“Atlas Six”

The story

The Atlas Six is about six characters who have been invited to the prestigious Alexandrian Society. They hold very precious information that has been with the society since its beginning. 

Only members of the Alexandrian Society can access all the information the Society holds.

Every ten years a new group of initiates is selected, this round is the last group of initiates. 

The first initiate is Libby Rhodes who is a Physicist she can manipulate pretty much anything as long as it has some sort of structure to it that is tangible. 

The next initiate is Nicolas De Varona who is Libby’s rival, he can do the same thing but he is able to put more energy towards whatever he is manipulating. 

The third initiate is Reina Mori who is a naturalist which means that she can make any type of plant grow however when she does that there is a cost, nature takes back from her essentially draining her however she discovers something else she can do with her power. 

The fourth initiate is Callum Nova who is an empath which means that he can influence other people’s emotions, however, a lot of people mistake him for manipulating their emotions which they are not wrong. 

The fifth initiate is Parisa Kamali who can read minds but she can also travel through other people’s minds and find their darkest secrets and desires, but just like any ability, it comes with a price. 

lastly, there is Tristan Cain who can see through illusions however his ability is so rare therefore little to no research has been done on his it. 

All six characters have 1 year to prove they deserve to be a part of the society by being judged through the subjects of Time and Space, Luck and Thought, Life and Death. Then after that 1 year, one person is chosen to be eliminated. Atlas Blakely is the one who invited each character to the society he promises them wealth and knowledge beyond their wildest dreams, however, what he is hiding from them is chilling. 

The review

The book follows all six characters and it really goes into the motives of each character, desires why they do the things they do which is what sets it apart from other books. The author also included Queer representation in this book along with including representation of different races. 

The writing is very character-driven. it is also very slow at first, so if that entices you then I would highly recommend it. each of the characters has many chapters to themselves explaining their point of view which gives them more depth and they are more relatable. There was not a single character I hated, all are very likable and have so much development to them. 

All the characters seemed equally developed enough that it felt like I didn’t forget about one or another I liked better than the other. One downside of this book, it is very different and either people love it or hate it, it just depends on if people like more character-driven books or more plot-driven books.

Things to know

This book is Adult rated and is Fantasy so it comes with more complex themes and graphic scenes, some of the trigger warnings for what is included in this book are Alchohol, blood, death, degenerative disease, guns/gunshot wound, manipulation, murder, sex scenes and suicide.

If you love the Dark Academia aesthetic this book is perfect. I personally loved reading it during the fall season because it matched so well with the setting of the book. 

Recommendation

I would recommend this book for 17+ because it is rated adult and I did have trouble understanding some of the events that happened because it is more complex and for me, it required my full attention. I will say it got me hooked about halfway through but in the first half, it was hard to understand what was going on at times.