What do you think?
Rate this book
The Androma Saga #2
Nexus
Her ship is gone, her crew is captured and notorious mercenary Androma Racella is no longer the powerful Bloody Baroness, but a fugitive ruthlessly hunted across the Mirabel Galaxy. The bloodthirsty Queen Nor now rules most of the galaxy through a mind-control toxin and she’ll stop at nothing to destroy her most hated adversary.
Andi will risk anything, even her precious freedom, to find a cure. Stranded with her unlikely ally, Dex, on the unforgiving ice planet of Solera, their plan to infiltrate a black-market city proves dangerously irresistible.
Back in Arcardius, Nor’s actions have opened Mirabel to invasion. As Andi’s crew fights to regain their freedom, Andi and Dex discover a threat far greater than anything they’ve faced before.
Only by saving their mortal enemy can the crew of the Marauder make one last desperate strike to save the galaxy—unaware that a shattering, centuries-old secret may demand the most wrenching sacrifice of all.
Andi will risk anything, even her precious freedom, to find a cure. Stranded with her unlikely ally, Dex, on the unforgiving ice planet of Solera, their plan to infiltrate a black-market city proves dangerously irresistible.
Back in Arcardius, Nor’s actions have opened Mirabel to invasion. As Andi’s crew fights to regain their freedom, Andi and Dex discover a threat far greater than anything they’ve faced before.
Only by saving their mortal enemy can the crew of the Marauder make one last desperate strike to save the galaxy—unaware that a shattering, centuries-old secret may demand the most wrenching sacrifice of all.
544 pages, Hardcover
First published May 7, 2019
49 people are currently reading
2480 people want to read
About the author
Sasha Alsberg
8 books64.7k followersI am the #1 NYT Bestselling author of The Androma Saga and Breaking Time Duology.
When I am not writing, reading or being a dog mom, you can find me over at Joffe Books where I am their Social Media Manager.
Represented by Joanna Volpe at New Leaf Literary.
When I am not writing, reading or being a dog mom, you can find me over at Joffe Books where I am their Social Media Manager.
Represented by Joanna Volpe at New Leaf Literary.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 196 reviews
Want to read
February 27, 2019People need to stop rating this book before they even read it! Weather it's 5 stars or 0 if you haven't read it none of these ratings are true or helpful to people who may wanna pick it up!
June 7, 2019
Yeah, no.
July 30, 2020
Just like Zenith it was meh. Just fine. Nothing special. Most of the characters were obvious copies of characters found in other popular YA books, the most obvious being Andy = Celeana from Throne of Glass (I haven't even read the series and it was glaringly obvious), or ALFIE = AIDAN from Illuminae (I mean like seriously only they sound pretty much the same and the acronyms are very similar).
This series felt like that one kid who sits in the front row of every class and tries to impress the professor (but fails because not only are the facts they're spouting are false but also everyone knows exactly what they're talking about because it's common knowledge). You know what I mean? Not sure how else to describe it.
Oh and also the science was fucking atrocious. No, no not the science fiction aspects, that I know isn't supposed to be realistic, but the actual legit science that has been tested and accepted (not technically accepted because hypotheses etc. can never be proven, but let's not get into that). For example, apperentaly people in this galaxy live on gas and ice giants. Ummmmmmm what?
Gas giants (like Jupiter and Saturn in our system)
a. Have no actual solid surface, and
b. The pressure generated by the gases even a few meters down into the atmosphere would crUSH
you into a fucking pancake.
And ice giants (Uranus and Neptune in our case) while they are believed to have solid surfaces made of ice and rock... well it's the same as gas giants:
a. Pancake courtesy of atmospheric pressure (so no walking around on the solid surface), and
b. Gravity would probably rip you to shreds.
Oh and btw nebulae may look like dense collections of colourful gas and dust, but they are actually spread out over a space encompassing several light years so if you were inside one you would be able to see your surroundings just fine.
You know, if you're writing a book set in space, maybe put just a little bit of research into you know... SPACE.
This series felt like that one kid who sits in the front row of every class and tries to impress the professor (but fails because not only are the facts they're spouting are false but also everyone knows exactly what they're talking about because it's common knowledge). You know what I mean? Not sure how else to describe it.
Oh and also the science was fucking atrocious. No, no not the science fiction aspects, that I know isn't supposed to be realistic, but the actual legit science that has been tested and accepted (not technically accepted because hypotheses etc. can never be proven, but let's not get into that). For example, apperentaly people in this galaxy live on gas and ice giants. Ummmmmmm what?
Gas giants (like Jupiter and Saturn in our system)
a. Have no actual solid surface, and
b. The pressure generated by the gases even a few meters down into the atmosphere would crUSH
you into a fucking pancake.
And ice giants (Uranus and Neptune in our case) while they are believed to have solid surfaces made of ice and rock... well it's the same as gas giants:
a. Pancake courtesy of atmospheric pressure (so no walking around on the solid surface), and
b. Gravity would probably rip you to shreds.
Oh and btw nebulae may look like dense collections of colourful gas and dust, but they are actually spread out over a space encompassing several light years so if you were inside one you would be able to see your surroundings just fine.
You know, if you're writing a book set in space, maybe put just a little bit of research into you know... SPACE.
April 6, 2019
I returned the first book after two chapters. Can I return this one to the trees before it’s printed?
June 15, 2019
This review contains spoilers. I wanted to give a detailed review of this book since there is not a lot out there for those wondering if they should continue with the last book.
My answer is no and here is why.
Where to begin? Nexus was written a lot better than Zenith and the words flowed better, but that doesn't mean much when to me Zenith was such a low bar to begin with. Now let's get into the nity gritty stuff.
Characters:
We had received some background on Lira, Andi's 2nd, in Zenith as they had ended up crashing onto her home planet (idk what it was called because it was just that memorable). However, other than that we never got much of any background on Gilly and Breck except for a tad description in Zenith when there was a mass information dump. We learn of nothing new and in Nexus the rest of the crew is essentially non-existent; basically back burner characters.
As for Andi, there is not much growth in her character and is pretty much the same as she was in Zenith. She doesn't grow as a character is any significant way because there is nothing that challenges her and what she believes and or her current path in life. While her crew in under the influence of the serum, she wants to go out and save them so she tends to put her Bloody Baroness face on, but we have already seen this side of her before. We do see her soften as her and Dex become closer and start to rekindle their romance, but there are very few scenes that show actually development between them.
Speaking of romance, it has really hard to get behind the romance even though you know they were going to get back together from a mile away. We got very few scenes between them that were romantic based and so it was hard to get behind when they got together. Now I do understand that this isn't heavily romantic based; the romance is a back burner thing, but when it does come up it felt rushed with no real development that was written out.
As for Dex, he did have some good one-liners that were decent and some good "speeches" when talking to Andi. Other than that, Dex didn't have any development and was rather dry for most of the book. It seems that he was written to try to be comedic relief but it fell flat when that is not the core of the character.
Nor was just bratty and annoying. She was written to try to be a cold evil leader that we should fear in the Zenith, and then in Nexus we were supposed to think the same, but also sympthasize with her because she has emotions. I'm sorry? Was I supposed to feel bad for her because she loves someone? I am supposed to feel bad because she manipulated her half brother Valen into helping her take over the galaxy in which he would have to sacrafice everything and she would get off scotch free? No. She is not the type to take risk, to take charge, or to realize that plans don't always go without a hitch. Nor is naieve when learning how to rule and didn't think that people would be unaffected by the virus and they would revolt. Like sorry not everyone like a tyrant who tries to take over the galaxy.
Valen honestly got the short end of the stick here. He was constantly pushing himself to try to maintain control over the minds he had hijacked. He was a ploy in his half sister's plan with sweet promises that he would rule.
Plot:
Nothing really happens until about 150 pages in.
Let's start with the end because it turned out to be a disappointment. This was set up to be some intense battle it out type deal and was left with this five page anti-climatic scene. Basically it was like when the weather man predicts eight inches of snow and you get all excited and all that comes is an inch and a half and you are left with disappointment. We start off with Andi back in the ship with Dex and essentially they are arguing over what to do and apparently they are by this massive nebula.
OMG IS THERE NO SCIENCE ANYTHING IN THIS BOOK.
Let me tell you something, a nebula is a gas cloud, but it's not super dense all over as it is only dense in areas where stars are forming, due to gravity pulling the dust in, however, for the most part the nebula is spread out and if you went through one it's not like going through clouds. Just get some of the science stuff right.
At this point Valen has taken over almost everyone's mind in the ENTIRE galaxy... like how? Galaxies are freaking massive last time I checked and it would take time for his mind control thing to reach everyone. it just seems not likely he would have such an ability with billions of people to control.
Essentially, Dex and Andi find the Underground (great name...) trying to find help to take down Nor and happen to run into Nor's mom Klaren who is the leader of this organization. How convenient for everyone. During this point in the so called plot, we get a lot of information dumped onto us in which we learn that Exonians inhabit someones bodies as they don't have one. We are not given basic information about what they look like, how they feed, how they communicate, what life if like for them, or how they reproduce. We are just told this and expected to go along with it. For most of the book it's spent in the Underground with Andi and Dex and getting a bit of Nor's perspective.
We do find out that Nor's "uncle", essentially the person who raised her had been pushing her into decisions that would benefit him once he got rid of her and Valen and he became the ruler once he opened this "other world" for the Exonains to come and take over. This other world wasn't explained very well and I often was confused if it was a parallel world of some kind or what but nothing was really said.
In the end, Valen is killed by Andi because at this point he was too weak and had no chance of living and Zahn was also killed as a plot device which really sucked because I would have liked to know more about him. What life form was he? How did he come to love Nor? Of course everything turns out just fine for the crew and Andi because that was super obviuous that was how it was going to turn out. There was really nothing at stake. At one point Nor threatens to start killing her crew members and at one point it seemed that she killed Lira. If this was true, it would have been intresting to see how Andi would have reacted and what she would have done. But of course Nor doesn't actually kill but fake it instead which to me is such a cop out. It just goes to show how weak Nor is at being a villain in this story.
Writing:
Writing was better I guess. Both of the authors writing flowed better in this one, but I still found cringe moments. Dialogue wasn't as rough, but most of the dialogue lacked substance and I found some of the supposed heartfelt moments to lack which was in combination to the lack of romance between Andi and Dex and then all of a sudden they love each other.
Conclusion:
This book is an improvement from Zenith, but not enough for me to like it more and give it a higher rating. It was just bad. I found myself doing this reading/skimming just so I could be done with this book. Nothing surprised me nor made me have this turning page affect. I don't care if Booktubers get book deals only if what they have written is worthy of being published and I can tell you this isn't it.
