The world of the Atlas trilogy is similar to the 2020s in our reality—global society faces the same challenges and has many of the same problems. The main difference is that magic is a reality in this world. In the Atlas books, people with magical ability who haven’t attended university are called witches, while those that have are called medeians. However, in accordance with its similarity to our world, magic hasn’t been used to solve the world’s problems. Instead, it has been commodified and sold only to those who can afford it, in effect widening socioeconomic disparities and continuing the status quo.

In the world of the trilogy, six medeians are chosen every 10 years for induction into the Alexandrian Society, a secret group that exists to protect and use the powerful and dangerous contents of the Library of Alexandria. During their time at the Society’s house, which also houses the library, the initiates study their personal powers and contribute new texts to the archives. However, at the end of the first year, one of the six is “eliminated” (killed) by the other five. The Atlas trilogy focuses on one such class: Callum, Tristan, Parisa, Reina, Nico, and Libby—six powerful young medeians with their own specialties.