutely love character-centred books with hints of magic then I think you would really like this one.