Really didn't get on with this book I'm afraid. Didn't like any of the six main characters, didn't really engage with the plot. It's a shame as I'd heard a lot of really great things. Not for me, sorry.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for a review.

The Atlas Six is such a popular book, so I was really excited to see the new version on NetGalley.

I'm a bit unsure on this one. I enjoyed the premise and the world, but I felt like there were far too many POVs and not enough difference between them. I got lost at points. I also felt like the plot meandered a bit, and didn't have the drive I wanted it to.

It's really character-driven, which is fine, but I tend to want a bit more plot in my books.

I think there was a chance here to do a heavy edit for the traditional publishing that may have been lost, as a lot of people already loved it. And that's great, good for them! But it wasn't my cup of tea. I'm sticking with A Deadly Education for murderous magic school vibes.

3 stars.

Fantastic premise: dark academia, magic, and books! Six students, but only 5 can graduate. What could go wrong?
Well, first of all... the characters. For me, they were simply surface level and hard to get into their heads. Actually disliked all off them and they all disliked each other too, so wasn't very fun to be with them.
Plot... lost, completely lost. Meandering story that didn't know where it was going. It felt like it wanted to be something, but wasn't able to.
The writing was pretty... way too pretty maybe, but lacking depth for me.
Reading it felt like a slog, so I decided to put it down and leave it to someone else that might love it better.

I'm gutted I am one of them people that didn't like it!

I so wanted to love this book but I admit, I didn’t adore it…
Characters were interesting but perhaps too many point of views for me to keep up with?
The world of the Alexandrian society was fascinating and the hints of the Roman forum.
The ending though, was fab. I guessed part of it (the who dunnit aspect) but not how it would fit within the story. For that, I want to read the next book.

Obviously, I have seen all the hype for The Atlas Six. I no longer let hype suck me in nowadays as I've been burnt before, but nevertheless I was curious about reading this one. I don't read much dark academia as it's really not my genre, and I don't understand the enthusiasm for it (unless it's boarding school vibes, in which case YES).

I flew through the beginning of The Atlas Six, even though one could argue that the start of the book is the most boring. You follow Atlas as he goes around collecting the main characters to introduce them to this mysterious society, and it's all very monotonous and repetitive. That said, I liked getting to know the characters in advance, even though it was done in the least subtle way possible.

I read the first two hundred pages or so in good time. Then the book started to drag in the middle because nothing of note was happening. The characters spent a lot of time talking to one another, theorising about their powers, but at the same time other characters were completely absent. Nico and Reina, for example, were often conveniently off-page sparring because the author didn't want them in a scene.

I didn't like any of the ships - or potential ships - that were going on, apart from perhaps Libby and Nico. But even with their bickering, I really do see the two of them as friends more than anything else. I didn't care for the relationships between anyone.

I have a bit of a gripe with how Parisa, the only confirmed bisexual main character, was portrayed. I have noticed that in a lot of media that bisexual woman are often shown to be cheaters or overly sexual. Parisa in this book uses this to her advantage, yes, but it still felt like a stereotype and was very disappointing.

All that said, I did enjoy my time with The Atlas Six, and I was intrigued by the ending. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel when it comes out later this month, and it'll be particularly interesting to see how Blake's writing has evolved since writing this first book.

I’m still fairly new to this genre, I have to get used to the world building which always seems to take quite a bit of reading in the first book. But what I liked with this one is it’s character based. Which is something I love. Although there is a lot of flicking back and forth from one character to another at the beginning and I found myself getting a little confused as to who was who, but once I was further in I started to get used to this.

Six of the best young magicians are each offered a place to join the secretive Alexandrian Society, they are not allowed to tell anyone what or where they are going. They all have a place for a year, but at the end of that year there are only 5 places to be filled who will get a place and who will be let go.

Libby and Nico are enemies they can’t stand each other, they are both cosmologists and can control matter with their minds. Paris a is a telepath, Reina is a naturalist, Callum is an empath, and finally Tristan has powers that mystify even himself.

