Eff, a teen space explorer, has been scavenging a meagre existence ever since she awoke on a strange planet to find her memory went back only three months. One day she’s captured by a strange group of colonists, marooned after their spaceship crashed. After some grilling by the colony’s leadership, she’s welcomed into life in the settlement: NABUKKO. She soon finds friends, rivals, and possibly love when a young man who has been haunting her dreams tugs on her heartstrings. Just as she feels she is getting close to solving the planet’s riddles, a terrible crime puts her future in jeopardy.
K.R. Gadeken has anchored NABUKKO to a well-crafted survivor, Eff: a refreshing, resourceful heroine who will appeal to many YA readers. The author weaves the protagonist’s memory-confusion and fierce desire for answers into a relatable goal. Many of Eff’s relationships—such as her conflicted longing for a mother figure in the colony leader Merula—are believable, if conflicted, interactions. The teen’s attraction to the roughly hewn Keir is complex but gripping, as he evolves from the prickly, unkempt “Leaf” man she detests into a confidante with whom she shares easy conversation and affectionate banter.
The author includes snippets of character memories throughout the book, along with dream fragments, using them to build suspense. Her narrative style is strong and dynamic, and she’s built a solid futuristic world on the perilous planet. She excels at descriptive writing, starting early in the book—when Eff hunts the “pink, fuzzy, rabbit-like creatures with horns” named Kreeplets. Her depiction of the planet’s Munkraves, with “curling talons, their rat tails and their beady rat eyes, their triangular canine teeth, ashy skin and drooping red fur” is another example.
However, the book crams in too many characters who are not well-developed. As a result, Eff’s rival Gia, her friends, the outlandish Lethia, the protective Martel, and her early crush Eoghan, seem forced and contrived. Too often the author uses dialogue as exposition to explain her future world’s complex backstory. Also, the future teen slang, “Europa’s Ice! in Luna’s name,” seems facile. The biggest flaw, however, is the lack of action. Readers must wait until page 252—halfway through the novel—for the first real action scene. Also, the crime that sparks the book’s ending is too abrupt.
Despite its confusing cast of characters and sluggish pace, NABUKKO is well-presented with few typos and grammatical errors. Its cover is stunning, too. Overall, the novel seems better suited to early tweens or more sophisticated child readers.
K.R. Gadeken’s sci-fi debut NABUKKO shines when it pits a mighty heroine against a mind-bending mystery.
~Robin L Harvey for IndieReader
