I actually didn't realize that this was part of an ongoing series - it was written so well that I could enjoy it on its own merits.

Apocalypse Nyx is a group of five shorter works about Nyx and her team of misfits from Hurley’s Bel Dame series that begins with God’s War. ‘The Body Project’ and ‘The Heart is Eaten Last” are quite likely novellas, accounting for 57% of the book, and as such, provide the most detail about the Bel Dame universe. It’s a complicated, fascinating place, made up of insect technology, semi-mystical body part repair and replacement, and shapeshifters. The state Nyx is from, Nasheen, is also matriarchal. But far more important is the war between Nasheen and the neighboring state of Chenja, which has been going on for decades and impacts every facet of Nasheen life. I suspect Hurley of using it to explore themes of loss, anger, post-traumatic stress disorder and the resulting dysfunction. Nyx is the protagonist of the series, but is painfully hard to like. The Chenjan magician, Rhys, acts as a moral and ethical compass, but would be easier to listen to if Nyx didn’t have such a talent for pulling success out of disaster.



“The Body Project”

Nyx and Rhys are on a bounty hunt when they find a headless body on the street, the head magically swinging six stories above. It turns out she recognizes him, a man who used to be with her squad when she was at the war front.

“We’re here for a parole violator, not a deserter,” Rhys said, paging through the slick green papers of his little book of bounty contracts. “Should I update Taite on the delay?” “Not yet,” she said… she wasn’t sure how deep this was going to get yet, and didn’t want to involve any more people than she had to until she understood why a good man who died a thousand miles from here lay mutilated on the streets of Bahora.”

“The Heart is Eaten Last”

It has been two years since Rhys joined the team and Nyx finds herself taking a job for a lovely woman whose family’s weapon plants are being sabotaged. The woman fears it may be a bel dame behind it. The team looks for a shifter and finds Khos.

“He hated her, so why did it hurt to see her get what she deserved? This was the life she’d chosen. And she would keep choosing it. She would come home every day bloody and drunk and spouting nonsense. Resigning was the only way to be free of her. Distance was the only way he could get himself to stop caring.”

“Soulbound”

The team is looking for some technology that seems to be hidden in dead bodies when they meet Abdiel, a mechanic, who is researching the location of the soul. Their search takes them to the war front.

“Crossroads at Jannah”

This job is finding some bugs used to store data that have been disposed of in an acid lake. A quick little story, it epitomizes the approach Nyx has to her jobs and her team.

“Paint Red”

Everyone gets a day off, even Nyx. Too bad her day off repaying an old favor turns out even worse than a day with her normal team. The job is finding some tech at a parrot temple. Another harsh slice of Nasheenian reality.

***********

Nyx is hard to like, but a interesting character in a complex world. She isn’t easy to like, so for those looking for sympathetic mains would be better off looking elsewhere. These are definitely of the dark fantasy variety. I suspect these stories would work best for those who are already familiar with the Bel Dame universe and the complexities of the team’s relationships. In full disclosure, I had read two of these stories earlier as part of Hurley’s Patreon rewards, so clearly I find a lot to value in Hurley’s work.



In full disclosure, I had read two of these stories earlier as part of Hurley’s Patreon rewards.

Many thanks, as always, to Tachyon Publications and NetGalley.

Nix is great. No, Nix is horrible. She really is. But she's fascinating. If she were a male character in some other author's book all she'd need to change would be the love of a good woman, but she's in Kameron Hurley's hands and Nix is a good woman (for varying degrees of good) so she's her own responsibility. And thank gods for all that.

I went into this book not having read the Bel Dame Apocrypha series and knowing nothing at all about it. No more than an hour after finishing it I'd bought the first book in that series because I had to have more.

Apocalypse Nyx is exactly the kind of science fiction I like - it's dark, violent, and has, at its core, a deeply flawed heroine who is hard as steel and has whiskey running through her veins. Nyx is a gal that sees few problems that can't be solved with her scattergun, and is always a hairsbreadth away from cutting off all ties with those that work for her and, if she were a more emotionally accessible and less war-wounded woman, people she might even call friends if she were drunk enough. Nyx is rugged and mean, and this collection from Kameron Hurley serves as a wonderful introduction to the former assassin turned ultra-violent problem solver, particularly if, like me, you haven't read the Bel Dame Apocrypha series proper.

I believe most, if not all, of the stories collected within Apocalypse Nyx were initially written and published for Hurley's Patreon supporters prior to their publication by Tachyon in this single volume. Gathered here are five stories set within the original Bel Dame Apocrypha, but which do not require any prior reading. You might get more out of these stories, or welcome a reintroduction to Nyx and her world, if you've been following this character previously but it's also highly accessible to newcomers.

The world Hurley has created here is as intense as it is interesting. The alien desert world Nyx inhabits is caught up in perpetual war, and Nasheenians like her are drafted to fight against their rival, darker-skinned Chenjans. The ruling body is highly matriarchal, but also heavily influenced by Muslim doctrine, with daily routine calls for prayer and a plethora of masques. On the technology front, bugs are king. Society has adapted to and grown reliant on insect-based tech - beetles are ground up to power vehicles, and form a communications network based on pheromones and body colors. Even the bullet casings and walls are rooted in creative uses of various bug life.

Story-wise, Apocalypse Nyx has a welcoming stand-alone episodic structure to it (quick, somebody call Netflix!). Although the various jobs and missions Nyx and her crew take in order to stay solvent are unrelated, taken as a whole there is a decent, if minor, character arc at play binding these stories together. I suspect there's a deeper arc to Nyx across the main trilogy, but I also kind of suspect that Nyx may be too violent, introverted, alcoholic, and deeply set in her ways to grow too much. Besides, she's more interesting without the happily ever after, at least in this volume, and Nyx is the type of character that it's hard to even imagine a happy ending for anyway.

I've been wanting to read about Nyx for quite a long while now, but somehow never made room for her. I happy to have finally corrected that with Apocalypse Nyx, and I now feel a greater urgency in exploring the trilogy of novels focusing on her. After this book and Hurley's prior release, The Stars Are Legion, if I've learned anything it's that from here on out all new releases from Kameron Hurley are to automatically move to the top of my mountain of TBRs. Count me among the number of faithful converts, because I am officially a fan of Nyx. This lady is one serious bad-ass.

[Note: I received an advanced copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley.]

If you've read Hurley's Bel Dame Apocrypha novels, you know what you're getting into with this collection of stories. If you haven't read them, imagine a non-superpowered Jessica Jones running a rather sketchy bounty hunter/mercenary crew made up of a magician, a shapeshifter, a comm tech, and a sniper. Oh, and this takes place on an alien planet full of insect-based technology where its inhabitants risk cancer--or worse--from the merciless binary suns and the pollution of chemical weapons deployed in a long-running holy war. Furthermore, the country in which these stories are set is a matriarchal one, because men are used as fodder for the war while women do all the leading and politicking.

The stories are all fun. Each involves the team taking on some difficult job that quickly goes sideways. The action is fast-paced and tightly plotted. There really isn't a dud in the bunch.

You don't have to have read the novels to read these stories. If you like grimdark fiction, I highly recommend these stories (and the novels). Even if you're not a fan of grimdark--I'm normally not--you may love the truly unique and colorful world in Hurley's Bel Dame Apocrypha series.