My answer is no and here is why.
Where to begin? Nexus was written a lot better than Zenith and the words flowed better, but that doesn't mean much when to me Zenith was such a low bar to begin with. Now let's get into the nity gritty stuff.
Characters:
We had received some background on Lira, Andi's 2nd, in Zenith as they had ended up crashing onto her home planet (idk what it was called because it was just that memorable). However, other than that we never got much of any background on Gilly and Breck except for a tad description in Zenith when there was a mass information dump. We learn of nothing new and in Nexus the rest of the crew is essentially non-existent; basically back burner characters.
As for Andi, there is not much growth in her character and is pretty much the same as she was in Zenith. She doesn't grow as a character is any significant way because there is nothing that challenges her and what she believes and or her current path in life. While her crew in under the influence of the serum, she wants to go out and save them so she tends to put her Bloody Baroness face on, but we have already seen this side of her before. We do see her soften as her and Dex become closer and start to rekindle their romance, but there are very few scenes that show actually development between them.
Speaking of romance, it has really hard to get behind the romance even though you know they were going to get back together from a mile away. We got very few scenes between them that were romantic based and so it was hard to get behind when they got together. Now I do understand that this isn't heavily romantic based; the romance is a back burner thing, but when it does come up it felt rushed with no real development that was written out.
As for Dex, he did have some good one-liners that were decent and some good "speeches" when talking to Andi. Other than that, Dex didn't have any development and was rather dry for most of the book. It seems that he was written to try to be comedic relief but it fell flat when that is not the core of the character.
Nor was just bratty and annoying. She was written to try to be a cold evil leader that we should fear in the Zenith, and then in Nexus we were supposed to think the same, but also sympthasize with her because she has emotions. I'm sorry? Was I supposed to feel bad for her because she loves someone? I am supposed to feel bad because she manipulated her half brother Valen into helping her take over the galaxy in which he would have to sacrafice everything and she would get off scotch free? No. She is not the type to take risk, to take charge, or to realize that plans don't always go without a hitch. Nor is naieve when learning how to rule and didn't think that people would be unaffected by the virus and they would revolt. Like sorry not everyone like a tyrant who tries to take over the galaxy.
Valen honestly got the short end of the stick here. He was constantly pushing himself to try to maintain control over the minds he had hijacked. He was a ploy in his half sister's plan with sweet promises that he would rule.
Plot:
Nothing really happens until about 150 pages in.
Let's start with the end because it turned out to be a disappointment. This was set up to be some intense battle it out type deal and was left with this five page anti-climatic scene. Basically it was like when the weather man predicts eight inches of snow and you get all excited and all that comes is an inch and a half and you are left with disappointment. We start off with Andi back in the ship with Dex and essentially they are arguing over what to do and apparently they are by this massive nebula.
OMG IS THERE NO SCIENCE ANYTHING IN THIS BOOK.
Let me tell you something, a nebula is a gas cloud, but it's not super dense all over as it is only dense in areas where stars are forming, due to gravity pulling the dust in, however, for the most part the nebula is spread out and if you went through one it's not like going through clouds. Just get some of the science stuff right.
At this point Valen has taken over almost everyone's mind in the ENTIRE galaxy... like how? Galaxies are freaking massive last time I checked and it would take time for his mind control thing to reach everyone. it just seems not likely he would have such an ability with billions of people to control.
Essentially, Dex and Andi find the Underground (great name...) trying to find help to take down Nor and happen to run into Nor's mom Klaren who is the leader of this organization. How convenient for everyone. During this point in the so called plot, we get a lot of information dumped onto us in which we learn that Exonians inhabit someones bodies as they don't have one. We are not given basic information about what they look like, how they feed, how they communicate, what life if like for them, or how they reproduce. We are just told this and expected to go along with it. For most of the book it's spent in the Underground with Andi and Dex and getting a bit of Nor's perspective.
We do find out that Nor's "uncle", essentially the person who raised her had been pushing her into decisions that would benefit him once he got rid of her and Valen and he became the ruler once he opened this "other world" for the Exonains to come and take over. This other world wasn't explained very well and I often was confused if it was a parallel world of some kind or what but nothing was really said.
In the end, Valen is killed by Andi because at this point he was too weak and had no chance of living and Zahn was also killed as a plot device which really sucked because I would have liked to know more about him. What life form was he? How did he come to love Nor? Of course everything turns out just fine for the crew and Andi because that was super obviuous that was how it was going to turn out. There was really nothing at stake. At one point Nor threatens to start killing her crew members and at one point it seemed that she killed Lira. If this was true, it would have been intresting to see how Andi would have reacted and what she would have done. But of course Nor doesn't actually kill but fake it instead which to me is such a cop out. It just goes to show how weak Nor is at being a villain in this story.
Writing:
Writing was better I guess. Both of the authors writing flowed better in this one, but I still found cringe moments. Dialogue wasn't as rough, but most of the dialogue lacked substance and I found some of the supposed heartfelt moments to lack which was in combination to the lack of romance between Andi and Dex and then all of a sudden they love each other.
Conclusion:
This book is an improvement from Zenith, but not enough for me to like it more and give it a higher rating. It was just bad. I found myself doing this reading/skimming just so I could be done with this book. Nothing surprised me nor made me have this turning page affect. I don't care if Booktubers get book deals only if what they have written is worthy of being published and I can tell you this isn't it.
June 4, 2019
Hard to review because I definitely don't think this series warrants the amount of negative reviews I saw around the release of the first book. The writing is by no means awful, but it could use a little finesse. Adjectives are used repeatedly, and some POVs seem completely unnecessary, like something that helped with drafting but overall should have been left on the cutting room floor.
And while I can think of no better ending for the series, I personally didn't love the path it took to get there. It certainly felt fitting and has very interesting elements, but what I enjoyed most about book 1 - how it left me wanting to know more - is impossible to be present in any finale (I struggle with many finales for this reason, so this is more of a personal preference than a critique of this specific book). I think Sasha and Lindsay excelled at setup but something about the pacing or maybe the length of the series just felt off to me.
However, it's very readable and likeable for the most part and I'd have no problem recommending this to YA sci-fi lovers! I really enjoyed the villain's side of things, TBH, and appreciated the focus we got on her story.
To reiterate what I said in my review of Zenith - I have never met either author and I don't think they even know who I am, so I hope no one has reason to question the authenticity of this review just because I'm a fellow BookTuber.
audiobook review: 3 stars. The individual narrators are fine (though they don't always hit the emotional cues the book describes), but it was a poor collaboration with the voicing. They each give wildly different voices to the same characters, especially Arachnid.
tw: violence, death, mind control, body snatchers, witnessing a friend's murder
And while I can think of no better ending for the series, I personally didn't love the path it took to get there. It certainly felt fitting and has very interesting elements, but what I enjoyed most about book 1 - how it left me wanting to know more - is impossible to be present in any finale (I struggle with many finales for this reason, so this is more of a personal preference than a critique of this specific book). I think Sasha and Lindsay excelled at setup but something about the pacing or maybe the length of the series just felt off to me.
However, it's very readable and likeable for the most part and I'd have no problem recommending this to YA sci-fi lovers! I really enjoyed the villain's side of things, TBH, and appreciated the focus we got on her story.
To reiterate what I said in my review of Zenith - I have never met either author and I don't think they even know who I am, so I hope no one has reason to question the authenticity of this review just because I'm a fellow BookTuber.
audiobook review: 3 stars. The individual narrators are fine (though they don't always hit the emotional cues the book describes), but it was a poor collaboration with the voicing. They each give wildly different voices to the same characters, especially Arachnid.
tw: violence, death, mind control, body snatchers, witnessing a friend's murder
May 26, 2019
I really wish I hadn't given this series a second chance. I knew going into this book deep down that I might not like it, but despite what everyone says, Zenith had potential to be great, and Nexus could have grown into something great.
Instead, Nexus brought absolutely no plot until about 200 pages in, flat characters (who didn't develop), and a meh villain. I love sci fi, but this one just made me bitter.
Instead, Nexus brought absolutely no plot until about 200 pages in, flat characters (who didn't develop), and a meh villain. I love sci fi, but this one just made me bitter.
June 3, 2020
Haters gonna hate.
will-not-read
August 18, 2018NOPE.
February 11, 2020
You know it’s not a good sign when you have to start your review with a disclaimer. Right off the bat I know this review is going to be a mess – there’s a lot to unpack. So here’s the disclaimer; I don’t know how coherent this one’s going to be.
Let’s get into it.
Nexus – I knew this book was never going to be mind-blowing but I still expected an improvement from Zenith. I wanted more of Zenith’s space opera action but with better world-building and a block buster knock-me-off-my-socks ending to close out the duology in style. And, if all else failed, I thought I could at least count on the Marauder’s all-girl crew of mercenaries.
*Sighs*. Imagine my disappointment when all I got from Nexus was an insufferably dragged-out-plot with little to no character development and zero space pirate action.
Now, I’m sure I don’t need to rehash on Zenith’s controversial release – let’s skip over that. [or you can read my review here]. While Zenith might have been a mediocre debut Nexus could have been great. There was potential, okay?
I’m sorry to say that Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings missed the mark. Again.
This series-turned-duology relied heavily on classic Sci-Fi and Fantasy tropes. You could tell that the authors read certain books because you could trace Zenith’s plot and characters back to those existing bestsellers. Zenith brought nothing new to the table. It was trying to be this sprawling space epic but fell short.
Speaking of bestsellers, Zenith actually read a lot like Throne of Glass fanfiction. I mean, it’s kind of obvious that if you plucked Celaena Sardothian from Rifthold and put her in space you’d basically have Zenith’s plot. Even the writing was a little too reminiscent of Sarah J. Maas – the descriptive writing, the short PoV chapters, the use of metaphors and similes. And the characters! It was so blatantly obviously that Andi and Celaena were cut from the same cloth.
Okay, so now you’re probably wondering where I’m going with this and how it all relates to why I’m so disappointed in Nexus. I know this seems like a tangent but trust me, there is a point here.
It’s clear that Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings took on the criticism from Zenith’s release when writing Nexus. You’d think that would have been a good thing but here’s why it wasn’t.
Nexus felt like a completely different book. There. I said it. The writing style drastically changed and gone was that Sarah J. Maas feel I spoke about in regards to Zenith. On one hand, I feel we should appreciate that Sasha and Lindsay tried to bring their own voices to Nexus. Yes, the sentences flowed better in terms of structure but they seemed to lack substance. Would it make sense if I said Zenith’s prose had more character? Nexus’s prose was bland in comparison. I didn’t hate the Throne of Glass parallels – it’s what made Zenith so fun.
