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Massif
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50 copies available
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RIDE A MASSIF TO A NEW STAR SYSTEM.
FIGHT THE ENEMY YOU FIND THERE. REPEAT.
It's business as usual for Ship Leader Parnell Shi-Sawahla and the crew of the corvette Sassafras. Ride a Massif to a new system, fight the enemy, repeat. For more than two hundred years humans have been hitching rides on these sentient, starfaring mountain ranges, colonising planets and exporting an on and off again war between Earth and Mars.
But the big questions are always there, behind every battle, every new colony, every new star system discovery.
Why do the Massifs carry humans to the stars?
Why do they help us export our wars?
What's in it for the Massifs?
Ship crews aren't supposed to ask these questions, they aren't supposed to think about these questions, and they definitely aren't supposed to go deep and talk to Massif avatars. But now Parnell and his tight-knit crew must try to find the answers, to save not only themselves but the future of humanity.
From the multimillion-copy bestseller behind many beloved fantasy series including The Old Kingdom and The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, comes his first ever adult sci-fi novel with an epic and poignant story of sentient starships, galactic warfare, and the bonds a crew forms in the cold black of space. Massif is utterly unmissable for readers of Andy Weir and Pierce Brown - and it's also the perfect gateway into science fiction for fantasy fans.
FIGHT THE ENEMY YOU FIND THERE. REPEAT.
It's business as usual for Ship Leader Parnell Shi-Sawahla and the crew of the corvette Sassafras. Ride a Massif to a new system, fight the enemy, repeat. For more than two hundred years humans have been hitching rides on these sentient, starfaring mountain ranges, colonising planets and exporting an on and off again war between Earth and Mars.
But the big questions are always there, behind every battle, every new colony, every new star system discovery.
Why do the Massifs carry humans to the stars?
Why do they help us export our wars?
What's in it for the Massifs?
Ship crews aren't supposed to ask these questions, they aren't supposed to think about these questions, and they definitely aren't supposed to go deep and talk to Massif avatars. But now Parnell and his tight-knit crew must try to find the answers, to save not only themselves but the future of humanity.
From the multimillion-copy bestseller behind many beloved fantasy series including The Old Kingdom and The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, comes his first ever adult sci-fi novel with an epic and poignant story of sentient starships, galactic warfare, and the bonds a crew forms in the cold black of space. Massif is utterly unmissable for readers of Andy Weir and Pierce Brown - and it's also the perfect gateway into science fiction for fantasy fans.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication September 8, 2026
About the author
Garth Nix
231 books15.1k followersGarth Nix was born in 1963 in Melbourne, Australia, to the sound of the Salvation Army band outside playing 'Hail the Conquering Hero Comes' or possibly 'Roll Out the Barrel'. Garth left Melbourne at an early age for Canberra (the federal capital) and stayed there till he was nineteen, when he left to drive around the UK in a beat-up Austin with a boot full of books and a Silver-Reed typewriter.
Despite a wheel literally falling off the Austin, Garth survived to return to Australia and study at the University of Canberra. After finishing his degree in 1986 he worked in a bookshop, then as a book publicist, a publisher's sales representative, and editor. Along the way he was also a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve, serving in an Assault Pioneer platoon for four years. Garth left publishing to work as a public relations and marketing consultant from 1994-1997, till he became a full-time writer in 1998. He did that for a year before joining Curtis Brown Australia as a part-time literary agent in 1999. In January 2002 Garth went back to dedicated writer again, despite his belief that full-time writing explains the strange behaviour of many authors.
He now lives in Sydney with his wife, two sons and lots of books.
Despite a wheel literally falling off the Austin, Garth survived to return to Australia and study at the University of Canberra. After finishing his degree in 1986 he worked in a bookshop, then as a book publicist, a publisher's sales representative, and editor. Along the way he was also a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve, serving in an Assault Pioneer platoon for four years. Garth left publishing to work as a public relations and marketing consultant from 1994-1997, till he became a full-time writer in 1998. He did that for a year before joining Curtis Brown Australia as a part-time literary agent in 1999. In January 2002 Garth went back to dedicated writer again, despite his belief that full-time writing explains the strange behaviour of many authors.
He now lives in Sydney with his wife, two sons and lots of books.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
2026
March 25, 2026📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager
May 15, 2026
In one word: Excellent!
It’s been forever since I read Garth Nix, I loved his Abhorsen series but aged out. Just like Sabriel, Massif has a lot of world building to push through that at times felt dense. Nix has a fecund imagination and once I stopped trying to steer & settled in for the ride, I was delighted with where he lead.
