A Quick Note On This Review: This article includes affiliate links to Bookshop.org as a way of supporting both local bookshops and my own ability to write.
The Alexandrian Society selects only six magicians for consideration to join its ranks every decade from among the best magicians in the world. Two physicists named Nico and Libby, a naturalist called Reina, an empath named Callum, a telepath named Parisa, and Tristam – who has the ability to see through illusions, but doesn’t know it – are chosen by the Caretaker of the Alexandrian Society on the basis that they are by far the best of the best. However, Atlas Blakely has a different plan in mind for how to use each of their unique gifts.
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake had an interesting premise, and kicked off by showcasing Blake’s ability to quickly identify characters as unique pieces of the story. The story had a compelling plot in mind for its main focus: that the Library of Alexandria, the greatest store of knowledge in history, had actually been protected from the fires that consumed it by an ancient secret society of magicians, who preserve that knowledge from misuse, enjoy fame and fortune, and accept new members only once every decade. This premise fits within the dark academia genre as a story that pits exceptional individuals against mountains of work with an understanding that the grueling load comes with benefits, assuming they’re able to survive.
Blake’s use of characters to drive the story forward is an interesting choice that pays off given her ability to create uniquely broken stories for each one of them. The sparse use of actions outside of studying to drive the story allows Olivie to focus the reader solely on the personality traits of each individual character, which leads to an interesting depiction of what happens when one attempts to harness workaholics to a common cause. While at times, the story feels a bit slow due to the lack of plot-driving action, I found that this assisted with illustrating the disorienting feeling one gets when you’re submerged beneath a mountain of work that you feel strongly about but ultimately lacks grounding in the realities of everyday life. Students are often disconnected from these tasks, and Blake’s choices illustrate that rather effectively.
Though The Atlas Six attempts to position Atlas Blakely as the main antagonist – and in some ways, he is – there’s an undercurrent to the story that makes it less clear. Does Blakely have an agenda that may destroy the world that he doesn’t want to share with everyone? Certainly, but The Atlas Six challenges the notion that anyone who is so enamored with work and achievement can be a fundamentally good person. Each of the students Atlas chose to join the Alexandrian Society make decisions that they can easily justify to themselves and the story portrays each in a way that the reader may not think too much of the negative impact of those decisions, but ultimately Blake poses a unique challenge to the idea that achievement can occur in a vacuum, innocent of all the repercussions that new discoveries and theories can have on the everyday lives of people.
For readers, The Atlas Six would be most appealing to anyone looking for a dark academia novel that may offer a unique perspective on what the genre could offer. Dark academia novels are sometimes criticized as glorifying overwork, and while The Atlas Six does this to an extent, it also poses interesting, critical questions about overwork generally – not just within the academy – that makes it worthwhile. Readers who are interested in characterization and the resulting relationships could also find Blake’s work interesting, as I have found few stories that rely so heavily on characters to illustrate a story about overachievers becoming dissociated from the consequences of their discoveries on the world at large.
For writers, I think The Atlas Six offers several interesting lessons that make it worthwhile to read, regardless of the genre in which you’re writing. First, it presents an interesting example of what dark academia could be, so it deserves a read for anyone aspiring to this genre in particular, but it is also a useful template for anyone who wants to deal with the ideas of work life, meaning, and the bildungsroman. Further, Blake’s unique use of characterization offers an opportunity for other writers to polish and develop their own skill with this particular aspect of storytelling, which makes The Atlas Six a useful story to read alongside other major works.
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What’s Next?
I am an avid reader and have quite a few thoughts on how some books could benefit both people that want to be entertained and those looking to sharpen their literary skills.
If you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve been reading – and how it could benefit you – I will be publishing those thoughts on Fridays on a weekly basis. Check back next week for a discussion of Laura Shephard-Robinson’s The Square of Sevens!
The Writerly Review 