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A review by snappydog
The Last Gifts of the Universe by Rory August
4.0
I think this is a high three stars, but we'll round up. People round up!
The Last Gifts of the Universe takes a beautiful leap and does some awfully graceful things midair, but I'm not sure it sticks the landing. I really enjoyed reading it, but - even though I do like a good short read - it ended at what felt like it ought to have been the end of the second of three acts. Perhaps there's something to that, given that it's so much about endings, but I'm left with a slight feeling of dissatisfaction, which is a shame for something that I enjoyed reading while it lasted.
It does manage to fit quite a lot of good stuff - characterisation, worldbuilding, life-affirming musing - into its short length, and some of my favourite books are ones in which many fewer Things Happen than here, so I'm not entirely sure why the pacing doesn't work for me in this case. Perhaps it felt as if it were promising a direction of travel and then just... stopped before reaching the destination at which it had made me anticipate we'd be arriving together.
One other little thing that brought me out of it a few times is that it's in present tense (which is perfectly fine) but uses past perfect rather than simple past when looking back. So 'we'd been' rather than simply 'we went'. Not a big thing, but one of those details that slowed me down for a minute.
Anyway, while the bulk of the word count here looks like it's mostly focusing on negatives, I think it's because The Last Gifts of the Universe has a lot of promise and does a lot that I really like, so nitpicking at the details feels justified. I'd still recommend it, I think, especially to fans of Si Clarke or Becky Chambers, 'cos it is a good book, but with the slight warning that I think I'm looking back at it less favourably than I thought of it while I was actually reading it. Not sure whether that's really a bad thing or not, but there it is!
The Last Gifts of the Universe takes a beautiful leap and does some awfully graceful things midair, but I'm not sure it sticks the landing. I really enjoyed reading it, but - even though I do like a good short read - it ended at what felt like it ought to have been the end of the second of three acts. Perhaps there's something to that, given that it's so much about endings, but I'm left with a slight feeling of dissatisfaction, which is a shame for something that I enjoyed reading while it lasted.
It does manage to fit quite a lot of good stuff - characterisation, worldbuilding, life-affirming musing - into its short length, and some of my favourite books are ones in which many fewer Things Happen than here, so I'm not entirely sure why the pacing doesn't work for me in this case. Perhaps it felt as if it were promising a direction of travel and then just... stopped before reaching the destination at which it had made me anticipate we'd be arriving together.
One other little thing that brought me out of it a few times is that it's in present tense (which is perfectly fine) but uses past perfect rather than simple past when looking back. So 'we'd been' rather than simply 'we went'. Not a big thing, but one of those details that slowed me down for a minute.
Anyway, while the bulk of the word count here looks like it's mostly focusing on negatives, I think it's because The Last Gifts of the Universe has a lot of promise and does a lot that I really like, so nitpicking at the details feels justified. I'd still recommend it, I think, especially to fans of Si Clarke or Becky Chambers, 'cos it is a good book, but with the slight warning that I think I'm looking back at it less favourably than I thought of it while I was actually reading it. Not sure whether that's really a bad thing or not, but there it is!