MASSIF

Nix’s first adult SF release is set in a universe ravaged by war and inhabited by mysterious, godlike Massifs that tear lose from their planetary homes and travel to the stars for reasons far beyond humankind’s perception.

In 2096, a girl goes missing from a village in the foothills of a mountain range in Madagascar. A few months later, the entire Massif—with a passenger that could’ve been an avatar of the missing girl—pulls free from Earth and heads for an unknown location somewhere in deep space. Decades later, after factions of humanity have figured out that some of these Massifs allow people to ride them to their destinations—“We’re fleas riding around on interstellar dogs”—conflict arises when these destinations turn out to be habitable planets, some rich in resources. An on-again, off-again war ensues between the governments of United Earth and Mars. When ship leader Parnell Shi-Sawahla and the small crew of the Sassafras hitch a ride on a Massif to battle Mars soldiers on a wild world populated by tentacled monstrosities, one of the crew crash-lands on the planet just before the war is declared over. After all military units are ordered to return to their home bases, Parnell and his crew vow to somehow find and rescue their shipmate—even if it means potentially stranding themselves. While the Massif concept is initially intriguing, the story never finds its groove, due in large part to its noticeably slow pace, two-dimensional characters, and low overall intensity. Also, the first half of the novel is bogged down by unnecessary SF mumbo jumbo—“Under max acceleration. Red ten, z on our axis is plus eleven, range one hundred and sixty-five K, closing”—empty words that eventually bog down the reading experience.

Sadly, this SF rescue mission misses the mark.