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This had an interesting sounding premise but in practice it fell flat for me. Although the plot itself is OK it reminded me quite a bit of two other YA books/stories. It starts out well but after a while it started to drag for me and I had little motivation to read it. The characters all fell flat for me too. I mainly wanted more understanding about it - there are alot of unanswered questions which meant I wasn't immersed in the world. For me personally this felt a little all over the place and I just couldn't get into it. There are quite a few good reviews on Goodreads though so don't let me dissuade you if you are interested in this book.
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Wow where do I start with this book, it was non stop.I described this book to a book buddy as like the Hunger games in space, and that is true to a certain extent but doesn't really do the book justice.I absolutely loved it, I liked the main character Emmett , I liked the fact he wasn't perfect and is far from the finished article so we share his personal growth as the journey progresses and he continues to develop and learn and so do we the reader alongside him.I loved the authors imagination, and as the book develops we learn more about his fellow competitors and shipmates .We see how they interact and like some more than others and I started to wonder if the corporation that was taking these 10 young people into space was all it seemed there is something like a sinister undertone and for me anyway I thought this gave the book an edge that I liked.I am desperately trying not to do any spoilers and will not give the plot away ,I actually wish I could say more to encourage others to read this book and I hope I have done it justice.I really enjoyed reading it and was constantly surprised and expecting anything to happen until the last page.I am so glad this is the first book and there are more to come, because I can't wait, this is one trilogy I can't get my hands on fast enough.It is left on something of the proverbial cliff hangar as you would probably expect as it is not a stand alone book, and I just hope it is not long before I can read the next book.Best Sci Fi book I have read in a long time, and I am glad I read a mix of genres because I need to read something very different now so I don't make unfavorable comparisons to this book.Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review.
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Babel pushes us over cliffs and expects us to fly. Sometimes we do.
* * * * *
5 / 5
Wow. This book completely blew me away. It reminded me a little of Ender's Game - kids recruited for some mission in space by a vaguely nefarious company, set against each other in a series of games, always loomed over by a massive scoreboard - and whilst Ender's Game does have a massive twist near the end, I enjoyed Nyxia a heck of a lot more. Reintgen crafted such excellent characters, there's so much emotion in this book, but also so much badassery, and I was even rooting for the romance! I can't even remember the last book I read where I wanted the romance to work out.
"Friend," I plead. "My friend. I need you today. Will you help me?"
"One more time," he says. "And the next time you ask? I'll say one more time again. And the next. And the next. Forever."
We meet Emmett Atwater as he boards a lightship and signs his contract with Babel Corporation. He's going to fly to Eden to mine a substance called Nyxia, an inky black substance that can be manipulated by the mind of the user. The natives of Eden, the Adamites, are vicious but value children and have agreed only to allowing young people on the surface of their planet; Babel has recruited ten youngsters to board Genesis 11, mine Nyxia on Eden, and in return they make an absolute fortune. The catch? Babel only needs eight people, so the teenagers will be pitted against each other in competition - tests of strength, fighting ability, tactics, Nyxia manipulation, swimming, running - and those who fail will be sent home with a small cash prize.
"When he thinks no one's watching, his shoulders always slump. The weight of years, of never being able to rise. It's not his fault, but that kind of weight's been passed down my family for generations"
Emmett is a young black guy from Detroit, his mother has cancer and his father can barely make ends meet. His family has worked themselves to the bone, generation after generation, for a better life, sacrificed chances over and over for family, until now. When Emmett might finally be able to shed the chains the Atwater family has borne since slavery, and lift them out of poverty. Emmett's an imperfect, human character. He's driven and kind and wary and angry and he's got duty carved into his bones and family written in his blood. He needs to beat these other kids, these nine other kids with their own tragic stories and their own lost lives, but he doesn't want to harm them - until he does want to harm them, but Emmett Atwater will be damned if he lets Babel turn him into a monster, even as they're chased by wolves on a giant treadmill, even as he becomes a wolf with a battle cry on his lips and Nyxia created knuckle-dusters on his cracked hands. He's an angry boy with a gang in his past and sick mother he wants needs to live, and I loved Emmett.
Then we have Kaya, Emmett's roommate. She's a clever girl, she doesn't need to beat the games she just needs to change them, and when she extends an alliance to Emmett he takes it. They come home each night from battlefields and tutorials and quizzes and brawls and they put their rivalries behind them, curl up on a chair and read each other stories. Lots of books try to write two non-related characters with a brother/sister relationship but always end up putting a weird sexual twist on it, but Kaya and Emmett have such a great connection. We have Bilal, possibly the kindest and most forgiving guy but who is by no means weak, and Azima who wears her heritage proudly and declares that no man here is worthy of her because they aren't but it's written so kindly, and Jaime who is aloof and proud but will bend, and we have Roathy, angry and wild, and Isadora and Jazzy and Katsu and Longwei. Reintgen did such an amazing job with the characters.
