At its heart, this is a story about redemption and forgiveness. It tackles a number of themes that are rarely discussed within YA.

The middle part drags on a little bit, but the story really picks up towards the end. I have a lot of thoughts. Full review to follow.

DNF at 25%. It's been over four years since I received this ARC. I gave it a go and have decided it is not for me. It interested me then and no longer does now.

I have enjoyed every Lydia Kang book I have read. This one would probably be my second favorite, my first being The November Girl. I will always pick her books up!

Read October 2020

A remarkable, well-written, well-plotted novel full of interesting characters set in a very insular, almost claustrophobic location. This novel is like nothing I've ever read before, but maybe that's because I don't read much sci-fi...

I liked that there weren't any huge info-dumps, everything was dribbled through slowly. Only thing is it left me wanting more! To know more about this world, how far in the future is it? How did everything come to pass? A sequel, prequel, companion novel or something please!

I loved Hana and her growth and progress over the whole story from timid to assertive. I also loved Fenn and his internal conflicts about stealing and his guilt over his sister's accident. I loved his and Hana's relationship though it was a little instalove. I wonder what their prospects are long term though...

I thought that the other characters were interesting and I wish we could have learned more about them. The progression of Cyclo as a character and an entity was fascinating and so unique! And again after the way it ended I would love a sequel or something, anything set in this world!

Rich with creative sci-fi worldbuilding details, this book was a fascinating read, and the tension kept building as the time grew shorter and shorter for the characters to survive on the ailing bio-ship, Cyclo. For readers who prefer their novels less graphic or violent, this might not be the book for you. Ditto for a fast-track romance to teen sex, but at least those scenes weren’t detailed. Overall, this book was enjoyable to explore, with mystery, danger, romance, and a cast of well-drawn characters—I especially liked the portrayal of the humanoid crew. Finn’s and Hana’s thoughts regarding life and death were portrayed nicely, with much stimulating food for thought. The ending surprised me (perhaps it was a bit contrived?) when I discovered one particular character had survived; it didn’t seem likely. But I still enjoyed how it ended.

I received an e-arc of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Toxic had an interesting concept of having a crew go to an abandoned space station to figure out why it was deteriorating and in exchange for their lives, their families would receive money. But unbeknownst to them, someone was left behind on the space station who was never meant to be there in the first place. When people start dying during their mission, suspicions arise and it's hard to know who is on their side.

I thought the plot of the story was very interesting and was curious to see how things would play out with such high stakes involved and while the story did keep me involved, I never felt really sucked into it. Each person is there for different reasons but they all knew that in the end they would die. But yet they all seemed pretty hostile and uninviting or even really curious about the girl who wasn't supposed to be there. After time they did start showing some interest in her but it just didn't seem real to me.

I did enjoy the romance plot and kind of wish that we could've seen more of it even though I completely understand why it wasn't shown more. There definitely was some chemistry between the two main characters but at the same time I feel like it could have been explore more and pulled out more. It almost seemed like a light switch was flipped in terms of their interest in each other and would have enjoyed a bit more of a build up to it.

Overall, the story was interesting but I didn't really feel like the characters were very relatable and needed more fleshing out.

Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to read this ARC prior to the book's publication, and we did not end up buying it for our library collection.

Toxic by Lydia Kang is a YA sci-fi romance that is filled with action, great characters, and fantastic world building. A great novel and a fun read. Happily recommend.

This story had a lot of potential in my opinion, but it did not deliver what I wanted out of the book. The premise is definitely interesting and the characters were written well, but unfortunately, I thought it was quite predictable and therefore I was quite bored with it.

I'm going to be honest here and say ultimately this book did not hold my attention. The writing was good, the story itself was very interesting but for some reason I couldn't connect with it overall. My mind wandered when I read and I wasn't overly invested in the characters. It took me this long to go back and finish it (skim to the end) but I know a lot of others really enjoyed it and I did not want to give this a poor review simply because I did not resonate with it.

I found Toxic to be a refreshing science fiction YA with fascinating world building. I especially enjoyed the idea of Cyclo and Cyclo's relationship with Hana. Hana was such an intriguing protagonist, with her remarkably unconventional ideas regarding life due to her restrictive upbringing, and I found her to be a delight. Although Hana and Fenn's romance felt faster than what I usually enjoy reading, the way Kang writes their relationship deepening as two individuals in a desperate situation finding something precious was endearing and I found myself rooting for them quite easily. The conclusion was thoroughly satisfactory and I loved the note of hope it ended on, as well as the closure it gave me regarding the characters.

