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Nophek Gloss

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Nophek Gloss // by Essa Hansen

Nophek Gloss, after having listened to it twice already at this point, is one of my favorite science fiction stories. Granted, I don't have a tonnn of experience with sci-fi so maybe it's more apt for me to say that Nophek Gloss is just one of my favorite books in general. That probably means a lot more with the amount of books I tend to read in a year. I love Essa Hansen's world-building, her characters, and her plots. The book starts out with a bang and it kept me hooked the entire way through until the end, eager to read more. It doesn't just have an informative beginning, no, it has a beginning chapter full of action that leaves you breathless and a bit shocked to be honest. I personally love that kind of start to a new series though. It gets the blood pumping and gets you hyped to continue reading.

And continuing with this book is so worth it. You can tell that Hansen has put a lot of thought into her world-building and the science behind it. While I can't claim to understand all of that science myself, I do still find the explanations well done and even when there is a bit of an info-dump, it doesn't really feel like it. My favorite part though are the characters. I love how complex they are, both the good ones and the bad ones. This series has one of my favorite villains in it because he is just so complex, which makes him fun to learn about. The characters in general have many layers that are peeled back throughout the series. But even with that focus on the characters, the action is not left behind. I found there to be a good balance between the two. The main plot of the book is wrapped up in a satisfying way but still leaves you eager to continue on with the series.

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Essa Hansen’s debut novel, Nophek Gloss, is a must-read for everyone. To imply that it’s just for science fiction fans would diminish the well-crafted world, creative characters, and poignant dialog that Hansen has created.

This is, indeed, the book you’re looking for.

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After many... many (unsuccessful) attempts to get into this book, it just so happened that I was unable to soldier through AND, unfortunately... this was a DNF for me at 15%. Honestly I am surprised that I made it that far. I reread whole passages over and over again trying to retain what I had just read... to no avail. The prose in this debut novel were dense and... in my humble opinion... bland. It also seemed to go out of its way to be relevant by noticeably focusing on checking hot topic boxes... disabled character? Check! Transgender mercenaries proclaiming that they "are female, for now" (a bit trite?)? Check! Could I have misunderstood and misspoke? Maybe, things were hard to grasp and keep straight. I happen to love a good hardcore scifi yarn but this was not the one for me.


Overall:
With large sections of pure info dumping it was extremely difficult to keep people and even background info straight. I tried, I really really tried. The synopsis sounded incredibly intriguing... so much so that I gave this one the ole college try several times over several months hoping that it was a Me thing but alas... it was not Me to me.
I desperately wanted a Space Opera and instead I got a boring, clunky, wanna be hard-core scifi snoozefest... harsh? Yes! BUT when I find myself slogging through a book and not caring one whit for any of the characters ... THAT is a cardinal sin in my book. So DNF it was.
~ Sorry

*** I was given a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ***

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DNF @ 11%

While there were brilliant bits of description and clever word choices, I somehow struggled to get into this book. The worldbuilding, while clearly well thought-out, is as dense as the prose, and the characters failed to shine through to me. I found myself having to constantly reread lines to absorb the information within. When Caiden, the main character, meets up with a group of mercenaries, I got lost in the mire of newly introduced characters and struggled to place them.

I don't think it's a bad book—the opening was certainly very intriguing, very action-packed and unafraid to turn gory and dark—but just not quite what I'm looking for at the moment. I think this book would suit those looking for a sci-fi story that doesn't shy away from deep worldbuilding.

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Alastair Reynolds is one of my favorite authors, especially when it comes to Science Fiction. So, the fact that he gave this book a blurb held a lot of weight for me. Then, shortly after hearing about the book, the author participated in an online chat that I got to listen to. That experience left me well-enough intrigued to go find the book and put it up fairly high in my EBR-TBR queue. While intriguing though it was, the read left me with a poor impression and more frustration than I'd hoped for, given the fairly impressive introduction I'd been given.

Grumble.