Massif starts off strong. Quickly we learn that a series of small mountains, or Massifs, have broken free from different plants and travel the stars crisscrossing each other in fixed routes. Humans have been hitching rides on Massifs, colonizing every habitable planet they come across & starting wars with each other over them.
Our story opens with the crew of Sassafras readying to launch off a Massif into battle against a company of Mars colonizers. The battle is a dumpster fire with both sides suffering massive casualties, loss of ships and a member of the Sassafras’s crew is lost on the planet below. The book then focuses on Ship Leader Parnells attempts to rebuild the Sassafras & rescue them. Unfortunately the more we learn about the Massifs, the more we’re forced to question what their true intentions are.
It’s been forever since I read Garth Nix, I loved his Abhorsen series but aged out. Just like Sabriel, Massif has a lot of world building to push through that at times felt dense. Nix has a fecund imagination and once I stopped trying to steer & settled in for the ride, I was delighted with where he lead.
Massif starts off strong. Quickly we learn that a series of small mountains, or Massifs, have broken free from different plants and travel the stars crisscrossing each other in fixed routes. Humans have been hitching rides on Massifs, colonizing every habitable planet they come across & starting wars with each other over them.
Our story opens with the crew of Sassafras readying to launch off a Massif into battle against a company of Mars colonizers. The battle is a dumpster fire with both sides suffering massive casualties, loss of ships and a member of the Sassafras’s crew is lost on the planet below. The book then focuses on Ship Leader Parnells attempts to rebuild the Sassafras & rescue them. Unfortunately the more we learn about the Massifs, the more we’re forced to question what their true intentions are.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received an ARC of this book. My review is based on that copy. The published work may differ from what I read.
I love the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix. I’ve read it more times than I can count. His other works are always creative and conceptually interesting, but haven’t always worked for me as a total product. They have tended to lean heavier on the ideas over the characters. That’s not going to be an issue for a lot of people, but I am a character first kind of reader. I need people to connect to in order to care about the concepts, settings, ideas, or themes being presented to me. Nix did that to absolute perfection in Sabriel, so I know he’s got it in him.
In Massif the world building is front loaded and it is a lot all at once. The first few chapters are pages and pages of info dumping to set up the context. The concepts and ideas are fascinating, but I really struggled to get into the book. It’s very slow going at first and there is a lot of technical language. The cast of characters is an interesting mishmash of a crew and I was interested in who they were and how they fit together. It takes a while to get a feel for them as people, and the clunky dialogue doesn’t help. But it smooths out, and the found family aspect comes to the forefront especially as the plot starts to take shape.
The plot appears to be one thing on the surface, but there’s a deeper layer of much more complex goings on underneath that takes a while to show itself. We are limited to what the characters know. The story is focused on their goals and experiences and the bigger issues are on the periphery because the characters themselves are not making them a priority. It’s only as those bigger issues begin to make themselves known and encroach on the character’s mission that we start to know more. The world is a lot bigger than the story being told. I found that frustrating at times. But the reveal, when it comes, is stunning and disturbing. The ending, however, felt incomplete and abrupt.
There are some incredible, memorable descriptions in this book, especially as related to the avatars and their effects on people. A few scenes in particular could have been out of a horror novel. Those brief moments, interwoven into the much more practical and straightforward book around them, stand out like blood in a white room.
Like all of Nix’ work, there are unique and creative ideas at play here. I just wanted the whole experience to be tighter and more streamlined. There is a lot of time wasted on overly detailed, minute explanations of step by step actions being taken. It bogged down the story. I would have enjoyed this more if that had been reined in. I also wanted more depth to the characters. What is there is great! There just isn’t enough of it. There is a really good book buried underneath the excess. It just needs to be cleaned up and trimmed to fully reveal itself.
I love the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix. I’ve read it more times than I can count. His other works are always creative and conceptually interesting, but haven’t always worked for me as a total product. They have tended to lean heavier on the ideas over the characters. That’s not going to be an issue for a lot of people, but I am a character first kind of reader. I need people to connect to in order to care about the concepts, settings, ideas, or themes being presented to me. Nix did that to absolute perfection in Sabriel, so I know he’s got it in him.