I look forward to reading more of Kang's work, as I am excited to see what the author comes up with next.

Unique and beautiful. It also includes Asian representation that I think is integrated beautifully into the plot . I can't wait to see what Lydia King writes next

Behold my heart, cause my universe has just shattered apart! Last year I read and loved The November Girl ( read my review here), so I decided to have Toxic on my most anticipated books to read in 2018, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The world building blew my mind. I think Lydia Kang has an eye for personifying settings, and she does it with such elegance and innovation, that no amount of words could ever suffice to describe it.

The setting of this story is Cyclo, a dying spaceship in outer place, and the “person”/ship who/that raised Hana. Throughout the book, we get to see how AI could seriously benefit the human race, but also has the ability to eradicate it. This isn’t what the story focuses on, but I do believe that it was an intended subliminal message. Something that a lot of great people have discussed like Stephan Hawking.

Can I also take a moment to appreciate the richness of Asian Rep in this book? I was screaming in joy throughout the moments where Korean heritage and history were being discussed and integrated into the story.

The writing was more than just the icing on the cake, it was the whole dessert. Science geeks are going to love this. The way life is discussed is lyrical, yet geeky. And with the characters feeling lost when it comes to how they view themselves, and what fate they think they deserve, the dialogue creates staggering phrases that reps our thoughts about how we view ourselves and life.

Lydia Kang has spun a very unique Sci-Fi thriller that dwells on one’s troubling cogitations, and showcases brilliancy when it comes to worldbuilding.

I received a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

I do not read many standalone novels when it comes to the fantasy and science fiction genres. The ones I end up reading always seem to be a trilogy or series. This is due to the fact that many standalone I have read did not feel like they ended at a good spot and needed more to properly bring it to a close. Needless to say, I was a little worried when I decided to review Toxic. Thankfully, Lydia Kang’s writing did not a disappointment (even though I would always enjoy reading more of her works after Toxic).

Toxic is a science fiction story with an enjoyable romance and a race against death. Hana and Fenn meet on the dying biological ship, Cyclo, and must work together to make it out alive. I truly enjoyed reading about Hana and Fenn, I even enjoyed their little insta-love (shocking, I know). I feel I enjoyed their romance more due to the situation they were in and the fact that this is a standalone, so I had to take what I could get. And what I got was worth reading through the insta-love. It was a sweet romance, it did not take away or overshadow the rest of the story just added to it. With its fast pace, Toxic certainly keeps you on the edge wondering what will happen next to the crew and Hana.

Overall, Toxic was an incredibly enjoyable read for me. I recommend it to any who enjoys science fictions and is looking for a nice standalone or quick read. I hope to read more of Kang’s writing in the future.

I found TOXIC to be very unique and unexpected, with a believable basis in science to carry the plot through. Reviewed in full in this video: http://www.thebookrat.com/2018/12/toxic-city-of-ghosts-hearts-unbroken.html

Originally posted on Forever Young Adult on 2018 November 13

BOOK REPORT for Toxic by Lydia Kang

Cover Story: Adam Parrish
BFF Charm: Yay x 2
Swoonworthy Scale: 7
Talky Talk: She Said, He Said on a Spaceship
Bonus Factors: Artificial Intelligence, Identity, Sucide Squad, STEM Ladies
Relationship Status: Sexy Little Rubik's Cube

Cover Story: Alan Parrish

In the words of the protagonist of Jumanji, WHAT YEAR IS IT? Because this totally gives me déjà vu of YA covers of yore, back when closeups of flowers and other objects against a dark background was all the rage, thanks to Twilight. Upon closer inspection, at least the backdrop here is outer space. And to be fair, illustrating a bioship might be difficult to get the point across, so SURE.

The Deal:

Hana's life is a secret, to all except her mother and Cyclo, the bioship they live on that's travelling towards an interstellar colony. But one day, everyone else is... gone. The entire crew has evacuated—without Hana, whom nobody even knew existed. Her mother wouldn't just leave her behind...would she?

Fenn is on a mission: collect data on why Cyclo is dying, and his sister gets a new lease on life. The same can't be said for Fenn, however, since his work aboard Cyclo is going to be a one-way trip. But what neither he nor his crew could have anticipated was Hana—and what she might mean for saving the ship and themselves before it's too late.

