Xor Ax, Ax by Andrei Saygo

YA Science Fiction, Independently Published in 2022, 304 Pages

What I Didn’t Like:

The romance feels forced. It’s not a big storyline, it’s only a minor mention and it’s easy to ignore. Of course, that brings up the point of why include it at all if it’s so easy to ignore. Not everything needs a romance line.
The actual heists feel rushed. I wanted to take a play-by-play approach to how they gained access and what they did inside. Instead, more time is spent on the time between heists.
Some spelling and grammatical errors. They’re all minor and none affected by readability, but they’re there.

The tech is cool and the decision to not go into detail about it without explaining it in “layman’s terms” for other characters is a good one. This keeps people from saying it’s impossible and leaves plenty to your imagination.
The realism of a team who has never worked together before comes through. They don’t get it all completely right the first time, there are hiccups and missteps. I like that. Too often I think we see team books drop in characters who are so perfect they can work together well right away. This team is more realistic than that!
I like the ending. You don’t have all the answers but you have enough to be satisfied. This does leave the door open for you to think about the team and what could be happening in their world right now. Of course, it also means the author may decide to write a second book someday. But, honestly, I’m happy even if it ends here.

Fans of technology driven science fiction books. There’s some really cool tech here!
I also want to mention, quickly, that I honestly didn’t see anything in this one that screamed YA to me. I know there are a lot of you out there who avoid YA books because you’re not fans of the drama teenagers can bring. This isn’t teenagers and there really isn’t excessive drama. Don’t let the YA part scare you off!

This is a good sci fi story using technology to drive a heist type story that takes an interesting twist.