In Massif the world building is front loaded and it is a lot all at once. The first few chapters are pages and pages of info dumping to set up the context. The concepts and ideas are fascinating, but I really struggled to get into the book. It’s very slow going at first and there is a lot of technical language. The cast of characters is an interesting mishmash of a crew and I was interested in who they were and how they fit together. It takes a while to get a feel for them as people, and the clunky dialogue doesn’t help. But it smooths out, and the found family aspect comes to the forefront especially as the plot starts to take shape.
The plot appears to be one thing on the surface, but there’s a deeper layer of much more complex goings on underneath that takes a while to show itself. We are limited to what the characters know. The story is focused on their goals and experiences and the bigger issues are on the periphery because the characters themselves are not making them a priority. It’s only as those bigger issues begin to make themselves known and encroach on the character’s mission that we start to know more. The world is a lot bigger than the story being told. I found that frustrating at times. But the reveal, when it comes, is stunning and disturbing. The ending, however, felt incomplete and abrupt.
There are some incredible, memorable descriptions in this book, especially as related to the avatars and their effects on people. A few scenes in particular could have been out of a horror novel. Those brief moments, interwoven into the much more practical and straightforward book around them, stand out like blood in a white room.
Like all of Nix’ work, there are unique and creative ideas at play here. I just wanted the whole experience to be tighter and more streamlined. There is a lot of time wasted on overly detailed, minute explanations of step by step actions being taken. It bogged down the story. I would have enjoyed this more if that had been reined in. I also wanted more depth to the characters. What is there is great! There just isn’t enough of it. There is a really good book buried underneath the excess. It just needs to be cleaned up and trimmed to fully reveal itself.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received a free copy from Harper Voyager via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Release date September 8th, 2026.
I've read a bit of Nix's adult fantasy and of course his children's novels ages ago, so I was curious about his foray into SF. In Massif, Parnell is captain of a ship attached to a mysterious, spacefaring Massif. When a routine battle in their endless war goes terribly wrong, Parnell is determined to rescue his lost pilot—but in the process, he must explore the deepest secrets of the Massifs...
Massif ran much more classically military SF than I expected, which is, admittedly, not my favorite genre. If you're going to spend half the plot in space battles, I need much more anti-war critique, in the line of Hurley's The Light Brigade. I thought the underlying premise was interesting—humans have discovered space travel, but they're completely dependent on the mountain-sized alien Massifs that move through space on set routes. But all the worldbuilding does with that plot is set up an eternal Earth-Mars space colonization war. Bang bang space marines space guns over the apparently infinite resource of barely colonized worlds. It didn't help that the characterization was relatively shallow, which is fatal with a plot revolving around crew comradery. We shan't even mention the half-baked romance.
I think part of my issue with this book was due to the structure. Effectively, the inciting incident only happened about halfway through the novel. And it feels like the point of the whole book was just to set up the big twist at the end. This is a structure for a short story, not an entire three hundred fifty page novel. But fundamentally, Massif is not focused on topics that interest me. The story is about survival and surviving bad orders, and it's fundamentally plot driven with relatively flat characters. While there's apparently an entire sentient alien measuring scale, we don't learn anything about alien cultures or civilizations. And while the ending obviously sets up a sequel, it seems poised to introduce merely a different kind of war.
Ultimately a bit of a disappointment. There's nothing here I find appealing. I liked Nix's Sir Hereward collection, but this foray into SF feels like a dud.
I've read a bit of Nix's adult fantasy and of course his children's novels ages ago, so I was curious about his foray into SF. In Massif, Parnell is captain of a ship attached to a mysterious, spacefaring Massif. When a routine battle in their endless war goes terribly wrong, Parnell is determined to rescue his lost pilot—but in the process, he must explore the deepest secrets of the Massifs...
Massif ran much more classically military SF than I expected, which is, admittedly, not my favorite genre. If you're going to spend half the plot in space battles, I need much more anti-war critique, in the line of Hurley's The Light Brigade. I thought the underlying premise was interesting—humans have discovered space travel, but they're completely dependent on the mountain-sized alien Massifs that move through space on set routes. But all the worldbuilding does with that plot is set up an eternal Earth-Mars space colonization war. Bang bang space marines space guns over the apparently infinite resource of barely colonized worlds. It didn't help that the characterization was relatively shallow, which is fatal with a plot revolving around crew comradery. We shan't even mention the half-baked romance.
I think part of my issue with this book was due to the structure. Effectively, the inciting incident only happened about halfway through the novel. And it feels like the point of the whole book was just to set up the big twist at the end. This is a structure for a short story, not an entire three hundred fifty page novel. But fundamentally, Massif is not focused on topics that interest me. The story is about survival and surviving bad orders, and it's fundamentally plot driven with relatively flat characters. While there's apparently an entire sentient alien measuring scale, we don't learn anything about alien cultures or civilizations. And while the ending obviously sets up a sequel, it seems poised to introduce merely a different kind of war.
