A review by tuftymctavish
The Last Gifts of the Universe by Rory August

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

It’s very reminiscent of a video game; exploring alien ruins and finding the path to the thing, scanning and interacting with stuff, action sequences and desperate escape scenes, before returning to the calm of our spaceship. It nearly sidestepped describing the technology in just a passing phrase (and I’ve read many a tale that spends huge spans of pages setting up theirs, Honor Harrington!). And there are some moving scenes later on too, particularly involving the alien race who’s stuff they’re rummaging around in (that really isn’t all that alien - more like a colony whom we’ve lost contact with).