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gilnean's review
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, and War
Minor: Gun violence, Genocide, and Sexual content
imyril's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Not my cup of tea. Other people may find the jokes funnier and the mass murdering protagonist less of a turn off. It lost me when the self-professed sociopathic protagonists amused themselves watching other people kill each other. Don’t expect them to have redeeming features; that’s not the point (in a roundabout way, the point appears to be that weapons of last resort will always get used and you’ll regret using them; so that’s super comforting right now).
Very specific content warning: features Hitler and Stalin in minor walk-in roles for the purposes of humour.
Very specific content warning: features Hitler and Stalin in minor walk-in roles for the purposes of humour.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, War, and Murder
Minor: Genocide
ma_vollmer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This is a fun twist on a time travel story. Our main character is a veteran of the Causality War, a war humans fought using time machines. The war made a mess of things, eventually breaking time itself. The main character sits at the "end of time," the last human. He considers his duty to be to protect the rest of time.
On a day-to-day basis, this means riding around on his tractor (a refurbished model rescued from the Soviet Union) tending to his farms, even though he admits the robots actually do all the work. He's always on the lookout for projects and hobbies to occupy his time---he has all of Earth and the rest of time to himself, after all!
It's hard to say more than that without spoilers. Basically the whole story is a series of plot twists. The story does get a bit dark, but in a darkly humorous way---murder and death are played for laughs. It goes to some pretty wild places.
For example, the first twist (which we learn fairly early on in the story), is that our main character is the last human because he murders all the other time travellers. We see a time traveler land on his farm, and the main character finds him, treats him to a nice dinner, then feeds him to his pet dinosaur. Protecting the rest of time means protecting it from humans, since humans were the ones who messed time up in the first place. He's a murderer, and a bit of a cynical, misanthropic curmudgeon.
The greatest trick Adrian Tchaikovsky plays in this novella is making the murderous protagonist somehow still funny and lovable, and lovable specifically for his anger and cynicism! When he encounters a future civilisation full of happy, prosperous people, he finds them unbelievably annoying and obnoxious, and that sentiment is conveyed well enough that the reader will likely find them similarly annoying.
For me, anything from Adrian Tchaikovsky is immediately filed into must read, and this did not disappoint. The audiobook is also narrated by the author, and he absolutely nails the cynical curmudgeon voice (you get the sense it comes naturally to him).
On a day-to-day basis, this means riding around on his tractor (a refurbished model rescued from the Soviet Union) tending to his farms, even though he admits the robots actually do all the work. He's always on the lookout for projects and hobbies to occupy his time---he has all of Earth and the rest of time to himself, after all!
It's hard to say more than that without spoilers. Basically the whole story is a series of plot twists. The story does get a bit dark, but in a darkly humorous way---murder and death are played for laughs. It goes to some pretty wild places.
The greatest trick Adrian Tchaikovsky plays in this novella is making the murderous protagonist somehow still funny and lovable, and lovable specifically for his anger and cynicism! When he encounters a future civilisation full of happy, prosperous people, he finds them unbelievably annoying and obnoxious, and that sentiment is conveyed well enough that the reader will likely find them similarly annoying.
For me, anything from Adrian Tchaikovsky is immediately filed into must read, and this did not disappoint. The audiobook is also narrated by the author, and he absolutely nails the cynical curmudgeon voice (you get the sense it comes naturally to him).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
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