Ultimately a bit of a disappointment. There's nothing here I find appealing. I liked Nix's Sir Hereward collection, but this foray into SF feels like a dud.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Massif, by Garth Nix, is a sci-fi book that feels fresh in its ideas. In this novel, Earth and Mars are at war but there’s a unique type of player in the game — Massifs. These mountains function as space transports from war to war, that humanity has figured out how to utilize without understanding how or why they function. Each massif also has an avatar and they each have unique personalities and friendliness levels. The massifs may give a military or an individual a spaceship after a grueling and traumatic quest to ask for one. Only certain “sensitives” can pilot these ships with their minds. The massifs can be fickle, killing on a whim. They torture people via the avatar, and a few scenes are out of a horror novel. So while battling each other, Earthers and “Marsies” have to contend with these overlord mountains that they don’t fully understand.
This book is an engaging space adventure following the crew of the Sassafras. The first few chapters are a lot of world-building and the characters have long hyphenated names which have to do with cloned traits. I’d like to have had a little more character development, but what’s there makes the crew likable, interesting, and gives that “found family” vibe that makes the reader root for them. The book has a satisfying ending, while still leaving an opening for a sequel. Some creative and interesting ideas here. Definitely worth a read.
Note: after I wrote this review, I looked a a few other reviews. I have to say that this is the first book I’ve read by Garth Nix, so I think I’ve come into it without any preexisting expectations of his writing and enjoyed it.
Massif, by Garth Nix, is a sci-fi book that feels fresh in its ideas. In this novel, Earth and Mars are at war but there’s a unique type of player in the game — Massifs. These mountains function as space transports from war to war, that humanity has figured out how to utilize without understanding how or why they function. Each massif also has an avatar and they each have unique personalities and friendliness levels. The massifs may give a military or an individual a spaceship after a grueling and traumatic quest to ask for one. Only certain “sensitives” can pilot these ships with their minds. The massifs can be fickle, killing on a whim. They torture people via the avatar, and a few scenes are out of a horror novel. So while battling each other, Earthers and “Marsies” have to contend with these overlord mountains that they don’t fully understand.
This book is an engaging space adventure following the crew of the Sassafras. The first few chapters are a lot of world-building and the characters have long hyphenated names which have to do with cloned traits. I’d like to have had a little more character development, but what’s there makes the crew likable, interesting, and gives that “found family” vibe that makes the reader root for them. The book has a satisfying ending, while still leaving an opening for a sequel. Some creative and interesting ideas here. Definitely worth a read.
Note: after I wrote this review, I looked a a few other reviews. I have to say that this is the first book I’ve read by Garth Nix, so I think I’ve come into it without any preexisting expectations of his writing and enjoyed it.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I'm really disappointed, because I greatly enjoyed Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series.
Massif had the potential to be really engaging for me. I liked the original concept -- flying mountains suddenly are sentient and basically like giant spaceships?
We are flung into action so quickly and introduced to so many people that I immediately was unable to follow the thread of connection. There's a lot of space jargon, and also a lot of dialogue that feels more tell than show, as well as info-dumping. The writing felt a little like a bunch of pieces moved around very quickly, but I never really felt like I had a good handle on the visuals of what was going on--there isn't a lot of time built up for descriptive prose which grounds the reader in the location.
Many of the chapters are written as tactical reports, which maybe military readers might enjoy, but I found very dry. Characters spend a lot of time barking orders ("red ten, z on our axis is plus eleven, range one hundred and sixty-five K, closing"), followed by more expository dialogue about various types of ships. So many sitreps my eyes glazed over and I was really unable to follow what plot I was supposed to care about.
Just not for me, so I think I will go reread the Old Kingdom series.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!
Massif had the potential to be really engaging for me. I liked the original concept -- flying mountains suddenly are sentient and basically like giant spaceships?
We are flung into action so quickly and introduced to so many people that I immediately was unable to follow the thread of connection. There's a lot of space jargon, and also a lot of dialogue that feels more tell than show, as well as info-dumping. The writing felt a little like a bunch of pieces moved around very quickly, but I never really felt like I had a good handle on the visuals of what was going on--there isn't a lot of time built up for descriptive prose which grounds the reader in the location.