Then we have the characterisation – or lack thereof. I don’t know what was going on with the characters but everyone seemed a little off. A lot can be chalked up to the plot and the fact that the Marauders were practically non-existent. Without her crew Andi just isn’t a compelling character and with no character development minus the lively dynamic of the Marauders you have a very dry book.
Which brings me to plot. Literally nothing happens until about the mid-point. After Zenith’s fast paced whirlwind of a plot Nexus’s slow burn was a struggle. The stakes were high but somehow Nexus had no tension. Don’t ask me how that works. That being said, there was a twist at the mid-point that amplified the emotion of the book which finally propelled me into the characters. Though, said twist was centred around Nor and not Andi.
So here’s the conundrum; Nexus is better than Zenith but at the same time it’s not. An attempt was made to make Nexus a stronger novel but in steering away from the tropes and very much copied tone, Nexus lost it’s charm. I wasn’t nearly as invested, the book was dry, the romance never developed and essentially, Nexus was a missed opportunity.
Basically, if you are still with me after this very long, very confusing review Nexus didn’t live up to Zenith’s potential. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Let’s get into it.
Nexus – I knew this book was never going to be mind-blowing but I still expected an improvement from Zenith. I wanted more of Zenith’s space opera action but with better world-building and a block buster knock-me-off-my-socks ending to close out the duology in style. And, if all else failed, I thought I could at least count on the Marauder’s all-girl crew of mercenaries.
*Sighs*. Imagine my disappointment when all I got from Nexus was an insufferably dragged-out-plot with little to no character development and zero space pirate action.
Now, I’m sure I don’t need to rehash on Zenith’s controversial release – let’s skip over that. [or you can read my review here]. While Zenith might have been a mediocre debut Nexus could have been great. There was potential, okay?
I’m sorry to say that Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings missed the mark. Again.
This series-turned-duology relied heavily on classic Sci-Fi and Fantasy tropes. You could tell that the authors read certain books because you could trace Zenith’s plot and characters back to those existing bestsellers. Zenith brought nothing new to the table. It was trying to be this sprawling space epic but fell short.
Speaking of bestsellers, Zenith actually read a lot like Throne of Glass fanfiction. I mean, it’s kind of obvious that if you plucked Celaena Sardothian from Rifthold and put her in space you’d basically have Zenith’s plot. Even the writing was a little too reminiscent of Sarah J. Maas – the descriptive writing, the short PoV chapters, the use of metaphors and similes. And the characters! It was so blatantly obviously that Andi and Celaena were cut from the same cloth.
Okay, so now you’re probably wondering where I’m going with this and how it all relates to why I’m so disappointed in Nexus. I know this seems like a tangent but trust me, there is a point here.
It’s clear that Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings took on the criticism from Zenith’s release when writing Nexus. You’d think that would have been a good thing but here’s why it wasn’t.
Nexus felt like a completely different book. There. I said it. The writing style drastically changed and gone was that Sarah J. Maas feel I spoke about in regards to Zenith. On one hand, I feel we should appreciate that Sasha and Lindsay tried to bring their own voices to Nexus. Yes, the sentences flowed better in terms of structure but they seemed to lack substance. Would it make sense if I said Zenith’s prose had more character? Nexus’s prose was bland in comparison. I didn’t hate the Throne of Glass parallels – it’s what made Zenith so fun.
Then we have the characterisation – or lack thereof. I don’t know what was going on with the characters but everyone seemed a little off. A lot can be chalked up to the plot and the fact that the Marauders were practically non-existent. Without her crew Andi just isn’t a compelling character and with no character development minus the lively dynamic of the Marauders you have a very dry book.
Which brings me to plot. Literally nothing happens until about the mid-point. After Zenith’s fast paced whirlwind of a plot Nexus’s slow burn was a struggle. The stakes were high but somehow Nexus had no tension. Don’t ask me how that works. That being said, there was a twist at the mid-point that amplified the emotion of the book which finally propelled me into the characters. Though, said twist was centred around Nor and not Andi.
So here’s the conundrum; Nexus is better than Zenith but at the same time it’s not. An attempt was made to make Nexus a stronger novel but in steering away from the tropes and very much copied tone, Nexus lost it’s charm. I wasn’t nearly as invested, the book was dry, the romance never developed and essentially, Nexus was a missed opportunity.
Basically, if you are still with me after this very long, very confusing review Nexus didn’t live up to Zenith’s potential. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
May 15, 2019
I loved Nexus. It is a great sequel.
June 26, 2019
I tried. I really really tried guys.
June 4, 2019
Book: Nexus
Author: Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings
Rating: 2 Out of 5 Stars
Okay, guys, I really did want to like this one. I really enjoyed Zenith, but Nexus just didn’t do it for me. I don’t know what it was, but there was just something about it that it made it really difficult for me to get into.
One thing that really kind of made it difficult was the fact that Nexus didn’t seem as well planned out as Zenith. Yes, I am aware that Zenith wasn’t prefect, but there was at least a little bit of logic to it. Nexus just feels like a mess. Sure, it picks right up where Zenith left off, but it’s like something is missing. It a second book, I expect some growth and change, but it just doesn’t happen here. It was almost as if the authors were trying too hard to impress their readers and critics instead of just letting the book be its own voice.
Nor was the biggest disappointment in the book. She comes into the book with so much potential as a villain and falls flat. I hated how she was so dependent on everyone else to make things happen. It was like she was just lying on the couch, waiting for everyone else to get things for her. it was really annoying.
There was no character growth for the other characters either. I couldn’t feel sorry for them as well. I get that things are bad, but it just didn’t come across the page like that. What I’m getting at is the bonds that I felt from the first book just aren’t here. What I think happened was the authors were once again caught up in trying to wrap everything up and forgot that it’s really the little moments that make a book. We need to see those bonds very clearly or we just simply are not going to be able to connect with the characters.
The plot really doesn’t come together until hallway through the book. It’s sad, because we are coming in with so much potential from Zenith and it just doesn’t happen. Nexus should have picked right up where Zenith left off. Instead, we have the characters whining about everything. Plus, none of them are capable of doing anything on their own now for some reason.
The writing was okay. It is better structurally than Zenith, but it just doesn’t have the touch from Zenith. I know Zenith was not the best written book, but it had charm. Nexus-not so much. There was actually a lot much things in Nexus that didn’t make sense and flow. I didn’t notice it so much in Zenith, but here it’s there. Things really aren’t explained and the science just doesn’t make any sense.
I am not giving up on Sasha, but I do hope she listens to her critics and changes things up. I’ve said this again and again: I would much rather have a poorer book and charm, than art and no charm.
Author: Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings
Rating: 2 Out of 5 Stars
Okay, guys, I really did want to like this one. I really enjoyed Zenith, but Nexus just didn’t do it for me. I don’t know what it was, but there was just something about it that it made it really difficult for me to get into.
One thing that really kind of made it difficult was the fact that Nexus didn’t seem as well planned out as Zenith. Yes, I am aware that Zenith wasn’t prefect, but there was at least a little bit of logic to it. Nexus just feels like a mess. Sure, it picks right up where Zenith left off, but it’s like something is missing. It a second book, I expect some growth and change, but it just doesn’t happen here. It was almost as if the authors were trying too hard to impress their readers and critics instead of just letting the book be its own voice.
Nor was the biggest disappointment in the book. She comes into the book with so much potential as a villain and falls flat. I hated how she was so dependent on everyone else to make things happen. It was like she was just lying on the couch, waiting for everyone else to get things for her. it was really annoying.
There was no character growth for the other characters either. I couldn’t feel sorry for them as well. I get that things are bad, but it just didn’t come across the page like that. What I’m getting at is the bonds that I felt from the first book just aren’t here. What I think happened was the authors were once again caught up in trying to wrap everything up and forgot that it’s really the little moments that make a book. We need to see those bonds very clearly or we just simply are not going to be able to connect with the characters.
The plot really doesn’t come together until hallway through the book. It’s sad, because we are coming in with so much potential from Zenith and it just doesn’t happen. Nexus should have picked right up where Zenith left off. Instead, we have the characters whining about everything. Plus, none of them are capable of doing anything on their own now for some reason.
The writing was okay. It is better structurally than Zenith, but it just doesn’t have the touch from Zenith. I know Zenith was not the best written book, but it had charm. Nexus-not so much. There was actually a lot much things in Nexus that didn’t make sense and flow. I didn’t notice it so much in Zenith, but here it’s there. Things really aren’t explained and the science just doesn’t make any sense.
I am not giving up on Sasha, but I do hope she listens to her critics and changes things up. I’ve said this again and again: I would much rather have a poorer book and charm, than art and no charm.
May 21, 2019
2.5/5 stars
oh i am kind of disappointed. don't get me wrong, the core plot was super interesting but really what kept me reading.
the writing is an improvement from Zenith for sure but sentences that didn't need to be there that made the prose very awkward and juvenile. most of the dialogue was fine but here and there some cringe things.
while the overarching plot was good, i felt like the story was told on a very surface level. i can tell world-building was attempted but the execution of that just fell short.
also, a villain who is evil for the sake of being evil is not a fun trope.
had they extended this into a trilogy and really worked on the lore, the characterisation and the actual writing then this really could have been it but it wasn't
oh i am kind of disappointed. don't get me wrong, the core plot was super interesting but really what kept me reading.
the writing is an improvement from Zenith for sure but sentences that didn't need to be there that made the prose very awkward and juvenile. most of the dialogue was fine but here and there some cringe things.
while the overarching plot was good, i felt like the story was told on a very surface level. i can tell world-building was attempted but the execution of that just fell short.
also, a villain who is evil for the sake of being evil is not a fun trope.
had they extended this into a trilogy and really worked on the lore, the characterisation and the actual writing then this really could have been it but it wasn't
May 4, 2019
Wow, I am amazed at how action-packed and engrossing this duology has been! I love Androma so much! This book and Zenith have taken me on such an adventure that it has become one of my top sci-fi books ever! Nothing is better than a high stakes, badass, and wicked story. I hope that this series receives more love because it truly deserves it!
April 23, 2019
This book was amazing. It beat all my expectations.
I loved Zenith when it first came out and gave it 5 stars. Looking back Zenith I would probably now only give 3.5-3.75 stars. This book definitely tops that and has an automatic 5 star rating from me.
This book was action packed with very little romance (The bit of romance was a back burner plot and was perfectly placed in the novel). I loved the romance in here because it wasn't the main focus.
The characters in here were so well developed that I cannot pick a favorite as they were all amazing. The main plot in this book was very enthralling and fast-paced. The plot twists I didn't see coming, I imagined something similar but had the completely wrong person in mind which made the story so much better.
