She’s a talented artist, but is barely keeping her late father’s gallery afloat while being blackmailed by a local lord who knows a potentially ruinous secret about her. In this electric sequel to the viral sensation, The Atlas Six, the society of Alexandrians is 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. Gideon, a creature who constantly wavered between consciousness and unconsciousness, lacked muscle memory when it came to the limitations of reality. Telepath Parisa begins to discover she may actually be beginning to care about others despite her best efforts not to.

That is, at least in part, the question we must ask of The Atlas Paradox, Olivie Blake’s highly anticipated sequel to the popular dark academia novel The Atlas Six, a self-published fantasy debut that went so viral it won a publishing deal and dominated social media publishing discussion for months. Envy, one of the seven princes of hell, is also trying to keep up appearances while a terrible malady slowly decimates his court. An artist with a secret and a Lord of Hell must work together to solve a puzzle in this romantic fantasy adventure. In the wake of their initiation, each is preoccupied with either wallowing in their own perceived flaws or cattily dissecting the supposed weaknesses of their compatriots. He could identify time and location within the dream realms, but his ability to walk through dreams occasionally prevented him from making it all the way through breakfast upright.

Despite its length, the book reads quickly, switching back and forth between the two leads’ points of view, though the voices aren’t distinct enough to be clear. But when Conor becomes old enough to consider marriage, Kel learns that it will take more than hidden daggers to protect his charge.

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. A Sword Catcher has all the typical duties of a bodyguard, but Kel’s responsibilities also include wearing a magical amulet that makes people think he’s Conor, allowing him to take the prince’s place at public events when the palace head of security deems it too risky for the prince himself. It must have worked, because the moment Gideon’s lungs emptied, blistering with pleading and strain, the ground gave way beneath him. Gideon felt pain the same way another person might feel it in a dream—imagined, and then gone when they woke up. Olivie lives in Los Angeles with her husband and new baby, where she is generally tolerated by her rescue pit bull.

The tangle of political disputes and shadowy plots that leads to Kel and Lin crossing paths is not only thick enough to make the several hundred pages fly by, it will leave readers eager for a series full of twists and turns.