Many of the chapters are written as tactical reports, which maybe military readers might enjoy, but I found very dry. Characters spend a lot of time barking orders ("red ten, z on our axis is plus eleven, range one hundred and sixty-five K, closing"), followed by more expository dialogue about various types of ships. So many sitreps my eyes glazed over and I was really unable to follow what plot I was supposed to care about.
Just not for me, so I think I will go reread the Old Kingdom series.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
As a fan of many of Mr. Nix's earlier works, I enjoyed his odd turn of humor and whimsey here, when he had room to show it. As this is a more serious work of military sci-fi, with high stakes, that was often in a darker, gallows humor kind of way. The odd names of the massifs; how the troops dealt with the day to day moments of weariness, danger, and adrenaline. It certainly worked well when dealing with the aliens - who are, thankfully, very alien.
This is obviously the first of several titles in this world; the final reveal bringing everything clear in a harrowing way while also not providing anything remotely like a culmination. It would have been nice to definitely know this was going to be a series when going into it. (Though most everything is these days.)
On the whole, this book felt a bit like being in the military. Lots of waiting for things to start; barrels of Oh-My-God! moments poured on all at once; more moments of waiting through clean-up and then wash-rinse-repeat. I do want to see where he's going with this, though.
Thanks to Netgalley and Mr. Nix for the arc in exchange for my honest opinion.
This is obviously the first of several titles in this world; the final reveal bringing everything clear in a harrowing way while also not providing anything remotely like a culmination. It would have been nice to definitely know this was going to be a series when going into it. (Though most everything is these days.)
On the whole, this book felt a bit like being in the military. Lots of waiting for things to start; barrels of Oh-My-God! moments poured on all at once; more moments of waiting through clean-up and then wash-rinse-repeat. I do want to see where he's going with this, though.
Thanks to Netgalley and Mr. Nix for the arc in exchange for my honest opinion.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Well Garth Nix isn't exactly a "new" author, but when I read the description of Massif, it sounded so far from all of the other works that I've seen or heard about from Nix, that I was curious. This story is solidly in the "space opera" science fiction genre. There is a lot of world building that comes at the reader from the start just to be able to navigate the story, but then you are also introduced to the central characters who are an interesting group. There is a balance of character-driven and plot-driven story that kept me engaged. I don't know if this book would appeal to the author's fans who are looking for the familiar (high fantasy adventures), but for those with an open mind to exploring a new frontier or space story enthusiasts who haven't even read Sabriel, Massif may be the right adventure.
I received access to this eARC thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Avon and Harper Voyager) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.
I received access to this eARC thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Avon and Harper Voyager) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I've really enjoyed Garth Nix's Abhorsen series, and I've even read and liked some of The Keys to the Kingdom children's books. I was looking forward to see Nix move into adult science fiction. But unfortunately, this book is terrible.
The writing in terms of sentence structure and style reads very childish or young adult to me, rather than a more adult structure. There was also a huge amount of info dumping as Nix was setting the scene for the book, and it was not handled well at all. I fell asleep reading this multiple times, and had to bribe myself to keep reading so I could leave a review. The characters themselves are rather dull, and I found myself having zero desire to cheer for our protagonist or any of the crew. If this is meant to be a space opera, or a military SF, it failed miserably.
Unless the book is dramatically revised and edited before publication, I can't in good conscience recommend it.
The writing in terms of sentence structure and style reads very childish or young adult to me, rather than a more adult structure. There was also a huge amount of info dumping as Nix was setting the scene for the book, and it was not handled well at all. I fell asleep reading this multiple times, and had to bribe myself to keep reading so I could leave a review. The characters themselves are rather dull, and I found myself having zero desire to cheer for our protagonist or any of the crew. If this is meant to be a space opera, or a military SF, it failed miserably.
Unless the book is dramatically revised and edited before publication, I can't in good conscience recommend it.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is the first book in a new science fiction series by an author known for his fantasy novels. Also it's military sci-fi but not hardcore military sci-fi. Nix does a masterful job bringing to life the alien lifeforms known as Massifs, mountain sized behemoths that can only communicate through and avatar, and that not well. No one knows why the Massifs ferry humans around the galaxy or why each one has a different type of avatar. The Massif on which most of the story takes place is called Drummer Boy, because it's avatar is a giant figure drumming and when it appears everyone also starts drumming, tapping their fingers to the beat. No one knows why it does that.
