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Massif
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.
339 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 8, 2026
About the author
Garth Nix
241 books15.3k 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 - 30 of 235 reviews
October 18, 2026
I’ve always believed I have a vivid imagination, but what some authors come up with in their heads… my goodness…
This is one of those books where I would never, ever have guessed where the plot was going. Just coming up with this kind of alien…
This book is very weird, and I can’t think of a better word for it. It took me a while to get used to the writing style, and unfortunately, there were a lot of technical details at the beginning. I actually like that kind of thing, but since I wasn’t yet used to the book’s style, it made it all the more difficult to read and understand. This is probably the kind of book you have to read more than once.
Overall, this story is about a family that has found each other and their unity in the face of all kinds of difficulties. My favorite theme. I really love how the characters interact with each other and how they fight for one another.
Unfortunately, I’m annoyed by the ending, which is why I can’t bring myself to give it a higher rating. The book builds up slowly. The plot picks up speed around the middle and gets more interesting with every page. Everything builds up to a climax, which is reached in the second-to-last chapter, and the final chapter tries to create some sort of closure.
The ending is totally rushed and abrupt. Unfortunately.
Still, it's a brilliant book.
Weak black tea was something you either already liked before joining UEGN or found you had to like, due to its ubiquity and lack of any other options. 🤭
If the war ended it would mean leaving the Sassafras, leaving the crew.
Who and what would he be without them? 🧐
I want us all to stay together, Parnell thought. Working together. Neighbors, at least. In a small town, on a pleasant colony world. But together.
That was the key. 🫠
This is one of those books where I would never, ever have guessed where the plot was going. Just coming up with this kind of alien…
This book is very weird, and I can’t think of a better word for it. It took me a while to get used to the writing style, and unfortunately, there were a lot of technical details at the beginning. I actually like that kind of thing, but since I wasn’t yet used to the book’s style, it made it all the more difficult to read and understand. This is probably the kind of book you have to read more than once.
Overall, this story is about a family that has found each other and their unity in the face of all kinds of difficulties. My favorite theme. I really love how the characters interact with each other and how they fight for one another.
Unfortunately, I’m annoyed by the ending, which is why I can’t bring myself to give it a higher rating. The book builds up slowly. The plot picks up speed around the middle and gets more interesting with every page. Everything builds up to a climax, which is reached in the second-to-last chapter, and the final chapter tries to create some sort of closure.
The ending is totally rushed and abrupt. Unfortunately.
Still, it's a brilliant book.
Weak black tea was something you either already liked before joining UEGN or found you had to like, due to its ubiquity and lack of any other options. 🤭
If the war ended it would mean leaving the Sassafras, leaving the crew.
Who and what would he be without them? 🧐
I want us all to stay together, Parnell thought. Working together. Neighbors, at least. In a small town, on a pleasant colony world. But together.
That was the key. 🫠
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Humanity conquered the stars. It just never figured out what was carrying us there. My thanks to Allen & Unwin for the arc.
In Garth Nix's Massif, enormous, mysterious mountain ranges - Massifs - have become the galactic highways of the future, their technology forming the backbone of civilisation despite humans only vaguely understanding how they work, where they came from or what their purpose might be. Meanwhile Earth is ravaged by climate change and military service in the endless war with Mars offers a chance to escape to an off world colony. But even centuries into the future, some things never change - bureaucracy, paperwork and endless red tape.
On the surface it's a relatively straightforward rescue mission, following one crew's struggles to rescue their marooned team member. But woven through every setback and bureaucratic roadblock is the tantalising Massif mystery, growing stranger and more unsettling as they get closer to their goal.
The crew dynamic is delightful. Their loyalty, trust and problem solving under pressure gives the story a strong found family heart, while the increasingly strange encounters with the Massifs introduce flashes of genuinely creepy horror. The way the avatars affect humans adding an eerie edge to an otherwise grounded military scifi.
The opening is packed with military terminology and Massif mechanics but I enjoyed the immediate immersion and gradual payoff. It lays the bones of an expansive world and mystery exploring humanity’s relentless curiosity, drive to explore, the limits of our power and the danger of exploiting things we don’t understand simply because we can. There’s even an uncomfortable echo of climate change in the idea of technological progress creating consequences we may not fully understand until it’s too late.
As the mystery finally collides with the crew’s increasingly desperate rescue mission, everything comes together in a tense, explosive climax with an emotional gut punch. The revelations are intense but just as their implications begin to unfold the book ends.
Which left me wanting more.
More Massifs. More of this strange future. More consequences.
I can only hope Nix plans to return.
In Garth Nix's Massif, enormous, mysterious mountain ranges - Massifs - have become the galactic highways of the future, their technology forming the backbone of civilisation despite humans only vaguely understanding how they work, where they came from or what their purpose might be. Meanwhile Earth is ravaged by climate change and military service in the endless war with Mars offers a chance to escape to an off world colony. But even centuries into the future, some things never change - bureaucracy, paperwork and endless red tape.
On the surface it's a relatively straightforward rescue mission, following one crew's struggles to rescue their marooned team member. But woven through every setback and bureaucratic roadblock is the tantalising Massif mystery, growing stranger and more unsettling as they get closer to their goal.
The crew dynamic is delightful. Their loyalty, trust and problem solving under pressure gives the story a strong found family heart, while the increasingly strange encounters with the Massifs introduce flashes of genuinely creepy horror. The way the avatars affect humans adding an eerie edge to an otherwise grounded military scifi.
The opening is packed with military terminology and Massif mechanics but I enjoyed the immediate immersion and gradual payoff. It lays the bones of an expansive world and mystery exploring humanity’s relentless curiosity, drive to explore, the limits of our power and the danger of exploiting things we don’t understand simply because we can. There’s even an uncomfortable echo of climate change in the idea of technological progress creating consequences we may not fully understand until it’s too late.
As the mystery finally collides with the crew’s increasingly desperate rescue mission, everything comes together in a tense, explosive climax with an emotional gut punch. The revelations are intense but just as their implications begin to unfold the book ends.
Which left me wanting more.
More Massifs. More of this strange future. More consequences.
I can only hope Nix plans to return.
April 24, 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.
October 26, 2026
A very enjoyable sci-fi tale from an author new to me.
A well-worked out future-history and world-building cleverly introduced and explained making the novel easy to follow.
A nice conceit to the story is humans largely only being able to use 'valve' technology, radio waves, RADAR, Cathode Ray Tube monitors, etc, and the aliens using 'unfathomable' tech which circumvents predicting future tech development and developing a future-science explaining how alien technology works.
The format is pretty standard, the lives of a small military combat unit in space and it soon becomes obvious that all-is-not-as-it-seems and a story arc develops towards the end of the book setting up for subsequent books.
A good, straightforward military-sci-fi novel that I will happily follow.
Co-da.
At the end of the audio book version which I listened to there is a strong assertion that the book may not be used to train AI and LLM's and from this its clear the publishing house are (quite rightly) strongly anti-AI...They being a company who have just recently been accused of using AI and LLM's in their business practices.
A well-worked out future-history and world-building cleverly introduced and explained making the novel easy to follow.
A nice conceit to the story is humans largely only being able to use 'valve' technology, radio waves, RADAR, Cathode Ray Tube monitors, etc, and the aliens using 'unfathomable' tech which circumvents predicting future tech development and developing a future-science explaining how alien technology works.
The format is pretty standard, the lives of a small military combat unit in space and it soon becomes obvious that all-is-not-as-it-seems and a story arc develops towards the end of the book setting up for subsequent books.
A good, straightforward military-sci-fi novel that I will happily follow.
Co-da.
At the end of the audio book version which I listened to there is a strong assertion that the book may not be used to train AI and LLM's and from this its clear the publishing house are (quite rightly) strongly anti-AI...They being a company who have just recently been accused of using AI and LLM's in their business practices.
September 13, 2026
Massif feels like a video game. It could be No Man’s Sky. Mass Effect. Or anything of the kind.
Don’t get me wrong, Massif is dense to begin with. It throws you in the deep end and expects you to learn on the job, and it expects you to learn quick.
But if you can get through that “tutorial” and immersion into a humanity that has ascended to space flight, centuries old political and theological differences causing two rival factions (that old doozy), then what you’ll get is a pretty cool, science fiction adventure, with a little smattering of what is maybe trying to be horror, thriller? Something darker.
A good portion of this book takes place aboard spaceships. And the vast remainder takes place aboard a massif. Which is a kind of spaceship. But nobody knows what they are. Or why they are.
