Synopsis:

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.

Review:

For some reason, I don’t pick up sci-fi as much as I should. I love sci-fi. And I really, really enjoyed this little book.

We follow two siblings, Scout and Kieran, and Pumpkin the cat (yes, he has his own spacesuit) as they travel around the universe searching for beacons from dead planets. They hope these beacons will lead them to caches that have answers as to how the planets died, answers that could save the siblings’ own home.

Right away I was drawn in by the strong character voice of Scout, and then stayed turning pages because of the great storyline and wonderful sibling relationship.

The premise sounds like an action-packed planetary adventure, and while there is action, that is the least of what this story is about. Underneath the siblings’ race against opposition to search for these beacons, there is exploration of grief, ponderings on life and what really matters, and questions on how far someone will go to save who and what they love.

We have a story within a story here too, and it’s lovely and sad and so wonderful. I don’t want to give any of that away because I think it’s better to discover this particular part yourself.

I read this book in basically one sitting because I got completely caught up in it. It’s a definite recommendation from me, and I am looking forward to whatever Riley August puts out next.