Nyxia Unleashed by Scott Reintgen
Book Stats:
Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Hardcover: 390 pages
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
Release date: July 17, 2018
Series: Nyxia Triad, #2
Source: Library
Reviewed by: Kara
Order: Amazon | Book Depository
Emmett Atwater thought Babel's game sounded easy. Get points. Get paid. Go home. But it didn't take long for him to learn that Babel's competition was full of broken promises, none darker or more damaging than the last one.
Now Emmett and the rest of the Genesis spaceship survivors must rally and forge their own path through a new world. Their mission from Babel is simple: extract nyxia, the most valuable material in the universe, and play nice with the indigenous Adamite population.
But Emmett and the others quickly realize they are caught between two powerful forces-Babel and the Adamites-with clashing desires. Will the Genesis team make it out alive before it's too late?
There's once again a lot of things going on in this novel (too many?).Our Genesis 11 and 12 crews have been dispatched to a new world on Babel's mission. There's an entirely new world we know practically nothing about, a new culture of the Adamites or Imago, an underlying mystery of the Imago, plus Babel's secret plot and then, what's happening on the Babel spaceship? Then you add in the insta-romance of Emmett and Morning, the feud between Isabelle and Emmett because of Roathy, a revenge plan by the Genesis crew for their fallen members and Babel's lies...this is a lot for a reader to process. I really wish it would have slowed down!
From the last book, the character development really seemed to improve, especially since we already know a lot of the characters. I was frustrated at the relationship between Emmett and Morning mostly because Morning seems like a Mary Sue. She's pretty perfect but her one weakness is the boy? Pah. There's one point in their story where Morning is really upset by calling home and she doesn't tell Emmett, and then you might realize that Morning actually never says anything about her past and her family. Why? I had trouble connecting with her. I did, however, absolutely love the character of Anton (even though we know little about him too), so I'm really looking forward to reading more about him in the last book. We only get to see a few glimpses of what he's up to in the latter half of the novel. One of the characters to really change is Longwei, from a silent, winning-is-the-only-thing-that-matters player to one of the team because of Emmett's friendship and support.
The worldbuilding in this novel gives me echoes of a few different things. The mining camps remind me of Fallout vault shelters (why is a spoiler). The rings and different walls of the Imago's city remind me of Gondor in Lord of the Rings. I loved the scene that played out in the Sixth ring with the talented chef. That was possibly my favorite part of this novel. Yet with the strange land I also see connections to C.S. Lewis's Perelandra series. Maybe this is due to the allegorical references to Biblical names in this novel with Babel, Genesis, Jerricho...
Lastly, I have trouble recalling all of the events at the end. There was such chaos and confusion between plots and subplots that I honestly don't remember what significance each event had. I'll have to read it over again for it to sink in... I will definitely be reading book 3 out in 2019. Give this series a try? What did you like? What did I miss? Which characters stood out to you?
From the last book, the character development really seemed to improve, especially since we already know a lot of the characters. I was frustrated at the relationship between Emmett and Morning mostly because Morning seems like a Mary Sue. She's pretty perfect but her one weakness is the boy? Pah. There's one point in their story where Morning is really upset by calling home and she doesn't tell Emmett, and then you might realize that Morning actually never says anything about her past and her family. Why? I had trouble connecting with her. I did, however, absolutely love the character of Anton (even though we know little about him too), so I'm really looking forward to reading more about him in the last book. We only get to see a few glimpses of what he's up to in the latter half of the novel. One of the characters to really change is Longwei, from a silent, winning-is-the-only-thing-that-matters player to one of the team because of Emmett's friendship and support.
The worldbuilding in this novel gives me echoes of a few different things. The mining camps remind me of Fallout vault shelters (why is a spoiler). The rings and different walls of the Imago's city remind me of Gondor in Lord of the Rings. I loved the scene that played out in the Sixth ring with the talented chef. That was possibly my favorite part of this novel. Yet with the strange land I also see connections to C.S. Lewis's Perelandra series. Maybe this is due to the allegorical references to Biblical names in this novel with Babel, Genesis, Jerricho...
Lastly, I have trouble recalling all of the events at the end. There was such chaos and confusion between plots and subplots that I honestly don't remember what significance each event had. I'll have to read it over again for it to sink in... I will definitely be reading book 3 out in 2019. Give this series a try? What did you like? What did I miss? Which characters stood out to you?
