Absolutely fascinating and engrossing, very interested to see what Ehsani does next. Glad the cover drew me in.

First, I want to thank NetGalley and Sterling & Stone for allowing me access to an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Zawadi dreams of lightning in the ground, and it’s spreading. When she wakes, Zawadi is still the adopted daughter of a ranger in a small town near the base of Mt Kenya. Although these things have remained the same, much about her small town and the people in it has changed. They’ve been changing for some time as Medicor, a multinational pharmaceutical company, has taken up residence in their small town, determined to take advantage of a medicinal fungus found only in this part of Kenya. Little does Zawadi realize that her fate, and the fate of her family, is tied to the same elusive mushroom, one her ancestors called Kuvu.

I really enjoyed the premise of The Nexus. There are a number of obvious connection to other recent works that involve miraculous or sometimes malevolent fungus. This also taps into mythology similar works by other African diaspora writers like Nnedi Okorafor where ancient lore serves to hide technology forgotten due to the passage of time. In the case of the Nexus this is more a case of biological tech rather than extraterrestrial, but this is just a first dip into a fascinating alternate history of Kenya that leaves plenty of room for more stories to come in the Afroverse. I also really enjoyed the visual nature of the

I have one critical issue with the pacing of some of the chapters. There are a few perspective shifts between players on all sides of the narrative, which adds to the immersive nature of the world. My one issue is that there are times when switching narrative also pulls us back in time slightly and makes the story feel stuttering. To give an example, there are a few chase scenes and in one we go from the hunted to the hunter, and we know which direction the hunted crawled to, so returning to the hunter’s perspective a few moments before doesn’t move the story forward and breaks that dramatic tension. Other than this very specific editorial concern, I still enjoyed the book a lot and want to read more.

The final verdict here for me is that I would definitely read more in this world and would strongly suggest The Nexus to any sci-fi fans, especially those who enjoy Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism like NNedi Okorafor. Please go check it out, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

This is a story of finding one's power, family and stopping evil forces. There are some aspects that may remind readers of Black Panther and some of the world leaders fighting big pharma to keep prices low.

The chapters are not long which is a plus. However, the multiple point of views can be a bit confusing in the beginning. The character and world building are fantastic while the story flows in a manner that will keep the reader engaged.

I got a ebook of The Nexus from Netgalley, All opinions are my own
I really wanted to enjoy this.
However I found the multiple perspectives incredibly confusing. There was just too much going on at once for me to understand what was happening. I also found that the story seemed to skip from one thing to another very quickly.
Maybe if it was clearer when each perspective change happened I'd have had an easier time though my chronic illnessess makes it hard to understand things so that could be to blame for some of my confusion.
It felt like the author dumped a lot of information about the world too but that's normal for a sci-fi or fantasy book.
Overall I wish I could have enjoyed it because the blurb looked amazing but it just wasn't for me at the moment.

This book was fast paced and engaging from the start. I loved how short the chapters were, this book was an easy read and very accessible to young adults. It covers the complex ethical dilemma of the overlap between culture and medicine/scientific discovery in a way that is well done. I liked how the third person narrative focused on multiple characters from both sides in order to paint a full picture of the arguments on both sides of the debate.

The magic system in this world was engaging. I liked how science fiction and nature overlapped. A lot of world building with the setting and magic was packed into this shorter book, which was great, but I would have loved some more pages devoted to how the magic functions and why. Hopefully this book serves as a set up for these systems that can be explored in a more nuanced way in future books.

The characters sometimes annoyed me, but I loved the family dynamics and the depiction of both family dysfunction and unconditional love. The fact that this was conveyed in two different families, each on either side of the main conflict, was unique and advanced the plot in a great way.

I loved that the beginning started with a multi-chapter long flashback that set up the key conflict and introduced some of the characters, but I wish it was a bit more clear. It took me a bit to realize that the first chapter was from the perspective of the "villain" and again I was confused when it jumped 5 chapters in to present day. That said, I thought this was a really unique start and I was quickly able to catch on and enjoy the concept!

Dearests, here we have an interesting premise, wicked pharmaceutical companies, found family & an heiress in disguise - a pretty okay read, except for characters who feel slightly empty.

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: Bushes, Bruises and Blood
𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿: Nyah
𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Normal
𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲: Novel
𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Nature Fantasy Futuristicish
4/𝟱
SOME Remote Control vibes, but not quite.

🌱At the foot of Mount Kenya, non-native scientists seek to use the miraculous Kuvu (type of mushroom) to make money (🙄 what else is new). In an attempt to thwart their plans, the last of the Kuvu people burn their fields of Kuvu & disappear - all to the irritation of Dr. Baires, she of the sick children.

Twenty years later, she is back to hunt the last of the Kuvu, the orphan child who survived the last encounter, a chief who knows nothing of her heritage & powers but who must find answers to protect herself, her heritage and her family.

🦖On one hand, the story is filled with potential. Morally grey villains, desperation, found family, loyalty & betrayal, greed & mercenaries. There are characters who should be layered, BUT for some reason are shallow. Almost like people I ‘knew of’ but had no real encounter with. This gave the story a void where more character building should have been. The characters aren’t bad though, they just felt incomplete.

✨𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱.
♡🌱 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲 ;)

This book was a good start to a series. I would like to see what the rest of the series will bring. I enjoyed the book but I was waiting for more.

It was a good book, just not great. I loved the family part of it and enjoyed the interactions with them. Some of the discussions on the magic and how it was used just kind of jumped all over the place. It was a little confusing what would happen and why it happened.

Zawadi has secret superpowers–the ability to connect to a network that can save lives. She doesn't know yet that she does. A group of scientist-capitalists wants to get their hands on this network. What could go wrong?

There are corporate assassins, magical mushrooms, tuk-tuks, hakuna matatas, and there's a villain origin story (which, I'm like, ok but you know it's your own fault, innit??). The villain has a concerned mom-scientist, too, which is truly wholesome.

This is a very cute YA-oriented story, the first in a series. The story is fun, and although I found the dialogue annoying, your teen/YA probably won't. This is a very strong start from Ehsani, and it will be interesting to see where the series goes.

Thanks to NetGalley and to Sterling and Stone for access.

Giving it a generous 2 stars, but I tapped out at 13 chapters.

The author struggle with writing multiple characters in a single room and the over-descriptive dialogue takes become apparent and frequent.

The plot devices are unnecessary.i.e. wiping memory of a character for quite frankly no actual solid reason , other than to create artificial drama.

I don't want to spil this with my other problems in the first 13 Chapters, but I always give an extra star to a book I DNF. Silly rule? Maybe. But ideally thus was shaping up to a 2.5 for me

I think there is an audience for this book, just probably not me.

Environmental advocates vs. exploitative capitalism with a touch of magic and some action pretty much describes this book. The main character struggles to find her way between what she wants to do with her future and the unexpected revelation of what she is born to protect. There is an unusual creature that is a source of magic in this story. There are some beautiful descriptions of nature. I like that the solution to beat exploitative capitalism is found not just in magic but using present society's methods to also. The people are using every method in their repertoire to be successful not relying on one method. The more bricks in your wall the better the strength.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.