"Forgotten," she says. "We're the people the world wants to forget." Her words hit so deep and hard that it's all I can do to release a breath. She reaches out and pats my leg, like she know exactly how it feels to be this lost in yourself
I loved this book, but those looking for something involving aliens are going to be disappointed. The entire novel takes place on board the ship, only to arrive at Eden at the very end. The Adamites themselves barely feature in Nyxia, I assume that they will have a much more prominent role in the next book; Nyxia is more Hunger Games in space, without any killing (but still lots of violence), and more intrigue. It's about human nature, about needing something and how far you will go to get it, about how far we are willing to change before we look into the mirror and no longer see ourselves. It's about loyalty and loss and love, and it's beautiful and passionate and made my heart race, but Nyxia isn't really about aliens at all. Consider yourself forewarned.
Some other minor criticisms I have is that I would have like to know more about the actual mining process - Red Rising has some great and dramatic mining scenes that were really interesting, whereas Nyxia sort of skips past what is, I would think, quite an important part of their training. Speaking of training, that's what most of this book is. In a way, it reminded me a bit of Mark Lawrence's book Red Sister, which I also adored, in that there's a lot of training sequences, a lot of character development and exploration of the ties between characters. Reintgen did a fantastic job of making all ten character distinct, not only in terms of nationality, but in terms of personality. Ten main characters is a lot and they all felt different, with their own vibe, which I consider to be an impressive feat. Normally this sort of book will pick out three or four to be prominent, and the rest are an unimportant conglomeration; whilst Nyxia does have some characters that are more important - Bilal, Longwei, Kaya, Roathy - the rest still feel real.
I will recommend this book to absolutely everybody and anybody. The writing was superb, the characters well crafted, the context convincing. It was imaginative and brutal and raw with emotion.
My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of this book.
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MY REVIEW
"If they push you to the very edge, what do you do?"
"Fly."
The synopsis is pretty self explanatory, you have a group of ten kids from all around the world in desperate need of money that get recruited by a company called Babel. Babel wants its recruits trained to perfection before sending them down to the planet of Eden to mine a substance called Nyxia which can be manipulated into almost anything. But Nyxia isn't just a substance, it seems to have a mind of its own at times and the recruits will have to train mentally, emotionally and physically to survive Eden but here's what Babel didn't tell them-only the top 8 out of the 10 get to go to Eden(hello Divergent) and continue to benefit from the money being sent to their families. Friendships are hard to come by when you're competing against each other and yet the ten forge bonds but who will make it to Eden? And what exactly is Babel hiding?
Think Hunger games meets divergent in SPACE FOLKS!! For some reason I'm really getting into sci-fi these days and this book did not disappoint!
One of the things that made this spacial journey so enjoyable was the incredible characters! Each of the ten were incredibly unique with their highs and lows. The author did a great job in the sense that he not only put in a lot of effort in the setting and the plot (because there isn't much world building you can do on a spaceship) but also in every single one of these characters because if the characters were flat, not even the plot could have saved this book!
"So they chose us because we're broken, not because we're poor," she says.
"What's the difference?"
Kaya smiles now. "The pieces of broken people can be put back any which way. If we were just poor, they'd have to break us first, to make us into what they want."
The most refreshing thing about this book was the diversity! And I don't mean one POC protagonist and the book is labelled as diverse. As mentioned above, we get people from all around the world and the author does a great job at bringing them together because when you think about it, the only thing dividing them would be a language barrier but the recruits have some kind of mouth mask which automatically translates what, let's say a Japanese kid is saying, into English for our protagonist to understand!
Emmet-the protagonist-was awesome! Kaya was the wise owl from Japan, she reminds me a lot of Annabeth Chase from PJO and she came up with the best tactics and plans. Bilal omg I just want to wrap him up in a blanket and never let him go, he is too good for this world! He was so sweet and gentle and ugh just oozing with sweetness and goodness!!!! Jaime was giving off lone wolf vibes and Azima was just one badass fighter-almost majestic!
I really loved reading the book from Emmet's POV because I rarely read books with a male protagonist-no clue why-but this one was great! He really struggles with trying to keep the Nyxia from kind of controlling him but his determination to make it to the top eight was relentless and honestly kind of inspiring. He was so resilient and and it felt like he was literally burning with power and motivation at times. The author did such an amazing job with knowing when to make Emmett reinforce his motivations and when to make him feel defeated without overdoing it! I'll go as far as to say that Emmett was a flawlessly written character because he was not a perfect character. Despite the tough front he put up most of the time he was really vulnerable and he has a lot of stuff in his past, maybe some stuff we don't know yet ( as do all the others to be honest) but he doesn't let it dictate his future. And his love for his family was just beautiful! Other than that, he was quite perceptive an analytical. When you think about it, all the other characters had the same struggle of trying to get to the top 8 while keeping their humanity intact. They were all helpless and they needed that money Babel was offering them for their families.