NOPHEK GLOSS, at the very least, has one of the most unique-sounding titles I've come across for a Science Fiction book in recent years. It's the author's debut novel, and the first in a series that is planned to be expanded upon later this year. Unfortunately, the idea at the heart of the title hardly plays into the story at all.

This is the story of Caiden, an adolescent farmer on a far-flung planet. He's happy with his life. He lives with his parents and younger sister. He helps take care of their herd of livestock. His life is structured. Simple. Quaint. Then one day the overseers come down from above and everyone gathers to see what they will bring. Instead of something wonderful, they see to the slaughter of all the stock on their farms without giving a reason. Then, the people are all rounded up and piled into a ship that takes them from the only home they've known and dumps them on a desert planet. In short order, they find that the planet is populated by a whole lot of Nophek. The Nophek are a wild alien species that seem to be something like a hairy and violently carnivorous hippopotamus. Thus, as Caiden and all the people he knows spill out into the desert, the ravenous beasts rise up and eat everyone. Well, except Caiden. His mother shoves him under a large rock and he manages to survive.

It isn't long before the Nophek scatter and Caiden begins wandering. He stumbles across a small ship in the desert, and shortly thereafter, a small crew of scavengers that happen to be on the planet. They help Caiden escape with his "salvaged" ship. From there, the story focuses on Caiden's attempt to deal with the trauma of having everyone he knows killed, and his resultant drive to exact revenge against the aliens that perpetrated this violence.

All told, the beginning of this story isn't bad. Especially for a debut novel. The prose is a little odd at times, and that's tough to miss. It has something to do with the author taking terms you'd typically associate with one human sense and then using it within the context of a different human sense. At least, that's what I got out of the author's explanation of how she wrote this story. It's a little off-putting at first, but eventually I got used to it.

The crew members that pick Caiden off of the planet and help him to escape were interesting. They're a mix if humans and aliens. Characterization and descriptions for each of them are pretty good, and it didn't take me long to settle into the story as they essentially adopt him as one of their own and help him to figure out where he's going to fit into civilization. I did find myself questioning why they're all so immediately nice to him, but it didn't bother me overly much. The first stop the crew makes is the spaceport of Emporia, where everything can be found... for a price. Up to this point, I was digging the story and ready to see where things went.

By and large the ideas presented in the story are interesting, but have very little explanation to them. So, it's tough to really get a good idea as to what they're all about. Definitely *not* hard science fiction here. The concept of "pocket universes" is used... well... universally throughout the book. Universes that contain planets. Universes that contain solar systems. Universes that wrap around certain ships and homes. They felt more like containment force-fields, but we're told that in some of the various universes, physics are completely different. There are lots of different aliens on display. Some nice. Others, not so much. Body augmentation and manipulation abounds. Along the way, the author tackles lots of different concepts, like inclusiveness and gender-fluidity and the ethics of genocide. Caiden takes these experiences in stride, but continues toward his goal of exacting revenge upon the aliens that killed everyone he ever knew by trying to kill their leader. Frequently with a single-mindedness that ends with him making some poor choices.

The pieces I've laid out here definitely all fit within the context of a Science Fiction story. So, it should have been pretty decent. The thing is, there were several issues I had with the book that I just couldn't swallow. The first one I ran into was an alarming lack of consequence. Several times Caiden is given things that seem extraordinarily large for particular reasons, and then when those reasons are no longer valid... nothing happens as a result. He's allowed to keep all of his windfall and continue on his journey toward revenge. Now granted, having things happen this way allows him to continue on his quest for revenge, but it kind of killed my expectations of the story quite a bit.

Then there was the issue with scale. If there's one thing about outer space that should always be true, is that it's BIG. This didn't feel big at all. Somewhat varied within a limited context, yes. There are lots of aliens and civilizations and science and stuff that he sees, but nothing anywhere approaching the expansiveness that I've come to expect in Science Fiction. Trips between planets take what seems like days, and soon they're popping between these adjacent universes one right after the other. The story takes loads of time to talk about the issues and aliens and the sciency ideas... and then totally fails on the experience. Imaginative, yeah, but a complete lack of that sense of wonder.

