No rating - DNF at 21%
My opinion: I hate to be the first bad review, but I’ve got to be honest here, this book is horrible. I really tried to make it to at least 25%, but the writing was insufferable. I had to repeatedly remind myself that the characters were supposed to be extremely intelligent 14/15 year olds and not eight or nine. The info-dumping was the worst I’ve ever read, nothing of what any of the characters said I can imagine someone saying unironically. I understand that this is a debut novel, in which poor writing is somewhat expected; but multiple of my favorite books happen to be debut novels, so I can’t really cut him any slack. If the author decides to continue writing, I would suggest that he write a children’s novel instead and to not try his hand at middle-grade or YA again. No one I have ever met of the age range of the characters of this book (14-15) has had this low of a maturity level, and therefore I cannot see this book resonating with anyone older than 12 at the oldest, but I would also not feel comfortable handing this book to anyone younger than 12 because of the content. So, I guess an immature 12 year old might like it?

Genre: sci-fi
POV: third person, past tense
Trope: -

Age rating: 12+ (content up to 21%)
Violence: none
Romance: a kiss on the cheek
Drinking/drugs/smoking: adults go out for a drink
Language: 1 sh!t, 3 h3ll, 1 BS, 1 a$$, 2 oh my god and 1 my god (g is lowercase)

Characters:
Brian: he had tantrums, crying fits, and the stubbornness of a toddler, it was unbearable to read.
Electra: she sounded like Siri or Alexa whenever she spoke, since reading a fifth of this book I’m still convinced that there’s a plot twist later on that reveals that she’s actually a humanoid robot, I didn’t stick around to find out if I was right. Horrible character development either way.
Killian: I am very sure that this guy was based off of Elon Musk. Richest man in the world, Texan, CEO of multi-billion dollar space company… sound familiar?

Trigger warnings:
- death of mother (off-page)
- cancer (off-page)

Publish date: June-18-2025
Thank you to NetGalley and Avantone Publishing for providing an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Immensus by Vincent Piana is a near future story that is all too realistic. Killian Wells runs a business called Immensus which is like a Bezos or Musk type business. Wells is an entrepreneur whose access to space is unlike any one else’s. Wells is singularly situated to mine gold and other precious minerals in space. He has technology no other business has, not even the US government.

Teenaged James talks his dad into taking him to see his hero Killian Wells’ hub for business. James loves space and has wanted to see the center where people can get on a rocket to visit there. By arriving so early in the day, people who work at Immensus have not even gotten to work yet. James meets Killian Wells on his way in to work and impresses him with his enthusiasm and intelligence, so much so that he invites him to come to the school called Ere Immensus where is two daughters and two other boys are the only students.

An all too believable group contacts Killian to force him to “participate” in sharing their technology which creates much trouble to say the least. Chaos breaks loose as Wells resists “participating” and the end of the book makes it clear that there will be sequels. It was very exciting to read and makes me think I see the future. I must now wait for the next installment.