Yet in typical human style, we just go with it and try take advantage of these mysterious things for our own gain with zero context or clarity.
I hear ya.
We’re stupid aren’t we.
But when you delve a bit deeper into this, there’s another kind of story - beyond the cool space exploration and alien fuelled adventures.
There’s a story of bonding and family. Finding people who you feel at home with and would go to the ends of the earth (and beyond - literally), to help.
I will say, the pacing of this is a little haphazard. There are points where the storyline is slowed down and we’re forced to play the waiting game, and other points where there’s extreme urgency with little rhyme or reason for the differentiators.
But pacing aside, I think this is a really solid adult sci fi debut for Nix. I know he’s done a LOT of YA and children’s lit, but I had a good time with this. I think I’d have been more content with it being even darker, and more adult themes outside of “fuck” getting dropped into discourse a fair few times.
But a solid sci fi.
Rounded up to a 4 from 3.75, because it felt better than a 3.5, but missing a little bit from a 4.
3.75/5.0
Don’t get me wrong, Massif is dense to begin with. It throws you in the deep end and expects you to learn on the job, and it expects you to learn quick.
But if you can get through that “tutorial” and immersion into a humanity that has ascended to space flight, centuries old political and theological differences causing two rival factions (that old doozy), then what you’ll get is a pretty cool, science fiction adventure, with a little smattering of what is maybe trying to be horror, thriller? Something darker.
A good portion of this book takes place aboard spaceships. And the vast remainder takes place aboard a massif. Which is a kind of spaceship. But nobody knows what they are. Or why they are.
Yet in typical human style, we just go with it and try take advantage of these mysterious things for our own gain with zero context or clarity.
I hear ya.
We’re stupid aren’t we.
But when you delve a bit deeper into this, there’s another kind of story - beyond the cool space exploration and alien fuelled adventures.
There’s a story of bonding and family. Finding people who you feel at home with and would go to the ends of the earth (and beyond - literally), to help.
I will say, the pacing of this is a little haphazard. There are points where the storyline is slowed down and we’re forced to play the waiting game, and other points where there’s extreme urgency with little rhyme or reason for the differentiators.
But pacing aside, I think this is a really solid adult sci fi debut for Nix. I know he’s done a LOT of YA and children’s lit, but I had a good time with this. I think I’d have been more content with it being even darker, and more adult themes outside of “fuck” getting dropped into discourse a fair few times.
But a solid sci fi.
Rounded up to a 4 from 3.75, because it felt better than a 3.5, but missing a little bit from a 4.
3.75/5.0
August 2, 2026
This is the kind of science fiction that reminds me why I love the genre.
I’ll be honest—the opening is dense. Garth Nix throws you straight into the worldbuilding, and there is a lot to take in. If you’re someone who struggles with books that don’t hold your hand in the beginning, the first few chapters may feel like work. Personally? I love immersive worldbuilding, so I was more than happy to settle in and let the pieces come together.
And once they do… wow.
The concept alone is one of the most original I’ve read in a long time. Sentient mountain ranges that travel through space carrying civilizations from world to world? I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anything quite like it. Every time I thought I understood where the story was heading, it introduced another fascinating idea that made me want to keep reading.
Beyond the incredible science fiction concepts, I really enjoyed the crew dynamics and the found family that developed over the course of the story. Once I became invested in the characters, the emotional moments landed surprisingly hard.
This definitely isn’t an action-packed, fast-paced sci-fi. It’s a thoughtful, idea-driven story that asks big questions about humanity, exploration, war, and why we seek out the unknown. If that’s the kind of science fiction you enjoy, I think you’ll have a fantastic time with this one.
The opening asks for a little patience, but I thought the payoff was absolutely worth it.
I’ll be honest—the opening is dense. Garth Nix throws you straight into the worldbuilding, and there is a lot to take in. If you’re someone who struggles with books that don’t hold your hand in the beginning, the first few chapters may feel like work. Personally? I love immersive worldbuilding, so I was more than happy to settle in and let the pieces come together.
And once they do… wow.
The concept alone is one of the most original I’ve read in a long time. Sentient mountain ranges that travel through space carrying civilizations from world to world? I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anything quite like it. Every time I thought I understood where the story was heading, it introduced another fascinating idea that made me want to keep reading.
Beyond the incredible science fiction concepts, I really enjoyed the crew dynamics and the found family that developed over the course of the story. Once I became invested in the characters, the emotional moments landed surprisingly hard.
This definitely isn’t an action-packed, fast-paced sci-fi. It’s a thoughtful, idea-driven story that asks big questions about humanity, exploration, war, and why we seek out the unknown. If that’s the kind of science fiction you enjoy, I think you’ll have a fantastic time with this one.
The opening asks for a little patience, but I thought the payoff was absolutely worth it.
2026
March 25, 2026📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager
October 24, 2026
This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart
Humanity has taken to the stars but probably not in a way you've imagined. They didn't exactly build the starships they crew, but the material needed for the ship was given to them by a sentient mountain, a Massif and certain humans with sensitivity to the mountain can then manipulate the material to design the ship or connect to pilot it. Humanity has done this for hundreds of years and expanded and colonized planets that wars are now fought over.
Massif follows the crew in one of these ships, the Sassafras. Thrown into a battle we see how these ships from different Massif's battle one another and how one found family fights to retrieve a lost member when her ship goes down. Captain Parnell and crew will pull out all the stops to be able to get there crewmate back. Back on the Massif known as the Drummer boy, due to the Avatar the mountain presents, he will need to take some big risks to get a new ship to be able to launch this rescue mission.
This had such an interesting concept in the Massifs. Huge Sentient mountain ranges the break away from the terrestrial plan to travel through space with people on them. Each has an avatar that interacts with the population and while they may look like a person, they are very alien. As we read through the story we, with the crew, wonder why Massifs travel through space like this. Why all the wars between the different Massif populations and what are the goals of a sentient mountain anyway. The mystery is strange, the technology of the Massif's even stranger and the story interesting.
This is going to work well for people who enjoy found families, weird sci-fi mysteries and space journeys into the unknown. The concept of the Massif's is so strange and foreign that I struggled just a little bit to put my head around it. The relationship of the crew is what made this book for me and their dedication to save their friend as I think I had a stronger connection to that. The plot was engaging, the mystery and greater scope of what Massif's could do wonderous and the conclusion while slightly open was satisfying.
Narration:
Performance: ★★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★★★
Diction: ★★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★★
Sound Effects: none
RAY PORTER!!! He is one of my absolute all time favorite narrator voices. He was perfect for this as his voice conveyed the Captain's authority and leadership well while also carrying the wonder of the story and crew. He is great at pacing, character switching and narrative voice. I absolutely love his performance style and have in the past bought books just because he was the narrator for it. With over 450 titles to his credit this book was in good hands to bring it to life.
Listen to a clip: HERE
Humanity has taken to the stars but probably not in a way you've imagined. They didn't exactly build the starships they crew, but the material needed for the ship was given to them by a sentient mountain, a Massif and certain humans with sensitivity to the mountain can then manipulate the material to design the ship or connect to pilot it. Humanity has done this for hundreds of years and expanded and colonized planets that wars are now fought over.
Massif follows the crew in one of these ships, the Sassafras. Thrown into a battle we see how these ships from different Massif's battle one another and how one found family fights to retrieve a lost member when her ship goes down. Captain Parnell and crew will pull out all the stops to be able to get there crewmate back. Back on the Massif known as the Drummer boy, due to the Avatar the mountain presents, he will need to take some big risks to get a new ship to be able to launch this rescue mission.
This had such an interesting concept in the Massifs. Huge Sentient mountain ranges the break away from the terrestrial plan to travel through space with people on them. Each has an avatar that interacts with the population and while they may look like a person, they are very alien. As we read through the story we, with the crew, wonder why Massifs travel through space like this. Why all the wars between the different Massif populations and what are the goals of a sentient mountain anyway. The mystery is strange, the technology of the Massif's even stranger and the story interesting.
This is going to work well for people who enjoy found families, weird sci-fi mysteries and space journeys into the unknown. The concept of the Massif's is so strange and foreign that I struggled just a little bit to put my head around it. The relationship of the crew is what made this book for me and their dedication to save their friend as I think I had a stronger connection to that. The plot was engaging, the mystery and greater scope of what Massif's could do wonderous and the conclusion while slightly open was satisfying.
