The Last Gifts of the Universe: A Novel

by Riley August

Overview

A dying universe. A search for answers. An adventure at the end of a trillion lifetimes.

When the Home worlds finally achieved the technology to venture out into the stars, they found a graveyard of dead civilisations. What befell them is unknown. All Home knows is that they are the last ones left – and whatever came for the others will one day come for them.

Scout is an Archivist who scours the dead worlds of the cosmos for their last gifts: interesting technology, cultural rituals – anything left behind that might be useful to Home and their survival. During an excavation on a lifeless planet, Scout unearths something unbelievable: a surviving message from an alien who witnessed the world-ending entity thousands of years ago.

Now Scout, their brother and their sometimes-fearless, space-faring cat, Pumpkin, must race to save what matters most.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781335081797
Publisher:	Hanover Square Press
Publication date:	10/01/2024
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	60,588
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Riley August is a speculative fiction writer, animal lover, nature walker, and all around nerd. When they aren’t writing stories about lonely voyages through space, you can find them playing video games, the guitar, or a myriad of TTRPGs. They live in woodsy New England with their cat and husband. The Last Gifts of the Universe is their debut novel.

Editorial Reviews

08/05/2024

August debuts with a thought-provoking postapocalyptic space opera about being alone in the universe. By the time humans developed the tech for space exploration, every planet they discovered was eerily deserted, but without evidence of violence or catastrophe. Now archivist Scout travels the desolate universe with their brother, Kieran, and their cat, Pumpkin, looking for data caches left behind by lost civilizations and hoping for clues as to what happened. On one such mission, Scout and crew discover a message that gives a name to the world-ending entity: Endri. It’s the best intel they’ve found and the closest they’ve come to being able to save their own people from meeting a similar fate, but a greedy, for-profit corporation eager to steal the information before they can get it in the right hands. The stakes should feel high as they race from one destination to the next, but August keeps things fairly mellow with a tight focus on the characters’ internal lives, frequent flashbacks, and excerpts from a data cache about the dead civilizations. Readers who like their space operas on the cozy side will find this hits the spot. (Oct.)Correction: A previous version of this review used the wrong pronoun to refer to Scout and misidentified the source of the excerpts about the dead civilizations.

Publishers Weekly

"The Last Gifts of the Universe is wistful, loving, and indescribably beautiful. I'd call it required reading for the end of the world. Riley August has written a poignant masterpiece that transcends the death of stars."—Olivia Atwater, author of the Regency Faerie Tales trilogy

"Last Gifts is a quietly profound story about grief, purpose, and our place in the universe – told with a touch of humor, and a dash of adventure. Come for the cat, stay for the story."—Sunyi Dean, internationally bestselling author of The Book Eaters


"Raw, funny, and wise, The Last Gifts of the Universe is a meditation on grief and meaning disguised in the spacesuit of a thrilling, beam-me-up galactic treasure hunt. Riley August has written a quietly wonderful, hopeful novel that heals the parts of you that you didn't know were hurt."—Julie Leong, author of The Teller of Small Fortunes

"Come for the space archeologists and adorably violent Pumpkin the cat, but stay for a science fiction novel that will repair your soul with its beautiful, uplifting earnestness in the face of true peril. Riley August is a major new voice in science fiction and I will read anything they write."—Nadia El-Fassi, author of Best Hex Ever


“Defiantly kind and achingly hopeful, Riley August's debut is an ode to grief in its many colors and the beauty in mundanity. By turns heartbreaking and healing, this book about finding meaning when the future is dire and uncertain feels like it was written for everyone living in the world today. I smiled, I cried, and I wanted, desperately, to leave something beautiful behind for the universe.”—Jules Arbeaux, author of Lord of the Empty Isles

“A heartfelt, honest exploration of what it means to be an archivist – and what makes everyday moments worth remembering. Riley August’s comfortingly contemplative novel left me feeling more hopeful about my place in the universe.”—Sylvie Cathrall, author of A Letter to the Luminous Deep


"Like all the best sci-fi, with Last Gifts of the Universe, August makes you think about our own world in a new way. As sweet as it is sad, as homely as it is strange, Last Gifts of the Universe is about the real work of having hope and compassion — even across all of space and time."—Alice Bell, author of Grave Expectations


“The addition of a cat to Scout and Kieran’s archaeology team adds humor and charm in a story that emphasizes love and connection… a quick read that will appeal most to fans of character-driven sci-fi, such as the work of Becky Chambers.”—Library Journal

"[A] thought-provoking postapocalyptic space opera about being alone in the universe... Readers who like their space operas on the cozy side will find this hits the spot."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

08/01/2024

DEBUT Half-siblings Scout and Kieran are archaeologists scouring the galaxy for information caches left behind by other civilizations. Every known alien world is dead, destroyed by an unidentified force sweeping across the universe. Scout hopes their latest cache—a message left by the long-dead alien Blyreena, describing her last stand—might hold a clue of what they're up against. Megacorporation Verity Co. also wants that information for themselves, and they're determined to get there first. Racing for clues to the vanquishment of a galactic threat propels this novel, but its emotional core comes from Scout listening to the messages Blyreena left behind. Blyreena's and Scout's backstories weave a thematic message about dealing with grief, which takes precedence over finding a concrete solution to saving the galaxy. The addition of a cat to Scout and Kieran's archaeology team adds humor and charm in a story that emphasizes love and connection. VERDICT Originally self-published and now picked up by a big publisher, August's debut is a quick read that will appeal most to fans of character-driven sci-fi, such as the work of Becky Chambers.—Erin Niederberger

Library Journal