Nirvana by J.R. Stewart

201 Pages
Publisher: Blue Moon Publishers
Release Date: November 10, 2015

Fiction, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Dystopian, Mystery, Thriller, Teens, Young Adult

Larissa Kenders meets Andrew in 2031. She was playing guitar in an all-girl band around the university. Andrew’s major is physics and although he loves music, he cannot play an instrument. Larissa is not interested in a relationship, but he is persistent and gives her his number. Jump to 2035. The bees are extinct and so are the food sources. The land is desolate. Andrew goes out on night missions trying to find a solution. One night, he does not come home to Larissa. The officials tell her he is dead and is pushing for her to sign a declaration stating he is dead. She does not believe them and continues to look for him.

The book has a steady pace, the characters are not very developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. The possibility of the bees going extinct is strong in today’s world with pesticides. This book shows what life could be like if that happened. There are scenes reminiscent to Star Trek’s holodeck with the place called Nirvana. If you like dystopian style books, you may enjoy reading this one.

DNF.

The Post-Apocolyptic world just wasn't for me. I couldn't get into the story or really have a strong like for any of the chracters.

This definitely wasn't my favourite read of 2015, so much so that I didn't get round to reviewing it (I love to write about loving books!). Nirvana showed a lot of promise (there are some fantastic descriptions) but fell a bit short in key areas and was a little too YA for my personal tastes.

This was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it. thanks for letting me have an advance copy. I'm new to this author.

I want o know more about Larissa and Andrew and any book which makes you want the next in the series has hit the mark. Sci-fi is not my usual first choice but this one has such interesting characters its one I would recommend

The length it took me to finally get around to reading this book is not indictive of the book rating. I received this back in September 2015. I believe it was an email invitation that I accidentally clicked to see the book and then it became logged in my shelf as a book I must read. I kept putting it off because whilst the concept downed interesting, it didn't fully appeal to me. After reading this book, I can confirm the format it is written in doesn't appeal to me. However, I think this story can be a Webtoon Graphic comic series.

I liked the concept of a dystopian world. Having nanobots integrating humans into a holographic VR world is pretty cool. I'm familiar with this design and could easily follow the techno-speak. The characters were also decent. From a concept, I would rate this maybe a 3.5. From a character development, maybe a 3. From an execution, more like a 2. I don't know if I received the first copy or the revised version. What I can say is that this book needed to be edited better. The reason why I think it can be done in a Webtoon comic strip is because the material is better with pictures and concise dialog. I could visualize this story very well in a dark graphic way. But there seem to be too many words used to try to describe what was going on. The words were necessary but it would play better in an image. I think the need to describe the scenes so much and to create a frame of reference lost some of the readers. If this story was a graphic novel, the essence of this story would be boiled down and concentrated across strongly drawn images.

As I write this review, I also think that this could be a longer episode of "love sex and robots" on Netflix. It has the same feel and vibe especially the ending. Spoiler alert... it is a cliffhanger AND there are no books after this one. My guess is that the author did not get renewed by their publisher or they lost their motivation. For this, I am sad. Because it is clear to me, J.R. Stewart has creativity and can generate powerful images with their words. I really think they are using the wrong medium to bring their creativity to life.

Overall, this book was not a page turner. I had to force myself to stay on top of it and grind my way through it. About 60% of the way through the book, it picked up a bit more and I became more vested in the outcome. This novella is for readers who like dystopian young adult books.

The idea of virtual and reality blending is interesting and becoming more believable by the day, however, this book takes what could be an interesting story and bogs it down with too many detailed explanations.

I recently bought a new kindle after my old one broke. For some reason I was unable to download this title from the cloud onto my kindle, therefore I will be unable to review this title. I am sorry for any inconvenience caused

When you think of a dystopian world, you don't expect animal activists or rock stars but that's exactly who you'll find in this title. It's actually a pretty interesting concept especially how it works in a story like this, and in that makes it quite unique in a genre that has been done to death. It's also surprising but a treat with how fast-paced this story is, so you're never bored.

Nirvana follows Larissa Kenders, former animal activist as well as a past punk rock star. She lives in a post apocalyptic world as a virtual barmaid and the man she is suppose to marry disappears, presumed to be dead. But Larissa still meets Andrew in the virtual reality landscape called Nirvana, and with the clues he gives her, begins to uncover a major mystery that could endanger her life.

This is an interesting novel set in a slightly dystopian future after the world has dealt with the terrible aftermath of what would happen if bees disappeared from the world. I thought this was a great idea to play around with seeing as it is such big fear today, and I truly do fear what would happen if bees did all die off.

The play on virtual reality also brings some fun into the novel and could be a nice one to explore for people who liked virtual reality books like Ready Player One. Similar to the way education and employment is in that book, it’s the same here with Larissa making her living as a barmaid in a virtual world.

I didn’t particularly feel connected or related to Larissa as a main character, and there were some moments where the plot became a bit repetitive in her search for Andrew and the truth.

I found this to be very repetitive at times. The constant battle of our main character being he’s not dead with everyone else disagreeing was irritating. There was more info dumping than I care for as well. Some parts of the world building was actually intriguing but all the other bits distracted and irritated too much to enjoy.

I’m sorry, but I had to DNF this one. The romance wasn’t working for me, and I never got a sense of who Kenders really was (or any of the other characters, for that matter). Strong-willed? She was full of contradictions, and way too young to have “achieved” all that she had. The world-building also was lacking.