It’s difficult to give a review on this without giving away spoilers which I don’t want to do. I did find it very slow to read at the beginning. The main plot is the 6 have to compete for only 5 places so someone is going to be disappointed. So it’s basically a magic competition, in dark Academia, there are plenty of lies to unravel as the story progresses. Which character’s do you like? Who will get it together?

Each character stands out in their own rights, I latched onto Libby from the start for me she is a hero. I found Nico a bit full of himself, arrogant, but is it a love hate relationship with him and Libby really is that an act or will things change as the story progresses. Paris a has a lot of layers I am uncertain about her at the moment. Reina still has plenty more skills to come. Tristan is a puzzle to me, he is complicated, maybe more will come from book 2 for him. Callum I’m just not sure about can he be trusted? All of the characters are nicely fleshed out but I think book 2 may deliver more plot and story, especially now we know the characters.

Overall I enjoyed this despite it being a little slow to start, but it think it’s because I like character driven stories if it hadn’t been for that I am not sure I would have continued. Let’s see what’s to come in book two

Firstly, a huge thank you to Black Crow PR, Tor and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

After reading the description and the hype around the book, I was very excited to get started. The opening chapters held a lot of promise and I was very intrigued by the characters and the premise, however, at 36% I had to mark the novel as DNF. I do want to try and go back to the. novel eventually, as it's very possible that I'm just not in the right mindset for this novel right now, as I can see why so many people are enjoying it.

There were some moments that were exciting, however, the pacing was a little off which was a barrier for me to get into the novel. Additionally, whilst it was great to see the different characters reacting in this situation, and it was a great way to introduce them too, the constant switching between perspectives made it difficult to connect with any of them enough to care about them. I also found it very difficult to like any of the characters - they all felt like extreme caricatures of personality types, and yet, a lot of them felt the same. It's possible that they do develop and become likeable, or more substantial characters, as the story progresses, however, it's difficult for me to continue with a read when the characters don't appeal to me.

Overall, this novel has a lot of potential with an incredible premise and, as I said, I can definitely understand why people like these characters even if they aren't for me. Unfortunately, this time, the novel disappointed me rather than delighted me.

The Atlas Six- 4.5*

I'm always nervous about reading hyped books, and I'm nervous about Dark Academia as a genre. So you can imagine my trepidation at starting this book. I'm really glad I read it when the hype had died down as I felt I could just read and enjoy rather than be swayed by what everyone else was saying.
I loved this book! I love the magic system, and I love how academia is a main theme, but its not shoving smart stuff in your face and making me feel dumb!

I enjoyed all the characters to various extents- my edition has beautiful illustrations and I think that makes a big difference to my picturing of the characters.
Libby was great, yes she's a bit annoying, but I really like her and her drive to succeed.
Nico I liked, I really enjoyed him and Libby's dynamic
Reina felt a bit underdeveloped, this book is quite short to have 6 fully fleshed out characters, and I think Reina suffered because of this.
Tristan I adored! I want to give him a big cuddle!
Callum I love to hate
Parisa, girl...while I love the sex positivity she shows, I wish that personality was more than just sex. Again, I feel like she was done dirty with not enough development in too short a book.

I'm excited for the sequel- the ending just made me want to read more immediately!

This was such a struggle for me to finish. In theory it should be everything I like, who wouldn't like a magical based hunger games where initiates are invited to join a studious society and investigate whatever they want? Well that's kind of the problem - there's nowhere near enough plot or substance to keep the story going. The characters are either cliches or annoying, but not truly annoying enough to care about. Another reviewer summed it up perfectly - none of the characters are as cool as they think they are. I would agree with that and go further - the whole book isn't as cool as it thinks it is.

Did I love it? did I hate it? I don't know!!
Was it 2827 times more convoluted than it needed to be? Yes!
Will I be continuing the series? YES!