The ending was an emotional rollercoaster, in my opinion, I couldn't decide what might happen and then they blew me away by doing something I never predicted.
I do recommend this book even if you didn't like Zenith because this book was so much better, and you get to see how they both fell into a great routine as writing partners. I hope to see more from them in the future.
I loved Zenith when it first came out and gave it 5 stars. Looking back Zenith I would probably now only give 3.5-3.75 stars. This book definitely tops that and has an automatic 5 star rating from me.
This book was action packed with very little romance (The bit of romance was a back burner plot and was perfectly placed in the novel). I loved the romance in here because it wasn't the main focus.
The characters in here were so well developed that I cannot pick a favorite as they were all amazing. The main plot in this book was very enthralling and fast-paced. The plot twists I didn't see coming, I imagined something similar but had the completely wrong person in mind which made the story so much better.
The ending was an emotional rollercoaster, in my opinion, I couldn't decide what might happen and then they blew me away by doing something I never predicted.
I do recommend this book even if you didn't like Zenith because this book was so much better, and you get to see how they both fell into a great routine as writing partners. I hope to see more from them in the future.
August 14, 2019
I just can’t do it. I slogged through the first half of this book desperately hoping for a reprieve from the repetitive and painfully deliberate prose but there isn’t one. This book has almost all of the same issues as its predecessor, with uncomfortably familiar themes from popular YA series and poorly explained, descriptive world building. With that said, the character development was much better, but the gaping plot holes and lack of explanation of really important components has plagued me for far too long now.
Androma has lost her title as the Bloody Baroness (thank goodness, because that name was awful from the start!) and is now a fugitive. Queen Nor, vicious Queen that she is, rules the Galaxy through mind-control and seeks to destroy Androma at any cost. Well, she seeks to destroy basically everything because she’s just that kind of messed up character. I actually really like her; she’s a joy to read about.
So Androma and Dex, now stranded on some ice planet of indeterminate nature (indeterminate because somehow people are managing to survive here despite gas giants, a lack of solid ground and let’s not forget that they’d be dead already because of pressure/gravity) . Is it just me or this expecting a level of suspending your disbelief that just can’t work – we need an explanation, however tenuous, of how these people are managing to survive in legitimately un-survivable conditions. I’m not big on space settings anyway, but you can’t ignore everything, fail to consider any space-related complications and expect readers to just accept it; if you’re developing a world set in space surely some space-related research needs to take place?
To their credit, the authors have taken some of the negative/constructive feedback provided to them from Zenith because the problems with their superficial and outright cringey characters have improved somewhat. I still don’t like Andi, Dex or their weird romance but I do really like Andi’s crew; they’ve been much better developed in this book with more prominent personality profiling to delineate them more clearly from each other now. They’re still cringey, but I guess that can be overlooked. Equally, Nor is a much better villain with genuine motive and unpredictability which is great – what’s the point in a villain who doesn’t really feel like a threat?
This series is just too dramatic and mashed together with not enough of a step up from the previous book to improve its standing. A heroic girl, an (allegedly) swoony love interest and an enemy hell-bent on destroying the galaxy with only one person who can stop them? We’ve seen it and we’ve seen it better. It’s a real shame because there has been obvious growth in some areas within this series from Zenith to Nexus which lead me to believe future work would be much better – perhaps Sasha’s “Project Red” will be a massive step up. But, as with many readers with an ever growing pile of fantastic books to read, I’m just not sure I’ll be able to commit myself to further disappointment.
ARC provided free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Androma has lost her title as the Bloody Baroness (thank goodness, because that name was awful from the start!) and is now a fugitive. Queen Nor, vicious Queen that she is, rules the Galaxy through mind-control and seeks to destroy Androma at any cost. Well, she seeks to destroy basically everything because she’s just that kind of messed up character. I actually really like her; she’s a joy to read about.
So Androma and Dex, now stranded on some ice planet of indeterminate nature (indeterminate because somehow people are managing to survive here despite gas giants, a lack of solid ground and let’s not forget that they’d be dead already because of pressure/gravity) . Is it just me or this expecting a level of suspending your disbelief that just can’t work – we need an explanation, however tenuous, of how these people are managing to survive in legitimately un-survivable conditions. I’m not big on space settings anyway, but you can’t ignore everything, fail to consider any space-related complications and expect readers to just accept it; if you’re developing a world set in space surely some space-related research needs to take place?
To their credit, the authors have taken some of the negative/constructive feedback provided to them from Zenith because the problems with their superficial and outright cringey characters have improved somewhat. I still don’t like Andi, Dex or their weird romance but I do really like Andi’s crew; they’ve been much better developed in this book with more prominent personality profiling to delineate them more clearly from each other now. They’re still cringey, but I guess that can be overlooked. Equally, Nor is a much better villain with genuine motive and unpredictability which is great – what’s the point in a villain who doesn’t really feel like a threat?
This series is just too dramatic and mashed together with not enough of a step up from the previous book to improve its standing. A heroic girl, an (allegedly) swoony love interest and an enemy hell-bent on destroying the galaxy with only one person who can stop them? We’ve seen it and we’ve seen it better. It’s a real shame because there has been obvious growth in some areas within this series from Zenith to Nexus which lead me to believe future work would be much better – perhaps Sasha’s “Project Red” will be a massive step up. But, as with many readers with an ever growing pile of fantastic books to read, I’m just not sure I’ll be able to commit myself to further disappointment.
ARC provided free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
March 1, 2020
Nor Solis ha conseguido hacerse con el poder de toda la galaxia gracias al Zénit, Su arma secreta, un virus conectado con el gran poder de su hermano Valen, ha conseguido que las mentes y las voluntades de la mayor parte de los habitantes seas suyas. Obligados a alabarla, adorarla y trabajar para ella, los Inafectados, aquellos inmunes al virus y que han conseguido escapar de las garras mentales de los hermanos Solis, y su líder enigmático llamado Arácnido, son los únicos que se interponen entre ella y alcanzar el éxito de su única misión: abrir un camino para los habitantes de Exodus, el planeta natal de su madre, para salvarlos de la extinción. Andi todavía se está recuperando de la herida que la última batalla en Arcadia le ha provocado. Junto al cazarrecompensas Dex, que se ha convertido en el aliado inesperado, y junto al hermano de Lira, Lon, los tres navegan y se esconden dentro de una nebulosa hasta intentar averiguar de qué manera pueden rescatar a su tripulación y familia, Lira, Gilly y Becky, de las manos de los Solis. Sin embargo, la nueva posición de Andi dentro de la galaxia la obligará a tomar un camino que, poco a poco, la aleja de ellas. Teniendo que viajar a Solera, uno de los planetas más hostiles que conoce, es posible que allí se tope con Arácnido, el único que puede ofrecerle a Andi la fuerza necesaria para atacar Arcadia, a Nor, y reestablecer la normalidad y paz. Cuando en el planeta helado no solo descubra su nuevo poder, sino también la verdadera cara que se esconde tras la armadura de Arácnido, Andi empieza a pensar que, quizás, ha cometido un error. Y, cuando los mensajes de Nor la ponen a prueba, pronto tendrá que decidir a qué hacerle caso: si a su mente, que le avisa de la trampa, o a su corazón, que le obliga a incluso dar su propia vida para rescatar a las únicas personas que siempre han estado a su lado.
Aún recuerdo todos los comentarios negativos con los que aterrizó Zénit en nuestro país. Se presentaba como un libro de ciencia ficción que no lograba cumplir con las expectativas de una autora que recién empezaba su viaje dentro de este mundo, y otra que ya había tenido algo de recorrido. Sinceramente, no tuve muy en cuenta cada una de las palabras que había por todos lados, la historia m llamaba muchísimo la atención y, una vez acabado, no me arrepentí pero para nada de haberle dado una oportunidad. Disfruté mucho del primer libro y no entendía a qué venían tantos comentarios negativos, así que Nexus, la conclusión de esta bilogía, llegaba hace una semana a casa con muchas ganas, por mi parte, de leerlo. Y lo he vuelto a disfrutar.
Siguiendo con la narración en tercera persona a través de diferentes puntos de vista, teniendo a Andi, Dex, Lira, Valen y Sor como personajes principales, el inicio de Nexus se basa en unos capítulos que se centran, sobre todo, en hacernos un repaso de por dónde nos habíamos quedado, viajando entre los diferentes personajes y los dos escenarios o bandos principales, algo que también va a dar mucho movimiento y dinamismo a lo largo de todo el libro y la lectura. A mi me ha venido genial porque recordaba cosas del final de Zénit pero no de manera exacta, perdiendo incluso la referencia y punto de partida de cada personaje después de los últimos acontecimientos. Es por eso que son momentos algo lentos en los que, principalmente, vamos a ser testigos de cómo las autoras recogen cada consecuencia y se la otorga a sus personajes, todos ellos teniendo un camino diferente de actuación y que recorrer, para ir asentando o aplanado y preparando el futuro argumento que va a llegar con las primeras misiones bajo la manga. Como digo, tener dos escenarios ha ayudado mucho que la lectura sea bastante fluida y entretenida, siempre teniendo algo que ver u observar. Mientras Andi se recupera de sus heridas en la nave conocida como Saqueadora, viajamos hacia Arcadius, donde están los enemigos, siendo testigos de las cosas que están ocurriendo allí, participando en la construcción de algo mucho más grande que, poco a poco, se va a convertir en uno de los principales problemas a resolver. Cada bando tienen cosas que hacer y, en cuando aparece el primer giro argumental, todo se acelera a una velocidad vertiginosa. Es entonces cuando, además, la trama de Nexus se vuelve muy adictiva. Las primeras escenas de acción y de peligro aparecen, analizando cada situación que se tiene por delante para tomar decisiones cruciales y fundamentales que nos adentraran en lugares inhóspitos, desconocidos y de los que no te puedes fiar. Acompañar a los diferentes personajes dentro de su propio juego es aquí el principal factor por el que no vamos a poder dejar el libro ni un segundo, habiendo una escena en concreto muy inesperada y épica, que consiguió abrirme la boca completamente y que, una vez más, lo cambiará todo. Nexus es un libro que tiene un ritmo muy marcado, comenzando de esa manera lenta para arrancar con fuerza cuando lo tiene todo bien situado, dejándonos con varias revelaciones muy acertadas que guían la historia hacia momentos que regresan a la lentitud para desarrollar de manera definitiva a los personajes, sus relaciones e interacciones, rompiendo con ello en el momento más acertado con más sorpresas que despiertan una vez más ese ritmo rápido, emocionante y plagado de mil cosas para avanzar hacia el plan final, donde todo se unirá de manera irremediable, el trabajo de ambos bandos, teniendo unos capítulos finales de infarto donde las batallas se sucederán unas detrás de las otras, donde la conclusión de varios personajes verán la luz y donde las últimas decisiones serán fundamentales para salvar, o no, a la mayoría de ellos.