Narration:
Performance: ★★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★★★
Diction: ★★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★★
Sound Effects: none
RAY PORTER!!! He is one of my absolute all time favorite narrator voices. He was perfect for this as his voice conveyed the Captain's authority and leadership well while also carrying the wonder of the story and crew. He is great at pacing, character switching and narrative voice. I absolutely love his performance style and have in the past bought books just because he was the narrator for it. With over 450 titles to his credit this book was in good hands to bring it to life.
Listen to a clip: HERE
August 20, 2026
This is my first book by this author but given his publishing career, I took a gamble on this one going in blind based on the author's reputation alone. I enjoyed this one, though I also see why it got mixed reviews. This is pretty classic, golden-age sci fi of the type I am especially partial to.
The Massifs are alien spaceships that have allowed humans the ability of space travel, but what their greater purpose is, no one really knows. Some people worship them, others study them. Ship Leader Parnell guides his ragtag crew through an endless war with Mars, but when a surprise ceasefire is announced, he launches a desperate search to recover a lost crewmember. He has a charming side romance with a crewmember when they become civilians that is a small part of the story but helped provide comic relief to the military adventure.
The pacing of this action packed adventure could be rather uneven. I had a hard time emotionally connecting to the story at first, as it started off by infodumping technical terminology. And some of the characters lacked a bit of emotional depth.
But I love found family crew stories when they are done right, and this pulled me in soon enough with that angle. I wouldn't call this Firefly as it didn't have the tongue-in-cheek humor of that show, but the found family crew was well done and each side character stood out on their own, with some fun banter between them. It was heavy on military sci fi but I found that refreshing in a sea of spicy romantasy. I also thought it was fun for how there was a legitimate explanation for why they still used typewriters and swords. It had a very dieselpunk feel.
I would read more in this series and hope it's not a stand alone; the ending was open ended enough to go either way.
Now I'll have to check out this author's back catalog. I hope we are finally starting to see the tide turn and will be seeing more great sci fi like this. I'd say this is a good book to turn to if you enjoyed Project Hail Mary and want more sci fi like that.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The Massifs are alien spaceships that have allowed humans the ability of space travel, but what their greater purpose is, no one really knows. Some people worship them, others study them. Ship Leader Parnell guides his ragtag crew through an endless war with Mars, but when a surprise ceasefire is announced, he launches a desperate search to recover a lost crewmember. He has a charming side romance with a crewmember when they become civilians that is a small part of the story but helped provide comic relief to the military adventure.
The pacing of this action packed adventure could be rather uneven. I had a hard time emotionally connecting to the story at first, as it started off by infodumping technical terminology. And some of the characters lacked a bit of emotional depth.
But I love found family crew stories when they are done right, and this pulled me in soon enough with that angle. I wouldn't call this Firefly as it didn't have the tongue-in-cheek humor of that show, but the found family crew was well done and each side character stood out on their own, with some fun banter between them. It was heavy on military sci fi but I found that refreshing in a sea of spicy romantasy. I also thought it was fun for how there was a legitimate explanation for why they still used typewriters and swords. It had a very dieselpunk feel.
I would read more in this series and hope it's not a stand alone; the ending was open ended enough to go either way.
Now I'll have to check out this author's back catalog. I hope we are finally starting to see the tide turn and will be seeing more great sci fi like this. I'd say this is a good book to turn to if you enjoyed Project Hail Mary and want more sci fi like that.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
September 13, 2026
I took me a while to get into this. The concept of the Massifs was fascinating, but also weird in a way that I wasn‘t sure I would like. I got strong James S.A. Corey vibes. If you like them or Adrian Tchaikovsky‘s SF, this will probably be right down your alley. It works very well as a standalone novel, as it is probably meant to be, but can we please have a sequel? There is no annoying cliffhanger, but the ending leaves us in a place for a great follow-up.
🐙🐙🐙🐙½, rounded up.
We live in a universe where mountain ranges take off into space, crewed by human military taking their wars along to other colonized worlds. Massifs are not quite Big Dumb Objects, as they have avatars inhabiting their depths, but it makes them worrisome rides. What are their intentions and why do they take humanity into space?
Ship Leader Parnell Shi-Sawahla is our main character. He captains the Basic Sassafras, a type of craft gifted to humans by the Massifs and directed telepathically by „sensitives“ like Parnell. He is accompanied by a small military crew and they all share a tight bond. They are stationed on a Massif to fight „Marsies“ in a long standing conflict. When one of the crew goes MIA, Parnell and his crew do everything in their power to rescue their crewmate.
I am a big fan of found families and tightly knit groups of people and their „we against the rest of the world“ approach, so Parnell and his crew really carried the novel for me. It is fast paced and despite the at times grim subject matter it never turns too dark. There are always lighter moments of the crew interacting and taking care of each other that made me chuckle. It‘s a great adventure with a reveal that I eventually saw coming, but not too soon…
The Sassafras crew frequently made me think of the Rocinante in The Expanse.
You can get a look at the prologues and first 3 short chapters here: https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780...
This is the author‘s first adult novel. I have high hopes for more and I am pretty sure that I will pick up whatever he writes next.
🐙🐙🐙🐙½, rounded up.
We live in a universe where mountain ranges take off into space, crewed by human military taking their wars along to other colonized worlds. Massifs are not quite Big Dumb Objects, as they have avatars inhabiting their depths, but it makes them worrisome rides. What are their intentions and why do they take humanity into space?
Ship Leader Parnell Shi-Sawahla is our main character. He captains the Basic Sassafras, a type of craft gifted to humans by the Massifs and directed telepathically by „sensitives“ like Parnell. He is accompanied by a small military crew and they all share a tight bond. They are stationed on a Massif to fight „Marsies“ in a long standing conflict. When one of the crew goes MIA, Parnell and his crew do everything in their power to rescue their crewmate.
I am a big fan of found families and tightly knit groups of people and their „we against the rest of the world“ approach, so Parnell and his crew really carried the novel for me. It is fast paced and despite the at times grim subject matter it never turns too dark. There are always lighter moments of the crew interacting and taking care of each other that made me chuckle. It‘s a great adventure with a reveal that I eventually saw coming, but not too soon…
The Sassafras crew frequently made me think of the Rocinante in The Expanse.
You can get a look at the prologues and first 3 short chapters here: https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780...
This is the author‘s first adult novel. I have high hopes for more and I am pretty sure that I will pick up whatever he writes next.
October 4, 2026
OK, no spoilers, but disregard that cover. Nothing to do with the book at all.
I really loved this book, it is a slow start with the prologue setting the world, the first two chapters introducing the characters and the setting. Then all of a sudden I was hooked.
I really don't need to give a rundown of the plot, it is a new book, rundowns of the plot will be everywhere. What I will say is that I found the characters interesting, believable and sensible. I thought the world building was a very rational notion of where the human race easily could go, under the circumstances. I thought the plot was exciting and I was quite engrossed in watching it develop.
I think this is a book best read cold! An adult science fiction from an Australian author I like, I bought it sight unseen and read it without even reading the blurb on the back. I think that is the best way to read it actually, it is quite unusual and the attempts of the publishers to link it to other books is pretty lame in my opinion. The books it remained me of were some of the older Arthur C, Clark and Larry Nivern ideas, only with more contemporary writing and more relatable characters.
I really loved this book, it is a slow start with the prologue setting the world, the first two chapters introducing the characters and the setting. Then all of a sudden I was hooked.
I really don't need to give a rundown of the plot, it is a new book, rundowns of the plot will be everywhere. What I will say is that I found the characters interesting, believable and sensible. I thought the world building was a very rational notion of where the human race easily could go, under the circumstances. I thought the plot was exciting and I was quite engrossed in watching it develop.
I think this is a book best read cold! An adult science fiction from an Australian author I like, I bought it sight unseen and read it without even reading the blurb on the back. I think that is the best way to read it actually, it is quite unusual and the attempts of the publishers to link it to other books is pretty lame in my opinion. The books it remained me of were some of the older Arthur C, Clark and Larry Nivern ideas, only with more contemporary writing and more relatable characters.
October 25, 2026
This was really clever in concept with an absolutely banging execution, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
Massif was a lot of fun. The world built here is complex but exciting and there's a great mix of edge of seat action, character interaction and actually a touch of horror.
Wildly entertaining and beautifully done. Recommended.
Massif was a lot of fun. The world built here is complex but exciting and there's a great mix of edge of seat action, character interaction and actually a touch of horror.
Wildly entertaining and beautifully done. Recommended.
September 20, 2026
Be wary of whom you might engage with!
I’m a great lover of Garth Nix stories. I’ve been reading his works for years. Parts of Massif reminds me of the latter works of C.J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series, or Tanya Huff’s Peacekeeper titles—being confronted by others who are very different.
