Book Review - Olivie Blake's The Atlas Six
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: March 1st, 2022
Format: Paperback, 416 Pages
Rating: ★★★
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The Alexandrian Society hoards the knowledge of the ages. The elite magicians who earn a place within the library's hallowed walls are destined for a life of privilege and wealth. It is more than an honor to be one of the six candidates selected every ten years. It is a passport to the life of your dreams. This year's candidates have been handpicked by the library's caretaker, Atlas Blakely. They have precisely one year to prove their worth and at the end of that time five of them will be initiated. The candidates are Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona, two people who have been circling and competing with each other their whole lives and whose physical powers compliment each other making them symbiotic, much to their mutual disdain. Reina Mori is a naturalist, meaning plants like to talk to her and view her as their mother. Parisa Kamali has never met a mind she couldn't read until she met Atlas Blakely. Callum Nova is similar to Parisa, only that he doesn't just read minds, he influences them. He can get inside you and damage and change you in ways you could never even imagine. And finally there's Tristan Caine. He sees the world as it is. As it really is. Illusions don't phase him and he's used his powers for years to remake himself to be the man he imagines he wants to be. They all have their reasons for accepting Atlas Blakely's invitation. Some of them want to escape the world, some of them want to learn more about the world, and some of them want to protect those they love out in the world. Not one of them has the same reasons for being there and yet they must coexist in the Alexandrian's Society's house until their first year is up and one of them loses the keys to the kingdom while the others move beyond mere initiates. The problem with holding the keys to all the knowledge is that someone else will want what you have. And the Society has it's enemies. The Forum being key among them. The Forum believes that knowledge should be made public. That it is wrong to let only the elite have access. On the six's first night in the house the Forum attempts an incursion. They attack the library. The six must defend it. Which they do. They work together despite already forming cliques. They are a team. They don't know that they are puppets. They were had picked by Atlas for a very specific reason. He's had a plan that has taken years to put into action. A plan that started to be formed back when he was an initiate. The question is, what will the six due to their puppeteer when they find out his plans?
I just learned that this book was originally self-published and that answers a lot of my questions about it. Like why is it so clunky? Why are sentences badly structured with poor and often repetitive word choices? Why are the philosophical issues and lectures so bad and confusing that if I was in the class I'd drop the course? Were the blurbs supposed to give away the big twist that one of them will be killed? Did an editor ever actually look at this? Am I reading the revised edition? Because if so, it still needed heavy editing. But even with those problems, you can see that this could be something and hopefully the subsequent two volumes will take it there. I'm really fascinated by the idea of the library being sentient or having control. Mainly because this then starts to tip away from dark academia and into haunted house territory... Which might be my favorite genre. Though that all depends on if Olivie Blake can find her voice. Because this book feels too much like the juvenalia of an eventually great writer. She's on her way. She's just not there yet. She's still stuck in writing fanfic about The Magicians, but hopefully that's a phase she will move on from. And one thing that is a rookie mistake that just kept getting under my skin is in the name she gave one of her characters. Let's talk Libby Rhodes. And I'm not talking about the fact she's Alice Quinn 2.0. I'm literally talking about her given name. When Libby first appears it's onstage at her graduation sparing with Nico. It's very New York academia with sexual tension. In other words, magical Gossip Girl. So, if you wanted to, I don't know, distance yourself from this whole Gossip Girl vibe you're sending out, perhaps don't name the character a nearly indistinguishable name from one of that series's characters. Serena van der Woodsen's mother Lily's maiden name is Rhodes. Serena's mother's name is Lily Rhodes. And while yes, Libby physically resembles Lily's sister Carol more... I mean, Carol was played by Krysten Ritter in the failed backdoor pilot, if you are even a Gossip Girl dilettante, you can't keep from grinding your teeth at the Libby/Lily Rhodes of it all. The only thing that kept me from going completely over the edge is that at least Libby is an approved diminutive of Elizabeth. Yes. I have approved diminutives of my name. The hard and fast rule is if one of the main letters isn't in the name Elizabeth it isn't a diminutive it's an entirely different name. Like Betsy. Betsy can not be a diminutive because of the "s." Likewise, if you're spelling of Elizabeth is Elisabeth, you can not have the diminutive of Liza. So. Libby is approved. But this particular Libby? She should have had more thoughtful nomenclature.
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