Aún así, creo que Nexus ha estado un paso por detrás de Zénit, una segunda parte que he notado más light. El primer libro fue uno que se fue gestando poco a poco, con datos que parecían irrelevantes en un principio para luego ver que crecían y se convertían en un auténtico obstáculo para nuestros protagonistas. Me enfrenté a una trama muy bien hilada, pensada, inteligente, con mucho dinamismo y un juego brutal que propició a que los momentos finales fueran alucinantes, muy sorprendentes y brutales. Nexus, en cambio, ha carecido de ese sentimiento. He visto una trama más dispersa y espesa, con escenas que no esconden grandes sombras por la espalda, donde la mayoría de los personajes, sus movimientos y sus actos se ven sin problemas, terminando con una trama que podría haberse desplegado igual que la de Zénit. Tiene cosas muy guays, ya os he dicho que contiene esta segunda parte escenas super inesperadas que le han dado a todo un toque más épico y que ha conseguido abrirme la boca en más de una ocasión, pero creo que todo se ha hecho muy suave, bajo mi punto de vista. Los personajes terminan de arrancar aquí, pero también he notado que muchos de ellos se han quedado por el camino, especialmente los secundarios y Nor Solis, que creía iba a tener una trama muy poderosa y más peso en la historia. Me he sentido algo decepcionada, por un lado, con su papel dentro de esta guerra que se avecina. Creía que se iba a convertir en una gran villana, pero finalmente ha sido un personaje más. El tema de la guerra ha tenido sus puntos, pero no ha sido algo intenso o demasiado notorio, todo muy fácil de resolver. Me hubiera gustado profundizar más en sus aspiraciones, ver a Nor Solis actuar de otra manera, sentir un impacto mayor cuando se descubre la auténtica realidad. Ese juego mental entre los protagonistas del que ya he hablado no está aquí, y fue un punto excelente y primordial dentro del primer libro. Es aquí también donde entra el personaje de Valen que, de tras el libro anterior, también esperaba ver algo más de él. Creo que las autoras lo han enfrascado demasiado tiempo dentro de su poder, una dimensión creada en su mente como refugio que encarcela las voluntades de los infectados con el virus pero que, a veces, sobraba con escenas que se alargaban demasiado. Me he alejado un poco de esta historia por eso, esperaba encontrar una conclusión de bilogía más potente, más cruda, más impactante, donde los personajes iban a ser cruciales, pero finalmente no ha sido así.
Por ello, y en resumen, Nexus ha sido un final que ha aportado cosas nuevas a través de momentos que me han llegado a gustar bastante y a sorprenderme aún más, pero que no ha conseguido estar a la altura que esperaba. Entretenida, rápida, y con mucha acción, sigue siendo una bilogía que recomiendo mucho para aquellos y aquellas que quieran meterse en una buena ambientación de ciencia ficción, pero me quedo con esa espinita de no haber podido disfrutar más de este final.
May 1, 2019
My Review: OMG I am so happy that I got the chance to read this book. I fell in love with Zenith and you can see how much stronger these two are writing together in Nexus. The one issue I had with book one was that in parts it was confusing. And it seems that in this one the authors hashed things out a little better and I didn't feel so overwhelmed with the story. It was wonderful and I still need more!! Which made all of the POVs so much better. The story flowed so much better than book one.
The characters in this one were again wonderful and fantastic. I loved that we got some back story of one certain character and I hope that in upcoming titles (is we get them) that we get more backstory on all the characters going forward.
The plot although I did love it there were a few things that I won't post here but if you read this one. There are a few things that to me were a little far fetched. But I just love this world that these two amazing authors have created so it wasn't to much for me not to overlook but it was there. I like my fantasy and science fiction to be out there but I still think that rules should apply.
So I guess that this is going to be the last book (I am still hoping for more. I mean it is called a SAGA!!). But it did a pretty good job with tying up loose ends from book one and the ending was very good and satisfying. It had a good amount of surprises in this one and if you think you know how its going to end your wrong!
The characters in this one were again wonderful and fantastic. I loved that we got some back story of one certain character and I hope that in upcoming titles (is we get them) that we get more backstory on all the characters going forward.
The plot although I did love it there were a few things that I won't post here but if you read this one. There are a few things that to me were a little far fetched. But I just love this world that these two amazing authors have created so it wasn't to much for me not to overlook but it was there. I like my fantasy and science fiction to be out there but I still think that rules should apply.
So I guess that this is going to be the last book (I am still hoping for more. I mean it is called a SAGA!!). But it did a pretty good job with tying up loose ends from book one and the ending was very good and satisfying. It had a good amount of surprises in this one and if you think you know how its going to end your wrong!
March 1, 2020
Más bien un 3'75.
Después de lo mucho que me había sorprendido e impactado la primera parte porque no es ninguna novedad que adore las novelas de ciencia ficción, con un final muy abierto necesitaba seguir con la historia. Esta segunda parte en comparación con la primera es más floja, porque aunque no dejan de descubrirse secretos y traiciones, he echado en falta la emoción que sentía leyendo el primer libro.
Pero aún así, si tuviera que comentar las dos partes conjuntamente diría que es una historia que vale la pena leerla. Contiene emoción, mucha acción y una protagonista de 10, porque Andi, me ha encantado por su fuerte personalidad, por no dejarse persuadir por nadie. Otra cosa a decir en su favor, es que algo que odio que sucedan en muchos libros juveniles es que la historia de amor se convierte en el primer plano, dejando todo lo demás en segundo y tercer plano y algo que me ha gustado de tanto Zénit como Neus, es que pese a que haya una historia de amor no es la trama principal de los libros ni mucho menos.
Nexus me ha sorprendido pero con Zénit la sorpresa fue mucho mayor y sigo sin entender el por qué de las malas críticas de esta saga porque en mi opinión está a la altura de muchas sagas mucho más "famosas"/conocidas.
Recomendadísimos los dos libros.
Después de lo mucho que me había sorprendido e impactado la primera parte porque no es ninguna novedad que adore las novelas de ciencia ficción, con un final muy abierto necesitaba seguir con la historia. Esta segunda parte en comparación con la primera es más floja, porque aunque no dejan de descubrirse secretos y traiciones, he echado en falta la emoción que sentía leyendo el primer libro.
Pero aún así, si tuviera que comentar las dos partes conjuntamente diría que es una historia que vale la pena leerla. Contiene emoción, mucha acción y una protagonista de 10, porque Andi, me ha encantado por su fuerte personalidad, por no dejarse persuadir por nadie. Otra cosa a decir en su favor, es que algo que odio que sucedan en muchos libros juveniles es que la historia de amor se convierte en el primer plano, dejando todo lo demás en segundo y tercer plano y algo que me ha gustado de tanto Zénit como Neus, es que pese a que haya una historia de amor no es la trama principal de los libros ni mucho menos.
Nexus me ha sorprendido pero con Zénit la sorpresa fue mucho mayor y sigo sin entender el por qué de las malas críticas de esta saga porque en mi opinión está a la altura de muchas sagas mucho más "famosas"/conocidas.
Recomendadísimos los dos libros.
May 1, 2019
Disclaimer/Note: I want to thank Harlequin Teen, Netgalley, and Lia Ferrone for getting me an ARC. I was trying to get this book so badly I ended up with two copies, actually, and I feel so insanely, doubly blessed for that. Y'all are collectively the best.
That aside. Sit down, let's have a chat for a minute about this one. The first thing you need to know is this is the second half of the Androma Saga. The first half is a book called ZENITH (and, tangent, there's absolutely no way you jump in with Nexus and try to get yourself caught up without reading Zenith first). As a quick recap just so y'all know where I'm coming from, ZENITH is one of the best YAs I've ever read. I've been hand-selling it for a year now and I can't praise that book enough-literally I will see people pick it up from way across the store and will start yellin at them how great it is. So when I got my review copy of NEXUS, I was ready to have my world rocked all over again--or be really disappointed if it didn't hold up, cuz I have been anticipating this read for so long and talking about it consistently with people.
If I had to describe this book in a word, it'd be earth-shattering.
I'm not even playing right now. It has everything you'd want out of a space opera: an excellent team of strong female characters, galaxy-wide mind control, more family drama than Maury, a falling apart space ship, mass invasion by alien races, a ferocious cat-beast named Havoc, and a super villain in the style of Senator Palpatine. It almost made me cry. It was also witty as hell. The characters have an insane amount of depth and emotion, and everything from the setting to the dialogue is perfectly executed. There's admittedly a lot going on in this book, but I didn't find a single plot hole.
Another reason I really love this duology - and this series as a whole, but more NEXUS than its counterpart - is how accurately YA it is. This might sound weird, but bear with me. I feel like a lot of YA books can go one of two ways: either all of the teenage characters in them act like fully-grown, fully mature adults with all of their ducks in a row at all times, oooorr the teenage characters act so painfully immature and teenage-ish and MTV-shallow that as an adult reader, the book cannot possibly be enjoyed. Obviously not all YA is like this... but I'd say the overwhelming majority fall into one category or the other.
I'm here to tell you, if you're like "oh god it's YA which category is it"-- NEXUS is the line. As a main character, Andi isn't the most emotionally mature, big-picture thinker in the world. There were moments where I wanted to slap her silly for being so stubborn and unable to see reason. She makes choices that adults wouldn't make but that teenagers would. However, it isn't to the point where the entire book is intolerable. There are plenty of grown, mature adults within this book who are able to think beyond their immediate circumstances, and it creates a balance. It's a phenomenally done YA and I'm really happy about it. Highly, highly, hiiiighly recommend. Y'all gotta read this one.
That aside. Sit down, let's have a chat for a minute about this one. The first thing you need to know is this is the second half of the Androma Saga. The first half is a book called ZENITH (and, tangent, there's absolutely no way you jump in with Nexus and try to get yourself caught up without reading Zenith first). As a quick recap just so y'all know where I'm coming from, ZENITH is one of the best YAs I've ever read. I've been hand-selling it for a year now and I can't praise that book enough-literally I will see people pick it up from way across the store and will start yellin at them how great it is. So when I got my review copy of NEXUS, I was ready to have my world rocked all over again--or be really disappointed if it didn't hold up, cuz I have been anticipating this read for so long and talking about it consistently with people.
If I had to describe this book in a word, it'd be earth-shattering.
