I was mixed on this book. I think at some level we all enjoy reading books about characters we can relate to, problem is, these characters are difficult to relate to. Nyx is a pretty one dimensional character, she operates from a position of stubbornly moving forward while doing her best to avoid contemplation of her current actions or her past. This gets tiresome. I couldn't tell whether Rhys was a coward, or just had a aversion to violence. It really made me question why he stuck around with a bounty hunter, seemed kind of dumb.
The world was initially interesting, but then I became disappointed that it wasn't really explored or explained. I don't get why people are excited by the bug-tech idea. People keep saying she has built a new world with bugs? The bugs are just a substitution in this book: It appears that it is just a substitute for magic and technology. The bug tech idea was never clarified or elaborated. What does it feel like for Rhys to use bug tech? How did these remarkable bugs come into being. Do people know or is it just not asked, hard to tell since they never explore the question in this book? It was sort of implied that the bugs might be manipulated with pheromones: why can't it be replicated then? I mean, if you are going to have a world where bugs are basically used as scouts, observers, communication antennas, shields, attackers, defenders, cars... well, everything basically: it would be nice to invest a little in explaining them. Spend a little time explaining their characteristics and limitations.
I was also annoyed by the organ selling part. What was that about? How can we be capable of doing genetic manipulation, in space flight, genetic force fields, but we are still buying organs wholesale from people? It would be like killing a buffalo in the wild when you could just buy a cattle at the market. It would be orders of magnitude more expensive to harvest organs vs just industrially cloning them. Totally confused me.
The fact that people can have their brains blown out and then be reconstituted without brain damage (or at least memory loss) was pretty ridiculous.
I also failed to grasp how the world politics stood on its own. How can two countries honestly invest in killing 90% percent of their men in a senseless wars? Why was there no mention of strategy or logistics? The war seemed really forced, like it couldn't exist without some serious players who are willing to strongly sacrifice in order to perpetuate it. It just felt unstable. Why would anyone have a interest in perpetuating this war when it clearly cost so much to everyone involved? I felt that it was implied that it was a self perpetuating war, but such a fragile dynamic system would not seem to end in a stable state like the book implied. It bugged me (no pun intended).
Why would people not be rallying in the streets over having to sacrifice their children to a war whose cause no one could remember? Why did they not use birth control to avoid having male sons? The breeders also bugged me, as a artificial womb would seem to be far more cost effective.
Finally, lets move out of the world building and "new ideas" review of the book. Some of the plot elements were just ridiculous.
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Nyx was able to bed Jaks by betting in her favor on a fight? This is evidently a guaranteed thing? Jake is housing her draft age brother who WILL BE KILLED if he is discovered. Jaks brings Nyx to her house and lets Nyx see her brother? Really? That is so dumb it is just beyond belief? It would be like a frenchman inviting random strangers to dine at your place when you are sheltering Jews during WWII.
Khos getting to overhear Dahab tell Khos about Nasheem (sp)? I mean really. If you are charged with securely protecting someone in hiding, probably first rule of thumb is don't go blabbing their name in front of perfect strangers.
Khos and team twice rescuing Nyx from the bell dames or intergalactic gene splicers. Really, has no one ever heard of posting a sentry? Is Nyx's team just totally badass, because they are implied to be barely scrapping by? However, every time rescue or fighting is needed, they win without any superior strategy or equipment.
Why didn't Rain have more muscle when he was trading with Nyx? Seems like he could have afforded it.
How did Rain scoop up Rhys so easily? How did Rain know where Rhys had gone to?
Isn't it convenient how Khos happens to be some sort of underground railroad hero, and as such has a safe-house everywhere you go? Really, we should be paying him more. :)
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Ultimately, I felt a lot of the characters were rather flat. I also felt the environment felt more like a backdrop than a actual place. Things did not seem very well thought out. If your cup of tea is basically a character that fights, gets their ass kicked, and then kicks more ass in retribution then ... umm... this is your cup of tea. If that is what you want (and you want your protagonist female) then this book rocks. If you like more to your stories than just that, I would skip this one.