The Last Gifts of the Universe

August 1, 2024

DEBUT Half-siblings Scout and Kieran are archaeologists scouring the galaxy for information caches left behind by other civilizations. Every known alien world is dead, destroyed by an unidentified force sweeping across the universe. Scout hopes their latest cache--a message left by the long-dead alien Blyreena, describing her last stand--might hold a clue of what they're up against. Megacorporation Verity Co. also wants that information for themselves, and they're determined to get there first. Racing for clues to the vanquishment of a galactic threat propels this novel, but its emotional core comes from Scout listening to the messages Blyreena left behind. Blyreena's and Scout's backstories weave a thematic message about dealing with grief, which takes precedence over finding a concrete solution to saving the galaxy. The addition of a cat to Scout and Kieran's archaeology team adds humor and charm in a story that emphasizes love and connection. VERDICT Originally self-published and now picked up by a big publisher, August's debut is a quick read that will appeal most to fans of character-driven sci-fi, such as the work of Becky Chambers.--Erin Niederberger

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 5, 2024
August debuts with a thought-provoking postapocalyptic space opera about being alone in the universe. By the time humans developed the tech for space exploration, every planet they discovered was eerily deserted, but without evidence of violence or catastrophe. Now archivist Scout travels the desolate universe with their brother, Kieran, and their cat, Pumpkin, looking for data caches left behind by lost civilizations and hoping for clues as to what happened. On one such mission, Scout and crew discover a message that gives a name to the world-ending entity: Endri. It’s the best intel they’ve found and the closest they’ve come to being able to save their own people from meeting a similar fate, but a greedy, for-profit corporation eager to steal the information before they can get it in the right hands. The stakes should feel high as they race from one destination to the next, but August keeps things fairly mellow with a tight focus on the characters’ internal lives, frequent flashbacks, and excerpts from a data cache about the dead civilizations. Readers who like their space operas on the cozy side will find this hits the spot. (Oct.)Correction: A previous version of this review used the wrong pronoun to refer to Scout and misidentified the source of the excerpts about the dead civilizations.

September 1, 2024
Opening with a memorable scene of how to clean up cat vomit on a spaceship, August's debut follows Scout and their brother, Kieran, archivists who are scouring the galaxies to determine what caused mass extinction events across hundreds of planets. Every civilization they've found is dead; all evidence points to humanity being the only one left. Their mission is to find data caches left behind, looking for details about the catastrophes that destroyed these societies. Scout, Kieran, and their cat Pumpkin (with his own cat-sized helmet) find a treasure trove of information on Planet 357, home to the Stelhari, only to lose most of it to Verity Co., who will most likely try to profit from the information. This kicks off a race against a team of mercenaries to other locations inhabited by the same species as Scout views the partial copy of the cache they salvaged and learns about the culture through President Blyreena's final recordings. The combination of intense introspection and panic-inducing moments of adventure will draw readers in as the siblings build on their strengths through lessons learned from the lost society.

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