I liked this novel and the complexity of humans and first contact with intelligent mountains, but I didn’t love it.
An Avon & Harper ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
I’m a great lover of Garth Nix stories. I’ve been reading his works for years. Parts of Massif reminds me of the latter works of C.J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series, or Tanya Huff’s Peacekeeper titles—being confronted by others who are very different.
I liked this novel and the complexity of humans and first contact with intelligent mountains, but I didn’t love it.
An Avon & Harper ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
August 22, 2026
I was provided this ARC by the publisher via NetGalley.
Rounded up to 3 ⭐️ from 2.5⭐️. Great premise, but disappointing execution
This was my first book I’ve read by Garth Nix, and the premise and concept was both hugely innovative and expansive. I was excited to get into the world and sci-fi story of Massifs however unfortunately I was left disappointed.
The start of the novel was 100 miles an hour and super engaging, with a small crew on board a space ship heading towards a battle. The author took us on a fast intro into the different characters and quickly gave a clear view of the different roles each would play in the story. The first 100 pages were great, however unfortunately the book fell from there, for me.
I struggled to bond with any of the characters, and if anything I found the main protagonists irritating. Worse, the omnipotent and mysterious antagonist is only uncovered late in the story, so I never really got to build a feeling for them either. Perhaps the author was focusing more of the trials and challenges of a small team working through adversity, but I’m afraid it never landed for me.
My main gripe is the ending. The story can be split into thirds; the introduction that was great, the preparation for the final event in the middle, and the dramatic end/conclusion to the story. This last part started at about 82% in the book and felt so rushed, I feel hugely frustrated with having to read the best part of 2 thirds of a 400 page book, where nothing really happened. Things that did happen, were focused on annoying characters, plot holes that were never concluded, or dialogue around a random parade.
This should have been SO MUCH BETTER
Rounded up to 3 ⭐️ from 2.5⭐️. Great premise, but disappointing execution
This was my first book I’ve read by Garth Nix, and the premise and concept was both hugely innovative and expansive. I was excited to get into the world and sci-fi story of Massifs however unfortunately I was left disappointed.
The start of the novel was 100 miles an hour and super engaging, with a small crew on board a space ship heading towards a battle. The author took us on a fast intro into the different characters and quickly gave a clear view of the different roles each would play in the story. The first 100 pages were great, however unfortunately the book fell from there, for me.
I struggled to bond with any of the characters, and if anything I found the main protagonists irritating. Worse, the omnipotent and mysterious antagonist is only uncovered late in the story, so I never really got to build a feeling for them either. Perhaps the author was focusing more of the trials and challenges of a small team working through adversity, but I’m afraid it never landed for me.
My main gripe is the ending. The story can be split into thirds; the introduction that was great, the preparation for the final event in the middle, and the dramatic end/conclusion to the story. This last part started at about 82% in the book and felt so rushed, I feel hugely frustrated with having to read the best part of 2 thirds of a 400 page book, where nothing really happened. Things that did happen, were focused on annoying characters, plot holes that were never concluded, or dialogue around a random parade.
This should have been SO MUCH BETTER
October 22, 2026
As a long time Garth Nix fan, I was willing to see this out in the hopes of finding another favorite. Unfortunately, I think it would have been better to DNF this one. While I appreciated all of the sci-fi aspects and found them unique and intriguing, everything else left a lot to be desired. I was bored through a majority of the novel, as we get long expanses of military bureaucracy and rescue mission planning, only occasionally broken up by action. And the problem with the action was that I felt little anxiety about whether or not our protagonist would succeed because I didn’t care much about any of the characters. I really can’t get my head around this, because I grew up loving so many of the characters from the Abhorsen books, so I know Nix can do character building, and do it well. But it was almost completely absent in this book. The only thing we really know is that Parnell is a well-liked and competent leader, based on how far his crew is willing to go with him. But again, the problem with the whole concept of a novel in which the central conceit is “desperate rescue mission for our lost crew member” is that you have to care about each member of said crew, both as an individual and as a member of the whole. While I’d be intrigued to see what more could come from this world he’s created here, I hope that if he does explore more of it, Nix focuses more on letting us really know the characters.
September 22, 2026
This was... Fine. I'll read more in this world if Nix writes it, but I won't be chomping at the but. The concept of the Massifs is interesting, this just doesn't do enough with it to fully hold my interest. Felt more like a YA novel (nothing wrong with that, just not what I was looking for)
July 27, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the eARC of Massif: an absolutely fascinating concept that failed to deliver.
Parts of a mountain range suddenly break away and travel through space, in a network of sorts, and have avatars. Why do they need these avatars? What are the massifs, really? I hope you don’t want answers to those questions .
One thing I’ve noticed about science fiction is that authors will, more often than not, choose the least interesting point of view to tell a story from. In this case, Nix chose a military POV. Because military characters here follow orders unquestioningly and have little to no curiosity, we get so little about what is, on paper, a fascinating concept. DrummerBoy, the avatar of their similarly named massif, starts acting up and everyone goes “weird but okay”. Only Parnell, our POV character, feels any kind of way about this, and even then it is not any sort of driving force or interest.
Maybe it’s just me, but an exposition dump over 90% of the way into a novel that only sort of solves things in a stand alone novel is not worth it. There is no real resolution to this book, which is disappointing but expected after reading the whole of it in two days. It’s a lot of science and math and concepts with nothing to flesh out those concepts. Everything is hindsight, but you don’t really care about any of it: the trackers ‘tasting’ humans to see who might be a match, the whole backdrop of the war doesn’t matter at all, there was so much potential and yet here we are.
Unless you are really into reading everything Garth Nix writes, I would skip this one. For an adult science fiction debut, I would call it weak at best, boring at worst. HarperCollins calls it a “poignant stand-alone story of sentient starships, galactic warfare”, but it was none of those things. It wasn’t poignant, the star ships weren’t truly sentient (unless they mean the massifs, not Basics—don’t get me started on the Basic stuff, I’m a sucker for anything remotely Farscape-like and yet…and yet), and the galactic war was background noise for 90% of the novel.
Unfortunately, and I’m sorry to say, Massif failed to deliver on all fronts.
Parts of a mountain range suddenly break away and travel through space, in a network of sorts, and have avatars. Why do they need these avatars? What are the massifs, really? I hope you don’t want answers to those questions .
One thing I’ve noticed about science fiction is that authors will, more often than not, choose the least interesting point of view to tell a story from. In this case, Nix chose a military POV. Because military characters here follow orders unquestioningly and have little to no curiosity, we get so little about what is, on paper, a fascinating concept. DrummerBoy, the avatar of their similarly named massif, starts acting up and everyone goes “weird but okay”. Only Parnell, our POV character, feels any kind of way about this, and even then it is not any sort of driving force or interest.
Maybe it’s just me, but an exposition dump over 90% of the way into a novel that only sort of solves things in a stand alone novel is not worth it. There is no real resolution to this book, which is disappointing but expected after reading the whole of it in two days. It’s a lot of science and math and concepts with nothing to flesh out those concepts. Everything is hindsight, but you don’t really care about any of it: the trackers ‘tasting’ humans to see who might be a match, the whole backdrop of the war doesn’t matter at all, there was so much potential and yet here we are.
Unless you are really into reading everything Garth Nix writes, I would skip this one. For an adult science fiction debut, I would call it weak at best, boring at worst. HarperCollins calls it a “poignant stand-alone story of sentient starships, galactic warfare”, but it was none of those things. It wasn’t poignant, the star ships weren’t truly sentient (unless they mean the massifs, not Basics—don’t get me started on the Basic stuff, I’m a sucker for anything remotely Farscape-like and yet…and yet), and the galactic war was background noise for 90% of the novel.
Unfortunately, and I’m sorry to say, Massif failed to deliver on all fronts.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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 Publisher
Though originally best known for Sabriel and his Old Kingdom young fantasy series, recently Garth has expanded his written repertoire. His most recent books have moved into the adult market, with his urban fantasy ‘Left-handed Booksellers’ series (reviewed HERE and HERE) and his dark fantasy collection, Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz, which I reviewed HERE (and loved.)
Now he’s taken on science fiction, with his latest, Massif.
From the publisher: It's business as usual for Parnell Shi-Sawahla and the crew of the United Earth Government Navy ship Sassafras. For more than two hundred years humans have been hitching rides into space on vast sentient mountain ranges called Massifs in an endless interstellar war between the forces of Earth and Mars.
But the same unanswered questions burn behind every battle, every conquered world, every new colony.
