Nyxia

4 stars ( release date Sept. 12, 2017)

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next book in the series. It’s a fun YA Science Fiction/Fantasy book that reminds me of Enders Game and the Hunger Games. The main character is Emmett, a high school student from Detroit that is recruited along with 9 other teenagers to participate in a project for a huge conglomerate called Babel Corporation. They compete for a chance to be taken to an alien world called Eden, where they will live among an alien race named Adamites and mine a new incredible substance called Nyxia for one year. In exchange, they will be paid $50,000 a month for life and their family members will be provided the much needed health care that they need forever. But, is the offer too good to be true?
The worldbuilding in the book is ok. The story is clearly set sometime in the not-to-distant future, but the timeline is never really made clear. The date 2020 is mentioned at one point, but it’s never explained just how far beyond that date the story is set. The other characters are not as fully formed as Emmett, but that’s mainly because there is so much action going on in the book. I expect these characters will be more developed in later books. The story lags in a couple places, but this is a minor annoyance and doesn’t really spoil the overall enjoyment of the book.

I recommend you read this book. While the themes are fairly typical of a YA SciFi/fantasy dystopian book, it’s still a good read. It’s fun and full of action. The chapters are short and you will have a hard time putting it down.