The kicker for me was an ultimate lack of characterization of the main character, Caiden. He ends up coming off as very one-note because of how driven he is toward killing him some "bad aliens". He makes choices that don't seem justified. Combine this with the fact that he always seems to get what he needs to keep going, despite how little sense it might make, and there's no real need to understand how he makes his way toward the climax of the book. The moment he dropped everything and suddenly had the drive to literally "save the puppies", I just about stopped reading.

This one just didn't grab me at all. It failed to tell me an engaging story. And then it got kind of ridiculous. Sorry, but this one just didn't work for me.

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Nophek Gloss was an entertaining space opera that hooked me from the very first chapters. The world is so creative and I loved the world-building. I thought Hansen did an amazing job with explaining the complex world and politics in a clear and easily understandable manner. It was remarkably easy to understand everything, which I always appreciate in a science fiction novel. And this world is so incredibly diverse! Although the plot was fast-paced, it was also easy to follow.

I also really enjoyed the found family aspect. Each of the crew members was such a unique character and it was so fun to see them interact and grow throughout the course of the novel. Unfortunately, I found Caiden to be a pretty frustrating main character, as most of his decisions were rather impetuous and made from a place of anger. Although it makes sense in the context of the story and the trauma he endured, I wasn’t ever able to really connect with Caiden. And that made it slightly difficult to enjoy the book as a whole.

Overall, Nophek Gloss is a strong debut that features a brilliantly imagined science world. Although there were some aspects that didn’t quite work for me, I am still planning on reading the sequel. I’d recommend Nophek Gloss to science fiction readers who are looking to discover a new voice to watch in the genre!

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Nophek Gloss is a science fiction book for science fiction geeks. It is almost a love letter to those out there who find their passions in the wild and uninhibited imagination that science fiction offers. It is unsurprisingly a wonderful fit for Orbit and I can see shades of Peter F. Hamilton style here. I would highly recommend this book!

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I found this novel to be quite a departure from the typical science-fiction that I read. The background of this starfaring society and what it means for humanity and other races is very intriguing. The plot is written extremely well and the characters are so well described I could picture them in my mind. I am very appreciative of the ARC I was provided and I eagerly await the next novel in the series!

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If you are looking for a really fun epic sci-fi book that involves space travel between planets and universes, found family, and the takedown of corrupt systems then this is a book for you!! Other things I liked about this book were how it tackled healing from and confronting trauma. All the characters seem to carry some kind of past trauma, on top of going through trauma in the story, and I love how they support each other through it. I also liked how seamlessly incorporated different genders and pronouns into the world. And the world/story gave me hints of Star Wars vibes (which I love!), and when I finished the book I realized the author is a sound designer at Skywalker Sound! From her IMDb she’s mostly worked on the Marvel universe and Pixar Projects, but still. It’s a fun connection! And the ending was such a good cliffhanger for the sequel and I cannot wait for it to come out in December (so far away!). I need answers!!!

CW: blood, violence, torture, death, mutilation, PTSD, trauma

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I'm afraid I didn't finish this one. I was so intrigued by the synopsis and couldn't wait to dive in but upon reading it I felt bombarded with info, and I didn't appreciate all the box-checking on social issues. Once the "band of mercenaries" came into the story I completely lost interest and was pulled out when they started describing themselves as "female, for now," etc. I, personally, don't find those details anywhere near interesting or plot-moving and it ultimately just pulls me out of the story. Also, the sheer amount of info about each mercenary made it hard to follow after that. I couldn't keep the characters straight and put it down, never feeling the inkling to pick it up again.
I do want to thank Orbit and NetGalley for the opportunity to read/review this book.

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This is a wonderful debut novel from Essa Hansen who clearly has a promising future as an author. It's an exciting story containing well-written characters (especially our hero Caden) in a captivating universe of awesome alien worlds. Looking forward to the next book in this series.

