ACADIA

Children of Acadia, Book 1

De: Sterling Nixon

Narrado por: Euan Morton

Two hundred years ago, the Roaches swept across the Earth, annihilating everything in their path. Humanity’s remnants retreated behind the walls of Acadia—a militarized city where every citizen’s worth is dictated by a ruthless merit score. Earn enough points and you live in safety. Fall short, and you’re Rifted—cast into the depths beyond salvation.

Jessica teeters on the edge of that fate, forced into the Mahghetto—an unforgiving gauntlet where failure means death. Cojax is a young soldier desperate to prove himself in a society that sees him as expendable. When they uncover a long-guarded secret, the two are thrust into a conspiracy that could shatter Acadia’s rigid order and ignite a war it cannot win.

In Acadia, loyalty is rewarded… until the day it kills you.

©2025 Sterling Nixon (P)2025 Sterling Nixon

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Relentless, Emotional, and Addictive

Acadia absolutely blew me away. This is one of those books that grabs you early and never lets go. From the first chapters, you’re thrown into a brutal, beautifully imagined world where everything is measured, ranked, and paid for in pain and sacrifice. The pacing is phenomenal—there’s always something happening, always some new pressure, revelation, or danger pushing the story forward. I kept telling myself “just one more chapter” and suddenly it was 2 a.m.

The characters are the real heart of this story. Cojax, Jessica, Marcus, Elena, Titan—every one of them feels real, layered, and deeply human. Their struggles aren’t just physical, they’re emotional and moral, and the book takes the time to let those moments hit. You feel the cost of this society on every page. No one feels safe, no one feels simple, and that makes every victory and every loss land harder.

The worldbuilding is incredibly rich without ever bogging the story down. The merit-based system, the Mahghetto, the tiers, the Roaches—it all feels cohesive, original, and terrifyingly plausible. It has shades of Red Rising, The Will of the Many, and Starship Troopers, but it very much has its own identity and voice.

And I have to talk about the audiobook narrator—because wow. The performance is outstanding. The narrator doesn’t just read the story, he performs it. Each character has a distinct voice and personality, the emotional scenes hit even harder, and the battle sequences are intense, cinematic, and gripping. It’s one of those rare audiobooks that actually elevates the already great source material.

The action is brutal and thrilling, but what really makes Acadia special is the emotional weight behind it. This is a story about survival, identity, sacrifice, and what it means to live in a system that only values you as long as you’re useful.

By the end, I didn’t just want the sequel—I needed it.

If you love dark, high-stakes, character-driven science fiction with incredible pacing, a brutal world, and unforgettable characters, Acadia is a must-read—and a must-listen.

I Meant to Read a Few Chapters. I Didn’t Sleep

I picked up ACADIA thinking I’d read a few chapters and come back to it later. That did not happen.

This book is relenteless. The action is intense, fast, and stressful in the best way — the kind that makes your heart speed up becuase you genuinely don’t know who’s going to make it through the next trial, fight, or decison. The battles aren’t just flashy; they’re tactical, brutal, and exausting, and you feel every inch of that exaustion along with the charaters.

What really sets ACADIA apart, though, is the world itself. The city’s merit-based, militarized system feels like a machine desinged to grind people down and see who survives. The tension doesn’t come only from the enemy — it comes from the rules, the ranks, the constant judgement. Even the quiet scenes feel like your holding your breath.

If you loved Red Rising or The Will of the Many, this hits that same sweet spot of trial-by-fire storytelling, but with an even heavier military edge.

And the audiobook? Euan Morton is outstanding. He brings real authority to the comand scenes, real fear and pain to the quieter moments, and an incrediable sense of urgency to the action. His performance turns already adrenaline-pumping scenes into something you can’t stop listening too.

By the end, I felt like I’d run a marathon in armor — and I mean that as a compliment. This is gritty, high-stakes, page-turning sci-fi, and I’m completly hooked.