Massif, Garth Nix’s first adult science fiction novel, is a brilliant and poignant stand-alone story of sentient starships, galactic warfare, and the bonds a crew forms far, far from Earth.
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In This Spotlight On Massif
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About Massif
Caught me a mountain / Rode it to the stars
It’s business as usual for Ship Leader Parnell Shi-Sawahla and the crew of the corvette Sassafras. Ride a Massif to a new system, fight the enemy, repeat. For more than two hundred years humans have been hitching rides on these sentient, starfaring mountain ranges, colonizing planets and exporting an on and off again war between Earth and Mars.
But the big questions are always there, behind every battle, every new colony, every new star system discovery.
Why do the Massifs carry humans to the stars?
Why do they help us export our wars?
What’s in it for the Massifs?
Ship crews aren’t supposed to ask these questions, they aren’t supposed to think about these questions, and they definitely aren’t supposed to go deep and talk to Massif avatars. But now Parnell and his tight-knit crew must try to find the answers, to save not only themselves but the future of humanity.
Massif plays in the science fiction genre that is based foremost on highly commercial, accessible prose and narrative. Garth’s ability as a wordlbuilder and storyteller allows this novel to touch on the science without bogging down the reader with details that might get in the way of a terrific story. Readers drawn to books by Andy Weir, John Scalzi, Martha Wells, and Becky Chambers will see that the focus on characters and relationships as much as plot and action add up to a winning formula.
Praise for Massif
“Bestselling YA fantasist Nix (Sabriel) showcases his worldbuilding prowess in his first adult sci-fi novel [Massif] a riveting space opera set in the 24th century. A staggering adventure that should win Nix a whole new set of fans.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Strange galaxy-faring mountain ranges, a loyal renegade spaceship crew, plenty of military action, and a creepy interstellar mystery combine to make [Massif] a compelling science fiction epic set in an inventive new universe.”—Marko Kloos, bestselling author of the Frontline series
“Nix has created an ingenious, icy world in the throes of chaos. The action charges along at a gallop, imbued with an encompassing sense of looming disaster. [Massif is] A page-turner for sure.”—Booklist (starred review)
“[An] excellent anthology that upends expectations and poses ‘questions about self-determination and what it means to embrace the power of choice.”—USA Today
About Garth Nix, Author of Massif
Garth Nix’s accolades are impressively long and listing them all would take up far too much space. In short, more than six million copies of Garth’s books have been sold around the world, and they have appeared on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, The Bookseller, USA Today as well as others. In addition, his work has been translated into 42 languages! He has won multiple Aurealis Awards, the Ditmar Award, the Mythopoeic Award, CBCA Honour Book, and has been shortlisted for the Locus Awards, the Shirley Jackson Award, and others. Garth Nix is unstoppable, and his fans are sure to follow him in this exciting new transition into adult fiction!
Garth Nix is a staple in the Children and YA space, and now he’s ready to make his true adult debut. He previously published a collection of short stories, Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz, but Massif will be his first adult novel.
Garth Nix is an award-winning and New York Times bestselling author whose beloved Old Kingdom fantasy series begins with Sabriel. His many other novels include Shade’s Children and A Confusion of Princes, and he has written such children’s series as The Seventh Tower and the Keys to the Kingdom, as well as co-writing TroubleTwisters and Have Sword, Will Travel with Sean Williams. His work has been translated into forty-two languages and has sold more than seven million copies.
You can connect with Garth Nix on his website, and on Facebook.
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Harper Voyager | HarperCollins
ISBN Hardcover 9780063292017
Pub Date: Sept 8, 2026
Other LitStack Spots by Garth Nix
We’re shining our LitStack Spot on a few other titles you’ll definitely want to add to your TBR stack, including Sabriel by Garth Nix, Lirael by Garth Nix, and Abhorsen by Garth Nix.
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