What a ride.

I've never read dark academia before and I don't think I've ever read a book with only anti-heroes. I'm used to root for the main characters and like them, but that was very hard here.

The Atlas Six is about six extraordinary powerful magicians, who are invited to join the secret Alexandrian Society (you know, the one from the lost library). They have to live and learn for one year, until the initiation ritual happens and they can become members. They need to become a team and work together, which is already the first big problem, because they don't like each other and certainly don't trust each other. The fact, that only five of them can be initiated in the end, doesn't help.

So in this book (the first one of a trilogy) we follow the group during that first year. Each chapter is written from the POV of one of the characters and very slowly, we learn more about their backgrounds and motivations, which makes them, at least for a few pages, a bit more likeable.

It took me several chapters to get into the book. The language is heavy, and even some native speakers complained that they felt too stupid. I don't know, if the later chapters were less academic or if I just got used to it, but after a while, I found the flow and enjoyed the story.

But to be honest, without my book club, I wouldn't have started the book at all and if, I might have DNF'ed it at some point during the first quarter of the book. Glad I didn't, because in the end, I really enjoyed the story and was quite surprised by some of the turns.

So my final conclusion is 3,5-4 Stars, and the rest of the trilogy is now on my TBR.