I’m here,” he confirmed, and then, because it was what Gideon had come to say, he added, “And I think I might be close to finding Libby.” She…uh. Okay. Look, part of me wants her to perish because of a scene that contains Spanish and FISHFIULHIUDFJ*. I refuse to spoil anything but just remember the Spanish and you’ll know exactly what scene I’m talking about. Other than that, she was mostly tolerable(?) for the majority of the book. Was she insanely hypocritical as always? Yes. Did she get chapters more often than everyone else except for possibly Libby? Duh. How do you follow up a viral phenomenon? That is, at least in part, the question we must ask of The Atlas Paradox, Olivie Blake’s highly anticipated sequel to the popular dark academia novel The Atlas Six, a self-published fantasy debut that went so viral it won a publishing deal and dominated social media publishing discussion for months. Perhaps there was no way that anything that came after those kinds of highs could ever hope equal them, particularly not the middle novel in a trilogy, which can’t give us the answers we’re so desperately seeking. Basic summary: following the events of The Atlas Six, five magicians are now the new initiates of the Alexandrian Society, while our sixth remains nowhere to be found. As the year progresses and our characters grow more in power, they find themselves burning bridges and making new alliances, discovering new abilities within the society while the Forum plans for their downfall outside of it. The novel is full of chaos and carnage, and soon enough our characters will have to make life-altering decisions for themselves.

It must have worked, because the moment Gideon’s lungs emptied, blistering with pleading and strain, the ground gave way beneath him. He fell with a slurping sound of suction before being delivered, mercifully, to the sudden vacancy of an empty room. You choose,” he managed, and Nico waved a hand, rearranging furniture so effortlessly that in the span of a breath, Gideon had already forgotten what the room looked like to begin with. So, when you write a book, you generally have to have something the book is about, a.k.a a PLOT. P-L-O-T. In TAP, we look for this in vain.

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Gideon wasn’t technically any more powerful than anyone else would be inside of a dream. His corporeal limitations were similar to those of telepathy—no magic performed in the dream realms could possibly harm him permanently, unless his physical form suffered something like a stroke or seizure. Gideon felt pain the same way another person might feel it in a dream—imagined, and then gone when they woke up. Unless he was under unusual amounts of stress that could then cause one of the above bodily reactions, that is … but that he never worried over. Only Nico worried about that sort of thing.

In the second of a series of fantasy thrillers that began with The Atlas Six (2022), new initiates of a secret magical society confront a web of dangerous conspiracies. Gideon had stared at him and thought, I can’t tell you. Not that he thought Nico was going to turn out to be some sort of creature hunter or someone planted in his room by his mother (although both were a distinct possibility), but there was always a moment when people started to look at him differently. Gideon hated that moment. The moment when others started to find something—many somethings—to reinforce their suspicions that Gideon was repulsive in some way. Instinctual knowledge; prey responding to a threat. Fight or flight.In this thrilling next instalment, the secret society of Alexandrians is unmasked. Its newest recruits realize the institute is capable of raw, world-changing power. It's also headed by a man with plans to change life as we know it - and these are already under way. But the cost of this knowledge is as high as the price of power, and each initiate must choose which faction to follow. Yet as events gather momentum and dangers multiply, which of their alliances will hold? Can friendships hold true and are enemies quite what they seem? I’m Nico,” said the wild-eyed, messy-haired boy whose T-shirt was inadvertently folded up on one side from the presence of his duffel bag. “You’re Gideon? You look exhausted,” he decided as an afterthought, tossing the bag below the second bed and glancing around the room, adding, “You know, we’d have a lot more room if we bunked these.” Don’t get me wrong, if what you’re here for is the various relationships between and among this group of deeply broken human time bombs, you’ll find a lot to like here and the tension within the larger group is deftly handled. Telepath Parisa begins to discover she may actually be beginning to care about others despite her best efforts not to. Empath Callum develops a drinking problem which may or may not be related to the fact that he should probably be dead. Illusionist Tristan struggles to understand the breadth of his abilities, which may be able to rewrite reality itself. Physicist Nico spirals without the presence of his constant rival/partner Libby, and naturalist Reina begins to question whether or not she might actually be a god—and openly resent those that seem to take her (and her abilities) for granted. As for Libby, she’s trapped in 1989 and desperately seeking a way home—while asking herself how far she’s willing to go to find it.

January 2024, mark your calendar for The Atlas Complex. I still don't understand what is coming, but I'm ready to find out how the world is gonna end. And there are moments of lovely emotion and real catharsis to be found here: Gideon and Nico’s relationship remains a highlight, as does Tristan’s ongoing attempt to process the fact that his father is an abusive monster and Callum’s nihilistic descent into meaninglessness. And the uncomfortable detente that forms between Parisa and Atlas himself is fascinating to watch play out. As events gather momentum, alliances fracture and enemies aren’t quite what they seemed. The new recruits are aware that the Alexandrian Society possesses raw, world-changing power. Yet the morals of Atlas Blakely, their elusive Caretaker, seem increasingly questionable. They’ll be forced to choose a faction, but what else must they sacrifice for knowledge? And where — or when — is Libby Rhodes?Allow me to quote Kaul Wen, expectations are a funny thing. This is my most anticipated release of the year (yes, surpassing even Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution, how unfortunate) and now The Atlas Paradox is going to be in my least favorite books of the year. Delightful.

Olivie Blake is a mind-blowing talent." —Chloe Gong, New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights About 80% of this book is theoretical musings on how magic works, with 15% being people sleeping wth Parisa, because she is oh-so-hot, and the other 5% being actual P-L-O-T. It's honestly quite a tragedy. Oh good, you’re here,” said Nico with palpable relief, rising to his feet and approaching the bars of the telepathic wards that separated them. “I think I was having a dream about the beach or something.” also, for a book with so many monologues it's funny how absolutely none of them are noteworthy. to think that themes such as morality, power, religion and gender roles are discussed so superficially and that most characters have no aspirations or care about, i don't know, the end of the world?? by making your characters indifferent to a situation, the reader will feel the same way. this is a lose-lose situation.

He hit the sand face-first and spat a bit out of the side of his mouth. Gideon was not what one might call a lover of nature, having been exposed to a few too many of its less pleasant gifts. Were there worse things than sand? Yes, definitely, but still. Gideon didn’t think it was entirely out of line to find its effects offensive. He could feel it everywhere already, in the lining of his ears and in his teeth, taking residence in the rivulets of his scalp. Not ideal—but, as ever, no point despairing.