The Eye of Atlas thrusts readers into a near-future metropolis consumed by corporate dominion. In Atlas, Sahara – the sole megacorporation – monitors every breath with AI‐powered shock collars and draconian quotas, reducing human lives to unceasing labour. Amid this sterile surveillance, twenty-year-old dreamer Malcolm McCormick toils at a marble factory until a chance meeting with coworker Evie rips open a portal between realities. From that moment, the mundane and the supernatural collide in a relentless race to uncover a buried truth.

Let’s start with the setting. Atlas is not a backdrop but a living, suffocating character. The city’s gleaming towers cast long shadows over crumbling slums, embodying stark inequality; we do love a good metaphor. In the heart of Atlas, silence isn’t peace but a verdict: the low hum of conveyor belts and the soft click of shock collars speaking louder than any shout. Fluorescent lights drip an unending white glare over marble slabs, each one forged by hands that know the sting of quotas more intimately than warmth. Here, corporate banners aren’t propaganda—they’re scripture, dictating the rhythm of breath and heartbeat. Every footstep echoes down antiseptic hallways patrolled by AI eyes, reminding workers that even a whisper of dissent becomes a measurable offence. In this muted symphony of control, humanity is reduced to data points, and hope flickers like a dying bulb on the brink of total shutdown.

In Atlas, the labyrinthine corridors and pixelated billboards echo the omnipresent gaze of our real-world cameras, the algorithms sorting our faces as we navigate rent hikes and endless commutes. The AI collars and quota-driven shifts mirror the precarity of gig-economy labour, where every missed punch-in carries real consequences. Yet beneath the corporate sheen, small acts of defiance – glued flyers in hidden stairwells, whispered alliances in cramped kitchens, shared playlists smuggled through the network – mirror the guerrilla art, pop-up clinics, and mutual-aid pods that animate our own city streets. Atlas reminds us that even when steel towers loom and data streams consume, collective resilience threads its way through the underground, proving that solidarity remains the most potent form of subversion.

McKenna’s world‐building balances gritty detail with some poetic resonance, ensuring the reader feels both the grime under Malcolm’s fingernails and the oppressive hum of corporate propaganda.

In terms of characters, Malcolm’s wearied optimism and Evie’s resourceful grit forge an instantly relatable duo. Malcolm’s daydreams anchor him to a humanity that Sahara strives to erase, whilst Evie’s fierce loyalty to her family fuels her quiet courage. Their evolving partnership cracks open not only factory floors but also the walls around their hearts. Their banter is spare, yet charged, and McKenna allows moments of genuine warmth to puncture the novel’s pervasive bleakness.

I love the start of this novel, where we are introduced to the corporate horror that is Malcolm’s day-to-day existence. However, just when the narrative feels tethered to that corporate horror, McKenna introduces electrical anomalies, out-of-body visions, and spectral messages. These phenomena aren’t mere set dressing; they heighten every moral choice. As Malcolm and Evie descend into Atlas’s hidden depths, the supernatural elements seamlessly amplify the stakes, transforming a social thriller into an existential quest.

Beneath its pulse-pounding plot, The Eye of Atlas asks urgent questions about agency, memory, and resistance:

- What is worth sacrificing when every action is watched?
- How do we reclaim identity in a world that bills us for basic necessities?
- Can hope survive in a city designed to crush it?

McKenna’s critique of unchecked capitalism resonates disturbingly close to today’s headlines, yet she never reduces Atlas to mere allegory. The metaphysical twists remind us that even under the harshest yoke, the human spirit can fracture – and also transcend – its chains.

Dystopian/Sci-Fi? Gimme! Such an interesting read. Might have to read again for another thorough review but I definitely enjoyed this and would recommend!

Thanks to the publisher for this eARC!

This was an interesting ride. The concept is extraordinary, and the execution not bad. Very smooth writing and is a quick page-turner, with a really weird twist at the end.
Not sure if it’s going to be a series, but the way it finishes sets it up for a good several books, continuing with different trials of Virtues. It works very well as a standalone alone too, and this is where I’m going to stay.

The ultimate reveal is so not on concept with the set up. You can’t start a dystopian social thriller and finish with a magical, godly fantasy world. It’s a bit too much for me. However, it was fun, it was weird, I give it a solid 4 stars.

What sold me on was the original idea. Just the prologue is beyond fascinating. Intro speech, a parody on corporate words of taking advantage of factory worker, a future where companies don’t even hide their bad intentions, and feels so close to the current reality, I can actually see a real current companies’ attitudes reflected in that speech.

The next few introductory chapters describing the social and economic circumstances show a bleak world taken over by a huge corporation and no oversight for the social and humane conditions of the people. As many issues as I may have with the novel, this beginning, this world descition is one of my favorite ever. It’s a social commentary that’s badly needed and a prediction of the future we will face soon enough if we continue down the current economic path.

The Eye of Atlas by Jude McKenna

This story presents a symbol of strength: an eye that represents vigilance against those who wish to hide in the shadows of corruption. Malcolm serves as a supervisor, but more accurately, he acts as a scapegoat for the incompetence of his immediate boss. McKenna constructs a futuristic world in a city called Atlas, where Sahara, the only company, effectively enslaves its employees for profit. In a bizarre twist, workers are forced to wear collars that provide "motivation" to remain on task. They endure long hours without days off and an endless cycle of suffering stemming from their demanding jobs. Malcolm’s discontent grows as he navigates this oppressive environment. By happenstance, Evie runs into Malcolm, and they conjure up a friendship that revolves around the loathing of the company they both work for. Through the tribulations of everyday life, strange events happen. Unexplainable aberrations appear to them separately, hinting at a truth hidden from sight. They both know something must be done, or they will be destined to live the rest of their lives under the ruling thumb of a company hellbent on a cruel dictatorship and perhaps even more debauchery.

Jude McKenna successfully plants a seed of futuristic horrors in a novel that harkens back to my time watching The Running Man as a teenager. Evil slashes its way through any normality society has to offer. Rendering even the most optimistic in us helpless. Is this truly how the world is meant to play out? The more dystopian novels I digest, the more wary I become. As ludicrous as these scenarios reach a horrific crescendo, I admit to believing more snippets as time goes on. Braided with bloody twine, the story churns through a delightfulness of terror. At the novel’s beginning, I never envisioned the complexity that McKenna offered by its end. Prepare to dive into a captivating novel that masterfully weaves together elements of science fiction, horror, and the intriguing world of insects, all set against a backdrop of multidimensional exploration.

A miserable time is had by the characters in Atlas; as for the reader, I was far more fortunate to escape unscathed. The novel isn’t necessarily reinventing the wheel, but the concepts here are fresh and imaginative. Bits and pieces harken to other movies I had seen before, but the author seamlessly infuses them all, producing a fun yet frightful scenario. An overwhelming amount of emotions can take place in the workplace. Because of its profound impact on our minds, bodies, and spirits, the setting evokes genuine feelings that readers can identify with. How dare they treat them this way? My hope is we never find out.

I am giving this 3.75 stars and rounding up to 4 stars. Recommended!

Many thanks to Liminal Horizon Press for the ARC through Netgalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion.

This is a great book! I liked the science fiction themes here, and how it flowed. I loved the way the book makes me think, and how it looks like it could relate to our current world. I think it was good!!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

post-apocalyptic? dystopian? Or current affairs? It’s hard to tell the difference between. the world Jude McKenna weaves in this realistic horror of a book.

Following two over worked, under appreciated, exhausted humans working in a world that charges credit for everything from a cup of coffee at work, to a shower to clean yourself. Their worlds take a turn when they realize there’s more to meet the eye than just corporate greed.