What could have been fantastically fantastical was packaged up in an over wordy elaborate package.

2.5 stars

Every ten years, six talented magicians are hand-picked for the chance to be initiated into the secretive Alexandrian Society.
The Society guards knowledge that cannot be found anywhere else, and offers its members the chance to develop their abilities.
The new candidates include Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona, who are physicists able to affect the world around them; Parisa Kamali, a powerful telepath; Reina Mori, a naturalist able to grow and understand plants; Tristan Caine, able to see through illusions; and Callum Nova, an empath with the dangerous power to persuade people to do what he wants.
All six of the candidates were chosen by Atlas Blakely, the Caretaker of the Society. He has given them one year before five of them will be initiated, and one eliminated.
Is the Society all that it seems?
Who will be eliminated?

Having heard a lot of hype around this book, I was very excited to read it. Unfortunately, I ended up being disappointed.
The characters were an interesting mix, with Nico and Reina being my favourites. Their chapters were the ones I looked forward to the most. There weren't any characters that I particularly disliked, but Callum was my least favourite of the main characters.
The abilities of the characters, and the concepts in the book were interesting and unique.
The plot was slow, and for me it felt like not very much actually happened and that the book could have been a lot shorter. I enjoyed the first half of the book a lot more than the second half, which I found rather boring. I even contemplated DNFing the book but kept on reading in the hopes it would pick up.
I think this was an occasion where the writing style just didn't work for me, as it meant the book was very character-focused (which is not necessarily a bad thing) and I struggled to gel with it, not really caring what happened to the characters.
It feels like a bit of a missed opportunity as I liked the concept, but I seem to be in the minority with most readers enjoying this book. I'm disappointed that this didn't live up to my hopes.

Overall, this was a mixed read.

Really enjoyed the world building of this book.
The story wasn’t quite what I was expecting from the blurb but I still really enjoyed it. Looking forward to seeing what comes next!

The writing: Average
Nothing to rave about, nothing to notably criticise either. It was pretty straightforward, simply written. It wasn't anything special but nothing too much to complain about. My only complaint here is the word *ricochet* - this was so overused?? It was used far too many times by various characters. It was so jarringly used too. It did not fit.

The plot: Slow and dragged out.

The story fell pretty flat.
It starts off being intriguing and exciting but not for long. The ideas were solid, the execution not so much. It took so long for anything to happen, that I rarely wanted to continue. I never reached for this. It was a bore! It just missed every mark for me. I feel like it had so much potential, the concepts and ideas were all there but the execution was not.

It was a very very long read. It's not a long book, but boy did it feel like it.
Not even the 'romance' could save this boring book. Even that managed to be bland or very forced. I feel there was potential for a rivals to lovers subplot but of course, it didn't do that. The trio that happens... felt very forced. It came out of nowhere. It could've had potential if it was a bit more developed.

The characters - Meh
There's a whole host of completely bland characters.
Honestly, none were that interesting, I struggled to attach myself to anyone much. The best two were definitely Nico and Libby - mainly because they had banter and their rivalry was probably the best part.
Nico carried this novel alone. The others were so boring and uninteresting. I just did not care about them.

Narrators:
I listened to the audiobook, which had a full cast narration.
Not sure this worked for me. A few of the narrators were just not to my taste at all and some were okay. No outstanding performances.
I feel like there was too much going on with the narration, the constant switch of narrators didn't work for me. I'd much rather have one masc narrator, one fem, rather than six different ones.
A few of the narrator's voices just didn't work for the character for me.
I think I would've been better with the physical, though I only finished it because it was audio - so who knows!

Overall, I was super underwhelmed and very disappointed. This was very, very close to being a DNF for me. I kept going as I thought it must get better, everyone else seemed to love it. Meh, not for me. There was a whole bunch of nothing going on. I need either plot to drive me forward or well-written characters to attach to. This had neither. It's a forgettable read that I've already mostly purged from my memory.

