A new book and a new story to review in the next lines.
The story
The main plot is about a corporation which have found a way to extract specific resource called Nyxia from a distant planet. This resource possess unique capabilities as molding in the form of whatever you imagine in your mind( after some mental training). It is very expensive on Earth and the corporation organizes a competition to recruit a crew of highly capable men and woman who can not only survive on the hostile world( there are some aliens about we don’t know much) but also gather the material by the most efficient way possible.
The story in the first volume of the book takes action on the board of the ship which have launched toward the new planet and the main focus is about the training and the exercises of the future team.
The characters
It is a book focused over the personal stories of each team member and why they have been selected to go on this mission. There were several places where they had to take hard decisions and bear the consequences of their actions.
Which is a good thing at least for me because when I am reading such books I like( sometimes) to pose the same questions to myself.
Most of the team members are from different points on Earth, each one having his own cultural believes and moral codex. So it was interesting to read and see how they are going to cooperate together, sabotage each other or between teams, and bear the mischiefs being so far from their family and friends on Earth.
Language complexity
In terms of language complexity from my perspective of non-native English reader, I could say that it was easy to average book. Depending of what are your goals as a language learner there were words which were specific for this space genre which I didn’t know but the thing that mostly weights here is that there were a lot of action and a lot of description about specific movements of people, vehicles or surroundings.
Chambers going beyond gravity, molding of surfaces or diving into simulated rivers. Sliding from here and there, creation of fog, walls, shadows etc.
Overall it posed a certain difficulty for me to imagine on my best the action and the places.
Pace of action
As most books the first few chapters were relatively slow. But overall the specifics of this genre poses a pretty good pace of action. Most of the times I have stop reading for a while so I can “recover” from some bad or unexpected plot twists into the story.
Overall satisfaction
In general I was slightly disappointed because I was awaiting the moment when the teams are going to the surface of the planet but near the 3/4 of the book I realized that this is going to happen in the second book.
Overall it was an interesting book, not very memorable maybe because it’s mostly action and taking decisions. But I am looking forward toward the second book. In general I am one idea more critical than maybe it’s normal so don’t take my opinion for granted. I like mostly story driven books with great setting of the world and lovable deep characters.
Thank you for your time.
Amusika 