Great sci-fi thriller that kept me turning the pages. Great story, great writing and characters. Really enjoyable and would read this author again.

this was a really good read, the characters were great and I really enjoyed the scifi plot. I look forward to more from the author.

This was an ok read. I'm not a big sci/fi reader and this one didn't endear itself to me. Not sure the sex scenes were needed and the ending left me a little lost. 70 year old Gibbous Moon has decided it's time to die so he starts out on the Last Walk. usually Last Walks are solitary but Gibbous is accompanied by a woman and a dog. When he returns to the village after his adventure the people are astounded and think he's dead. I did like the characters and their interaction. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is my first Space Opera and I'm not an avid sci-fi reader, so I don't have a lot to compare it to, but this was definitely a ride. It starts off with minimal cast of characters and with each chapter we get introduced to more characters, and get a bigger picture of this world.

It's far into the future and humanity has deserted Earth because of a virus that killed everyone, so other planets, moons and stations became the new habitat for human. Also unknown to them, there are some humans left on the planet who are immune to the virus and who are living a tribal, almost stone age-ish life, not knowing anything about the virus and the vast humanity that left the planet. The story begins with one of our main characters, Gibbous, an old man going out on the traditional "walk out", which is leaving his tribe when he feels that he's ready to die and going on a final trip, and on that trip, everything changes.

There's a lot of discussion in politics, religions and its fanatics, human history and human nature and the possibility of repeating our mistakes after thousands of years. A lot of interesting characters, but there were some parts I could do without (that messy lesbian subplot? It should've been done better), and some descriptions went on for too long sometimes, though sometimes those long-winded descriptions were interesting.

I thank Netgalley and Lume Books for the digital ARC.

Every so often I like to get away from my usual genres and read a sci fi, but I prefer human characters that I can relate to rather than aliens. This didn't disappoint. The idea is so inventive, and eerily topical. A pandemic deadly to humans sweeps the Earth, and many centuries later we have human civilisations inhabiting several planets and moons in our solar system. Of course, being human, inter-planetary rivalry and predjudices are well established by this time.
The Earth, meanwhile, has managed very well without us. Animals and plants thrive, and scenes of Earthly wonder are transmitted to the human civilisations trapped on their less inviting planets through holospheres positioned on Earth . Viewing these scenes is entertainment for the populations of each planet, until the impossible happens. A camera positioned by a suited up park ranger picks up the image of an old man living and breathing Earth atmosphere without and protection.
What follows is an exciting race for all the rival groups of humans to get back to Earth and claim the most productive land, while on Earth the simple life of the old man is also not what it seems.

Although a little flawed, a good book overall. It gets bogged down a times with detail, is otherwise mostly engaging. I enjoyed the writing style and most of the characters and the premise which is rather unique along with some good twists. Recommended.

Thanks very much for the review copy!!

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book. I found this book to be kinda strange but in a good way, it is witty and funny and I really enjoyed reading it. 4 stars.

The catastrophic Abunga virus has wiped out everyone on Earth except for a few scattered souls with natural immunity. The only other living humans are ones who already inhabit other planets and moons in the Solar System – people manning various scientific stations.

A thousand years on, those now living on these distant outposts still cannot return but secretly confine and observe the survivors as a combination of social experiment and nostalgic entertainment. Their former home is now transmitted as ‘holoparks’. It is seen as a new Eden, the place where some day the human race might start all over again.

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Quite different read compared to what I usually go for and this might be the reason why I keep finding flaws with this book.

The start of the book was amazing, I loved the writing style and the storyline itself, but started having very mixed feeling as I was reading further...

I loved the characters; strong, relatable and very exciting! Definitely the best thing about this book.

BUT

Some of the chapters were a little slow for my liking; I felt I had to skim through them, so I wouldn’t get bored and get to the good parts quicker.

The ending was a little disappointing, leaving readers with many unanswered questions. Is there going to be a sequel? If the answer is yes, I would consider giving a better score, but for now, 3.5/5 is at best.

A space opera that will grip you!

I began this book with not much information regarding it. What I found was a tale that I couldn’t put down! The world building was top notch and well planned out. You could tell the author out a lot of effort into this. My only complaint here was that some of the world building wasn’t relevant to the story. Other than that, philosophy and religion are two important components to the story, which I found interesting. I don’t typically read too much regarding religion and beliefs. Likewise, the inner dialogue was fun and light.

Overall, I would recommend this read to any who enjoy something different.

4 stars.