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theaceofpages's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Set on a spaceship, this book follows a group of teens as they train and compete for a chance to go mine a planet in exchange for wealth and security for their families. Apparently some people have compared it to The Hunger Games, but I didn't really feel that. The whole scoreboards (so many scoreboards in this book...), competing for glory thing reminds me more of Ready Player One, but even that... Eh. not really. It's its own thing with competing teens and deserves to stand that way. Especially since it feels so different.
I'll admit, I felt pretty meh for most of the book. I mean, it was interesting enough and I loved some of the ideas (nyxia is such an interesting material with so many interesting possibilities!) but it wasn't particularly inspiring me to read the sequel - I felt like one would be enough. But the ending makes me want to pick up the next book in order to see what actually happened in the last few pages. Which brings me to my main issue with this book. As much as the ideas were interesting, it felt a little repetitive as the book basically comprised training tasks. Which were repeated multiple times. And yeah, there were tweaks and different outcomes, but it still felt repetitive. It feels like this book is a very long set up to the main story and like it could have been streamlined a bit better so that we can get into the main story. Will I be picking up the next book to see how the plot shifts? Maybe? If I can find a copy. I mean, the last pages definitely brought up a lot of questions that I feel could make a more engaging sequel!
I'll admit, I felt pretty meh for most of the book. I mean, it was interesting enough and I loved some of the ideas (nyxia is such an interesting material with so many interesting possibilities!) but it wasn't particularly inspiring me to read the sequel - I felt like one would be enough. But the ending makes me want to pick up the next book in order to see what actually happened in the last few pages. Which brings me to my main issue with this book. As much as the ideas were interesting, it felt a little repetitive as the book basically comprised training tasks. Which were repeated multiple times. And yeah, there were tweaks and different outcomes, but it still felt repetitive. It feels like this book is a very long set up to the main story and like it could have been streamlined a bit better so that we can get into the main story. Will I be picking up the next book to see how the plot shifts? Maybe? If I can find a copy. I mean, the last pages definitely brought up a lot of questions that I feel could make a more engaging sequel!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer