BookView Review

Gadeken delivers a tense, imaginative finale to the Nabukko Trilogy, blending emotional depth with an intricately constructed science-fiction mystery. Branded a murderer and forced to flee Nabukko with Keir, Eff races to stop another Obliviation from erasing their hard-won memories. With winter making the mountains nearly impassable, their search for the mysterious core leads to an unexpected figure from Eff’s past. As they cross frozen forests and labyrinthine caves, new discoveries connect Nabukko’s troubles to the long-lost Piscius.

Gadeken closes the Nabukko Trilogy with an ambitious blend of survival adventure, mystery, romance, and speculative science. The Obliviations remain the story’s cleverest conceit. Memory loss is not merely another obstacle for the characters to overcome; it complicates everything they know about one another and makes even their own past actions open to question. The strongest passages put Eff and Keir alone against the planet. Their trek through snowbound forests and underground passages has a welcome physical immediacy, with cold, hunger, dwindling supplies, and unfamiliar creatures keeping the danger close. Their easy teasing also cuts through the tension without diminishing it. Gadeken handles the larger mystery with similar patience, allowing old questions about Eff’s history, Piscius, and Nabukko to take on new meaning as the journey progresses. There is plenty to untangle, but Gadeken never loses sight of the people caught inside the larger mystery. Eff’s determination, and the relationships that have carried her this far, give the novel its emotional pull. Boldly imagined and emotionally charged, the novel keeps its grip to the very end. This is a dazzler.

***