BFF Charm: Yay x 2

Apparently, clandestine space girls are my jam, because I've yet to meet one whom I didn't love. Although the character whom Hana most reminds me of doesn't live among the stars, but under the sea; she has Ariel's mermaid-out-of-water wonderment about everything human, as well as endearing knowledge gaps on customs and idioms that she didn't pick up on from a lifetime of studying people from afar.

Fenn has made more than his share of mistakes, but like a good Big Damn Space Hero, he's on the path of redemption, whether he thinks he deserves it or not. He's a little broody, as to be expected of someone who signed up for his own death, but he's determined to make things right despite being absolutely terrified.

Swoonworthy Scale: 7

With Hana and Fenn both being cut off from interacting with anyone with romantic potential in a long time—nine months for him, and forever for her—a mutual attraction isn't entirely surprising. But it's not just because they're on a radioactive bioship that it gets HOT IN HERRE. (I mean, it's also because of that, too.)

Talky Talk: She Said, He Said on a Spaceship

The chapters alternate between the perspectives of Hana and Fenn, set in an indeterminate future with intergalactic travel and populated by humans and humanoids/non-human species alike. As with another of Lydia Kang's novels that I've read, she takes great attention to detail when it comes to science-y shizz. The result is a richly imagined universe, despite the book only taking place in a small corner of it.

Bonus Factor: Artificial Intelligence

Cyclo isn't artificial, but her depiction is similar to that of pop culture AI, but, like, benevolent. It's funny how fiction tends to be so wary of sentient artificial intelligence, when there's been far more factual evidence of humans being the actual worst.

Bonus Factor: Identity

Hana's extremely unique circumstances gives her plenty of fodder for soul-searching. What does it mean to have Korean heritage when you're detached from the culture? Can you defy personality traits that have been predisposed by genetics? Nature vs. nurture is always a fascinating debate.

Bonus Factor: Suicide Squad

Fenn is part of a small crew on fact-finding mission with no escape plan by design. Each member harbors their own secrets and regrets, as they try to make amends with the people they're leaving behind. (No one has to wear hotpants, though.)

Bonus Factor: STEM Ladies

Technically, there's also a STEM guy (Fenn specializes in nano drones), but most of the characters are STEM ladies, WHAT WHAT. While I understand why science-inclined characters are less common in books, it's always exciting when they do appear, esp. when they're competent AF like the ones here.

Relationship Status: Sexy Little Rubik's Cube

Trying to figure out a book can sometimes become an exercise in frustration, but unraveling Toxic's mysteries landed on the fun end of the spectrum. (There was even a part that made me go "DAAAAAMN!" out loud.) It took me on a strange and wild ride in its souped-up bioship, and it kept me on my toes until the very end.

Toxic is available now.

I received an ARC copy from netgalley for my honest review, so thank you netgalley and publishers for offering me this book! ♡
The cover and title is what originally drew me to this book.
Hana isn't supposed to exist. She's grown up hidden by her mother in a secret room of the bioship Cyclo until the day her mother is simply gone—along with the entire crew. Cyclo tells her she was abandoned, but she's certain her mother wouldn't leave her there to die. And Hana isn't ready to die yet. She's never really had a chance to live.
Fenn is supposed to die. He and a crew of hired mercenaries are there to monitor Cyclo as she expires, and the payment for the suicide mission will mean Fenn's sister is able to live. But when he meets Hana, he's not sure how to save them both.
As Cyclo grows sicker by the day, they unearth more secrets about the ship and the crew. But the more time they spend together, the more Hana and Fenn realize that falling for each other is what could ultimately kill them both.
This was my first book by this author. It was alltogether an easy read. ♡ I give this book a
4.5 star rating!

I'm sorry, but I was incredibly unimpressed by Toxic from the get-go. We start off with our main character waking up from a sleep and just going crazy like mother mother where is mother???? Lie some newborn foal. Actually that's an insult to foals, because even falls have more Independence and sense of autonomy than our MC does. Apparently her only friend is the grown(?) Computer(?) Ship(?) Heck, I really don't know what it is. It's a thing ok? But where it could have been interesting is that this Sentient... thing communicates in color(?), but it's not really explained well because our MC make sure to let is know just how genetically Superior she is in understanding this thing while everyone else on the ship is primitive. She is the daughter of the person in charge of genetics and reproduction. She was not meant to be born but her mother created her anyway and made her quote-unquote genetically Superior with since super human (?) Retina, ok something. Her blase feelings towards just believing she is better than everyone else just rubbed me the wrong way so much. I'm not ashamed to say I did not finish this book and I have no intention of doing so with such a 2D and shallow character.

