A multilayered romp through scrolls and bedsheets, this novel was like watching a reality tv kind of soapy drama full of twisted trysts between a group of self-centred first year philosophy students who have been locked up in an estate with the only instruction being not to let anyone else in, and the mystery that only five of the six will outlast the period of ‘volunteer’ seclusion. One will be eliminated. (Gosh, this premise sounds so good…and then…) 

 

The characters don’t have much individual depth or draw any sympathy until about 70% into the novel when they’re faced with a life-altering realisation that breaks them into cracked untrustworthy factions and unstable partnerships. 

 

Parisa is sadly despicable, but we pity her. Libby is a touch likeable, and we keep hearing of all her mystical power but never see any of it (would have been nice to just see it once maybe in 550 pages). Nico has a magic trick he also never uses in the whole book. Calum’s superpower is being a nasty person despite supposedly being the most empathetic among the group. Tristan is just not smart and for the entire year has no idea what he’s doing, but just keeps slogging along like a forlorn and jittery martyr.  

 

But from the start we all know who the target will be, as it’s the only thing that makes sense, which in turn makes us feel it should be someone else, just to twist the logic further… 

 

There are some secondary characters to the main six: Ezra, Dalton, Atlas himself—and random mermaids, or mermaid-satyrs to be exact. Not sure how that works, but they have all their plumbing in tact, or so we’ve been adequately assured (cos that was a necessary tidbit of info). 

 

I have no idea what in the world the point to this was except to wax philosophical/pseudo-scientifically about time and space and every relative theory ever contemplated, about sex and attraction and the power of seduction, and  jammed up with a lot of pretentious musings about the existential mysteries of the universe with no real scrutiny or investigation going on anywhere. 

 

Not much magic anywhere either, despite the promise of magic for survival in the premise. Nothing but hands on walls and thinking things into power, but zero show of said power. A whole year passes and all they’ve done is read (oh, we don’t get a glimpse of those pages either), and have lots of sex with each other, and gaze at theories and concepts, and discuss and fret over who to eliminate and how not to be eliminated. 

 

See? ‘Big Brother’ in a Uni Dorm. 

 

Reina was slightly more interesting than the rest of the other narcissists. She didn’t get enough time on the page, though, and maybe if she did, we wouldn’t like her either. 

 

A whole year went by on these pages…and it felt like all they did was talk the joy out of life and explore each others’ bodies in the most selfish manner, and then talk about how they were all using each other for their own means and then contemplating who they’d eliminate. 

 

 

And then it ends teetering on a cliff—