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The Last Gifts of the Universe

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The Last Gifts of the Universe

By: Riley August
Narrated by: Robyn Holdaway, Ayesha Antoine, Chris Thompson
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

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.

©2024 Riley August (P)2024 Penguin Audio

 Humorous Science Fiction Space Exploration Survival

Critic reviews

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
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.
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.
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.
The Last Gifts of the Universe is 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.
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.
Like all the best sci-fi, with The 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, The Last Gifts Of The Universe is about the real work of having hope and compassion – even across all of space and time.
It flows brilliantly, with brevity and wit. (Alex Hormann)
Somehow both a hauntingly beautiful meditation on grief and loss, as well as a delightful space-faring romp...I'm honestly in awe. (G. M. Nair)
"Warm and snuggly on a humming starship" is one of my favourite moods in sci-fi. Riley August absolutely nails the vibe with this one. (Reviewer)
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