Why do the Massifs carry humans to the stars?
Why do they help us export our wars?
What's in it for them?
Ship crews aren't supposed to ask these questions - and they definitely aren't supposed to speak to the all-powerful avatars piloting the mountains. But when Parnell's deputy, Kaz, is stranded on an enemy planet, he needs the Massif's help to rescue her . . . and that means figuring out how to talk to it.
Nothing could ever have prepared him for what he learns of the secrets fuelling their voyages across the galaxy. The only certainty amidst the dread is that there is far more at stake than the lives of his crew.
In terms of style and tone, much of this felt like a combination of Stephen Baxter and Adrian Tchaikovsky. The aliens, who seem to have been hidden in plain sight, are quite alien, and are perhaps the most interesting and original thing about the book. We discover that the Massif are aliens seemingly made out of living rock, which the humans use to fly Massif space ships known as Basics.
I thought of these Basics as a sort of living LEGO; they are usually single but can merge with other Basics to make bigger spaceships. Humans then hollow out space inside the blocks to live in, whilst the blocks move from place to place, their pilots connected via some sort of telepathy to do so – or rather through an Avatar which seems to look after each vessel.
There are some issues with this. Humans don’t know how these Basics really work. The spaceships generate a ‘Massif M’ field around them which maintains an atmosphere but makes complex electronics useless. Long term, regular contact with the avatars can lead to Massif Psychosis, which renders the human psychotic, comatose and can lead to death.
There are also weird and often nasty species around on the Massifs themselves. Tackers – ten-limbed aquatic creatures that live within the Massif lakes - made me think of lamprey fish, with legs (look them up, but be warned!) and there are enough Lovecraftian tentacle-festooned things around to make me shudder.
The human characters themselves are that usual buddy group of mismatched people who work with each other under Parnell’s leadership. Think Firefly, Gareth Powell’s recent Jitterbug or perhaps even Christopher Paolini’s recent SF efforts as recent examples.
There’s also officious human administrators who struggle to cope with changing circumstances, whose administrational incompetence and corruption may be based on Nix's own experiences as one of the Australian Army Reserve, where he served part-time for 5 years back in the 1980s. It all feels a bit Catch -22 at that point. As you might expect in a military unit, there are lots of abbreviations – you need to make sure that you know your UEGN from your MBPSF, for example. (That’s United Earth Government Navy and Mars and Beyond Prosperity Sphere, by the way.) There’s also a LOT of tea being drunk.
Focusing upon Parnell, I found that the character-focused story was fairly simplistic. You never get to know the characters in much detail, and this meant that when the writer put them in situations that should have concerned me, my lack of empathy with them meant that I felt less concerned about them than I was clearly meant to.
Generally, because I knew little about the characters, I felt less invested in what happens to them, even when lives are put at risk and death is possible. There's a little bit of plot contrivance at times (no spoilers!) which seemed rather convenient.
Towards the end of the book, it became clearer that whilst there is resolution of sorts, and some big revelations are revealed, but with some solutions given glibly in a sentence or two, the ending isn't conclusive. There are matters left unresolved that may frustrate some readers, and some readers may feel aggrieved that not all the questions raised are answered here, but I suspect that this will lead to another book.
Summing up, for me Massif was a solid read, but a bit of a mixed bag - it didn’t entirely work for me. It is eminently readable, and there’s some fairly good characterisation, if pretty standard. I liked that there were enough new ideas to make it stand out from the mass (ha!), even when there’s a fair bit of skating over the ‘science stuff’ by keeping it unknown, but readers may be frustrated by some of the book’s final scenes.
Now he’s taken on science fiction, with his latest, Massif.
From the publisher: It's business as usual for Parnell Shi-Sawahla and the crew of the United Earth Government Navy ship Sassafras. For more than two hundred years humans have been hitching rides into space on vast sentient mountain ranges called Massifs in an endless interstellar war between the forces of Earth and Mars.
But the same unanswered questions burn behind every battle, every conquered world, every new colony.
Why do the Massifs carry humans to the stars?
Why do they help us export our wars?
What's in it for them?
Ship crews aren't supposed to ask these questions - and they definitely aren't supposed to speak to the all-powerful avatars piloting the mountains. But when Parnell's deputy, Kaz, is stranded on an enemy planet, he needs the Massif's help to rescue her . . . and that means figuring out how to talk to it.
Nothing could ever have prepared him for what he learns of the secrets fuelling their voyages across the galaxy. The only certainty amidst the dread is that there is far more at stake than the lives of his crew.
In terms of style and tone, much of this felt like a combination of Stephen Baxter and Adrian Tchaikovsky. The aliens, who seem to have been hidden in plain sight, are quite alien, and are perhaps the most interesting and original thing about the book. We discover that the Massif are aliens seemingly made out of living rock, which the humans use to fly Massif space ships known as Basics.
I thought of these Basics as a sort of living LEGO; they are usually single but can merge with other Basics to make bigger spaceships. Humans then hollow out space inside the blocks to live in, whilst the blocks move from place to place, their pilots connected via some sort of telepathy to do so – or rather through an Avatar which seems to look after each vessel.
There are some issues with this. Humans don’t know how these Basics really work. The spaceships generate a ‘Massif M’ field around them which maintains an atmosphere but makes complex electronics useless. Long term, regular contact with the avatars can lead to Massif Psychosis, which renders the human psychotic, comatose and can lead to death.
There are also weird and often nasty species around on the Massifs themselves. Tackers – ten-limbed aquatic creatures that live within the Massif lakes - made me think of lamprey fish, with legs (look them up, but be warned!) and there are enough Lovecraftian tentacle-festooned things around to make me shudder.
The human characters themselves are that usual buddy group of mismatched people who work with each other under Parnell’s leadership. Think Firefly, Gareth Powell’s recent Jitterbug or perhaps even Christopher Paolini’s recent SF efforts as recent examples.
There’s also officious human administrators who struggle to cope with changing circumstances, whose administrational incompetence and corruption may be based on Nix's own experiences as one of the Australian Army Reserve, where he served part-time for 5 years back in the 1980s. It all feels a bit Catch -22 at that point. As you might expect in a military unit, there are lots of abbreviations – you need to make sure that you know your UEGN from your MBPSF, for example. (That’s United Earth Government Navy and Mars and Beyond Prosperity Sphere, by the way.) There’s also a LOT of tea being drunk.
Focusing upon Parnell, I found that the character-focused story was fairly simplistic. You never get to know the characters in much detail, and this meant that when the writer put them in situations that should have concerned me, my lack of empathy with them meant that I felt less concerned about them than I was clearly meant to.
Generally, because I knew little about the characters, I felt less invested in what happens to them, even when lives are put at risk and death is possible. There's a little bit of plot contrivance at times (no spoilers!) which seemed rather convenient.
Towards the end of the book, it became clearer that whilst there is resolution of sorts, and some big revelations are revealed, but with some solutions given glibly in a sentence or two, the ending isn't conclusive. There are matters left unresolved that may frustrate some readers, and some readers may feel aggrieved that not all the questions raised are answered here, but I suspect that this will lead to another book.
Summing up, for me Massif was a solid read, but a bit of a mixed bag - it didn’t entirely work for me. It is eminently readable, and there’s some fairly good characterisation, if pretty standard. I liked that there were enough new ideas to make it stand out from the mass (ha!), even when there’s a fair bit of skating over the ‘science stuff’ by keeping it unknown, but readers may be frustrated by some of the book’s final scenes.
October 17, 2026
The definition of science fiction has long been disputed, but it is ultimately a genre of speculative fiction that explores how actual or imagined science impacts individuals and society. Years ago, during my four-year Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing, I took a science fiction course simply because I loved the genre. Taught by an enthusiastic British professor, it was a fantastic study where we analysed the classics alongside contemporary releases, giving me a well-rounded view of what makes great sci-fi.
Of course, the genre continues to evolve. Lately, I’ve immensely enjoyed Andy Weir’s books, which are heavily focused on problem-solving survival narratives driven by physics, chemistry, and engineering. I wondered if Massif would be similar, but after reading it, I can definitely say it is entirely different. I will confess that I had never read any of Garth Nix’s popular YA or children’s fantasy series, so this was my first introduction to his writing—and, as it happens, his very first work of adult science fiction.
