The Atlas Complex

The Atlas Complex is a 2024 fantasy novel by Olivie Blake, the pen name of Alexene Farol Follmuth. It is the third and final book in the Atlas trilogy, following the New York Times bestseller The Atlas Six (2020) and The Atlas Paradox (2022). The first novel was self-published on Kindle and republished by Tor Books in 2022 after it gained a following on TikTok. Tor Books subsequently published the following two books in the series. Amazon Studios is currently developing a television series based on the novels.

This guide refers to the 2024 hardcover edition published by Tor Books.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide include descriptions of mental illness and suicidal ideation.

Plot Summary

The Atlas Complex picks up where the previous book, The Atlas Paradox, left off. It continues to follow Nicolás “Nico” Ferrer de Varona, Elizabeth “Libby” Rhodes, Parisa Kamali, Tristan Caine, Reina Mori, and Callum Nova, who are magic users and members of the Atlas Six, an initiation class for the secret Alexandrian Society. After they meet back in Paris, Nico, Libby, and Gideon Drake (Nico’s best friend and a magic user in his own right) return to the Alexandrian Society’s manor house to meet with Tristan. Libby reveals the dire stakes they face: Atlas Blakely, the man who recruited them to the Alexandrian Society, plans to end the world using an experiment to open the multiverse. If they don’t sacrifice one of their members, then the magical Alexandrian archives will kill them all.

Elsewhere, after Parisa deals with a group of assassins, Alexandrian Society researcher Dalton Ellery offers her a proposition to replace Atlas and create a new world. However, Parisa is hesitant, particularly after her husband, Nasser, is killed by the CIA. Reina, on her campaign to fix the world, ignores calls from the others regarding the coming danger from the archives. Callum helps her manipulate world politics but questions her ability to make lasting changes. He also semi-successfully tries to get Tristan’s attention.

At the manor house, the characters debate whether to perform the experiment to open doors to the multiverse. Nico is in favor, while Libby is against it. Tristan eventually says that he wants to do it as well. Libby meets with Parisa, but the conversation escalates into a battle of wills and concludes with Parisa telling Libby that she’s compromised. As an uninitiated member of the Society, Libby attempts to perform the initiation ritual but fails. She finally decides that she wants to perform the multiverse experiment, too.

Meanwhile, Reina and Callum go to the Parisian office of the Forum, the global group that wants to undermine the Society. There, they find Parisa, who has convinced the Forum’s leader, Nothazai, to stop his attacks against the Society in exchange for him becoming their new Caretaker, replacing Atlas. The conversation turns into a fight after Parisa tells Reina that Libby is a threat who needs to be eliminated, and Callum has to convince Reina to leave. When Parisa returns to Dalton, he demonstrates his abilities, which shatters her ideas about his motivations and the experiment’s true nature, and she flees. Dalton uses the phone she left behind to contact Nico and tell him that he’s returning to the manor house to participate in the experiment. As they prepare, Dalton questions Reina’s absence, as they need her power to use as an energy source. Libby insists that they don’t need her, and they proceed.

Outside the manor house, Callum leaves to deal with his family’s issues, and Reina attends a political event. When the congressman, Charlie Baek-Maeda, is assassinated on stage. Reina uses her powers to defend herself. Callum’s sister, Selene, is on trial but defends herself with significant skill, which leads Callum to realize that his family doesn’t need him. He decides to focus on Tristan rather than Reina. Parisa, after fleeing from Dalton, investigates what happened to Atlas and finds out that he is dead.

As the experiment begins, Nico and Libby combine their magic, and Tristan reaches for the doors to the multiverse. However, partway through, Libby realizes that they’ve made a mistake and attempts to shut it down. Without Reina, the energy is too much, and Libby pushes it all onto Nico, which results in his death. The characters panic in the aftermath of the failure, with Gideon heartbroken and Dalton looking for a way to revive Nico since he needs him for the ritual. Tristan confronts his own moral failings and the consequences of his inaction. He and Libby fight, and he leaves the manor house. Outside, he is captured by his father, Adrian Caine, who has been looking for him.

Parisa and Callum arrive at the manor house, only to find it under attack by James Wessex, who wants access to the Society’s archives. He telepathically breaches the manor house’s defenses through Dalton’s fractured mind. Parisa and Gideon venture into Dalton’s mindscape, and Gideon creates a nightmare to keep him there. Dalton almost traps Parisa with him, but Gideon saves her at the last moment. Dalton returns to the real world with them, but Callum kills him before he can act. Libby considers killing him, too, but realizes that it would solve nothing. After Callum receives a text about Tristan’s capture by the Caine family, he rushes to save him but is shot by Adrian. Tristan rejects the idea of becoming a weapon for his father and shoots him.

Reina returns to the manor house and talks with Parisa. When Reina collapses in despair, Parisa comforts her, offering support and hope for the uncertain future. Libby visits Belen, whom she betrayed while trapped in the 1980s in an earlier book and who has dementia caused by Nothazai’s meddling. Libby offers help, but Belen declines, and they part. She also revisits her childhood home and reflects on her sister’s death. Tristan confronts James and forces him to lift the bounty on their heads. Gideon embraces his dreams over the waking world and finds solace with a version of Nico that he isn’t sure is real. The book concludes with Nothazai taking his place as the Society’s new Caretaker. He and Libby are alone in the archives, which deny his requests while finally granting Libby access to the book that will tell her if she could have saved her sister.