Opus Film
By Kaylee Dugan/Dec. 16, 2021 4:29 pm EST
BookTok is leaking and it’s too late to stop its favorite YA series from taking over the world! Kind of. If your brain hasn’t rotted and you don’t spend an alarming amount of time swiping through what is unfortunately the generation-defining app TikTok, all of this might be brand new information for you, so let me break it down real quick. The TikTok algorithm is frighteningly good at its job. It can quickly figure out what kinds of content you’re into and then recommend even more videos about that content. There’s “FoodTok” if you’re into cooking videos, “WitchTok” if you’re into witchy stuff and there are so many other general and niche sides to TikTok, that categorizing them all feels impossible.
BookTok is an especially popular slice of the TikTok pie, and while there are so many users posting about books that it feels simplistic to generalize them, they’re really into YA series. And fantasy series. And erotica. And sometimes erotic fantasy series? Anyway, “The Atlas Six,” which started picking up steam on TikTok over the summer of 2021 and continued to have a ton of videos recommending it well into fall, seems to include all of BookTok’s favorite things. Basically it’s about magicians who are also hot. It gets extra points for having “dark academia” elements, which is both an aesthetic and a series of tropes that you’re probably familiar with even if the name doesn’t ring any bells. Think Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History” (the OG of the genre), Mona Awad’s “Bunny,” Elisabeth Thomas’s “Catherine House,” Leigh Bardugo’s “The Ninth House,” or Alex Michaeledis’ “The Maidens.” And those are just the books I can personally vouch for. There are a ton of other stories featuring emo school kids that get pulled dark, fantastical situations. They’re mostly a fun time!
If your brain hasn’t rotted and you don’t spend an alarming amount of time swiping through what is unfortunately the generation-defining app TikTok, all of this might be brand new information for you, so let me break it down real quick. The TikTok algorithm is frighteningly good at its job. It can quickly figure out what kinds of content you’re into and then recommend even more videos about that content. There’s “FoodTok” if you’re into cooking videos, “WitchTok” if you’re into witchy stuff and there are so many other general and niche sides to TikTok, that categorizing them all feels impossible.
BookTok is an especially popular slice of the TikTok pie, and while there are so many users posting about books that it feels simplistic to generalize them, they’re really into YA series. And fantasy series. And erotica. And sometimes erotic fantasy series? Anyway, “The Atlas Six,” which started picking up steam on TikTok over the summer of 2021 and continued to have a ton of videos recommending it well into fall, seems to include all of BookTok’s favorite things. Basically it’s about magicians who are also hot.
It gets extra points for having “dark academia” elements, which is both an aesthetic and a series of tropes that you’re probably familiar with even if the name doesn’t ring any bells. Think Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History” (the OG of the genre), Mona Awad’s “Bunny,” Elisabeth Thomas’s “Catherine House,” Leigh Bardugo’s “The Ninth House,” or Alex Michaeledis’ “The Maidens.” And those are just the books I can personally vouch for. There are a ton of other stories featuring emo school kids that get pulled dark, fantastical situations. They’re mostly a fun time!
Netflix
