Teyah Parent, features editor

“The Atlas Six” is a book published in March 2022 by author Olivie Blake. The book closely follows six magical individuals as they prepare to enter a secret Alexandrian society. Each character has one year to prove that they are worthy of initiation, and are later told that only five of them will make it into that society. Olivie Blake manages careful, intelligent prose with the complex inner workings of her characters’ minds like no author I have ever seen. Some readers found the pacing slow and the narration indulgent, but I think that these qualities are essential to both the atmosphere and the overall tone of the novel. She handles her writing pretentiously, which some reviewers have criticized her for, yet I think that it is her greatest strength. Her eloquence reminds me of classic literary greats like Dostoyevsky and Orwell, but I never found myself slogging through chapters like I did while reading most classics. This book blends psychology with magic and science so gracefully that it had me questioning reality. The magic system exists not only as a spectacle to fawn over but as a lens through which we can view the characters’ insecurity, ambition and moral compromise. 

Still, what impressed me most was Blake’s stubborn refusal to glamorize knowledge. Instead, she paints it as dangerous, isolating and addictive. The Alexandrian Society that the characters navigate is not a reward, but more or less a test of intellectual stamina. Blake still manages to hook the reader and keep the pages turning. She asks us to understand these characters while each one is intrinsically flawed in their own way. She uses words like a scalpel to examine the deepest parts of the human mind. Rather than presenting readers with heroes or villains, Blake gives us scholars who are fatally human. Every character is capable of tenderness and cruelty. They are driven by hunger for validation, fear of irrelevance and a desperation to be understood. Watching these traits collide within the pressurized environment of the dark academia setting that Blake has chosen kept me itching for more. This novel asks the characters a question: “What would you do to achieve greatness?” And the characters leap over one another to find the answer. 

That being said, this is a character-driven book. None of the characters trust each other, not until they realize that they have to. The tension is purely psychological rather than plot-driven, which is not everyone’s cup of tea, not even mine. I love a fast-paced, action-packed high-stakes plot, but that is not found here. What is left behind after all the intelligent diction, sciencey magic and interpersonal drama is a study of power and the cost of obsession. 

In the end, “The Atlas Six” is an elegantly complex novel that feels both modern and timeless. Blake trusts her readers to follow complex ideas and to relish in ornate language. If you are a reader who is drawn to academically beautiful, morally grey characters and a bit of complicated romance, this book might be for you.