Post a near species-ending war, humanity is approached by an alien species claiming they want to help. The book focuses on Lt. Duck Diaz and his role in connecting his species to the Stellarians. The world building presented in this book is incredibly creative. The alien planet, the people, their technology, and the ongoing intergalactic landscape is so interesting and well done. I think this has the potential to be a good piece of speculative fiction.
However, the book itself is not very well written. Each character feels like an over-the-top caricature of the tropes they're assigned, and no one is consistent. Every female character is either a 'hysterical bitch' or a big-breasted sex object in love with the main character. Hannily, shockingly, is the most stable character in the entire book, but she too falls into the 'overly emotional female'. The male characters are all Stoic, Serious Men or just clowns. The human military command is not very well explained, and doesn't really make sense. Their interactions between ranks are not realistic and frequently break hierarchy. I want to like Duck, I want to like this book.
The premise has such huge potential to not only be a deep-dive in inter-species politics but to be a fantastic speculative fiction looking into how humanity, a social species, would take most of the population being wiped out from war. Emotionally, psychologically, how would we fare? This could be an insane space opera in the best way possible, and I want to see more of the world, but it needs to be rewritten.

Earth's Last Encore has a strong premise—super-soldiers, alien diplomacy, and a dying sun—but the execution doesn't always live up to the scope. Lieutenant "Duck" Diaz is a compelling, if occasionally underdeveloped, lead, and his dynamic with Hannily brings some much-needed emotional grounding. The worldbuilding is ambitious, but the pacing stumbles in places, and some of the secondary characters blur together. A decent read for fans of military sci-fi with a diplomatic twist, though it doesn’t quite hit the emotional or thematic depth it reaches for.