I'm not even playing right now. It has everything you'd want out of a space opera: an excellent team of strong female characters, galaxy-wide mind control, more family drama than Maury, a falling apart space ship, mass invasion by alien races, a ferocious cat-beast named Havoc, and a super villain in the style of Senator Palpatine. It almost made me cry. It was also witty as hell. The characters have an insane amount of depth and emotion, and everything from the setting to the dialogue is perfectly executed. There's admittedly a lot going on in this book, but I didn't find a single plot hole.
Another reason I really love this duology - and this series as a whole, but more NEXUS than its counterpart - is how accurately YA it is. This might sound weird, but bear with me. I feel like a lot of YA books can go one of two ways: either all of the teenage characters in them act like fully-grown, fully mature adults with all of their ducks in a row at all times, oooorr the teenage characters act so painfully immature and teenage-ish and MTV-shallow that as an adult reader, the book cannot possibly be enjoyed. Obviously not all YA is like this... but I'd say the overwhelming majority fall into one category or the other.
I'm here to tell you, if you're like "oh god it's YA which category is it"-- NEXUS is the line. As a main character, Andi isn't the most emotionally mature, big-picture thinker in the world. There were moments where I wanted to slap her silly for being so stubborn and unable to see reason. She makes choices that adults wouldn't make but that teenagers would. However, it isn't to the point where the entire book is intolerable. There are plenty of grown, mature adults within this book who are able to think beyond their immediate circumstances, and it creates a balance. It's a phenomenally done YA and I'm really happy about it. Highly, highly, hiiiighly recommend. Y'all gotta read this one.
May 8, 2019
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
A galaxy of people forced into blind servitude and a family torn apart lead to a mission not only for survival, but to stop a threat more powerful than anyone could have possibly imagined in the final chapter of authors Lindsay Cummings and Sasha Alsberg’s duology “Nexus (The Androma Saga #2)”. Here is the synopsis.
The Synopsis
Her ship is gone, her crew is captured and notorious mercenary Androma Racella is no longer the powerful Bloody Baroness, but a fugitive ruthlessly hunted across the Mirabel Galaxy. The bloodthirsty Queen Nor now rules most of the galaxy through a mind-control toxin and she’ll stop at nothing to destroy her most hated adversary.
Andi will risk anything, even her precious freedom, to find a cure. Stranded with her unlikely ally, Dex, on the unforgiving ice planet of Solera, their plan to infiltrate a black-market city proves dangerously irresistible.
Back in Arcardius, Nor’s actions have opened Mirabel to invasion. As Andi’s crew fights to regain their freedom, Andi and Dex discover a threat far greater than anything they’ve faced before.
Only by saving their mortal enemy can the crew of the Marauder make one last desperate strike to save the galaxy—unaware that a shattering, centuries-old secret may demand the most wrenching sacrifice of all.
The Review
This is the perfect ending to a phenomenal YA Sci-Fi thriller. Put up against nearly impossible odds, a feared and strong criminal turned hero is forced into an impossible position as she yearns to free the crew she considers her family, while a threat building behind the scenes for decades begins to slowly reveal itself, and the threat of Nor soon makes way for a devastatingly sinister plot that only Andi can stop.
The action and suspense the plot brings are superb in their delivery, as is the growing mythology behind the Mirabel galaxy and its people. Readers are instantly enthralled with this growing world, which brings a mixture of Star Wars meets Firefly with a YA twist. Yet it’s the characters of this novel that truly define the book’s power, as the story feels personal and heartfelt as the protagonist showcases a love for her family that goes above and beyond any responsibilities placed upon her. Family is what defines this story, in more ways than one, and the ferocity with which Andi is willing to fight to save her family showcases the path of any great sci-fi hero.
The Verdict
This is a must read summer YA book for any fan of the YA sci-fi genre. Filled with action, passion and a deep rooted mythology that fans will instantly become obsessed with, the shocking conclusion to the tale will leave readers on the edge of their seat. While the story may officially be over for the Androma Saga, the characters and their love for one another are what will live on in readers hearts as they go on this final journey with the Bloody Baroness. If you haven’t yet, be sure to pick up your copy of Nexus by authors Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings today!
A galaxy of people forced into blind servitude and a family torn apart lead to a mission not only for survival, but to stop a threat more powerful than anyone could have possibly imagined in the final chapter of authors Lindsay Cummings and Sasha Alsberg’s duology “Nexus (The Androma Saga #2)”. Here is the synopsis.
The Synopsis
Her ship is gone, her crew is captured and notorious mercenary Androma Racella is no longer the powerful Bloody Baroness, but a fugitive ruthlessly hunted across the Mirabel Galaxy. The bloodthirsty Queen Nor now rules most of the galaxy through a mind-control toxin and she’ll stop at nothing to destroy her most hated adversary.
Andi will risk anything, even her precious freedom, to find a cure. Stranded with her unlikely ally, Dex, on the unforgiving ice planet of Solera, their plan to infiltrate a black-market city proves dangerously irresistible.
Back in Arcardius, Nor’s actions have opened Mirabel to invasion. As Andi’s crew fights to regain their freedom, Andi and Dex discover a threat far greater than anything they’ve faced before.
Only by saving their mortal enemy can the crew of the Marauder make one last desperate strike to save the galaxy—unaware that a shattering, centuries-old secret may demand the most wrenching sacrifice of all.
The Review
This is the perfect ending to a phenomenal YA Sci-Fi thriller. Put up against nearly impossible odds, a feared and strong criminal turned hero is forced into an impossible position as she yearns to free the crew she considers her family, while a threat building behind the scenes for decades begins to slowly reveal itself, and the threat of Nor soon makes way for a devastatingly sinister plot that only Andi can stop.
The action and suspense the plot brings are superb in their delivery, as is the growing mythology behind the Mirabel galaxy and its people. Readers are instantly enthralled with this growing world, which brings a mixture of Star Wars meets Firefly with a YA twist. Yet it’s the characters of this novel that truly define the book’s power, as the story feels personal and heartfelt as the protagonist showcases a love for her family that goes above and beyond any responsibilities placed upon her. Family is what defines this story, in more ways than one, and the ferocity with which Andi is willing to fight to save her family showcases the path of any great sci-fi hero.
The Verdict
This is a must read summer YA book for any fan of the YA sci-fi genre. Filled with action, passion and a deep rooted mythology that fans will instantly become obsessed with, the shocking conclusion to the tale will leave readers on the edge of their seat. While the story may officially be over for the Androma Saga, the characters and their love for one another are what will live on in readers hearts as they go on this final journey with the Bloody Baroness. If you haven’t yet, be sure to pick up your copy of Nexus by authors Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings today!
September 1, 2020
Frankly, the best thing about this book were the acknowledgements. The ending.
I have so many problems with this- I don't even know where to start.
This book got two stars solely because I was able to get through the entire thing, despite the amount of skimming I did.
I'm going to start with the one thing I liked about this book, and just flow from there.
The pacing- I really enjoyed the pacing in this. It was a light, fast-paced novel, which I can appreciate. It didn't take too long to read, which was a nice counterbalance to the heavier non-fics and classic sci-fi I've been reading lately. After taking so many days to finish those books, I was getting disheartened, and I was glad to finish this within two days.
However, that could just be because I skimmed a lot. I wasn't invested in any aspect of this book, so I'm not entirely sure how I held on, but I think my motivation was writing this review, lol.
Putting everything else in this review aside, it was the writing I had the largest issue with. It sounded so juvenile, out of lack for a better word. It was grammatically correct and everything, but I feel it lacked a flow, as well as desperately needing some sort of finesse. The style of writing used feels like it belongs in a middle grade novel, but the content and language defies that feeling almost completely. However, compared to the first book, the sentence structure was much improved, as compared to the stifling repetitiveness of the first. But on that same note, these subtle differences made it feel like a completely different author wrote this, since the style was completely different. The writing was often cringeworthy.
Quite frankly, this felt like a Sarah J. Maas fanfiction. It's so annoyingly obvious- that this book was heavily influenced by what books the authors have read and liked. If I had the patience to do so, I would nitpick almost every single element of this novel and directly link it to another books's parallel. It was glaringly evident- the metaphors/prose used seemed like they came straight out of SJM's books, the constant switching of POVs, and good Lord, most importantly, the characters.
Additionally, this series heavily relied on overused YA tropes such as enemies-turned-lovers, or the whole traumatized-badass-orphan thing, just to name a few. Elaborating on my previous point, you can tell exactly what these authors read before writing this book.
Let's be real. Androma Raucella, the Bloody Baroness, is a Walmart Celaena Sardothien. There' s no question there. The only difference is that Celaena/Aelin is characterized by her actions rather than what the authors constantly repeat about Andi's personality in the book. We get it. She's the Bloody Baroness, and she's super threatening.
And that's precisely my next issue. Generally, when we write, our mentors and the internet tell us to "show, not tell." This book has no shortage of "Tell, don't show." For example, Andi's crew is..uh...occupied for almost the entirety of this book. I'm not so sure how to word this, but rather than showing Andi's love for her crew through her actions, the authors just constantly repeat the fact that they're her only family.
"She was the Bloody Baroness, and she would tear the skies apart to find her family."
Or some nonsense like that. Constantly being repeated.
I apologize if that made zero sense.
Oh, and most of us don't hate Aelin like we hate Andi.
She's such an uninteresting, bland heroine that I was not invested in at all. Again, like I said before, she's the epitome of your typical edgy-teenager-traumatized-orphan-turned-badass-assassin trope. AKA Celaena Sardothien. I don't have much else to say about her. I'm not a huge fan of her idiotic impulsiveness, which would better be characterized as her recklessness, and her lack of flaws.
Dextro Arez- Yeesh, the most cringeworthy character I have read about in the past year. He is such a tryhard flirt, yet fails epically. He desperately reminds me of a 13-year-old boy with an obvious crush. His one liners were horrible, his personality was just as bad, and he just made me so uncomfortable. Gross.
Lira- As for Lira, I felt pretty meh. I didn't like her, but I didn't hate her either. She was just there. Again, like I said before, a big issue I had with this book was the tell-don't-show. As readers, we constantly get reminded of these characters' personalities, yet we don't see it in their actions, in their thinking.
Gilly and Breck- Again, lacking development. I would have liked to learn more about these two.
Nor- Nor Solis was arguably the most relatable character in that novel. Although I found her the most interesting, she still seemed so two-dimensional despite the multiple POVs, which was a major pitfall on the authors's part. If you're going to have multiple POVs, the very least you can do is add some good development for the individual characters. They missed the point completely, which is a major shame. So in that sense, the POVs were unnecessary, since they also took the focus away from Andi, who is supposedly our main character.