The concept of Babel itself was super fishy. They had never before seen tech and everything; they seemed so perfect you just knew they had to be hiding something. Again here Emmett, like Roathy and Kaya, isn't that easily fooled and he doesn't trust easily so he's always on the look out for anything fishy about Babel. There was a hefty amount of suspense in the book and then at around 70% in the book, Babel pulled some serious crap! I'm not gonna say what it is but just when you think things are settling down, you're relaunched into the urgency!
"The brighter the colours, the more likely something dark is hiding underneath."
That leads us to the non stop action because the stakes are always high, one tiny mistake and you can drop to the bottom of the scoreboard and never find your way up again. At some point, all the characters especially Emmett, were letting the scoreboard consume them completely and it was always at the back of my mind throughout the chapters; I was literally getting antsy until they listed the scores again.
There was a romance that started to bloom at round 80% in the book but to be honest I didn't really feel a connection between the two characters so I don't really know how that's gonna go in book 2. In fact it came a little out of nowhere and it wouldn't have bothered me if it hadn't happened at all.
Despite all the tension we do have some full on hilarious moments especially with the jokester Katsu! I literally spent a few minutes full on laughing at his jokes sometimes :P
"Aren't you supposed to be on the front of the boat(...)They typically carve grotesques onto the prow. How'd you break free?"
Not an earth shattering cliffhanger but still a great way to end a first book in the series, I cannot wait to get my hands on book 2 and hang out with all those amazing characters-if they made it *dah dah dummm*
READ IT GUYS. I'm telling you guys right now, THIS NEEDS TO BE MADE INTO A MOVIE BECAUSE IT'S GONNA BE EXPLOSIVE. I DEMAND THIS RIGHT NOW.
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IN SUMMARY: NYXIA opens with a grabbing premise, authentic voice, and high-stakes action, but fumbles with repetitive sequences and a disappointing climax.
MY THOUGHTS:
I actually really enjoyed NYXIA, for the most part, and it saddens me that I have to rate it three stars on technicality. Here are my thoughts!
Emmett’s voice is distinct, unique, and authentic. In 1POV, you really get a sense of his desperation, how much he wants to win. You see what goes in through his head, good and bad thoughts, and it really helps us to understand and relate to his character. My only problem with the voice was it was heavy with repetitive thoughts. Emmett is constantly on edge about winning, but it’s mentioned almost every page, and after a while, it started to grow tiring.
Diverse characters. The other competitors on the ship are from all around the world. I loved the little cultural references speckled within the prose as well, which definitely made them some of the characters more believable and less like caricatures of their respective country.
The fight scenes were generally gripping and sharp. Sometimes I was confused as to what was actually happening, because the prose bombards you with body movements, but apart from that, it was sharp. It was snappy. A lot of the action was just long enough to feel real, but not so long that it dragged on.
Unfortunately, the pacing was way off. What NYXIA worst suffers from is the repetitiveness of action. I’d say about 70% of this novel is a rehash of itself. Even then, the build-up amounted to nothing with a disappointingly weak climax. This book always seemed like it was promising something more than it actually delivered, which inflated my expectations only for them to sink immediately at the end of the book. It answered one question but left at least ten hanging, and it didn’t feel cohesive enough to stand up on it’s own.
Of course, I know NYXIA I part of a trilogy, but I would have like some closure. As it stands, it’s more frustrating than intriguing!
Descriptions were lacking. This book really relies on the reader to just ‘know’ the tropes of Sci-Fi to describe things, but in the end, I didn’t know what most of the in-book locations looked like at all. I created a mental image, only for it to change later on because of some line of description that was absent before.
I will give praise though, if this book wanted me to hate a couple of characters, it succeeded. One in particular was infuriating!
WILL I READ ON?
Probably, because I’d like some closure, and because I really like Emmett, but we’ll have to see.
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From beginning to end Nyxia was a real page turner. The story was interesting especially the struggles of the main character Emmet as he tries to win one of the coveted spots to get to go to the planet Eden while learning to use Nyxia. If your a fan of science fiction I would defiantly recommend this book.
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Absolutely brilliant was hooked from the opening paragraph.
I would highly recommended it.
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This book pulled me in quicky and left me wanting more when it came to the end.
I loved the way the author wrote the characters, especially the main character Emmett, it was so easy to connect to Emmett in the book, even when I was worried about being able to connect with a male main characters POV. However, after only a few chapters the plot had me hooked so much that I didn't want to put my kindle down.
This book definitely reminded me of the Maze Runner, and it also reminded me a bit of The Testing series by Joelle Charbonneau so I would recommend this book if you loved either of those series.
Nyxia was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, as it went through so many different emotions as the characters were pitted against each other, but I absolutely loved the way the author navigated the reader through the emotions felt by the main character Emmett as he competed to try and get a place on the mission to the new planet of Eden.
I would definitely recommend this book and I will highly recommend it for people like love Sci-fi books.