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)2026 Sterling Nixon

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Brutal, Addictive Military Sci-Fi

I picked up ACADIA on a whim and ended up losing sleep over it. Not exaggerating. I told mmyself “just one more chapter” at least six times. What hooked me wasn’t just the action (though yeah, the combat scenes are absolutely insane). It was the idea behind the city. A soceiety built entirely on validation, rank, performance… were your worth is constantly measured. It’s uncomfortable in a way that makes you think. And honestly? That’s what made it so hard to put down.

The armor is cool! The battles are brutal. But the quiet moments are what got me. The looks between characters. The doubt. The fear of not measuring up. There’s this constant tension humming under everything. The enemy is the overwhelming Roaches. Not cartooon villains. They feel overwhelming. Relentless. The scale of it all feels massive, like humanity is barelly holding on.

The writing isn’t flowery — it’s sharp. Clean. Direct. It fits the world. Sometimes I’d read a line and just go, “dang.” You can tell the author knows exactly what kind of story he’s telling. Is it intense? Yes. Is it violent? Also yes. But it earns it. Nothing feels thrown in just for shock value.

I’ve read a lot of sci-fi that blends together after a while. ACADIA doesn’t. It has its own identity, its own tone, its own weight. Definitley not your typical sci-fi story. And I’m still thinking about it days later.

That’s how you know it’s good.

Military Sci-fi--not so much dystopian

This fits much better under the military sci-fi genre. Very well written. So much depth to the characters, the plot, and the setting. I especially enjoyed Marcus' story arc. The second book can't come soon enough.

Anyone who enjoys some good ol' military sci-fi fiction gonna love this one.

Merit Before All

Epic in every way that matters!

I just finished ACADIA on audiobook and I’m honestly still thinking about it.

The world building is insane in the best way. The city, the Wall, the armoor, the whole merit-based system — it all fills real and lived in. The battle scenes are intense without being confusing, and the emotional moments actually hit. There were a couple parts that legit made me pause and just sit there for a minute. Cojax and Jessica especially feel layered and human, not just “hero types.” You can tell a lot of thought went into the structure of this world.

And the narrator absolutely nailed it. His voice gives weight to the military tone but still brings out the vulnerabilty in the quieter scenes. The pacing was perfect — not rushed, not dragging. Some of the speeches gave me chills. I’ve listened to a lot of sci-fi audiobooks and this one stands up there with the best of them.

It’s gritty without being edgy just to be edgy. Smart without being pretentious. I didn’t expect to get this pulled in, but here we are.

Highly recomend if you like military sci-fi with heart. I’ll definitly be continuing the series.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 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.