Valen- It's another edgy teenager! Woohoo!
And this compulsion! Again, very interesting, but lacked the development and explanation to make it even better. I didn't completely understand what this "compulsion" was. A compulsion to rule the world? A compulsion to rule peoples' minds? I was confused.
Darai- His sudden desire to rule the world just felt so random and sudden. He made a good villain, and it was a decent enough twist, but again- another two-dimensional character. A shame, seeing how much potential there could be.
As for the romantic pairing between Dextro and Androma, I found it exceedingly boring and cringeworthy. Nothing special there, zero progression between the two of them. At the beginning, they both hated each others guts, and suddenly they start throwing the L-word around? Excuse me? Forgive me for asking, but where was the progression? I felt like it just went from zero to a hundred in 0.0000004 nanoseconds. There was no turning point in their hatred for each other, no telltale signs that they were interested in forming a romantic pairing once again, other than Androma's constant jealousy.
The development for all the characters was...lacking, to say the least. Actually, "lacking" is a good word to just describe this entire book. Yep, let's go with that.
As for the plot, I actually liked the idea of it- I thought the entire Exonia thing (is that what it's called??) was quite interesting, and I liked the idea of the drug, Zenith, as well as the Xen Pterran conspiracy. However, as intriguing as the basic idea of the plot was, the execution of it failed to live up to its potential. I think every single aspect of this story- the writing style, the prose, the characters- are intertwined, so that also could have been a reason I felt this plot was a major letdown.
And now for the worldbuilding. Even if we ignore the major info-dumps all through the novel, the world building was still pretty bad. I already ranted about the inaccuracy of the supplementary map in my review of Zenith, so I'm not going to do that again.
Additionally, so many aspects of this book were just scientifically impossible. I get this was fantasy, but it's still outrageously impossible for half of this stuff to happen.
In conclusion, very disappointing, and I don't think I would ever recommend this to anyone.
Oh, and this is kind of unrelated, but like I touched on in my status update, does anyone else think that it was a coincidence I read this book on the eve of Elon Musk's NeuraLink summer 2020 update? For any of you unfamiliar, it's a chip that is inserted into your brain, primarily meant for reading brain activity and correcting longstanding mental illnesses, as well as several other goals in the future. If you're into tech and science, I highly recommend you check that out.
I have so many problems with this- I don't even know where to start.
This book got two stars solely because I was able to get through the entire thing, despite the amount of skimming I did.
I'm going to start with the one thing I liked about this book, and just flow from there.
The pacing- I really enjoyed the pacing in this. It was a light, fast-paced novel, which I can appreciate. It didn't take too long to read, which was a nice counterbalance to the heavier non-fics and classic sci-fi I've been reading lately. After taking so many days to finish those books, I was getting disheartened, and I was glad to finish this within two days.
However, that could just be because I skimmed a lot. I wasn't invested in any aspect of this book, so I'm not entirely sure how I held on, but I think my motivation was writing this review, lol.
Putting everything else in this review aside, it was the writing I had the largest issue with. It sounded so juvenile, out of lack for a better word. It was grammatically correct and everything, but I feel it lacked a flow, as well as desperately needing some sort of finesse. The style of writing used feels like it belongs in a middle grade novel, but the content and language defies that feeling almost completely. However, compared to the first book, the sentence structure was much improved, as compared to the stifling repetitiveness of the first. But on that same note, these subtle differences made it feel like a completely different author wrote this, since the style was completely different. The writing was often cringeworthy.
Quite frankly, this felt like a Sarah J. Maas fanfiction. It's so annoyingly obvious- that this book was heavily influenced by what books the authors have read and liked. If I had the patience to do so, I would nitpick almost every single element of this novel and directly link it to another books's parallel. It was glaringly evident- the metaphors/prose used seemed like they came straight out of SJM's books, the constant switching of POVs, and good Lord, most importantly, the characters.
Additionally, this series heavily relied on overused YA tropes such as enemies-turned-lovers, or the whole traumatized-badass-orphan thing, just to name a few. Elaborating on my previous point, you can tell exactly what these authors read before writing this book.
Let's be real. Androma Raucella, the Bloody Baroness, is a Walmart Celaena Sardothien. There' s no question there. The only difference is that Celaena/Aelin is characterized by her actions rather than what the authors constantly repeat about Andi's personality in the book. We get it. She's the Bloody Baroness, and she's super threatening.
And that's precisely my next issue. Generally, when we write, our mentors and the internet tell us to "show, not tell." This book has no shortage of "Tell, don't show." For example, Andi's crew is..uh...occupied for almost the entirety of this book. I'm not so sure how to word this, but rather than showing Andi's love for her crew through her actions, the authors just constantly repeat the fact that they're her only family.
"She was the Bloody Baroness, and she would tear the skies apart to find her family."
Or some nonsense like that. Constantly being repeated.
I apologize if that made zero sense.
Oh, and most of us don't hate Aelin like we hate Andi.
She's such an uninteresting, bland heroine that I was not invested in at all. Again, like I said before, she's the epitome of your typical edgy-teenager-traumatized-orphan-turned-badass-assassin trope. AKA Celaena Sardothien. I don't have much else to say about her. I'm not a huge fan of her idiotic impulsiveness, which would better be characterized as her recklessness, and her lack of flaws.
Dextro Arez- Yeesh, the most cringeworthy character I have read about in the past year. He is such a tryhard flirt, yet fails epically. He desperately reminds me of a 13-year-old boy with an obvious crush. His one liners were horrible, his personality was just as bad, and he just made me so uncomfortable. Gross.
Lira- As for Lira, I felt pretty meh. I didn't like her, but I didn't hate her either. She was just there. Again, like I said before, a big issue I had with this book was the tell-don't-show. As readers, we constantly get reminded of these characters' personalities, yet we don't see it in their actions, in their thinking.
Gilly and Breck- Again, lacking development. I would have liked to learn more about these two.
Nor- Nor Solis was arguably the most relatable character in that novel. Although I found her the most interesting, she still seemed so two-dimensional despite the multiple POVs, which was a major pitfall on the authors's part. If you're going to have multiple POVs, the very least you can do is add some good development for the individual characters. They missed the point completely, which is a major shame. So in that sense, the POVs were unnecessary, since they also took the focus away from Andi, who is supposedly our main character.
Valen- It's another edgy teenager! Woohoo!
And this compulsion! Again, very interesting, but lacked the development and explanation to make it even better. I didn't completely understand what this "compulsion" was. A compulsion to rule the world? A compulsion to rule peoples' minds? I was confused.
Darai- His sudden desire to rule the world just felt so random and sudden. He made a good villain, and it was a decent enough twist, but again- another two-dimensional character. A shame, seeing how much potential there could be.
As for the romantic pairing between Dextro and Androma, I found it exceedingly boring and cringeworthy. Nothing special there, zero progression between the two of them. At the beginning, they both hated each others guts, and suddenly they start throwing the L-word around? Excuse me? Forgive me for asking, but where was the progression? I felt like it just went from zero to a hundred in 0.0000004 nanoseconds. There was no turning point in their hatred for each other, no telltale signs that they were interested in forming a romantic pairing once again, other than Androma's constant jealousy.
The development for all the characters was...lacking, to say the least. Actually, "lacking" is a good word to just describe this entire book. Yep, let's go with that.
As for the plot, I actually liked the idea of it- I thought the entire Exonia thing (is that what it's called??) was quite interesting, and I liked the idea of the drug, Zenith, as well as the Xen Pterran conspiracy. However, as intriguing as the basic idea of the plot was, the execution of it failed to live up to its potential. I think every single aspect of this story- the writing style, the prose, the characters- are intertwined, so that also could have been a reason I felt this plot was a major letdown.
And now for the worldbuilding. Even if we ignore the major info-dumps all through the novel, the world building was still pretty bad. I already ranted about the inaccuracy of the supplementary map in my review of Zenith, so I'm not going to do that again.
Additionally, so many aspects of this book were just scientifically impossible. I get this was fantasy, but it's still outrageously impossible for half of this stuff to happen.
In conclusion, very disappointing, and I don't think I would ever recommend this to anyone.
Oh, and this is kind of unrelated, but like I touched on in my status update, does anyone else think that it was a coincidence I read this book on the eve of Elon Musk's NeuraLink summer 2020 update? For any of you unfamiliar, it's a chip that is inserted into your brain, primarily meant for reading brain activity and correcting longstanding mental illnesses, as well as several other goals in the future. If you're into tech and science, I highly recommend you check that out.
May 6, 2019
To begin with, it's important to note that I haven't read the first book in this duology, Zenith. I received Nexus to review from the Fantastic Flying Book Club. Despite this, however, information from the first story was woven subtly but completely enough into Nexus that I felt I had a good understanding of what happened without feeling like I'd been force-fed an infodump.
Nexus follows several characters - sometimes feeling a bit like Guardians of the Galaxy meets Star Wars - although the Bloody Baroness, space pirate Androma Racella is the main character. Following events of the previous book, she's been brought low and has lost almost everything, very nearly including her life. The majority of the small Mirabel galaxy is now under the compulsion of queen Nor, with the help of her brother Valen, who controls the will of the people completely. Worse, she intends to tear open a rift in the dark void that would allow an alien race into the galaxy. It falls to Androma and her aptly-named right-hand man, Dextro, with the timely help of the mysterious Arachnid, to save the galaxy.
Nexus is a well-written story that moves along at an engaging pace. It's been some time since I've read a science fiction novel that kept me turning the pages like this one. The main characters are interesting and each one feels unique. Both heroes and villains are well developed and we come to understand them as three-dimensional beings. The galaxy, although small, has had sufficient thought put into the world-building such that each system feels unique. This is, however, very soft-science fiction, with a great deal of magic masquerading as species traits. That's not bad, and it plays an integral part in the story. It's just useful to know before reading as some SF fans can be very selective about their sub-genre.
If I had any criticism of the story, it would have to be the weaker combat scenes. The authors seemed to shun writing in any detail about the combat to the point that I sometimes had trouble visualizing what was actually happening. Instead, each time they seemed to spend most of the conflict concentrating on the thoughts and feelings of the main characters. For me, this slowed down what should have been fast, dramatic scenes. However, these parts were few and far between and the true power of Nexus was in the intrigue built around the main plot. Especially, regarding the villains.
Overall, Nexus was a very enjoyable read and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys space fantasy - especially if you like ancient mystic powers, space pirates, and galactic-level threats.