When I was offered the chance to review Massif, I thought, why not! It is always exciting to dive into a new read, explore fresh concepts, and discover different ideas. Now that I have read it, if I had to classify it, I would probably say Massif is a combination of space opera and military sci-fi. The book launches into some heavy world-building lore that may seem overwhelming but this showcases Garth Nix’s military background to great effect with meticulous detail. Once that foundation is set, the story moves at a steady, engaging pace. I was completely fascinated by the imaginative concept of the Massifs—sentient, colossal, and deeply mysterious organic mountain ranges that serve as interstellar vessels carrying humans to the stars. Questions arise that drive the core mystery: why do these cosmic entities help humanity and what do they gain from it? As the plot unfolds into a rescue mission with distinct fantasy-quest undertones, the secret intentions of the Massifs begin to surface, launching readers into a truly gripping journey.
As for the human characters, the deep bonds and camaraderie among the crew members are immediately clear, lighting up the story with plenty of witty banter. At the heart of this dynamic is an intriguing character study of Parnell, the steady, highly competent veteran leading the corvette Sassafras. Loyal to his crew and heavily reliant on his instincts, he carries the immense weight of his responsibilities with quiet seriousness. However, his leadership is truly tested when he must stray from rigid military protocol to communicate directly with the Massifs' avatars— (their physical representatives) particularly one known as Drumming Boy.
The conclusion ultimately reveals why the Massifs allow humanity to use them for interstellar travel, despite our habit of exporting familiar vices—like the destructive Earth-Mars conflict—to new cosmic frontiers. When the crew finally uncovers the truth, it is a shocking twist about the nature of dependence and exploitation. My absolute favourite part of the book is the late-stage conversation between Parnell and Kaz regarding the hamsters and the Massifs; it held my attention completely, and the epic revelation that unfolds is nothing short of brilliant.
To those debating whether to read it, I would say: be prepared for an involved introduction to this unique world, but hang in there. As the story unfolds, it becomes quite a fascinating read. This deep dive into the mysteries of the universe will linger in your mind long after the final page, cementing Massif as a wonderfully original story that isn't afraid to venture into mind-bending directions. 4.5 stars
Thanks to Allen & Unwin for a review copy.
Of course, the genre continues to evolve. Lately, I’ve immensely enjoyed Andy Weir’s books, which are heavily focused on problem-solving survival narratives driven by physics, chemistry, and engineering. I wondered if Massif would be similar, but after reading it, I can definitely say it is entirely different. I will confess that I had never read any of Garth Nix’s popular YA or children’s fantasy series, so this was my first introduction to his writing—and, as it happens, his very first work of adult science fiction.
When I was offered the chance to review Massif, I thought, why not! It is always exciting to dive into a new read, explore fresh concepts, and discover different ideas. Now that I have read it, if I had to classify it, I would probably say Massif is a combination of space opera and military sci-fi. The book launches into some heavy world-building lore that may seem overwhelming but this showcases Garth Nix’s military background to great effect with meticulous detail. Once that foundation is set, the story moves at a steady, engaging pace. I was completely fascinated by the imaginative concept of the Massifs—sentient, colossal, and deeply mysterious organic mountain ranges that serve as interstellar vessels carrying humans to the stars. Questions arise that drive the core mystery: why do these cosmic entities help humanity and what do they gain from it? As the plot unfolds into a rescue mission with distinct fantasy-quest undertones, the secret intentions of the Massifs begin to surface, launching readers into a truly gripping journey.
As for the human characters, the deep bonds and camaraderie among the crew members are immediately clear, lighting up the story with plenty of witty banter. At the heart of this dynamic is an intriguing character study of Parnell, the steady, highly competent veteran leading the corvette Sassafras. Loyal to his crew and heavily reliant on his instincts, he carries the immense weight of his responsibilities with quiet seriousness. However, his leadership is truly tested when he must stray from rigid military protocol to communicate directly with the Massifs' avatars— (their physical representatives) particularly one known as Drumming Boy.
The conclusion ultimately reveals why the Massifs allow humanity to use them for interstellar travel, despite our habit of exporting familiar vices—like the destructive Earth-Mars conflict—to new cosmic frontiers. When the crew finally uncovers the truth, it is a shocking twist about the nature of dependence and exploitation. My absolute favourite part of the book is the late-stage conversation between Parnell and Kaz regarding the hamsters and the Massifs; it held my attention completely, and the epic revelation that unfolds is nothing short of brilliant.
To those debating whether to read it, I would say: be prepared for an involved introduction to this unique world, but hang in there. As the story unfolds, it becomes quite a fascinating read. This deep dive into the mysteries of the universe will linger in your mind long after the final page, cementing Massif as a wonderfully original story that isn't afraid to venture into mind-bending directions. 4.5 stars
Thanks to Allen & Unwin for a review copy.
September 5, 2026
Garth Nix takes us far into the future, in our world, but after the events of 2097 when a mountain range mysteriously lifted off of Earth and went into orbit. When humans reached it, we discovered that it was “alive”, sort of, at least being controlled by a powerful intelligence via avatar. This sentient mountain became known as a Massif, and turns out, there are many of them traveling the galaxy. Humans use this opportunity to travel on Massifs and colonize space. Naturally, we bring war with us, resulting in Earth and Mars in a constant battle across the stars. (It’s always Earth and Mars, lol.) Parnell is a ship leader in the United Earth Government Navy. When his crewmate becomes stranded on a planet, he is determined to rescue her. And this is where the story starts to take spins and twists, because this is when Parnell starts questioning WHY the Massifs tolerate humans using them in this way, not caring at all about the colonization and wars. What is in it for the Massifs?
I will be honest, I did not FULLY grasp everything in this book the first time around. But I wanted to because I knew it would be good if it clicked, so I reread a bunch of it. And when it clicked and everything locked in, mind blown. This is where we shift from dystopian sci-fi into cosmic horror. And boy, do I love that shift. I am obviously not going to explain everything because readers have to go through their own journey with this of coming to understanding, but I wound up really loving it. It takes a fun (fun is subjective but I am twisted), darker shift, and I was so here for it.
Thank you to Harper Voyager for the ARC! Book releases 9/8/26.
I will be honest, I did not FULLY grasp everything in this book the first time around. But I wanted to because I knew it would be good if it clicked, so I reread a bunch of it. And when it clicked and everything locked in, mind blown. This is where we shift from dystopian sci-fi into cosmic horror. And boy, do I love that shift. I am obviously not going to explain everything because readers have to go through their own journey with this of coming to understanding, but I wound up really loving it. It takes a fun (fun is subjective but I am twisted), darker shift, and I was so here for it.
Thank you to Harper Voyager for the ARC! Book releases 9/8/26.
September 30, 2026
Couldn’t get past the first chapter. Such an info dump. Build the world slowly and integrate it into the narrative. Don’t dump explanations on the reader non-stop.
November 1, 2026
My first use of Goodreads' new partial star system! So I didn't have to round up to a grudging two. Why so low?
Here's the math:
Worldbuilding 5/5. Brilliant, genius. As good as it gets. Big ideas, well conceived and presented.
Subtract one point because it's yet another military sci-fi. I've invented a new-to-me-at-least term: Military procedural.
You know how when you've read your limit of police procedurals you sort of skim the whole bit around scraping a crime scene sample into a baggie, correctly tagging it, guaranteeing chain of evidence, and then checking in with the friendly but prickly deputy lab chief for results, until the plot starts back up? That's about 90 percent of the first two-thirds of this book, only in Space Patrol nomenclature (heavily borrowed from navy / marine nomenclature). Sci-fi continues to split into subgenres, and military sci-fi is a large one, so there's clearly a market for this content. But it bores me sideways. Your thrust vector material per light-year may vary.
And this is as by-the-book as it gets: Unassuming yet heroic ship's captain, stoic marines, anal engineering crew yearning to be able to go cowboy but first they have to tighten down the magic space bolts exactly three turns to the left, sah! Slavishly dedicated crew (can't anybody, ever, have that one ship's crew who decides that no, they've had enough and bugger off when given the chance? Look what George Lucas did with it as a jolt (albeit temporary), when Han decided to take his winnings, the Millennium Falcon, and head out in Star Wars.) ... There's also (straight) romantic yearnings but no on-ship PDAs, corrupt quartermaster, stodgy to the point of insane rear-echelon base command (except for surprisingly sympathetic top brass, because otherwise it would make the military look bad, and if you're going to base a fictional universe inside the military, deep-down the military needs to be good). It's every fictional military trope, that Nix has lovingly crammed into one title. If you are a fan of space navy books, you will give this part lots of upvotes, not a one-point subtraction. Again, to each their own.
There ain't much plot. There's a space battle, a longish rebuilding / prep for the big rescue / big rescue mission. (Oh, and for fans of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, it's got Version 1.0 of the voyage to / return from the underworld.) It's that plot again, no variation.
