In a far future universe, humanity is at war with itself. A temporary peace has been struck and five hundred refugees have been released from their internment camp to a waystation where they'll be sorted out and sent on to surviving family or friends. On the surface of it, Lia Johansen is just another orphaned, friendless sixteen-year-old refugee. But Lia is more than she seems. Lia is a living bomb.
Yeh. So there's that. Except, of course, she doesn't go BOOM and kill everyone. Because I'm pretty sure you can't have the heroine of a young adult novel slaughter thousands of innocent people. It's just not done, darling.
Even if all those people are possessed by invisible, incorporeal, parasitic aliens.
There’'s a lot going on in
Nova. When I first began reading the book, it seemed pretty straightforward, but as the story progressed more layers of nuance and complication were added to Lia's backstory until it had become so twisty-turny that, frankly, an invasion by invisible parasitic aliens did not come as a surprise.
So did I actually enjoy reading
Nova? Yes? Ish? The original premise -- human bomb suffers a glitch and doesn't explode, then struggles to understand her purpose and define herself -- fascinated me. Lia herself is an extremely admirable character – she demonstrates continued courage and inner strength in while trapped in a terrible situation. Yes, Lia cries and gets a wee bit depressed, but who wouldn't? Awful as her problems are, Lia tries to think them through to find a resolution she can live with. She just doesn't give up.
So Lia's great. But the addition of the aliens and the romance with Michael detracted from my enjoyment. The aliens felt like a cop-out -- Aliens Are Bastards -- so we readers wouldn't have to deal with the reality that Humans Are Really Bastards. The romance with Michael was just so ... predictable. As soon as Lia met Michael, I knew I there was going to be a "oh-my-god-I-love-him-but-I'm-a-bomb-but-I-love-him-but-" and there was and it was annoying. Why did they have to fall in love so quickly? Why not be good friends? It's not as if the romance brought anything extra to the plot. Although, if you're a romantic, I guess you could say the romance brought an extra poignancy to Lia's final act.
Mostly, I wanted more Shar. More Teal. More Captain Kerr.
Maybe in the next book?
Nova by Margaret Fortune (Daw Books, 2015)