I am not too much fan of sience fiction but this was sort of interesting.
It was very enjoyable, and as a plus the cover was kind of cool.

I am a sucker for books set in space, so a space academy is definitely up my alley. Then add the fact that the book centers around a middle school girl struggling to attend a STEM school… this is basically an instabuy plot for me.

The main character is stubborn, doesn’t accept help and generally doesn’t do well with teams. She is a strong character that I can see girls looking up to, which I loved.

I wouldn’t recommend this to readers under 10/12 years old as the science terms might be difficult to grasp, but that’s just my opinion :)

*I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

*I was sent a physical book by the publisher*

I was pleasantly surprised with the app that goes with the book. However, I have a feeling that there was a lot of thought put into the app that should have gone into fleshing out the characters. They sometimes felt very one dimentional and separated from other characters, which was unfortunate because the premise of the book is so interesting.

DNF... I could not force myself through this one anymore.
The writing was choppy (honestly I've seen better writing in fanfictions written by 12 year olds who have English as a second language), the characters were either flat, manic pixie dream girls/boys or absolute caricatures (and trust me, it wasn't on purpose) and the dialogue was so... strange. It felt like I was listening to a conversation between aliens who are trying to blend in but haven't quite grasped the way humans interact.
Do not recommend, but hey, I'm not the boss of you. All I'm saying is that if you trust my opinions on books, you're in for a world of pain with this one.

This book is a very interesting one, a sci-fi with a corresponding phone app. I've never read anything like it and I ended up really enjoying it. I would recommend this book to anyone who might, like me, enjoy sci-fi but not jump to the genre every time. It's a very enjoyable read.

IGIST by L.S. Larson is the perfect book for children who are aging out the Middle Grade reading section and quickly approaching that of YA. Not quite either, but a good bridge from one to the other. Emi wants desperately to go IGIST, a galactic academy for the intelligent and the up and coming innovators of the universe. Her father wants her to go there as well but when her acceptance correspondence never shows up, he resolves to get Emi into space by any means necessary. If I was 13 again, I would be completely obsessed everything this book has to offer, from the android best friend, to the goal of going to an academy that is essentially a space station in the form of a campus. I wish that I could have made better use of the interactive app that can be downloaded free, but the AR (Artificial Reality) affect only works on physical copies and this review is based on a digital copy provided via Netgalley. Despite that, the parts of the app that I could access were responsive and even included a section to buy IGIST merch!
***This review has been provided at no cost and is based on an arc copy made available by Netgalley.***

3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up to a 4 because I liked the app.

Overall, the plot is not unique, but it's one that works. Girl wants to go to a science school in space (top science school in universe) to cure the Earth of a plague that killed her mom. No earthling has been admitted in over 20 years, but through sheer determination and stubbornness and a little bit of daring, she makes it but then feels like she has to prove herself to everyone there. There are other things that happen, but in the end, she does prove herself, but not without tragedy and loss. What I liked about this were the side characters who helped her along the way, despite her protests. What I didn't like about this was how long it took her to finally realize it's good to work as a team. She was even mean about it sometimes. It was a good ending, but I wish she had realized earlier she needed to work with others. Despite her annoying attitude, though, I enjoyed the story and it was interesting enough to keep me going. The science would probably be too high a level for most middle schoolers, but I think it would be fine for most teens or young adults, as long as science fiction is your thing. That was one of the things I really did enjoy about this.

The app was pretty cool, but the publisher told me that if I had the hard cover, I could use the app to make the illustrations come alive even more, so I'm looking forward to it (they're sending me a copy). It was also fun collecting the badges along the way and see my progress with the story. Navigation was pretty easy, but I wish there had been ways to highlight notes or take screenshots.

Overall, if you're a sci-fi fan and you enjoy a bit of science in your reading, this story is worth checking out.

This was so interesting! Emi's character was amazing and the school setting was so well done. the author's writing really drew me in and I can't wait for more books by this author!

Told from alternating perspectives, IGIST follows Emi's quest to enter the prestigious Intergalactic Institute of Science and Technology and achieve her dreams to embrace a career in science like her mother. What makes this novel unique is the available app that allows you to read the novel with interactive elements. Each time you finish a chapter, you collect coins that can be used to unlock character profiles, avatars and backdrops. This format leads to short chapters with illustrations that are sure to catch the interest of readers.

IGIST has a rich cast of alien races, sharp plot twists and the app adds an extra level of shiny to the experience. The art is especially well done. If you are looking for a futuristic adventure, check out IGIST.

«IGIST» by L.S. Larson is a new YA Science-fiction with the most unique reading experience!

You can read this book as a normal physical copy that contains a few images that can interact with the IGIST app (at least that’s what the book states in the beginning). Personally, I switched between my Kindle, as I got a copy from NetGalley, and the IGIST app, that is free for download for Android and IOS. The app is quite impressive and I don’t know why more people didn’t think about this concept before.

1 - The concept to involve the mobile gaming experience with the story through the app is fantastic! I’m not sure why no one else thought about this before!? Or maybe, this is a common practice now and I’m just behind on this trend. I really liked how interactive this makes the story, and also it will be more appealing to younger readers or even younger audience who doesn’t particularly like to read, as it combines something they all understand so well - technology.

Also, the book claims that if you buy the hardcover of the book, there will be black and white photorealistic illustrations that you can bring to life with AR (Augmented Reality) scanner through the IGIST app. I had no way to confirm this, as I don’t own the hardcover copy, but THIS SOUNDS UNREAL AND AMAZING! So if you have experiences that, please let me know!

2 - I love sci-fi in every shape and form, especially when it’s about a SCHOOL in SPACE with a lot of TRIALS! That to me is the most perfect concept for a book. So of course, IGIST immediately grabbed my attention. The execution wasn’t flawless and there were a lot of things that I didn’t like, but overall I loved reading about traveling through space, discovering new planets, seeing other races, like Martians, etc.


3 - My biggest complaint was the main character - Emi. I understood what the author was trying to do, show her as this headstrong, young scientist, who wouldn’t stop before achieving her goals, but also struck with uncertainty and fear of failure.

But the way the story was written, the way the other characters acted around her, and Emi’s responses to others’ critiques or concerns made me see her as a spoiled attention seeker, who wouldn’t or couldn’t think about anyone else’s well-being. Who was focused so fiercely on her idea that often forgot and neglected others.

She was constantly rude and pushing others away. There was a big emphasis on “doing things on my own”, which I didn’t understand the purpose of. I just didn’t like her.

4 - Another thing that I found weird was the human/animal transformations. I think the people who pursued that were called transhumans. Once again, I sort of understand the concept or the idea behind it, but it wasn’t executed well to pass the message to the reader. So the whole Jack / Jillie arc just felt awkward and out of place.

At first, when I began reading this book, I was sure this was middle-grade, but as the story progressed and got darker and darker, I don’t even know if I can classify it as YA or it should have some age restrictions. Jack’s arc was very maturely written, there were a lot of deaths and horrific events.

I still don’t know what audience exactly this story was directed at.