Review by Booklist Review
Following the events of The Atlas Six (2020), Blake returns readers to the elite Alexandrian Society's second year of study for the strongest, most powerful medeians in the world. Libby Rhodes is gone, and the five initiates who remain have promised to find her. Their search for Libby is not as straightforward as it seems when it appears the question is not where Libby Rhodes is but when. Between a sentient library with an agenda of its own, shifting alliances, and a caretaker who is increasingly hostile to the initiates, the group struggles to come together to find Libby and reestablish their own lives in the outside world, all while being hunted by the mysterious Forum, the Alexandrian Society's rival. The society's initiates are incredibly powerful yet incredibly flawed human beings, demonstrating Blake's masterful skills at characterization. Fantasy fans will not be disappointed by the complex and varied magic system that relies more on solid scientific principals than do other series treading similar ground. Blake has built a unique and interesting dark-academia fantasy full of intrigue and suspense. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Dark academia is hot right now, and readers have been clamoring for more since 2020's viral, best-selling The Atlas Six, so expect lots of holds.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
In this sequel to The Atlas Six, Blake dives even deeper into the Alexandrian Society to grapple with the morality of world changing information being kept from the masses. The Society are protectors of the Alexandrian library and have six magician students, but only five can be initiated. One of them, Libby, was kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend and is being kept in isolation. The remaining five vow to continue looking for her. The initiation, however, tears their trust in each other apart--threatening the alliance to find Libby--even as they are also still bound to finish their final year and contribute their research to the library. Blake brilliantly uses fantasy trappings, and plenty of cliff hangers and twists, to tell a story that leaves readers questioning everything they believe to be true in the world she has created. Her characters prove to be unreliable as readers learn more about them and get to know other characters that will drive the story further and connect the multiple timelines. VERDICT Recommend Blake's gripping series to fans of Naomi Novik, Erin Morgenstern, and Katherine Arden.--Leigh Verburg
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