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This is an impressive debut. In Nophek Gloss, Essa Hansen has spun a very imaginative coming-of-age/found-family space opera, with many creative trappings and inventive elements. Fan's of Becky Chambers's "Wayfarers" series who find themselves yearning for something a bit darker and grittier (at the expense of Chambers's lighthearted, optimistic feel) will appreciate Hansen's creativity and colorful, inclusive cast of characters.

I wouldn't go so far as to call the story pessimistic, but there are dark, intense elements, including violence, trauma, abuse, enslavement, and torture, at times involving both children and animals. However, none of it felt gratuitous to me, and on the whole, the story was balanced with wonder, beauty, kindness, and fun. While Chambers's work tends to take a more character-driven approach with a utopianist sociocultural lens, Hansen's novel skews more plot-driven. As such, the coming of age elements and some of the relationship development feel a bit thin and breezed-through, though some of this seems intentional, based on narrative and plot devices.

Now, readers who find themselves tired of classic space opera tropes should be cautioned not to expect anything groundbreaking here. That said, the story is well done, and the shining strength of Hansen's worldbuilding ties it all together. Her vivid, descriptive prose brings to life the many intriguing aspects of the story: wild starship design, futuristic technologies, human and alien morphology and communication, xenoarchaeology, metagenomics, cosmic physics and metaphysics. It's a compelling opening chapter, and I look forward to the next entry in the series.

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A multiversal space opera featuring a sole survivor whose desire for revenge brings him into a conflict far larger than he could imagine.

Full Review at NOAF

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I finished this book a few days back but needed some time to think about it before reviewing. It’s one that will stay with me for a while. Truly one of the more intense reads I’ve read. This book is amazing. Solid story, quality characters, incredible world building, thoughtful and thought provoking plot, and a full on sensory overload as you read that mimics what the characters are experiencing. This book puts you into the heart and mind of the lead character better than most any I’ve ever read. It is amazing. Highly recommend!

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His whole world shattered – family dead, planet gone, everything he knew as truth a questionable memory – Caiden finds himself in a new world, with a new name. He wants revenge, but the first step is learning about the universe, which is much, much bigger than he ever imagined it could be.

Nophek Gloss is a rush of a read. From a rather sedate orientation on Caiden’s home planet the reader is thrust (with the main character) into the broad sprawl of the universe and left (again, much like Caiden) to figure out who’s who and what’s what. Hansen stuns with detailed world building, intriguing diversity of characters, and twisty, thrilling plot elements. Caiden smolders with emotion, pulling the reader into his world and viewpoint. It’s not always pleasant – Caiden spends a lot of time being very angry, it seems – and there are some truly excruciatingly painful moments in the story, but the world he makes accessible to the reader is truly something extraordinary. It’s brutal, cruel, heartless, even evil, but also wondrous, almost miraculous in places. Sometimes I found Caiden somewhat tiresome, even nudging into Gary Stu territory at points, but the Graven universe is the real star of Nophek Gloss, and is definitely worth exploring. I was also happy to find out that there’s a sequel in the works for the book, and to get a taste of it.

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A boy of 14 finds out he and his people are slaves. He watches his mother be torn apart in front of him by animals known as Nophek which turn on each other and fight to the death. After the fight he finds a beautiful stone inside one's head. This, he later finds out, is Nophek Gloss. He vows revenge on the slave masters.

The rest of the story follows this boy as he finds a new family in his shipmates. Unfortunately, his lust for vengeance puts them in danger.

Nophek Gloss is one of the best books I've read this year. The universe building is unique and very well done. If you enjoy found family and/or coming of age stories and love science fiction, this is the book for you!

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DNF at 58%
While the core premise of this novel looked very promising, and despite the hair-raising beginning which rapidly plunges the reader into the thick of the action, I found myself increasingly unable to immerse myself in the story: for starters there is a huge amount of background information, but very little time to process it before more details are added, creating a sensory overload effect that proves to be quite distracting.
Then the main character - who should have been quite intriguing since I always enjoy a good revenge journey - becomes very frustrating because his total focus on vengeance, while understandable, seems to erase any other facet of his personality, which made it impossible for me to connect with him.
I felt compelled to move forward because I wanted to know how the situation would progress, but once I realized I had to somehow force myself to keep reading, I knew it was time to give up and I regretfully had to admit defeat, assigning a medium rating of 3 stars because of my inability to reach the end of the book.
Still, I want to thank Orbit and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this work.

