Nyxia by Scott Reintgen

Goodreads blurb:

Emmett Atwater isn’t just leaving Detroit; he’s leaving Earth. Why the Babel Corporation recruited him is a mystery, but the number of zeroes on their contract has him boarding their lightship and hoping to return to Earth with enough money to take care of his family.

Forever.

Before long, Emmett discovers that he is one of ten recruits, all of whom have troubled pasts and are a long way from home. Now each recruit must earn the right to travel down to the planet of Eden—a planet that Babel has kept hidden—where they will mine a substance called Nyxia that has quietly become the most valuable material in the universe.

But Babel’s ship is full of secrets. And Emmett will face the ultimate choice: win the fortune at any cost, or find a way to fight that won’t forever compromise what it means to be human.

​Let's talk about how pretty that cover is.  With the swirling, mercurial blues it just screamed at me "Science Fiction".  I may have decided to read it based solely on the cover.  And...at it's crux, it's a pretty decent young adult science fiction novel.  When I first started out I was slightly worried that this would be a rehash of the Divergent plots -- at least at its core.  It ended up growing past that, however, into a book that carried strong personalities/world building and created an interesting story.  It's not very heavy on the science (like one would find in a book like The Martian or a traditional "hard science fiction" novel) but for a young adult book I think it worked nicely.  A solid read for fans of young adult and for fans of science fiction.

And speaking of cover love -- the sequel Nyxia Unleashed -- has a cover that is even prettier than Nyxia in my opinion.

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