The Atlas Paradox

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Part 3

Parts 4-5

Interlude-Part 7

Part 8-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Themes

Finding Balance

An issue that several characters in The Atlas Paradox return to repeatedly is the question of balance. In their studies and relationships, balance isn’t only something to consider intellectually but also something that impacts their lives. Parisa, Atlas, and Reina all delve more deeply into the concept of balance, understanding it as integral to their studies, lives, and even the world itself.

One way that the novel explores balance is through how the initiates’ relationships shift after Libby, the sixth member, disappears. Parisa, with her telepathic abilities, is sensitive to the balance of the initiates, and she notes, “With Libby gone, the balance of everything was so disrupted” (48). As Reina reflects, “Like an old war wound that pained them only when it rained, the missing hum of Libby Rhodes and her anxiety seemed to haunt the standing space between the five initiates, unspoken” (23). She recognizes that Libby was their conscience and that without her the group lacks that aspect of its balance. The irony of this is that when Libby does return at the novel’s end, she has so changed that she’ll no longer occupy her previous role in the group—their balance has forever changed.

Atlas, who like Parisa is a telepath, is sensitive to the idea of balance—it fuels his own studies and forms the basis of his theory of another world. As he says, “The only principle I know to be true is that of balance, […] Matter and antimatter. Order and chaos. Luck and unluck. Life and death. […] This cannot be the only world” (263). Atlas’s theory—and his plan for the future—are rooted in this theory, which also explains, to him, how life is formed: “The point,’ he continued […], ‘is that there must be some delicate but knowable balance, some quantity of matter and antimatter, from which this world was formed—and if it could be identified, it could be re-created” (262). This theory of balance also underpins his perspective on the Society itself and its relationship with the Forum. He recognizes that “ideologically, [the Forum] are the reminder that to every coin there are two sides” (203). From his overarching strategy to his daily operations as Caretaker, Atlas recognizes the fundamental importance of balance.

Reina, too, is sensitive to balance—as a naturalist, she’s acutely aware of its importance in nature. In addition, the idea of balance becomes integral to her own plans for the future. She considers her existence a matter of balance:

Why, in the age of the Anthropocene, with all the violence and destruction that had come with the rise of machines and monsters, would there be born a child who could hear the sound of nature itself? It was time for the wheel to turn. For the soul of the universe to find balance (292).

Once she determines that her very existence is a part of the world’s balance, that understanding extends to her work with Callum. As an empath, his power exclusively concerns the human world, and she sees their relationship as an aspect of that larger balance:

[I]f balance was king, then perhaps it was a question of their natures. She had chosen him because her existence, her power that she could not wield, necessitated his—he was the Anthropocene incarnate, she was nature itself, and this was how the cycle would continue. The wheel would invariably turn (295).

As Reina’s studies direct her to a course of action, it becomes increasingly clear that balance plays a part in both her existence and her destiny.

Each of these three characters understands the crucial role that balance plays in their lives, from relationships to larger questions about life and purpose. While Parisa sees the concept play out in the way that Libby’s disappearance affects the group dynamics of the initiates, Atlas and Reina consider balance in a larger context: Atlas’s agenda and Reina’s developing plan are both built on a logic to which balance is central.

Outsiders Looking for Belonging

Tristan, Gideon, and Ezra are medeians who exist on the fringes. Each of them seeks belonging and validation from groups from which they feel excluded. Throughout the story, these characters struggle with their outsider status and seek belonging, with various degrees of success.

Gideon attends the New York University of Magical Arts (NYUMA) but struggles to become an insider there. As a magical creature, he differs from the other students, who are humans with magical abilities. Because of this, Gideon’s powers are undefined but include his ability to enter into others’ subconsciouses through the dream realm. His power is recognized but remains unvalidated by the magical community, leaving Gideon on the outside: “Sometimes it seemed he belonged more to the realm of dreams than to the world of the living” (10). Although he struggles to find his place at NYUMA, Gideon finds belonging with Max and Nico: “[T]hey had left a space in their lives specifically for him, they had given him a place to belong” (212). At the novel’s end, when Gideon and Tristan meet in Paris, it’s the first time they’ve seen each other in person for two years. When they kiss, Gideon finally finds the true belonging and acceptance he has been seeking.