Minus .25 of a star because the editing gets sloppy at times (one scene has a rocket jolt shaking two characters, including Kaz, but Kaz is on the surface of the planet below, and Bobb becomes Bob at least once). This is a major publisher; pay editors instead of letting AI do it.
Which brings me to the remaining subtraction of 2 points: THIS IS BOOK ONE OF A SERIES, PACKAGED AS A STANDALONE. There's just enough window-dressing in the last three pages that it doesn't scream "unfinished," but it's a cliffhanger:
I don't know why this is a surprise, as it turns out both my previous Nix reads (Sabriel, The Left-Handed Booksellers of London) also turned out to be books one of their respective series, and the latter at least flirted with not having a satisfactory ending of Part One. But they both had something that felt like a destination, instead of being a chain hotel outside of Cleveland that you stay at for one night on the way to where you're going. The one that might have had a pool, and you walked a quarter-mile down a road with no sidewalk to get to a franchise Tex-Mex place.
Speaking of Tex-Mex, one of my favorite social media types is Chef Reacts, which is a guy who might be a trained chef watching rage bait cooking and then ranking it out of ten. Most often after a snarky comment, he gives it a score of zero point something and says "But I have no self-respect, so I'll probably try a bite."
I'll probably read book two.
Here's the math:
Worldbuilding 5/5. Brilliant, genius. As good as it gets. Big ideas, well conceived and presented.
Subtract one point because it's yet another military sci-fi. I've invented a new-to-me-at-least term: Military procedural.
You know how when you've read your limit of police procedurals you sort of skim the whole bit around scraping a crime scene sample into a baggie, correctly tagging it, guaranteeing chain of evidence, and then checking in with the friendly but prickly deputy lab chief for results, until the plot starts back up? That's about 90 percent of the first two-thirds of this book, only in Space Patrol nomenclature (heavily borrowed from navy / marine nomenclature). Sci-fi continues to split into subgenres, and military sci-fi is a large one, so there's clearly a market for this content. But it bores me sideways. Your thrust vector material per light-year may vary.
And this is as by-the-book as it gets: Unassuming yet heroic ship's captain, stoic marines, anal engineering crew yearning to be able to go cowboy but first they have to tighten down the magic space bolts exactly three turns to the left, sah! Slavishly dedicated crew (can't anybody, ever, have that one ship's crew who decides that no, they've had enough and bugger off when given the chance? Look what George Lucas did with it as a jolt (albeit temporary), when Han decided to take his winnings, the Millennium Falcon, and head out in Star Wars.) ... There's also (straight) romantic yearnings but no on-ship PDAs, corrupt quartermaster, stodgy to the point of insane rear-echelon base command (except for surprisingly sympathetic top brass, because otherwise it would make the military look bad, and if you're going to base a fictional universe inside the military, deep-down the military needs to be good). It's every fictional military trope, that Nix has lovingly crammed into one title. If you are a fan of space navy books, you will give this part lots of upvotes, not a one-point subtraction. Again, to each their own.
There ain't much plot. There's a space battle, a longish rebuilding / prep for the big rescue / big rescue mission. (Oh, and for fans of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, it's got Version 1.0 of the voyage to / return from the underworld.) It's that plot again, no variation.
Minus .25 of a star because the editing gets sloppy at times (one scene has a rocket jolt shaking two characters, including Kaz, but Kaz is on the surface of the planet below, and Bobb becomes Bob at least once). This is a major publisher; pay editors instead of letting AI do it.
Which brings me to the remaining subtraction of 2 points: THIS IS BOOK ONE OF A SERIES, PACKAGED AS A STANDALONE. There's just enough window-dressing in the last three pages that it doesn't scream "unfinished," but it's a cliffhanger:
I don't know why this is a surprise, as it turns out both my previous Nix reads (Sabriel, The Left-Handed Booksellers of London) also turned out to be books one of their respective series, and the latter at least flirted with not having a satisfactory ending of Part One. But they both had something that felt like a destination, instead of being a chain hotel outside of Cleveland that you stay at for one night on the way to where you're going. The one that might have had a pool, and you walked a quarter-mile down a road with no sidewalk to get to a franchise Tex-Mex place.
Speaking of Tex-Mex, one of my favorite social media types is Chef Reacts, which is a guy who might be a trained chef watching rage bait cooking and then ranking it out of ten. Most often after a snarky comment, he gives it a score of zero point something and says "But I have no self-respect, so I'll probably try a bite."
I'll probably read book two.
October 29, 2026
the concepts and ideas were all here, and they were all very cool, but in execution this book is just deeply mediocre. sometimes it’s outright flawed. we start almost immediately in action, but there is a lot of person-name-job title happening which adds to the confusion. the set-up is there, it’s action packed, but once the battle is over, everything starts to lag.
there is very little character development here. i can’t even say that this would’ve benefitted from being in first person; we just needed more depth from everyone. aditi’s actions meant nothing to me because i didn’t know them; the relationship between parnell and shille equally felt empty. a personal peeve of mine is also that nix is not consistent with his pronouns with his nonbinary/genderqueer characters, which is something that he should’ve addressed or an editor should have caught.
speaking of editing, there were a LOT of errors. several missing quotation marks, mis-attributed pronouns, and so, so many comma splices. idk if that is a stylistic choice for nix or what, but it irked me to no end. use a semicolon or break it into two sentences, bud.
the novel really picks up again in the last 15-20%, and i spent the whole time going, “holy shit, this is great, but how is he going to fit all this in this book?” and he didn’t. the ending comes at you so fast and it does not feel conclusive or satisfying. i think this book either needs a sequel or needs to have been twice as long. there is a lot lacking that does not give what is promised in the description.
*** section below includes spoilers for the ending ***
there is very little character development here. i can’t even say that this would’ve benefitted from being in first person; we just needed more depth from everyone. aditi’s actions meant nothing to me because i didn’t know them; the relationship between parnell and shille equally felt empty. a personal peeve of mine is also that nix is not consistent with his pronouns with his nonbinary/genderqueer characters, which is something that he should’ve addressed or an editor should have caught.
speaking of editing, there were a LOT of errors. several missing quotation marks, mis-attributed pronouns, and so, so many comma splices. idk if that is a stylistic choice for nix or what, but it irked me to no end. use a semicolon or break it into two sentences, bud.
the novel really picks up again in the last 15-20%, and i spent the whole time going, “holy shit, this is great, but how is he going to fit all this in this book?” and he didn’t. the ending comes at you so fast and it does not feel conclusive or satisfying. i think this book either needs a sequel or needs to have been twice as long. there is a lot lacking that does not give what is promised in the description.
*** section below includes spoilers for the ending ***
September 14, 2026
This is the author's first try at an adult hard science fiction book. As he stated in an interview, he envisioned a levitating mountain and thought "how would that work?" This book proceeds from that speculation.
It's a doozy of a speculation, sitting right on the suspension-of-disbelief border. If you go with it, you need to remember Clarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. The Massif employs unknown means to fly through space with humans on board, without killing them (unless meaning to).
OK, that's the speculative premise. Once you absorb that, the plot turns into a fairly standard military SF novel with Earth humans versus Mars humans, each occupying separate Massifs in space throughout the galaxy. There's lots of military jargon and sharp action involved; fans of military SF authors will feel right at home with most of this book.
It also represents the common premise of 'found family' with the attention focused on the crew of the Sassafras, a ship whose crew have been together for awhile and although each member is different they share a bond. I must admit though, that Sassafras is an unusual name for a fighting ship; at least it seemed so to me.
So what are the Massifs, how do they work and why are they transporting humans around the galaxy? We get very little answer to how they work (Clarke's Third Law remains relevant), but a Big Reveal at the end shows why they are doing this. For me, though, it was the author's valiant attempt to justify his original speculation on what it would be like if mountains could fly.
It's a doozy of a speculation, sitting right on the suspension-of-disbelief border. If you go with it, you need to remember Clarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. The Massif employs unknown means to fly through space with humans on board, without killing them (unless meaning to).
OK, that's the speculative premise. Once you absorb that, the plot turns into a fairly standard military SF novel with Earth humans versus Mars humans, each occupying separate Massifs in space throughout the galaxy. There's lots of military jargon and sharp action involved; fans of military SF authors will feel right at home with most of this book.
It also represents the common premise of 'found family' with the attention focused on the crew of the Sassafras, a ship whose crew have been together for awhile and although each member is different they share a bond. I must admit though, that Sassafras is an unusual name for a fighting ship; at least it seemed so to me.