Beautiful cover, disjointed story. Partly I blame the formatting. I still have a book formatted from 2015 so I guess....there is a new one? not one that I had - and I'm sure that made a lot of difference. For me, I couldn't always tell in conversations, who was saying what. The formatting shoved sentences together into a paragraph with no specification on who's actually the ones talking. There were whole pages I had to go back and re-read. This left me removed and irritated most of the story.

There also wasn't a lot of world building. There's a Nirvana, a guy missing and a lot in between I don't know. Although dystopian stories don't always have to give me the story, this one left me spending more time wondering how we got to that point and trying to figure out the why's instead of feeling immersed in the story.

And the fist chapter, the talk about Math and music - both characters were so insuperable, I couldn't ever really like them again.

Meh. This one just didn't work for me. 1 star for story, 1 star for cover.

I started Nirvana feeling a little as though I was on the backfoot - it seemed as though I'd begun reading a book midway through a series, despite this being the first in a trilogy. Characters had little to no introduction and there was very little initial world-building or explanation of the concepts that were commonplace in this dystopian reality.

Nirvana tells the story of Larissa Kenders, known by her surname, who is an activist turned rockstar conveniently engaged to one of the primary developers in the new world. Kenders and her fiance, Andrew, seem to know everybody and both have connections ranging from lowly support staff right up to corporate bigwigs. Although it was hard to keep track of everybody and their relationships to one another, the fast-paced nature of the plot added another spanner to the works.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with a speedy plot in stories of this genre, but large and significant events just seemed to happen over the course of a few pages before being shelved and moving on to the next issue to tackle. More often than not, this made the book seem chaotic rather than thrilling.

I'm been trying to clear out books I requested on Netgalley but never read for one reason or another. This is the last of the 2015(!) books. I can't say I'm sorry it took me this long to read it. It's a fairly short book so it was easy to read it in a couple days and it's for a much younger audience (YA/NA) so that made it easier to read as well.

Nirvana is a classic case of good idea meets poor execution. While the concept of Nirvana isn't new or groundbreaking it is different enough that it piqued my interest. Some grand conspiracy is holding people down. Said grand conspiracy has many layers and many players and some of the them are horrible and some of them are just swept up in its current and others feel they no longer have a choice but to stay with it but hate it. I'd say that's pretty par for the course for this type of story. The added dimension is the Nirvana program which is VR and pretty indistinguishable from reality, which does play a role in the story.

The story is told primarily from Larissa Kenders' point of view. I say primarily because there is actually a lot of abrupt and confusing head hopping going on. A short glimpse into the mind of another character reveals motivations and actions that Kenders wouldn't know or understand. It's a way to introduce dramatic irony and add to the tension. Unfortunately, it also adds to confusion and poor writing. The prologue is first person POV, the remainder is third person omniscient but in limited ways. It's confusing.

Along with the head hopping, there are often tense changes. A lot of the book is written in present tense which I generally do not like and find frustrating. But, it is interspersed with past tense in a way that often confuses timing or just reads like poor grammar.

Despite the book blurb, this book doesn't in fact cover those events. As the first book in a series, Nirvana is only the opening salvo to the story told in the blurb and I mean some of the blurb literally happens after this book is over. It does not happen in this book. I'd say Nirvana ends in a cliffhanger but it's not really. It just ends at a logical stopping point for another book to follow it and the event is telegraphed for half the book.

Ultimately, I might be curious how this gets resolved but not enough to read the rest of the books.

This was a lot different than what I expected. Very unique perspective.

A mindbending mix of genres set in a dystopian world. The pace was fast and kept my interest. Would recommend to all readers young at heart not just the young adult.

Larissa Kenders was a lover of music – her life of music took her away from memories she desperately wanted to forget. When she met Andrew she gradually let him in, realizing that he was different. Then their lives changed when the Extinction occurred, and their lives revolved around the Barracks and Andrew’s very important work for Hexagon and the government.

Andrew wasn’t able to stay at Larissa’s side as often as they both would have liked – his secret work took him into dangerous places. But the day he didn’t return, Larissa’s grief was overwhelming. Hexagon tried to convince her Andrew was dead, but in her grieving she couldn’t accept that she would never see him again. The counsellor assigned to her tried to persuade her to sign the form which would say he was dead – she refused. But her suspicion and refusal meant her life was in danger. And now that Andrew was gone, she had no idea who she could trust.

Nirvana, the virtual world she visited to try to find Andrew had her more confused than ever – what was real? What was fake? Or was everything around her a virtual world; including herself?

Nirvana by J.R. Stewart is the first in a trilogy for Young Adults; it combines dystopian, fantasy and science fiction with elements of romance throughout. The ending was a little abrupt but I’m guessing it will flow into book 2. I think the story could have benefitted from some tightening up, but it kept me interested enough to finish the book. Lovers of the genres are sure to enjoy Nirvana…

This book was a little different for me. I can see the YA dystopia fans liking it though. It was definitely like nothing I have ever read before.

Larissa is a lover of music. Music lets her escape from bad memories. When we meet Larissa in the story she is insistent on her husband Andrew not being dead and that is pretty much what she obsesses about now. Larissa is out to find Andrew and prove that he is not dead, but there are so many secrets and strange things going on.

Andrew, Larissa's husband, is a scientist that works for Hexagon. When Andrew and Larissa meet, they just want to spend time together. Andew's job with Hexagon takes him away from her more than he would like. With the extinction, Andrew is forced to work long hours in dangerous places. Larissa doesn't like this.

Will Larissa be able to find Andrew or is he really dead? I am sure you will want to read this one for yourself. The author did a great job of being very descriptive on the places in this story though, I will give him that!

Requested, but I was not able to review this in a timely manner. I do not foresee having time to review it in the future. My apologies.