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A review by prested
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
4.0
The world is ending and only a couple hundreds of humankind have been approved to escape the incoming destruction.
Petra Pena, is the 13 year old daughter of two scientists who have been approved to leave with their family to colonize a new planet.
She's terrified as she goes into cryo but comforted by the fact her parents and brother will be with her when she wakes up hundreds of years later.
When she wakes up hundreds of years later, however, she's by herself and a cult has taken over the ship. They want to erase everything about humanity of the past and Petra is desperately trying to keep the past alive and preserve it for future generations.
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TW: Death
This is a lovely and heartful book. I loved the overarching message of doing what's good under a totalitarian regime. I loved how Higuera incorporate themes of family, storytelling and culture. I also loved the disability rep.
I loved Petra as a character.
The plot was well-thought out and the worldbuilding was nicely done. I just think it was never really properly resolved? Petra got out but none of the issues that got brought up got solved? (She is also a child so that responsibility isn't really on her but Higuera introduced these plot lines without resolving it).
I think the only issue I had was this book was used to tell the over-arching theme and not really about the plot or character work. it's an important message and I adored how it was told but this felt like that was the only purpose of this book? Nothing else gets resolved which was a little disappointing. I wanted to learn more about the Collective, the other survivors etc. which we never learn about.
It's a cute story that does a great job at getting the theme across.
Petra Pena, is the 13 year old daughter of two scientists who have been approved to leave with their family to colonize a new planet.
She's terrified as she goes into cryo but comforted by the fact her parents and brother will be with her when she wakes up hundreds of years later.
When she wakes up hundreds of years later, however, she's by herself and a cult has taken over the ship. They want to erase everything about humanity of the past and Petra is desperately trying to keep the past alive and preserve it for future generations.
-------------------------------------------------
TW: Death
This is a lovely and heartful book. I loved the overarching message of doing what's good under a totalitarian regime. I loved how Higuera incorporate themes of family, storytelling and culture. I also loved the disability rep.
I loved Petra as a character.
The plot was well-thought out and the worldbuilding was nicely done. I just think it was never really properly resolved? Petra got out but none of the issues that got brought up got solved? (She is also a child so that responsibility isn't really on her but Higuera introduced these plot lines without resolving it).
I think the only issue I had was this book was used to tell the over-arching theme and not really about the plot or character work. it's an important message and I adored how it was told but this felt like that was the only purpose of this book? Nothing else gets resolved which was a little disappointing. I wanted to learn more about the Collective, the other survivors etc. which we never learn about.
It's a cute story that does a great job at getting the theme across.