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After the destruction of Caiden’s home planet, he finds a mysterious ship and joins up with a group of misfit aliens. With the goal of revenge in mind, Caiden travels the universe, finding new dangers and plots everywhere he turns.

Nophek Gloss certainly starts out with one of the most memorable scenes I’ve read. The destruction of Caiden’s planet is gruesome, and gory, a very visceral scene, laced with the fear that Caiden experiences. It really sets up a story that should be exciting, with mysterious violent monsters, and slavers that rule over the people.

From that first bit of the book, I thought I would love every page of this. The first scene sets it up more as a Sci-Fi horror than a space opera, which I was all over. Unfortunately, the rest of the book didn’t continue in much the same, and veered more into traditional science fiction, space opera territory. While this won’t detract others from the story, I was a little bit let down from how the book started to where the middle of the book took us. With such an action packed start, it did feel like the middle of the book was overly full of technical details, and moved a lot slower than I was hoping for.

Despite the slow pacing though, the story of found family was really good, and the goal of Caiden’s revenge was interesting once it really picked up. The ending is where the story really picks up again, and pulled me right back in. When you learn more about what Nophek Gloss really is, and the interactions with the slavers, it really gets the story moving.

This is definitely a book for fans of science fiction though. Because of the slower pacing, and leaning heavily into technical details, it wasn’t an easily accessible Sci-Fi, and I think those new to the genre would struggle with this one. This is a great debut though, and I know fans of the genre will be looking forward to more from The Graven series after reading Nophek Gloss. I know with the ending the way it was, I’m definitely looking forward to more from this.

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I used this review copy of Nophek Gloss to interview Essa Hansen on the Fantasy Inn podcast (episode link included).

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Nophek Gloss is a gritty coming of age story centering around revenge, trauma, and overcoming it's consequences. Caiden belongs to an agrarian race of humans who's planet has outlived it's usefulness. He survives a genocide and learns that he was much more than an enslaved farmer all along. He teams up with a plucky band of misfit space adventurers and sets about avenging his peoples' murder.

There's some proper hard sci-fi concepts going on in this book, but there's also a lot of technobabble that doesn't make much sense and doesn't add anything to the story or the world Essa Hansen has built. The age acceleration Caiden chooses to go through is interesting. His childhood and innocence have already been destroyed by violent trauma, so he opts to go through a process to catch his body and his learning up, even if his emotional maturity remains that of a 14 year old. Another concept I liked was the idea that some races are genetically inclined to revere and obey other races. This introduced a new aspect of the free will conversation that is ever present in sci-fi, that I had never encountered.

Not all of Hansen's ideas sat so easily for me though. The signature piece of technology in this book is the ability of Caiden's ship, and that of his crewmates, to traverse the "multiverse". I've read many multiverse type novels, but this was the first one that suggested universes are small bubbles, with borders that can be entered and exited. That's not really what a "universe" is. Anytime Caiden's ship started navigating these little pockets of finite space it was immersion breaking. The universe traversing didn't add anything to the story for me, and could have been left out completely.

The coming of age aspect, and the story about the aftereffects of trauma are real in this story! Caiden's initial traumatic experience is vividly written and gruesomely haunts him throughout the book. He goes on to put himself in violent situations again and again. Now, I like graphic violence in my sci-fi, I really do. But by the end of this novel I was feeling trauma fatigue. In Caiden's world medical technology is advanced enough to repair physical trauma more quickly and efficiently than in ours, but you can only have so many shattered bones, or mangled limbs, or ruptured internal organs, before it becomes commonplace, and it's recovery process lessens the impact that these events should have on the reader. Give Caiden a chance to recover, learn from his trauma, and humanize before throwing him back into the meat grinder!

All in all Nophek Gloss was a fun read, if not a first rate sci-fi novel.

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