The beginning was a little blah because of info-dumps. After that it takes off with a space battle, including a boarding attempt and a crewmember in a single ship crashlanding on the enemy planet. When the survivors get back to base on their Massif, Drummer Boy, the leader of Sassafrass ship who lost his crewmember when her ship went down wants to go back and rescue her. But the brass says no. No rescue mission. Still the leader is not disheartened and is determined to get his crewmember back. The crew of the Sassafrass are very tight and close with each other. They are also loyal to their leader. The leader hatches a crazy plan that has a low chance of actually working out. By the end of the novel we will discover one of the big secrets of the Massifs.
This book was great, a nice adventure with heart. The writing is very good, bringing to life the characters. Personally, I can't wait for the sequel to find out what happens next.
I received an e-book advance copy through NetGalley, and this in no way influenced my opinion.
The beginning was a little blah because of info-dumps. After that it takes off with a space battle, including a boarding attempt and a crewmember in a single ship crashlanding on the enemy planet. When the survivors get back to base on their Massif, Drummer Boy, the leader of Sassafrass ship who lost his crewmember when her ship went down wants to go back and rescue her. But the brass says no. No rescue mission. Still the leader is not disheartened and is determined to get his crewmember back. The crew of the Sassafrass are very tight and close with each other. They are also loyal to their leader. The leader hatches a crazy plan that has a low chance of actually working out. By the end of the novel we will discover one of the big secrets of the Massifs.
This book was great, a nice adventure with heart. The writing is very good, bringing to life the characters. Personally, I can't wait for the sequel to find out what happens next.
I received an e-book advance copy through NetGalley, and this in no way influenced my opinion.
May 8, 2026
Massif is an extremely unique scifi novel about the crew of the ship Sassafras. They must work together to battle against the soldiers of Mars, as well as discover the secrets hiding within the leviathan floating terrains known as Massifs.
Garth Nix knows how to create worlds within his books that are completely distinctive from other works, and Massif is no exception. I really enjoyed the humor and heart of the Sassafras crew, as well as unraveling the mystery within the colossal floating crags at the center of the story.
My thanks to the publisher for sending me an Advance Reader Copy of this book. It was provided to me through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Everything stated in my review is my own opinion written in my own words.
Garth Nix knows how to create worlds within his books that are completely distinctive from other works, and Massif is no exception. I really enjoyed the humor and heart of the Sassafras crew, as well as unraveling the mystery within the colossal floating crags at the center of the story.
My thanks to the publisher for sending me an Advance Reader Copy of this book. It was provided to me through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Everything stated in my review is my own opinion written in my own words.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
By the end of chapter two, I was already overwhelmed and ready to give up.
Nix introduces a staggering amount of jargon and lore immediately: flying mountains and their avatars, multiple warring corporate/planetary systems, and a complex naming convention where surnames dictate professional suitability. Add to that the technical mechanics of how "massif gifts" allow for ship expansion, and the narrative feels completely buried.
The story finally gets off the ground—literally—at the end of the second chapter, but the "background noise" was so loud I’d already lost interest. A space opera needs momentum, but this felt more like reading a technical manual.
Nix introduces a staggering amount of jargon and lore immediately: flying mountains and their avatars, multiple warring corporate/planetary systems, and a complex naming convention where surnames dictate professional suitability. Add to that the technical mechanics of how "massif gifts" allow for ship expansion, and the narrative feels completely buried.
The story finally gets off the ground—literally—at the end of the second chapter, but the "background noise" was so loud I’d already lost interest. A space opera needs momentum, but this felt more like reading a technical manual.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Oh man, I wish I'd liked this more. The concept of the Massifs is cool! This is some hard science fiction though, and the military side of the story made me zone out at the beginning. I audibly groaned at the parade chapter. The characters felt shallow. The pacing was so slow which made it feel like the narration didn't make much progress through the story. I liked uncovering a secret of the Massifs, but we ended mid-mystery in a way that wasn't necessary. The setting was very well-written, and I am intrigued about what more the characters will find out about the Massifs.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
I liked the premise of this a lot but the first half was very, very slow, and then it ends kind of abruptly. I assume it's going to be a series, but not showing up as such on Goodreads (yet). I would probably consider reading the next one, but if it was similarly slow that would likely be it for me.
I received an e-arc from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.
I received an e-arc from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.
April 28, 2026
I’ve been a fan of Garth Nix since picking up Sabriel, and his foray into science fiction didn’t disappoint. Chosen family, deep space exploration and mysterious alien entities made for a fun ride.
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.
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February 12, 2026review text for 4646
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