I have decided that unfortunately, I'm no longer interested in reviewing this title but I have to write something for my ratio.

I'm sorry to let you down.

Ok I jumped on the tiktok hype so this was going to be absolutely awful or have me binging the entire book because I couldn't put it down.
I'm glad to say it was the latter.

This is magical, dark and just the right amount of suspense added.
Cannot wait to read the next instalment

I was really enjoying this book until a trope came uo that I really dislike...

It may be for some people but not for me. I won't spoil anything for those who don't know but if that trope is in a book . Depicted the way it was in this i think therr should have been a warning

I liked The Atlas Six. I listened to it on BorrowBox audiobook through my library, and I think that helped a lot - I liked the narrators voice!

The competition between the initiates is brutal - there’s an assumption that only one would survive by the end, and to them this is completely reasonable. It doesn’t put them off at all. This perfectly illustrates the kind of people they are I felt. Pretty ruthless.

There was an awful lot of dialogue that wasn’t really balanced with action. This is a fantasy book, they have magical gifts, and there just wasn’t enough magical action for me, and what there was I didn’t think showed the potential of some characters. Maybe they will be explored more in the second book. I was left not quite understanding what some of their gifts entailed. Some were obvious, others not so much. This first book, in what I assume will be a trilogy, has more of a scene-setting feel about it.

Now their recruiter, Atlas Blakely, really did intrigue me. I wish there had been more about him - perhaps there will be in the next book.

I will read the next book when it comes out. Sometimes a trilogy can be a little slow to start, and there’s enough in this book to make me want to read the next one.

This book is magnificent and I'm not sure I have the words to describe how much it made me FEEL. I was alive. I was there along side these characters. I was living my best dark academia, enemies to lovers, found-family, magic-ridden dream. And then it stopped. It ended. And every day I am tempted to reread this book because, sorry for my langauge, but goddamn it I need MORE!

Let us not even speak of that cliff-hangar because.. yeah

The hype is very much real folks and I love these characters with all my heart. The day that I read the sequel will be a glorious one, and I'm sure I'll lose my very mind.
If you haven't read this yet, what are you doing?? RUN to your nearest bookstore, download the ebook, listen to the audiobook! You need this in your life (join ussss - okay I sound culty, but read itttt)

Rating: every star in the universe because I can :)

This is the first instalment in The Atlas series.

Booktube did not lie!

The synopsis cites this as The Secret History meets Umbrella Academy and, being a big fan of both, I was hyped! I can say that it is an apt summary but it also manages to deliver so, so much more.

The Alexandrian Society, caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity, are the foremost secret society of magical academicians in the world. Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona are two vying to join their ranks. First, they must defeat the other gifted individuals who will do anything to rid themselves of their opponents and gain a place in these hallowed halls.

Deceit and betrayal and the cornerstones for all that transpires here and I was ever distrustful of the truth of what was delivered, the reasoning behind each character's actions, the promises they swore to each other, and the futures that were promised them. This is not a book for the guileless! It will play with your heart, disprove your preconcienved notions, and deliver exactly the opposite of all that is anticipated.

And, despite or maybe because of this, I fell in love with each and every character. They were truly untrustworthy, but also with heart and grit and determination that made me root for them, even when I dually yearned to do otherwise. Their interpersonal relationships became as interesting to read as the trials they were being set inside the society and I became a big a fan of seeing both play out on the page.

Tik Tok sensation The Atlas Six by Olivia Blake proves that the face of traditional publishing is changing and if you have talent and a strong idea then your fans will do the rest. But is it any good? Well yes. It’s a detailed an involved fantasy novel that fits into the growing trend for ‘Dark Academia’ novels. Told from the perspective of six characters you will need to have your wits about you in the early stages to keep up with the characters, plot and intricate magic system, but the fantastical journey is worth it. The ending may be frustrating however this is part of a planned series that I am looking forward to seeing unfold.

Interesting and exciting debut that lives up to the hype four out of five