Nyx: Malache

Nyx #1

by Tyree Campbell

Nyx, a hard-nosed assassin for a covert bureau of Amphictyony Security, is dispatched to Malache, there to prevent the transfer of classified data by killing the courier. She does so, only to learn that she has killed the wrong person. Sent back to correct the error, she becomes embroiled in an internecine corporate squabble over resources in which both sides seek to eliminate the native, lemuroid Malasy in droves. Her opposition is led by the one person who has defeated her before. The ecology itself is aggressively hostile. Her support team includes an outcast Malasy who seeks a sexual liaison with her, and a skittish anthropologist of questionable loyalties.

Devoid of emotions as the result of a brutal childhood and even harsher training, Nyx discovers that to accomplish her mission she must reacquaint herself with her lost feelings and her femininity. That in order to win, she must shed the cold-bloodedness that enabled her to succeed in past assignments. But in the final, grisly confrontation with the nemesis from her past, she must make the most cold-blooded sacrifice of all.

292 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 2002

About the author

Tyree Luck Campbell III is a retired U.S. Army translator with some 100 stories and two dozen poems [including a 2003 Rhysling finalist] published to date. His first novel, Nyx, about an assassin who rediscovers her emotions while on assignment on a strange world and is now a series, with a 3rd novel forthcoming in 2012. His second novel is The Dog At The Foot Of The Bed, an epic SF tale of love and revenge across space and time, and also available at that site. He is also the Managing Editor of Sam’’s Dot Publishing, and invites you to http://www.samsdotpublishing.com .

Reviews

[Kassandra Nelson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do the folks at GoodReads know that you're an unrehabilitated pedophile?

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[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first in a series, this story is told from the perspective of Nyx, a professional killer who works for a division of a large Corporation in the far future. The mission described in this book takes place on the planet Malache, where she is assigned to kill a target identified by her contact on the planet. Of course, it wouldnt' be much of a story if the situation didn't turn SNAFU, which of course it does.

I found this book to be pretty average. The writing was fine, though nothing out of the ordinary. The editing was good, with only one or two typos left for me to find. The story itself was all right, though I didn't care for the constant sexual references. Having purchased the book directly from the author, I can testify that he is not the sex-obsessed 15 year old you would think he was from reading the book, being much older than that. That being said, sexual reproduction by the native indigenous species was part of the plot, so at least it was somewhat related to the plot and not completely gratuitous.

The future world depicted in the book is also kind of depressing, unless you really love soulless bureaucracies. The "Corporation" has all of these different divisions that are all seemingly fighting with each other (sometimes including actual physical combat) for money or status or whatever. Blargh. No thank you.

Bottom line, I moderately enjoyed this book, but am not compelled to seek out the next book in the series.

[George Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was enjoyable. Fun to explore a new world and a strange corporate run future following a very focused assassin who ends up getting distracted. Did get confused with the alien names, and found the sex angle a little over-the-top for my taste.