The Atlas paradox by Olivie Blake

Following on from The Atlas Six, the five remaining candidates with extraordinary magical powers are into their second year at the Alexandrian Library Archives, the repository of arcane reference material denied to all but initiates. There is a “Persons of Interest” introduction to the characters at the beginning of the book and the narrative is awkward at first, re-establishing the world where those with magical powers can see and alter the world and the people in it depending on a raft of talents like empathy, telepathy, naturism and physics. Now the candidates must choose an area of study but first must undergo an initiation ritual where they take turns projecting about one of the others in the group, a gruelling experience which leaves some wondering if the Archives is somehow sentient, feeding off the emotional energy they generate. There are unresolved tensions about the fact that they all accepted the requirement of the Alexandrian Society that they kill one of their number, had decided as a group that it should be Callum, failed to make that happen and instead Libby Rhodes is missing. But essentially we spend a lot of time inside the characters’ heads, pondering big life questions and intensely felt relationships. After proving that it is possible to open a wormhole using magic, and to travel backwards through time once armed with the information from the archives, the question now is whether it would be possible to open pathways to parallel universes. This seems to require a lot of scientific theorizing which did not add to the strengths of the book. In spite of their magical powers these are emotionally dependent, traumatized young adults trying to find their place in this or another version of the world where the possibilities might seem to be endless but it seems to come back to feelings of self-worth. If I hadn’t read the first part of this trilogy I don’t think I would have stuck with this sequel, the characters did not develop, Callum reduced to drinking, Tristan consumed with angst, Nico childlike, Parisa influencing and Reina aligning with the gods. I missed the presence of Libby in the house and developments in the plot but the style is so original I stuck with it for those unpredictable moments of insight.

Themes: Fantasy, Magic, Relationships, Power.

Sue Speck