Don't worry I didn't spoil anything and I won't until you get to the jump. Throughout this book we follow the musing of Ruslan, the last surviving human. He was rescued by an alien race from one of our colonies among the stars. He's become something of a celebrity being the only living specimen of a once great species. He's fairly old and a bit lonely even among his rescuers. He yearns to hear another human but the virus made sure that never happens again. This story hit on every emotion. Its happy, sad, exciting, scary, you name it I felt it. But the best part. The absolute most amazing thing about this story is it gives you hope. Hope that we learn from our mistakes...and don't kill ourselves off. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a new unique story about our future among the stars.
I received this book for free from NetGalley to read and give my honest review.
When Ruslan gets word he can go to a human colony for research. Its such a great opportunity for him. They found a cryo storage of humans, he isn't alone. Then the gut punch when they can't resurrect them. Then another alien race saves him but seems way too interested...hmmm. They aren't Mysari.
When they get word that there was a "human sighting", I wanted to cry happy tears. He isn't alone. What an awful planet full of muck and countless things that want to eat you. So many disappointments. So much hurt. He's giving up. Then he finds her. This little girl so somehow survived. Her name is Cherpa and she says there is ANOTHER human on her planet. He's mean. Great!
I love that Ruslan mentors the two "kids'. I love that Cherpa becomes an amazing young woman. I hate that the boy never matures. He learns, he grows but he's still guarded. Something is off. Cherpa won't mate with him because he's AWFUL. So when he tries to kill Ruslan I freaked out. Of course Cherpa saves the day but kills (oops) one of the only other surviving humans.
The Mysari mate Ruslan and Cherpa...it sounds weird but thanksfully they do it artificially. It seems like this is the end but wait there is still 65% of the book left?!?!? They found Earth. Our Earth. The stuff of legend. No one knew where the home planet of the humans was located. It was lost to history.
The adventure on Earth was a good ending. The last surviving humans and their offspring come back home. Its not the home where they were born but its the birthplace of mankind. Again there is still like 80% of the book left!?!?!?
In a freak expedition to a faint radio signal they find something. They find a facility that is only accessible to a human touch. They find an AI that only responds to humans. They find a body...a human body that is perfectly preserved but not "breathing". They find humanities last stand. Our final shot int he dark to survive.
With Cherpa's reckless curiosity they reanimate the human successfully. Then 11 more appear. Then more and more and more. This is a human storage. They saved themselves. When all hope was lost they preserved the uninfected in the hope that one day the Aura Malignancy would die out and humanity would come back learning from its mistakes.
Its was a beautiful ending to a rollercoaster story. Ruslan and Cherpa (and their babies) are no longer the last of their kind. They are the saviors of their species. When you think it couldn't make you happier, I mean my heart was already jumping for joy, they found a few thousand living humans to help repopulate the species. Then they say it. One of the reanimated humans is speaking to Ruslan and says "Thousands? The project head didn't tell you?" Ruslan says "I just assumed thousands." She says "Ruslan, there are three billion of us."
I burst into tears. I loved this story.
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