Apocalypse Nyx
Author: Kameron Hurley
Publisher: Tachyon Publishing
Publishing Date: 2018
Pgs: 283 pgs
Disposition: Interlibrary Loan - Richardson Public Library - Richardson, TX via Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
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REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Summary:
Nyx is a mercenary and assassin. Nyx’s world is a Middle Eastern based alien world where humanity came from somewhere else to settle. Here women rule. Men are fodder for the front lines and the wars that rage between the major powers of this world. Bounty hunting is good. Not the way Nyx does it, but it’s profitable enough that it isn’t going away. Whiskey, sex, and a good fight. ...and threatening to run off her team, though she stands by them...even if she doesn’t want to.
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Genre:
Hard Science Fiction
Science Fiction
Genetic Engineering
Bugpunk
Godpunk
Desertpunk
Apocalypsepunk

Why this book:
Cause I love Nyx and her team. And Kameron Hurley writes them awesomely.
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Favorite Character:
Nyx is a walking weapon...when she’s not blind drunk.

Favorite Scene:
Damn the heart. Of course now I wonder... Hmmm, eww.

Favorite Quote:
“You don't have to be mean about it. How long have you been in Nasheen? Of course, I have to be mean about it.” Nyx is a product of her world. Broken...drunk...honorable, in her own way...badassed.

“God doesn't go away, even if you do.” Great line.

Favorite Concept:
Bugpunk is awesome.

Hmm Moments:
The hanging head of a man whose body littered the street below who was supposedly killed more than a hundred miles away. That a helluva hook.

When your paranoid bug magician tells you that something may be a trap, maybe you should listen to him.

So, not only do they rebuild and reanimate bodies...if bodies are left alone, they get up on their own zombie style. Great. Great place. Wouldn’t want to visit. Wouldn’t want to live there. But awesome worldbuilding.

Juxtaposition:
In the second story, Nyx begins to remind me of Clint Eastwood from A Few Dollars More.

Nyx can't make up her mind who she wants to have sex with and who she wants to kill. Of course, sometimes, she almost seems to want to do both.

Life is cheap in Nyx’s world. The bodycount the heroes, antiheroes, run up is huge. Are they heroes or just survivors?

Missed Opportunity:
I like Rhys and Nyx. She seems more broken than him but he's hiding something. Course they all are. And if the author answered all the questions where would the next story go?

Dreamcasting:
Gal Gadot as Nyx.

Chris Hemsworth as Khos. Though it might be too small a part for as big a star as he’s become.
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Pacing:
These books are crunchy. You read a little bit, you think about it, and, then, you read a little bit, and you think about it.
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Surprisingly fun. It's pretty dark sf, and it turns out this collection of short stories is set in a universe the author's written a trilogy of novels around, but even so they stand on their own. The setting isn't ever fully described but seems to be a dispersed humanity has settled various planets, with different race/religions have dominance on others, and some planets still being contested. We're on a contested one, mostly barren desert with small communities. It's not clear where the technology came from, or how widespread it is, but this planet is mostly run on a bio-tech basis, insects being the prime replacement for chemistry. The bugs serve as fuel, bullets, comms and everything else, it hasn't always been fully thought through, but in short stories the imagination is enough to carry it.

As always the rich manage not to be drawn into the war while the rest are drafted, men for 30 years but women for only 2 which has some repercussions on society. Our heroine is on Nyx, done her war duty, been caught and served her time in prison, and now leading a small team of mercenaries for whatever jobs they can find, mostly killing people. These are some of her team's assignments. It's a fractious bunch, Nyx only employees them because she needs their skills to earn her money for rent and whisky, she has no interest in their history or personalities, and although she often considers it she won't sleep with them either.

The stories came to me as part of a 'noir' collection and there is something of that about them, even though they're all basically about shooting people rather than moody detectives, Nyx's permanently grouchy attitude fits in well. The first story features a little more of a mystery too, as Nyx discovers a severed head floating in a window. I enjoyed these more than I expected and will look out for the trilogy that features Nyx. ( )

This is solidly sandwiched between Hurley's Nyx's first and second novels right where we can still enjoy scenes with Rhys.

Short novellas or short stories.

And this perfect for all us fans who loved this wild bio-punk world full of "magicians" who pull wild bioengineering stunts in the name of a religious war and mercenaries who feel like they're losing their souls. It's also great for all you hard-drinking, hard punching, embittered readers who like a lot of grit in their post-apocalyptic hard-SF Biopunk. :)

So was this good on its own, too? I think so! Short quests, jobs, and Nyx really shines darkly. Well, she's a mess. :) ( )

More Nyx, more bugpunk and less compromise than...um.. something that doesn't compromise a lot. ( )

Oh, a review is coming, believe me. What a book. What a character. How freaking glad I am that I don't live in Nyx's universe! And how precisely Hurley draws the unreliable and mostly unlikable Nyx so that I couldn't put the book down, story to story.
This is not to be missed. ( )