OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: Alexene Farol Follmuth, also known under the pen name Olivie Blake, is a lover and writer of stories, many of which involve the fantastic, the paranormal, or the supernatural, but not always. More often, her works revolve around the collective experience, what it means to be human (or not), and the endlessly interesting complexities of life and love.

Alexene tripped and fell into writing after abandoning her long-premeditated track for Optimum Life Achievement while attending law school, and now focuses primarily on the craft and occasional headache of creating fiction. As Olivie, she has been published as the featured fiction contributor for Witch Way Magazine, as well as the writer for the graphic series Clara and the Devil and a variety of other books. The revised hardcover edition of her cult favorite The Atlas Six releases March 1, 2022 from Tor Books followed by the sequel in October. As Alexene, her debut YA novel, My Mechanical Romance, is coming May 2022 from Holiday House.

Alexene lives and works in Los Angeles, where she is generally tolerated by her rescue pit bull. She can be loosely defined as the sort of person who picked up sparring as a means to improve writing fight scenes.

FORMAT/INFO: The Atlas Six will be published by Tor Books on March 1st, 2022. It is 384 pages split over 39 chapters. It is told in third person from multiple POVs, including Libby, Callum, Parisa, and more. It will be available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats. A self-published version of this book was originally released on January 31st, 2020.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: For centuries, the secretive Alexandrian Society has guarded a library of magical knowledge. Every decade, six medeians (magicians) are chosen to join their ranks. These medeians are some of the most powerful, most talented magic users in the world, but even that isn’t enough to guarantee them entry. For one year, the six candidates live and study together to prove their worth to the society. At the end of it all, five candidates will be granted full admission, the sixth will be eliminated. With the opportunity for vast knowledge and a wealth of prestigious connections before them, alliances will form and be broken as each candidate vies to remain a contender, for each has their own reason for wanting the secrets the library holds within.

The Atlas Six is a deliciously dark tale that demands to be devoured. It is a tale of deception and manipulation, a game of social chess. There may be magic aplenty to be found in the pages of this book, but the true tension comes from watching the characters poke and prod at each other’s emotional cores, trying to suss out weak spots that could potentially shatter an alliance or throw a rival off their game. As the stakes become increasingly evident, the players learn how far they will go and which relationships they’re willing to sacrifice in their quest to join the society. None of these people are really “good,” so it’s hard to say that you’re there to root for anyone, but it is spectacularly fun to watch this group go at each other with cutting words, alluring glances, and magic.

The magic specialties of the medeians come in a wide range, from the more physical abilities of manipulating gravity or setting fires to the mental abilities of telepathy or empathy. They are treated as more of a science than anything mystical, with as much thought given to the theory of relativity and electrons as to the more spiritual gut-feeling of the caster. Occasionally scenes were (ironically?) a little too academic for me, but there’s also combat scenes to balance out the more theoretical discussions of magic.

The addition of mental abilities also adds a dynamic to the ongoing social battle, as competitors are always having to be on guard to make sure they aren’t being subtly manipulated. I particularly enjoyed watching the telepath Parisa wield her powers. While her ability is to read minds, her true power is in knowing how to manipulate a person into making certain subconscious connections in their minds. Parisa plays a long game, planting seeds to make or break alliances as necessary.

There were a few small things I chafed against overall. One was the maddeningly vague world-building. I was at a complete loss as to how much mortals (non-magic users) know about medians – is magic a secret parallel world, or are people aware of its existence? I acknowledge that this background knowledge doesn’t really affect the story at hand, but nonetheless it bugged me to not to have a rudimentary context of the world these people existed in.

The other small blip was a loss of momentum right as the story hits its climax. Some Things Happen and instead of quickly winding down, we’re treated to a lengthy chapter explaining some background details we haven’t been privy to. These details set up the conflict for book 2, but also felt a bit tacked on to a book that otherwise had me tearing through the pages.

CONCLUSION: And The Atlas Six did have me tearing through the pages. I read this one in three days, cramming it into every spare moment I had. It’s easy to see why Amazon has picked this series up for adaptation: six sexy twenty-somethings manipulating each other with magic, sex, and everything in between? If that’s your jam, you will be hooked. Sprinkle on the mystery of what exactly the Alexandrian Society and Caretaker Atlas Blakely are up to, and you’ll find yourself reading as fast as you can to get answers and to see who will make the next move.