The Atlas Six

The Prologue (“Beginning”) introduces the story’s setting by providing historical context about the Great Library of Alexandria with a magical twist, which establishes the narrative as part of the magical realism genre. Some important parameters of that fictional world are defined as well, such as the presence of medeians, “the most learned among the magical population,” and the “Society,” or the “Caretakers of [the Library of] Alexandria” (3).

Every 10 years a new class of potential initiates is chosen to spend one year in training, learning the functions of the archives and what will become a lifelong craft. Each candidate lives, eats, sleeps, and breathes the archives and their contents. At the end of that year, five of the six candidates are inducted. They rigorously pursue an independent course of study for an additional year at the library before being presented with the opportunity to stay and continue their work as researchers or accept a new offer of employment. Alexandrians typically go on to be political leaders or CEOs. What awaits an Alexandrian after initiation is wealth, power, prestige, and knowledge beyond their dreams—and thus, to be chosen for initiation is the first in a lifetime of possibilities.

While the Prologue starts from a distant perspective to convey the history of the Society, it then moves into Dalton’s point of view as he relays that information to the new class of candidates. Chronologically, this moment takes place at the end of the first chapter, when the characters are gathered at the house for orientation. The dark, mysterious tone in the Prologue and Dalton’s reflection on his experience as an initiate foreshadow the hardships and rewards they will face in the rest of the book.

The story’s epigraph, which is placed after the Prologue, reads: “The moral of the story is this: Beware the man who faces you unarmed. If in his eyes you are not the target, then you can be sure you are the weapon” (6). This adds to the sense of mystery and danger by foreshadowing Atlas’s ambiguous role in the story. Although he appears harmless and concerned with the greater good, his real intentions are revealed later when Ezra explains that the initiates were hand-picked to help him destroy the Society.

The first chapter introduces the main characters in separate sections. Each of the characters is depicted going about their life until they are approached by Atlas. Only Libby and Nico are introduced together, implying that they are, as they later find out, inextricably linked. All the candidates display degrees of wariness but are intrigued, which creates wonder and suspense for the reader. Parisa’s meeting with Atlas, which comes last, is the shortest and takes place only in her thoughts—the opposite of Libby and Nico’s long dialogue, as both the reader and the telepath need less information at this point. When the candidates finally gather at the house, the narrative loops back to the Prologue, ending with Dalton about to give them the orientation mentioned in the “Beginning.”

Significantly, the title of the first chapter (“Weapons”) echoes the epigraph. It highlights the six medeians potentially dangerous abilities and their building rivalry as well as the intrigue surrounding the Society, suggesting possible conflicts to come. The rest of the book is divided into chapters with equally topical titles, namely “Truth,” “Battle,” “Space,” “Time,” “Thought,” “Intent,” and “Death.” Each chapter is divided into sections focusing on the candidates’ points of view. Importantly, the main chapter title indicates its central theme, referring at the same time to Atlas’s current lecture topic, and major plot points (e.g., the attack on the house in “Battle,” Callum and Parisa’s telepathic contest in “Thought,” and Libby’s disappearance in “Death”). Each theme builds on the previous one, culminating in the climax of the plot (i.e., Libby’s death) as the crystallization of the characters’ mastery of those concepts.