Paperback, 194 pages
English language
Published April 4, 2022 by Rory August.
A dying universe.
When the Home worlds finally achieved the technology to venture out into the stars, they found a graveyard of dead civilizations, a sea of lifeless gray planets and their ruins. What befell them is unknown. All Home knows is that they are the last civilization left in the universe, and whatever came for the others will come for them next.
A search for answers.
Scout is an Archivist tasked with scouring the dead worlds of the cosmos for their last gifts: interesting technology, cultural rituals—anything left behind that might be useful to the Home worlds and their survival. During an excavation on a lifeless planet, Scout unearths something unbelievable: a surviving message from an alien who witnessed the world-ending entity thousands of years ago.
A past unraveled.
Blyreena was once a friend, a soul mate, and a respected leader of her people, the Stelhari. At the end …
A dying universe.
When the Home worlds finally achieved the technology to venture out into the stars, they found a graveyard of dead civilizations, a sea of lifeless gray planets and their ruins. What befell them is unknown. All Home knows is that they are the last civilization left in the universe, and whatever came for the others will come for them next.
A search for answers.
Scout is an Archivist tasked with scouring the dead worlds of the cosmos for their last gifts: interesting technology, cultural rituals—anything left behind that might be useful to the Home worlds and their survival. During an excavation on a lifeless planet, Scout unearths something unbelievable: a surviving message from an alien who witnessed the world-ending entity thousands of years ago.
A past unraveled.
Blyreena was once a friend, a soul mate, and a respected leader of her people, the Stelhari. At the end of her world, she was the last one left. She survived to give one last message, one final hope to the future: instructions on how to save the universe.
An adventure at the end of a trillion lifetimes.
With the fate of everything at stake, Scout must overcome the dangers of the Stelhari’s ruined civilization while following Blyreena’s leads to collect its artifacts. If Scout can’t deliver these groundbreaking discoveries back to the Archivists, Home might not only be the last civilization to exist, but the last to finally fall.
I reviewed this novel for the Hugo-winning blog Nerds of a Feather:
www.nerds-feather.com/2023/07/youll-love-winner-of-second-self.html
The problem with writing a review for the Last Gifts of the Universe has been where to start. Thus, I’ve spent the weeks since finishing it just telling everyone “you have to read this book! It’s so good!” Alas, while true, that’s not a very in-depth review.
One of the most gorgeous bits of this book to me was something that wasn’t immediately obvious to me, but the way it developed was so organic and just simply right for the story. This is a story narrated by Scout, who I hope you’ll fall in love with just as much as I did, but it’s not really Scout’s story, not entirely. Scout’s story is twined around Blyreena’s story as they uncover the message left by Blyreena—the last message she’d ever send out into the universe for someone to hear. It’s the story of Blyreena and her partner and their love, about …
The problem with writing a review for the Last Gifts of the Universe has been where to start. Thus, I’ve spent the weeks since finishing it just telling everyone “you have to read this book! It’s so good!” Alas, while true, that’s not a very in-depth review.
One of the most gorgeous bits of this book to me was something that wasn’t immediately obvious to me, but the way it developed was so organic and just simply right for the story. This is a story narrated by Scout, who I hope you’ll fall in love with just as much as I did, but it’s not really Scout’s story, not entirely. Scout’s story is twined around Blyreena’s story as they uncover the message left by Blyreena—the last message she’d ever send out into the universe for someone to hear. It’s the story of Blyreena and her partner and their love, about all the things she learned from life and from her partner’s gentle generosity.
But it’s also about Scout, about their drive to find the information necessary to keep the coming destruction at bay. It’s about Scout’s grief and their coming to terms with it, and about their relationship with their brother and their anger at the corporate goons.
Each bit of Blyreena’s message that Scout listens to unfolds her story a little more and drives Scout’s story as it unfolds as well, like a flower within a flower both blooming in sync. Because I want to avoid spoilers, I can’t say too much more about it, except that this is a story about life and love and loss. It’s a story about relationships and meaning, dressed up in redemption.
Oh wait my other favorite bit is Pumpkin!!! Space cats need to be a thing from now on. Pumpkin’s utter cat-ness and his personality leap off the page just as much as Scout, Blyreena, and the rest. It’s poignant and optimistic, filled with heart. It made me laugh and it nearly made me cry—something I don’t often do with books. It’s one of the rare books I may end up re-reading, so I’m gad I have my very own copy for that reason.
If you want a light sci-fi packed with heart and musings on life with comic relief provided by His Royal Pumpkin-ness, this stand-alone story is absolutely something to check out. It’s an incredible debut by an author I’ll be watching for more to come from, for sure!
An interesting story. It didn't end like I expected (for better and worse I guess).