Nexus follows several characters - sometimes feeling a bit like Guardians of the Galaxy meets Star Wars - although the Bloody Baroness, space pirate Androma Racella is the main character. Following events of the previous book, she's been brought low and has lost almost everything, very nearly including her life. The majority of the small Mirabel galaxy is now under the compulsion of queen Nor, with the help of her brother Valen, who controls the will of the people completely. Worse, she intends to tear open a rift in the dark void that would allow an alien race into the galaxy. It falls to Androma and her aptly-named right-hand man, Dextro, with the timely help of the mysterious Arachnid, to save the galaxy.
Nexus is a well-written story that moves along at an engaging pace. It's been some time since I've read a science fiction novel that kept me turning the pages like this one. The main characters are interesting and each one feels unique. Both heroes and villains are well developed and we come to understand them as three-dimensional beings. The galaxy, although small, has had sufficient thought put into the world-building such that each system feels unique. This is, however, very soft-science fiction, with a great deal of magic masquerading as species traits. That's not bad, and it plays an integral part in the story. It's just useful to know before reading as some SF fans can be very selective about their sub-genre.
If I had any criticism of the story, it would have to be the weaker combat scenes. The authors seemed to shun writing in any detail about the combat to the point that I sometimes had trouble visualizing what was actually happening. Instead, each time they seemed to spend most of the conflict concentrating on the thoughts and feelings of the main characters. For me, this slowed down what should have been fast, dramatic scenes. However, these parts were few and far between and the true power of Nexus was in the intrigue built around the main plot. Especially, regarding the villains.
Overall, Nexus was a very enjoyable read and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys space fantasy - especially if you like ancient mystic powers, space pirates, and galactic-level threats.
June 29, 2019
I honestly just didn't feel like I could finish this because I couldn't get into it.
It was really boring and didn't have anything to make me feel interested in the story enough to finish it.
It was really boring and didn't have anything to make me feel interested in the story enough to finish it.
September 18, 2019
Nexus is the follow-on book to Zenith in the Androma Saga and follows space pirate Andi as she has to fight tyrannical leader Nor, and help her friends who are trapped with mind control.
I read this on audiobook with a full cast narration and while the audiobook definitely wasn't ,y favourite, I think I liked the actual book better than if I would have read it in physical format like I did Zenith.
I will say that I definitely did like the world created in The Androma Saga. I like that there seems to be loads of different planets and different kind of species, and how everyone lives and worships varies from planet to planet which makes things interesting but I do think that the world definitely wasn't used to its full potential. I would have loved a bit more planet hopping with Andi and Dex as they tried to fight their way back to the rest of the crew, and maybe they could have picked up a few interesting tagalongs along the way. We got it to an extent but I definitely think more could have been done (and there could have just been les overall of Andi being angry and not doing anything).
I've seen some reviews slate the 'science' in this book but honestly, there's never mention of earth or anything we actually know of our own galaxy in these duology so I'm okay with accepting the science as it is and not questioning things too much.
I have to say again that the characters in this aren't particularly original, and none of the characters' decisions ever really surprised me. I found Andi a bit of an exhausting character - maybe because I was listening on audio- but she was just always so angry, which to an extent is understandable but it made her very antagonistic and the narration very loud and shouty and I didn't like that energy.
Overall, this duology was fine for me. I wouldn't shout about it from the rooftops but it wasn't absolutely terrible either. I will still support the authors and read other books they come out with,
I read this on audiobook with a full cast narration and while the audiobook definitely wasn't ,y favourite, I think I liked the actual book better than if I would have read it in physical format like I did Zenith.
I will say that I definitely did like the world created in The Androma Saga. I like that there seems to be loads of different planets and different kind of species, and how everyone lives and worships varies from planet to planet which makes things interesting but I do think that the world definitely wasn't used to its full potential. I would have loved a bit more planet hopping with Andi and Dex as they tried to fight their way back to the rest of the crew, and maybe they could have picked up a few interesting tagalongs along the way. We got it to an extent but I definitely think more could have been done (and there could have just been les overall of Andi being angry and not doing anything).
I've seen some reviews slate the 'science' in this book but honestly, there's never mention of earth or anything we actually know of our own galaxy in these duology so I'm okay with accepting the science as it is and not questioning things too much.
I have to say again that the characters in this aren't particularly original, and none of the characters' decisions ever really surprised me. I found Andi a bit of an exhausting character - maybe because I was listening on audio- but she was just always so angry, which to an extent is understandable but it made her very antagonistic and the narration very loud and shouty and I didn't like that energy.
Overall, this duology was fine for me. I wouldn't shout about it from the rooftops but it wasn't absolutely terrible either. I will still support the authors and read other books they come out with,
August 9, 2019
Nexus⭐️
Im not a huge syfy fan so take my review with a grain of salt.
I enjoyed the characters and the writing the Andis mission to save her crew. But I just wasnt thrilled or completely invested in if they lived or died
Im not a huge syfy fan so take my review with a grain of salt.
I enjoyed the characters and the writing the Andis mission to save her crew. But I just wasnt thrilled or completely invested in if they lived or died
May 13, 2021
No creía que este libro pudiera ser peor que Zénit pero le erré. Se me hizo tan cuesta arriba esta lectura que literalmente se sintió como estar en una cámara de tortura. Al menos con el libro anterior la pude pilotear un poco mejor recurriendo al audiolibro, pero este ni eso tiene y fue peor que remar en dulce de leche.
Si quieren saber más de por qué no me gustaron estos libros, hice una reseña que engloba mi opinión sobre la bilogía completa y la pueden ver aquí en goodreads bajo el primer libro o en mi instagram en el siguiente link https://www.instagram.com/p/COyM6xnFj...
Si quieren saber más de por qué no me gustaron estos libros, hice una reseña que engloba mi opinión sobre la bilogía completa y la pueden ver aquí en goodreads bajo el primer libro o en mi instagram en el siguiente link https://www.instagram.com/p/COyM6xnFj...
to-read-or-not-to-read
January 22, 20181) Zenith: ★★½
January 13, 2025
Andi is made out to be this badass female protagonists who's always ready to fight and break some bones, but we dont see that backed up with as much action as I would have liked. We do however get to see her not being afraid to voice her opinions or head into danger for her friends. I do wish Andis crew hadnt been absent for most of the book. I seriously missed those girls and the lack of female friendships was especially disappointing considering how I felt about Dex. I thought it was stupid and unfair of him to keep a secret that concerns Andi from her. That secret wasnt his to keep and it has the potential to severely mess up her life if she doesnt have that crucial information in a dangerous situation. I also wasnt a fan of the way he tried to make decisions for her when she was healing. He needs to trust or at least respect her ability to make her own decisions even if it isnt one he agrees with. I just didnt care for him or the romance all that much.
I thought Nor was a complexe and compelling villain. I loved that we get to understand where her decisions are coming from and get to see her as more than just evil. She has people in her life she truly cares about and dreams of making a better life for her people. Valen is so devoted to Nor that it almost felt like he was under her compulsion. I never understood why he thought so highly of her especially since she had him imprisoned. Maybe he was broken beyond repair in that prison or maybe he's tempted by the idea of having family that cares about him. I just have a difficult time picturing him being led so easily by Nors plans without questionning if what they're doing might be wrong. He grew up among those people afterall. The reveal of Arachnid identity was a pretty awesome, but I still dont understand why if they knew what Nor was up to they didn't try to stop her at any point in the last couple years.
I was a little worried Id forgotten too much of Zenith to enjoy this sequel, but it did a great job of weaving the important facts from the first book into the story. The plot took a while to get exciting with only one action scene in the first 250 pages. I feel like it could have been shortened since the plot doesnt really start to move along until they make contact with the other rebels. The first book was more gripping and that might be because the stakes were more intense. The characters are still in danger in this sequel, but for the most part its wasnt as immediate or pressing. The plot was a little convenient at times, but nothing that I hindered my enjoyment. There were quite a few moments that took me by surprise. Despite knowing which side was clearly in the wrong, I found myself rooting for both the side trying to free the galaxy from the invasive compulsion and the side causing it.
The world was mesmerizing with its floating moutains, glittering underground city, and fierce ice dragon. I also loved the different planets and alien species. After the few snippets we got in the first book I was really looking forward to exploring the other galaxy some more, but we dont get to see as much of it as I was hoping. Theres not much futuristic technology so readers who dont typically read scifi should have an easy time understanding it. The writing had quite a few lines that tried to be iconic, but missed the mark because they werent accurate or followed up with some action. Dont get me wrong I love a good iconic line, but don't say "the bloody baroness is out to play" if she isnt actually going to be a badass in the next scenes. That was just a minor issue though and for the most part the writing was fine. Overall Im glad I finished up the duology.
*This book was received for an honest review
I thought Nor was a complexe and compelling villain. I loved that we get to understand where her decisions are coming from and get to see her as more than just evil. She has people in her life she truly cares about and dreams of making a better life for her people. Valen is so devoted to Nor that it almost felt like he was under her compulsion. I never understood why he thought so highly of her especially since she had him imprisoned. Maybe he was broken beyond repair in that prison or maybe he's tempted by the idea of having family that cares about him. I just have a difficult time picturing him being led so easily by Nors plans without questionning if what they're doing might be wrong. He grew up among those people afterall. The reveal of Arachnid identity was a pretty awesome, but I still dont understand why if they knew what Nor was up to they didn't try to stop her at any point in the last couple years.
I was a little worried Id forgotten too much of Zenith to enjoy this sequel, but it did a great job of weaving the important facts from the first book into the story. The plot took a while to get exciting with only one action scene in the first 250 pages. I feel like it could have been shortened since the plot doesnt really start to move along until they make contact with the other rebels. The first book was more gripping and that might be because the stakes were more intense. The characters are still in danger in this sequel, but for the most part its wasnt as immediate or pressing. The plot was a little convenient at times, but nothing that I hindered my enjoyment. There were quite a few moments that took me by surprise. Despite knowing which side was clearly in the wrong, I found myself rooting for both the side trying to free the galaxy from the invasive compulsion and the side causing it.
The world was mesmerizing with its floating moutains, glittering underground city, and fierce ice dragon. I also loved the different planets and alien species. After the few snippets we got in the first book I was really looking forward to exploring the other galaxy some more, but we dont get to see as much of it as I was hoping. Theres not much futuristic technology so readers who dont typically read scifi should have an easy time understanding it. The writing had quite a few lines that tried to be iconic, but missed the mark because they werent accurate or followed up with some action. Dont get me wrong I love a good iconic line, but don't say "the bloody baroness is out to play" if she isnt actually going to be a badass in the next scenes. That was just a minor issue though and for the most part the writing was fine. Overall Im glad I finished up the duology.
*This book was received for an honest review
Displaying 1 - 30 of 196 reviews