8 Dark Fantasy Books Like The Atlas Six By Olivie Blake

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“The problem with knowledge, is its inexhaustible craving. the more of it you have, the less you feel you know.”

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If you loved The Atlas Six and are craving more fantasy books that blend dark academia, secret societies, and morally grey characters, you’ve come to the right place. Olivie Blake’s bestselling novel has hooked readers with its mix of intellectual intrigue, magic, and slow-burn tension – and fortunately, there are plenty of books like The Atlas Six that deliver the same atmospheric charm. From rivalries at mysterious academies to stories steeped in forbidden knowledge and dangerous ambition, these fantasy novels will haul you into worlds where power always comes at a cost. Whether you’re searching for books similar to The Atlas Six or simply want more fantasy with secret societies and complex characters, this list has you covered. Here are the best spellbinding reads to add to your TBR if you loved The Atlas Six – and you’re ready to get lost in something equally enchanting. 

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The Atlas Six Summary

The Atlas Six follows the story of six of the world’s most talented, each hand-picked to compete for a spot in the mysterious Alexandrian Society, an exclusive and revered organisation tasked with preserving lost knowledge. Each decade, only five initiates are granted access to the society’s power. The one remainder is eliminated from proceedings – permanently. 

As the latest crop of scholars delves into esoteric magic, illusions, and the mystical study of language and knowledge, alliances are formed, secrets unravel, and unchecked ambition soon leads to deadly consequences. With magic set in academia, morally complex characters, and philosophical musings, Olivie Blake’s The Atlas Six series is the perfect go-to if you’re a reader who loves their fantasy stories infused with a taste of dark academia. 

The Magicians – Lev Grossman

First stop on our list of the best books like The Atlas Six is Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, a thrilling YA novel about a young man practising magic in the real world. Quetin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he is obsessed with a series of fantasy novels set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery. 

After graduation, he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. Yet the land of Quentin’s fantasies soon reveals itself to be far darker and dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its core. 

A Deadly Education – Naomi Novik

Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education is set at Scholomance, a school for the magically gifted where failure means certain death (for real) – until one girl, El, begins to unlock its many secrets. There are no teachers, no holidays, and no friendships, save strategic ones. Survival is more important than any grade. The school won’t allow students to leave until they graduate – or die trying. 

El is uniquely prepared for the school’s dangers. She might be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out millions. It would be easy enough for El to defeat the monsters that prowl the school. The only problem? Her powerful dark magic might also kill all the other students. 

Babel – R.F. Kuang

1828. Orphan Robin Swift is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, ancient Greek and Chinese, preparing for the day he’ll enrol in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation – also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world’s centre for translation and magic. Silver working – the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars – has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire’s quest for colonisation. 

To Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. Yet, Robin soon discovers that serving Babel means betraying his Chinese motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shady Hermes Society, an organisation dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. 

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The Bone Season – Samantha Shannon

The year is 2059. For two hundred years, the Republic of Scion has led an oppressive campaign against unnaturalness in Europe. In London, Paige Mahoney holds a high rank in the criminal underworld. The right hand of the ruthless White Binder, Paige is a dreamwalker, a rare and formidable kind of clairvoyant. Under Scion law, she commits treason by simply breathing. 

When Paige is arrested for murder, she meets the mysterious founders of Scion, who have designs on her uncommon abilities. If she is to survive and escape, Paige needs to use all the skills she has at her disposal – and put her trust in someone who ought to be her enemy. 

The Secret History – Donna Tartt

No list of books like The Atlas Six would be complete without mentioning Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, arguably the first and most enduring dark academia work of all time. The story follows a group of elite, eccentric students studying classics at the elite Hampden College in rural Vermont. Under the influence of their charismatic professor, the students are taught to view the world in new ways. Ways that are worlds away from their peers. Led by the enigmatic and mysterious Henry Winter, the group slowly becomes more and more detached from society, as they are immersed in their classical studies and their own philosophical debates. 

Their bond is sealed through a shocking and tragic act. As the group spirals into guilt, paranoia, and disintegration, Tartt’s novel explores themes of beauty, morality, and the consequences of living outside social conventions. Told through the lens of newcomer Richard Papen, The Secret History chronicles the devastating impact of these students’ crime and the fatalistic disillusionment that follows. 

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One For My Enemy – Olivie Blake

Another one of the best books by Olivie Blake and a perfect follow-up if you loved The Atlas Six, One for My Enemy is set in New York City and follows two rival witch families as they fight to maintain control of their respective criminal ventures. On one side are the Antonova sisters. On the other are the Fedorov brothers. 

After twelve years of tenuous coexistence, a change in one family’s interests causes a rift in the existing stalemate. When bad blood brings both families to the precipice of disaster, fate intervenes with a chance encounter. In the aftershock of a resurrected conflict, everyone must decide which side they sit on. As each of the siblings struggles to stake their claim, fraying loyalties threaten to rot each side from the inside out. If, that is, the enmity between empires doesn’t destroy them first. 

The Cloisters – Katy Hays

When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she hopes to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a Gothic museum and garden renowned for its collection of medieval and Renaissance art. There, she is pulled into a group of charismatic but enigmatic researchers, including Patrick Roylan, the museum’s mercurial curator who specialises in the history of tarot. 

Patrick is determined to prove that ancient divination holds the key to the foretelling of the future. And when Ann happens upon a breakthrough in the form of a mysterious deck of fifteenth-century Italian tarot cards, she finds herself at the centre of a game of power, toxic friendships, and ambition, perfect for anyone who loved The Atlas Six.

Ninth House – Leigh Bardugo

Another one of the best fantasy dark academia books like The Atlas Six, Ninth House, opens with Galaxy “Alex” Stern emerging as the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. At twenty, some might say she’s thrown her whole life away. But, at her hospital bed, she’s offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her? 

Still searching for these answers, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be the haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s most recognisable faces. But their occult activities are revealed to be far more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive. 

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