Before the summary: this book was amazing. The writing was superb, the imagery powerful, and this is a book that actually makes you think, look deep into what life means to each person.
Nyxia, written by Scott Reintgen, follows Emmett, a boy from Detroit who has been given the opportunity to change his life, and his parents, forever. He just has to be better than a few other kids, go to a distant planet, and harvest Nyxia, a substance that can become anything you image. Again, he just has to be smarter, better, faster, stronger, and be one of the 8 out of the 10 teenagers on the ship to qualify.
That doesn’t sound dangerous at all.
What I liked about this book:
In my opinion, this is a great way to handle characters with very different backgrounds. You take them for what they are, who they are, and then we see how they change and grow.
The characters are growing up, and they grow into themselves.
The writing is excellent, as I would expect from an English teacher. Well done.
This book can stand on its own, though it is the first in a trilogy, and at the time this review is being written, is the only book currently out.
The idea itself. I think that, as a whole, this is fairly unique, though all of the individual pieces are not. The fact that you have this material that can be manipulated into almost anything, is worth all of this money, and can only be mined by children, is fairly cool. Now you throw in a little not-deadly Hunger Games style competition, and a twisted organization, yeah, you have my attention.
As a general rule, I don’t read a whole lot of science fiction because the lack of science bothers me. But this novel does a good job of explaining the crazy by using a crazy substance. Which makes it okay, because when they leave the substance behind, the science is solid (for the depth they get into it).
What I didn’t like:
I want more of this world, but I almost want it from different characters. I don’t know if I can stand to see more heartache.
I despise Morning. I won’t say more than that. Just, yes. She made me so mad, and also pointed out how teenagers behave.
Who would like this novel? Fans of science fiction should give this a go. If you read Ender’s Game and enjoyed it, I think you might like this novel as well. It has a few similar themes to it. If you enjoy a little mystery in with your action, yes. If you like a new world with different rules and a substance that bends science, yes. Give this a go.
Honestly, I think this a novel that most everyone should give a shot. I loved it. The only people who might not like it would be romance and comedy fans. Neither of those exist in broad strokes in this novel. Oh, there are hints and reliefs, but this is a dark and serious novel. Not too dark, just a bit in the realistic life-is-difficult-and-we-have-difficult-choices way.
*I was given this novel in exchange for an honest review.
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Also, look at this cover. This is absolutely gorgeous. It is a lot shiner in person, I promise.
