Down the Rabbit Hole

The Alexandrian Society is a secret society of magical academicians, the best in the world. Their members are caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity. And those who earn a place among their number will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. Each decade, the world’s six most uniquely talented magicians are selected for initiation – and here are the chosen few…

– Libby Rhodes and Nicolás Ferrer de Varona: inseparable enemies, cosmologists who can control matter with their minds.
– Reina Mori: a naturalist who can speak the language of life itself.
– Parisa Kamali: a mind reader whose powers of seduction are unmatched.
– Tristan Caine: the son of a crime kingpin who can see the secrets of the universe.
– Callum Nova: an insanely rich pretty boy who could bring about the end of the world. He need only ask.

When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they must spend one year together to qualify for initiation. During this time, they will be permitted access to the Society’s archives and judged on their contributions to arcane areas of knowledge. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. If they can prove themselves to be the best, they will survive. Most of them.

Overall Recommendation:

The Atlas Six is a character driven story that features six complex and flawed magical humans. Not every character is lovable, but every one was fascinating to be in their heads as they’re unique in voice from one another. The intellectual prose and imaginative potential of this world was wonderful to sink into, however a lot of the major plot points come almost at the end. Worth the hype, but I hope the vagueness of the world and the Society will be cleared up in book 2.

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discussion

Let’s Talk Bookish – Writing Whatever You Want?

October 14, 2022October 13, 2022 Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Aria @ Book Nook Bits will be the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

October 14: Can you write whatever you want? (Anna)

Prompts: Can bloggers just write whatever they want? Or are there boundaries they should respect even on their own platform? If a blogger is called out for something they post, are they obligated to respond?

Welcome back to another week of LTB here at DTRH everyone! Today’s topic is quite interesting, and something that I didn’t immediately have an answer too. As a relatively new blogger myself, I don’t feel like I have seen enough iterations of the community to know what may hold true or not over time, but I’d love to hear what the rest of you out there feel or instinctively think about this!

I suppose I do have an immediate thought that yes it’s your own personal blog and you can realistically write almost anything you want. That being said, because it’s not just a personal diary, in which I think you really could have no limits on what you write, a blog is something public and to be shared and read by the community (with that intention in mind!). In that case, I feel like just naturally there should be some restrictions, are at the very least, considerations before posting just whatever you want.

I think as a personal blog, we should definitely allow a large degree of freedom, and after all, it is really more like an open discussion forum where we are free to express our opinions. That being said, I definitely wouldn’t support anyone spreading hate speech or anything like that on such a public forum. I have not seen any of that around in our community, so I don’t think this will be an issue, but I am grateful all the same.

Definitely any opinions on books, and other bookish content, etc., should have full disclosure. I mean, that is the point of a blog, is it not? As for other content…I think people should use their best discretion as to what they do or do not say. One thing to remember is that the blog is an extension of yourself, and people will judge (or at least realize) more about your character based on what they see and read. In that case, it may just be best not to express things that you wouldn’t say in public, for example. But I would leave it up to each person’s discretion as to what they want to divulge and share about themselves rather than set “rules and boundaries” in the abstract.

I have never personally seen someone “called out” for something on their blog, though I can imagine it happening easily over controversial topics or books. I don’t think anyone is obligated to reply, but I can see many reasons why one may want to defend or address their own opinion. Sometimes posts or comments just don’t age well, and we can’t always put the full blame on the writer (though there should likely still be some accountability).

What do you all think about the freedom of a blogger to express their own opinions? Unlimited free rein over the internet? Or maybe something a little bit more subdued? I think I tend to lean towards freedom with each person using their own discretion, but this doesn’t always work, unsurprisingly. What do you all think? Let me know in the comments below!

4 star

Review: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

October 12, 2022October 11, 2022 Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Considered to be one of Agatha Christie’s greatest, and also most controversial mysteries, ‘The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd’ breaks the rules of traditional mystery.

The peaceful English village of King’s Abbot is stunned. The widow Ferrars dies from an overdose of Veronal. Not twenty-four hours later, Roger Ackroyd—the man she had planned to marry—is murdered. It is a baffling case involving blackmail and death that taxes Hercule Poirot’s “little grey cells” before he reaches one of the most startling conclusions of his career.

Taking deep dive into the past for this one, and finally reading more Agatha Christie. Up until now, surprise surprise, I’ve actually only read The Murder on the Orient Express, I believe, which was recommended to me by a friend. Now that I’ve read this one too, I think I might just start from the beginning and go through the rest of the Hercule Poirot mysteries and see how I feel about them!

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