The Atlas Six

If you enjoy books with dark vibes, substantial but somewhat murky character relationships, confusion and angst, then this is the book for you. Overall, it’s a gripping read that will make you ponder deeply into human relationships, motivations, scruples and morals.

The cast of characters feel different from each other, their patterns and their pace. They have different goals and different motivations. They want the position in The Society for different reasons, they don’t even want it the same way (some want it desperately, some want it because they can, some to leave the boring life they had before) but they all accept that they are going to unalive someone for it.

Another, very real, very tense discussion that subtly happens in the book is the debate around the human capability to step on someone else to reach your goals. It’s top-tier quality, and the mechanisms the different characters come up with to justify their actions are eye-opening if nothing else.

I would also like to point out that inclusivity in this book is above par – almost on the same level as Rick Riordan’s books, but with a smaller cast of characters. Parisa is Indian, Nico is Latinx, Reina is Asian, Tristan is described as having a ‘dark skin tone’ and Callum is from South Africa. Their backgrounds are equally discombobulated to the point where they would definitely not have met each other if not for The Society.

The depiction of academia in this is also very on point. It made me relive my academic years and wish I had somewhat made more of them (how I do not know).

The prose is stunning! More than once I found myself laughing at some ridiculous thing one of the characters said or thought. It’s beautifully written, so clever and meaningful yet light.

Blake’s writing is powerful, it has the ability to grip you tightly and wrap you under a blanket of suspense, but then when you least expect it a laugh is torn from your chest at some or other internal dialogue shenanigan of Nico or Parisa’s.

At the end of the book, many plot points are left without resolution. The rush of events during the book serves to really set in stone the type of world we are set in, but the bigger plot starts taking shape in the last quarter of the book. In these last few pages, the story becomes plot oriented instead of character-oriented. The focus shifts from building relationships between these medians and becomes knitting them all together, becomes clueing in the reader on the reason why they have been brought together.