Published: October 25, 2022
Publisher: Tor Books
Series: The Atlas #2
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 416 (Hardcover)
My Rating: 2.5/5.0
Synopsis:
The Atlas Paradox is the long-awaited sequel to Olivie Blake’s New York Times bestselling dark academic sensation The Atlas Six—guaranteed to have even more yearning, backstabbing, betrayal, and chaos.
Six magicians were presented with the opportunity of a lifetime.
Five are now members of the Society.
Two paths lie before them.
All must pick a side.
Alliances will be tested, hearts will be broken, and The Society of Alexandrians will be revealed for what it is: a secret society with raw, world-changing power, headed by a man whose plans to change life as we know it are already under way.
This is like the third review in a row where I’ve said “Oh, but I enjoyed the first book so much!”. December’s reading list was chock full (4) of disappointing sequels, and there’s still one more review where I just go on about my tremendous disappointment. If I can even be bothered to review it since it was a novella. To be fair, The Atlas Paradox wasn’t entirely disappointing, it was just really confusing and tedious.
It picks up right after the events of the first book (ie, Libby’s disappearance) and picks up with the strangest initiation event I’ve encountered. The remaining magicians have a mental encounter that the others witness and they sort of face off against an opponent. At first it seems like they will face a classmate, but that is quickly proved to be untrue. What follows is 50 pages of intriguing, but somehow still boring magical standoffs. You would think this reveals a great deal about the characters, but it really doesn’t.
The rest of the book is just as odd. The newly minted Society members are working on their separate research projects, which are all quite vague aside from Reina’s. She’s researching deities from around the world and eventually decides she’s going to try to become a god. Nico remains the only one focused on trying to find Libby because he’s certain she isn’t dead. Libby, who is in fact not dead, is trying to pull herself out of a deep depression and escape her captivity. The book continues on with the petty dramas of the five remaining initiates and nothing juicy happens. Libby’s chapters were much more interesting, but ultimately those chapters were unable to redeem the book as a whole.
This wasn’t a terrible book, it just seemed like the author was intentionally obfuscating to preserve this sense of mystery and it just ended up being confusing and a little dull. I saw that there is going to be a third book in this series called The Atlas Complex and though the anticipated release date is early 2024, there are no other details that I could find. I really doubt I’ll continue on with the third book once it’s released.
Powder & Page 
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