Imagine a future Earth where bodily and mental modifications are the standard. The internet, riddled with rogue AI, has become a sequestered and dangerous pseudo-entity known as the Snarl. Humanity has expanded beyond Earth to settle on other planets. The forefront of technology includes spaceships made from synthetic organic materials resembling internal human organs.
In central focus of this society of the future, and in focus of the novel to be discussed today, are a collection of six metallic coin-shaped technologies called niks. Niks are implanted in the brains of a lineage of children, giving them incredible powers of intuition—and lifespans that end at the onset of puberty. When one child dies, the niks are removed from their head, and the next child is chosen.
This initial description can hardly begin to cover the scope and depths of The Sixth Nik, a new science fiction novel from the accomplished Daniel Kraus. Kraus, a Chicago-based author, is proving himself one of the most versatile writers alive. Following the success of Whalefall, a celebrated aquatic thriller soon to be made into a motion picture, Kraus published the paranormal World War I novel Angel Down. Angel Down has been named a top book of 2025 and was recently awarded the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Then, earlier this year, Kraus wrote about the classic horror film Night of the Living Dead in his book Partially Devoured: How Night of the Living Dead Saved My Life and Changed the World. In this book, his first nonfiction title, Kraus describes his love for Night and analyzes the film in fascinating detail.
Now we come to The Sixth Nik, where Kraus proves his skill and originality yet again. The novel teems with what makes for the very best science fiction: thought-provoking scientific ideas, strong characters, evocative scenery and descriptions, strange worlds, and the exploration of individual and societal morality. The protagonist is nine-year-old Sisilla, the 55th bearer of the neurological nik devices. Her cool and determined stoicism is cultivated partially by the niks, partially by the Nuna Naavoq colony that prepares the nik bearers, and partially by her individual personality. As the current nik bearer—referred to as a Niffakoq in the novel—Sisilla is sent on a mission to uncover the secrets of the rogue planet Fém. Other characters include an assassin who never removes their mask and body suit, a beautiful engineer equipped with virtually endless body modifications, and a hallucinogen-addicted medic nearly killed by an explosion and stitched back together. These brief descriptions cannot convey the skillful way these characters are fleshed out and interact with one another. The narrative resonates with elements of science fiction classics such as Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, Iain M. Banks’s Consider Phlebas, Dan Simmons’s Hyperion, and Ursula K. Le Guin’s short story “Those Who Walk Away from Omelas.” The Sixth Nik brings its own fresh presentation and style of the themes these earlier stories explore.
Overall this novel is to be celebrated. However, the writer of this article does wish to add one cautionary statement. The Sixth Nik is far more of a horror story than it may appear on the surface. The studied reader may be aware that much of Kraus’ work explores the genres of thriller and horror. Looking at The Sixth Nik alone, however—and without the title of this article—one may not be aware of what depths of hell, violence, and gore the reader will be descending into. The painful and shocking situations the protagonist endures reach such a pitch that, at a couple of points, the story teeters on the edge of melodrama. Still, the thoughtfulness with which the world of the story presents itself establishes our trust early, and we can make it through the sequences of creative and cosmic torture that are to come. This is all to say not to approach The Sixth Nik as simply science fiction, but science fiction body horror, a description that may not be adequately communicated by the way the book is marketed, nor in the initial hundred pages of the narrative. When inspecting The Sixth Nik’s Amazon page, one will find in the description the note that the planet Fém’s secret is “more horrific than anyone could have imagined.” This hint of an intellectual revelation will not properly prepare the reader for the visceral in-your-face violence that will pummel and keep pummeling. One does come to terms with it, for this is a strikingly skillful work of speculative fiction. “It was vile and ungodly,” the weary protagonist contemplates, “So why did it feel like home?”
Virtually every aspect of The Sixth Nik is well done. The squeamish be warned, but otherwise, this is easily one of the best science fiction novels of the year.
FICTION
The Sixth Nik
By Daniel Kraus
S&S/Saga Press
Published June 23rd, 2026