So what are the Massifs, how do they work and why are they transporting humans around the galaxy? We get very little answer to how they work (Clarke's Third Law remains relevant), but a Big Reveal at the end shows why they are doing this. For me, though, it was the author's valiant attempt to justify his original speculation on what it would be like if mountains could fly.
September 30, 2026
Massif by Garth Nix
⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a half
I am not a Sci-fi fan, however I love a new Australian Author release. This is my first book by Garth Nix and it was an enjoyable read.
The book starts strong with setting the scene onboard the Uegns Sassafras. The characters were also interesting. I was confused as what a Massif was, it appears to be a mountain/spaceship that transports humans to the sky. The book was well written, however the pace becomes slow towards the middle of the book, then into a fast action packed finish. The book ends quite suddenly I thought pages were missing. Im not sure if this is to create suspense for another book, but I felt there was no clousure.
Overall I enjoyed the characters and the setting, but unsure if I'd read the next instalment- if there is one?!
"Garth Nix ventures into space with Massif, a military science fiction novel in a universe where humans hitch rides on star-faring mountain ranges, the first Massif lifting off from Madagascar in 2072. Humans take their wars with them, and one small ship's tight-knit crew must deal with the aftermath of battle, and the mystery of the Massifs who have transported humanity to the stars.
Humanity has reached the stars on the back of mysterious travelling mountain ranges - the Massif. But where have they come from - and can we truly leave behind all that we are?"
#aussieauthorappreciation #aussiebookreviewer #aussiebookreviews #aussiebookstagram #aussiebooklover
⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a half
I am not a Sci-fi fan, however I love a new Australian Author release. This is my first book by Garth Nix and it was an enjoyable read.
The book starts strong with setting the scene onboard the Uegns Sassafras. The characters were also interesting. I was confused as what a Massif was, it appears to be a mountain/spaceship that transports humans to the sky. The book was well written, however the pace becomes slow towards the middle of the book, then into a fast action packed finish. The book ends quite suddenly I thought pages were missing. Im not sure if this is to create suspense for another book, but I felt there was no clousure.
Overall I enjoyed the characters and the setting, but unsure if I'd read the next instalment- if there is one?!
"Garth Nix ventures into space with Massif, a military science fiction novel in a universe where humans hitch rides on star-faring mountain ranges, the first Massif lifting off from Madagascar in 2072. Humans take their wars with them, and one small ship's tight-knit crew must deal with the aftermath of battle, and the mystery of the Massifs who have transported humanity to the stars.
Humanity has reached the stars on the back of mysterious travelling mountain ranges - the Massif. But where have they come from - and can we truly leave behind all that we are?"
#aussieauthorappreciation #aussiebookreviewer #aussiebookreviews #aussiebookstagram #aussiebooklover
October 8, 2026
I wasn’t sure what to expect of this book as the description was kind of weird. Space fairing Massifs used as trans galactic buses is definitely a weird concept and then they suppress technology so the protagonists have to rely on some modern steampunk style tech makes it weirder.
The thing is that it works and throughout the story and the world kept me suitably engaged and curious to discover more. The first half spends a lot of time setting up the world and the geopolitics involved. Yes even with an infinite universe we go to the same places and fight for the same things. Then it all kind of changes at the mid way point very abruptly. This kind of felt a bit like a macguffin designed to drive the second half of the plot and was a bit jarring. The second half is very much spooky cosmic horror which again was an interesting change of pace. I actually really enjoyed getting into the nitty gritty of the lore towards the end with the big reveals but then the book just kind of stops. I could find any information on whether this is a stand alone or part of a series but if it’s a stand alone then I will be disappointed.
I would have liked a bit more character development as outside of the main character we don’t really get much time with the rest and even the main character isn’t fleshed out all that well with the story being more focused on moving from plot point to plot point as quickly as possible.
Overall though a fun and entertaining read in a world I would return to.
The thing is that it works and throughout the story and the world kept me suitably engaged and curious to discover more. The first half spends a lot of time setting up the world and the geopolitics involved. Yes even with an infinite universe we go to the same places and fight for the same things. Then it all kind of changes at the mid way point very abruptly. This kind of felt a bit like a macguffin designed to drive the second half of the plot and was a bit jarring. The second half is very much spooky cosmic horror which again was an interesting change of pace. I actually really enjoyed getting into the nitty gritty of the lore towards the end with the big reveals but then the book just kind of stops. I could find any information on whether this is a stand alone or part of a series but if it’s a stand alone then I will be disappointed.
I would have liked a bit more character development as outside of the main character we don’t really get much time with the rest and even the main character isn’t fleshed out all that well with the story being more focused on moving from plot point to plot point as quickly as possible.
Overall though a fun and entertaining read in a world I would return to.
October 8, 2026
I'm a big fan of Garth Nix and I remember really enjoying his old sci-fi A Confusion of Princes, so I was excited to read his latest.
Massif is an interesting concept. Mountain ranges rise up into the sky to become a weird cross between a space ship and a planet. Some take long, slow journeys around the galaxy, others are faster, some massifs are friendlier and others more hostile. Humans use the massifs to spread across different solar systems and wage war against each other for control of different regions.
But the massifs remain hugely mysterious. Why do they allow human to travel on them? What causes them to travel? And who and what are the massifs' avatars?
We follow a small crew that's part of a mission to gain control of a particular planetary system. The first part of the book is filled with space battles and a lot of military rules and regulations that the crew find tedious and ridiculous. The second half really picks up the pace and is the part I found more compelling. There's a lot more focus on the nature of the massifs and there influence on humanity. The story becomes a little more sinister, almost horror-ish.
Whilst the first half had a bit too much of the military stuff for me, the second half kept me engrossed. Although this is advertised as a standalone, it feels like there's a lot more to explore in this world and I hope we get a follow up as I think it has a lot of potential.
Thanks to Gollancz for providing a netgalley arc for me to read and review
Massif is an interesting concept. Mountain ranges rise up into the sky to become a weird cross between a space ship and a planet. Some take long, slow journeys around the galaxy, others are faster, some massifs are friendlier and others more hostile. Humans use the massifs to spread across different solar systems and wage war against each other for control of different regions.
But the massifs remain hugely mysterious. Why do they allow human to travel on them? What causes them to travel? And who and what are the massifs' avatars?
We follow a small crew that's part of a mission to gain control of a particular planetary system. The first part of the book is filled with space battles and a lot of military rules and regulations that the crew find tedious and ridiculous. The second half really picks up the pace and is the part I found more compelling. There's a lot more focus on the nature of the massifs and there influence on humanity. The story becomes a little more sinister, almost horror-ish.
Whilst the first half had a bit too much of the military stuff for me, the second half kept me engrossed. Although this is advertised as a standalone, it feels like there's a lot more to explore in this world and I hope we get a follow up as I think it has a lot of potential.
Thanks to Gollancz for providing a netgalley arc for me to read and review
August 26, 2026
ARC provided by Harper Voyager via Netgalley
Fascinating concept—I thought the idea of the Massifs, the Massif avatars, and their interactions with the two leading governmental/military systems in the universe was solidly articulated and fresh. But I ended up liking the world Nix built far more than the story. The characters were all very flat. It felt like they had one-dimensional personalities, even the protagonist, whose thoughts we are privy to.
Every character started and ended as a member of a die-hard, tight-knit crew of a military ship, and I wished I could’ve seen more of how their crew’s bond developed in the first place because their closeness felt unearned. The plot also moves very slowly because of the extensive space military world-building.
I found Nix’s writing style direct and enjoyable to read. In the end, I really enjoyed the world he build, but not the plot or characters of the overall story as much. This was a pleasant read and I would read a book from this author again, as I think there’s a lot of potential for him to grow in the adult sci-fi genre.
Fascinating concept—I thought the idea of the Massifs, the Massif avatars, and their interactions with the two leading governmental/military systems in the universe was solidly articulated and fresh. But I ended up liking the world Nix built far more than the story. The characters were all very flat. It felt like they had one-dimensional personalities, even the protagonist, whose thoughts we are privy to.
Every character started and ended as a member of a die-hard, tight-knit crew of a military ship, and I wished I could’ve seen more of how their crew’s bond developed in the first place because their closeness felt unearned. The plot also moves very slowly because of the extensive space military world-building.
I found Nix’s writing style direct and enjoyable to read. In the end, I really enjoyed the world he build, but not the plot or characters of the overall story as much. This was a pleasant read and I would read a book from this author again, as I think there’s a lot of potential for him to grow in the adult sci-fi genre.
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