Tristan wants to gain social status in order to transcend his origins as the son of a witch and underworld criminal. He seeks the validation of the affluent and powerful medeian community by becoming engaged to Eden Wessex and entering the high-power world of James Wessex and Wessex Corp. When he’s approached by Atlas Blakely, he jumps at the chance to join what he quickly understands is an even more exclusive club. However, throughout his studies at the Society, Tristan still struggles to feel accepted:

He had only one remaining year to prove to himself that Atlas Blakely, and by extension Tristan himself, had not been wrong to believe that there was something singular about him. That here in this house, living alongside the greatest medeians of a generation, if not an age—he belonged (95).

This is the height of Tristan’s ambitions—and the reason behind every decision he makes, from proposing to Eden Wessex to accepting Atlas Blakely’s offer.

In Ezra’s case, he’s already a member of the Alexandrian Society, yet he still feels like he doesn’t belong. His closest sense of belonging came in his relationship with Atlas, with whom he formulated a plan to destroy the Society. However, after Atlas became Caretaker, his agenda shifted. He and Ezra were separated by a difference in ideology, and ever since then, Ezra has been seeking that camaraderie with others. Although his ideas are ostensibly about destroying the Society, Ezra’s plan in fact revolves around finding belonging with a new group, his collaborators. However, even though he’s the group’s leader, he’s still insecure:

Each time they met with Ezra, he became more aware of how resoundingly he failed to hold up to their status markers. Not in terms of wealth, but something…else. Something Ezra had always lacked. It was the same authenticity he smelled on Atlas; that sense of not only belonging, but commanding (150).

This insecurity appears during their meetings, as Ezra, even when he’s in charge, spends his time “sitting up straighter in his seat at the head of the table and trying to look as if he belonged there, or at the table in general, or anywhere at all” (156). Even though Ezra has gone to great lengths to belong, forming his own group to do so, he still grapples with his feelings of being an outsider.

Each of these characters seeks belonging, but some are more successful than others at finding it. Gideon finds belonging with Nico and Max, but Tristan continues to strive to find belonging with the Society, which eventually leads him to join forces with Atlas. Ezra, however, never finds the belonging he seeks—although he has his group of collaborators, the only person he truly wants acceptance from is Atlas. Therefore, he’ll never find true belonging because he craves it only from one man, who can’t give it to him.

A New Generation of Gods

Reina became an initiate at the Alexandrian Society strictly for access to the library: At the beginning, she’s interested in research and nothing else. However, this interest in books and research masks a deeper hesitancy regarding her power—she hates it, does her best to ignore it, and envisions spending the rest of her life in the archives, hiding away from it. Nevertheless, as her studies develop, her ideas about the purpose of magic—and the position of medeians—changes. She comes to see the importance of her powers and begins to see a reason to accept and use them.

During the course of her studies, Reina realizes that many of the others seem to see a godlike aspect to their powers; when Nico considers Tristan’s power, he thinks, “It was as close to divine as anything could possibly be” (140). Reina notices this trend—and how nearly everyone seems to recognize the same thing, albeit somewhat unconsciously; even Dalton, she notes, “in discussing Viviana Absalon, had referred to magic almost as a god unto itself” (85). This notion begins to fuel her own research into creation myths and the role of the gods in human development. The archives seem to sense the dangerous territory she’s entering and refuse her requests; as she tells Callum, “They aren’t giving me books about the origins of gods” (125). She believes that the archive is denying her texts because it “thinks I’m looking for instructions” (126), and she confesses to him, “I think I might be a god” (125). Although Callum is dubious, he agrees to help her access the materials the archives are denying her, and her belief builds.

In the end, Reina concludes that medeians are the next generation of gods; as she puts it, “Gods change. Generations are born. That implies there can be new ones” (127). She explains her logic to Callum, arguing, “The power is real. The magic we have creates order. Doesn’t it? So, everything may look perfectly random, […] but in fact it’s not to us” (135). This idea allows her to fully accept her own powers, as she now believes she understands their purpose. Rather than hiding from her powers, she’s now ready to accept and use them: “This is what it means to be a god: to enforce a new era of change. Not to create empires, but to shape a new generation” (190). Reina develops a theory that medeians are in fact the new generation of gods, born to bring order to the chaotic universe.

In the end, Reina’s new understanding of her power—and its purpose—gives her the rationale to accept her power and to use it. As she tells Callum, “I have power and talent and it was given to me for a reason. Because if I can make life, then I am obligated in some way to do so” (190). This is a major shift from the way she felt about her powers at the beginning of the novel. Now she has fully accepted her power and sees herself and the other initiates as members of a new generation of gods, made to usher humanity into a new era.