I read this book so fast, it’s ridiculous. I had a feeling I would enjoy it, but I didn’t think I would just want to keep on reading! I think I have developed a fondness for these kind of sci-fi survival-against-all-odds stories.

We follow dual-narrators Fenn and Hana, supported by a small crew. The characters are all diverse, both in personality and appearance, coming from different planets and civilizations. The main characters share some heritage in Korea, and while it’s far removed there are some small nods here and there, which is lovely. Hana starts off a bit naive about some things, but luckily she does stand up for herself when it comes to the things that she knows a lot about, such as Cyclo, otherwise it would probably have gotten very annoying.

We get just enough of the world to get by, and it’s fun to see that there are many changes between different humanoids from different planets, and how they are affected by the local environment – Fenn is shorter than others because of the increased gravity on his home planet but not as short as his family because he spent so much time away from home, for instance. We get glimpses of the rest of the world but I would love to see more, or further stories set in the same universe. No idea if the science is at all plausible, but there is some effort spent in trying to at least explain how things work.

The romance I could have done without, but then again I usually can these days. I don’t know if I’m just getting more tire of romance in YA than I used to. There just seems to be an inevitability and predictability about those storylines. At least it was well done here. It had some very quick development but it made sense in this setting given that they were going to die in a few weeks.

The plot is fast-paced and full of twists. Very reminiscent of the Illuminae Files, with a lot of similar elements and themes. I’ve decided I love this kind of story, where you’re constantly wondering how on earth they’re going to survive when it’s the cold unflinching black of space out there, and there seems to be no way out, and of course there’s going to be a happy ending, but how on earth are they going to get there… Unless there’s not going to be a happy ending, and I don’t know if I can cope with that.

There are a few scenes with some graphic violence, which I wasn’t expecting but fit with the high stakes in the story. It does deserve a trigger warning for anyone who cannot cope with that.

Toxic is a beautifully written science fiction story that I look forward to seeing more of in the future. However, I had some concerns.

[su_quote style="modern-orange" cite="Goodreads" url=”GOODREADS LINK TO YOUR BOOK"]

Cyclo, the first and largest biological ship of its kind, is dying. A small crew of mercenaries have handed over the rights to their life to document the death of the ship, but the abandoned ship is anything but abandoned―one girl has been left behind.

Hana has known nothing but the isolation of a single room and the secret that has kept her there for seventeen years. When she meets Fennec, the boy assigned to watch her, she realizes that there is a world she has yet to experience but she is doomed to never meet.

When crew members begin mysteriously dying, Hana and Fenn realize that they are racing against the death of the ship to find a way to survive―unless someone kills them even before Hana’s truly had a chance to live. [/su_quote]

I received an eARC of Toxic from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I'm almost always a fan of Lydia Kang's work. I first read and reviewed her book Quackery with Nate Pederson, and then read The November Girl which blew me away. The rest of her work is high on my TBR list.

However, Toxic didn't really hit the mark for me. It wasn't because of the story, because the story was absolutely riveting. I loved Hana as a character and the living ship and the mystery of all of it. The scientific background of the universe that Kang created was my problem.

On the ship, there is a geneticist who creates and grows all of the humans are allowed to be born based on the number of people who have died recently on the ship. Their genetics are tweaked to be more useful to the ship and their current needs. It's revealed later that they are also all sterile, unlike humans who are born "in the wild" like Fennec was. It felt very strongly eugenics-y in a way that really bothered me because it wasn't explored at all.

That being said, there were a lot of things I did like about Toxic. I loved Cyclo and her personality and attachment to Hana. It's creepy and awesome. I would have loved to learn more about the different types of aliens as well because it seems like there's a whole universe out there that we didn't get to see a lot of.

I felt like the company's motivations for sending the Selkirk's crew out to Cyclo and letting them die there also needed more exploration. Kang set the book up for a sequel, and I'll be interested to see what happens next for the survivors. If this sounds like something that would intrigue you, you can pick up a copy on Amazon or Indiebound.

[su_box title="ABOUT TOXIC" style="default" box_color="#ff4400" title_color="#f2f2f2" radius="3" class=""]

Title: Toxic

Author: Lydia Kang

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Length: 368 Pages

Release Date: November 6, 2018

Rating: ★★★ / Three stars

Genre: Adult Science Fiction

Representation: Korean diaspora main character,

[/su_box]

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