Unpopular opinion time. This book has been described as Gravity, Alien, and The Martian combined. I should have loved this one but only managed to make it to the 4% mark. I was struggling with the narration style from the beginning. This is certainly a case of wrong book for this particular reader. But give it a shot if it sounds good to ye because the crew loves this one!

A creepy outer space horror, a first contact surprise and a redemption drama all rolled into one! Full review at <a href="https://skiffyandfanty.com/blogposts/reviews/bookreviews/thelastastronaut/">Skiffy and Fanty</a>!

Sally Jansen wanted one thing all her life, to go to Mars, but during the Orion 6 mission, the first manned mission to Mars, tragedy struck and she and her crew did not make it. Thirty years later, washed up and worn out Jansen gets the chance to go back into space, this time perhaps to make first contact. Jansen is once again the Mission Commander but there is a lot of tension, Sunny Stevens the man who discovered the Object and Colonel Hawkins both feel she is not up to the job and Parminder Rao just wants to meet the aliens. With this ragtag group of folks trained up quickly for the rigors of space Jansen isn't all that confident in her team either. But when they get to space nothing happens as they expected and what they are going to meet is not at all what they hoped for. Taut writing, thrilling action and a heartrending denouement, this is a chilling summer read.

Excellent alien thriller. Had some Arthur C Clarke and some Sleeping giants style in there. I liked that the story has you keep guessing.

All Sally Jansen ever wanted to do was to go to Mars, to be the first person to walk its red sand. But a disastrous mid-journey leak forced her to make a split-second decision, and one of her crew died in order to save herself and the rest. The NASA program was moth-balled and the US lost its edge in space exploration, and with it her chance to ever go back into space. Until an inter-stellar object is found entering the solar system, and even altering its trajectory to bring it into a collision course with Earth. It's obviously not an asteroid but a spaceship, and Sally is the only one still qualified to lead an expedition to make contact and find out if the alien's intentions are peaceful or not.

This is an interesting story of speculation on alien life. It's rather heavy at times with information about what space is like, which I understand is popular especially in the wake of books like The Martian. But it's also quite slow-moving, and it took me a while to get interested. The characters don't always behave rationally - Jansen is continually blaming herself for her colleague's death so many years before, another has an insta-crush on another crew member - and although these things are sorta explained as part of the plot, it was annoying and just tended to drag down the story in repetition. Still, I enjoyed reading The Last Astronaut - it was a good read. I probably won't go looking for more like it, but it was kind of fun and interesting. And thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a digital advance copy.

Next in a long line of first contact stories. Most stories have aliens that approximate the size of humans. These aliens are much larger and Wellington does a nice job of showing how difficult it would be to communicate with them. what makes it even more difficult is that the alien has no interest in talking to humans. The size of this intruder and the alienness of it makes a description of the exploration of the interior hard to follow.

Outstanding...edge of your seat, deeply involved story and believable characters. Love, love, love this Mars astronaut, earth bound, not-too-distant-future drama. I have to admit, I began biting my nails on this one!

I really enjoyed reading David Wellington's The Last Astronaut; this book was very hard to put down (I finished it in a single night). Switching between multiple POVs really helped tell the story. This is the first book by Wellington that I've read and I will certainly be checking out his other titles.


Thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for providing an early copy to review.

David Wellington may be one of the few author's who I would allow to take me into space. I love science fiction in movies and television. In books, eh, not so much! If I have to imagine it, then I guarantee that I will manage to scare the crap outta myself! This book wasn't near as terrifying as I expected. But, this story had heart. Also, the 👽 alien, " s"? was completely unexpected and downright scary without having to have blood and guts. Also, yes there is indeed blood and guts "of a kind!" This is a book I'm happy to have read. My thanks to Orbit publishing, Netgalley and Mr. Wellington. Highly recommended! P.S. That ending...

Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of The Last Astronaut.

Twenty years ago, astronaut Sally Jensen was one of the few female astronauts heading the space race to Mars. A disaster aboard her ship ended her career and left her demoralized and traumatized.

Now, twenty years later, a scientist working in the private sector has detected something strange in the solar system headed straight for Earth. An alien space craft.

And there is only one woman who can lead the expedition to make contact with this new life form.

The Last Astronaut has all the makings of a great sci-novel and movie; decent characters, a heroine, diverse characters, politics and ALIENS!

But, I read this for the aliens. I'm not going to lie. Just the aliens, ma'am.

And I wished I could say I loved this. I didn't. I liked it.

There's a lot of description, a lot of world building of the alien space craft, and what Jansen and her crew encounter when entering the craft, which is just fine and dandy, but all the descriptions somehow brought me out of the story.

Jansen and her crew encounter frightening scenarios as they make their slow and treacherous progress aboard the craft. But, it just took so long for anything to happen.

There's plenty of sci-fi mumbo jumbo, astronaut speak, and I'm thankful the author took the time to do his research. The writing was good, but the jargon slowed the pace.

Also, I didn't like Jansen as much as I thought I would. I didn't hate her, but something about her behavior bugged me.

I understood her regret and guilt that her last space mission ended in tragedy but there were so many times during this mission where she made rash and ridiculous decisions, I had to remind myself that she's the mission commander. An astronaut in the not so distant future where the space program has been, basically, terminated.

Next, I didn't think the not-quite-romance between Rao and Stevens was necessary at all.

I was looking for more urgency, more blood, more gore, more 'Aliens.'

But I did like the ending.

I read 60% of this before giving up on it. It started very strong, and I loved it. But then it just didn't hold my interest--too many holes in the plot and too little progress.

Interesting story about the opening of a unique Pandora's Box. The plot had some twists and turns that keep you on your toes. The characters are well developed.

On the one hand, this is really good hard sf with a Stephen Baxter / Arthur C. Clarke vibe. On the other, it's a mashup of Rendevous with Rama and the Expanse with a fair amount of Alien thrown in.

When a large interstellar object come at us from out of the ecliptic plane of the solar system, it's exciting news, but when one decelerates and changes course for Earth, it's problematic as well. Still exciting, but mostly terrifying.

NASA should send a mission to investigate, and as this is set in 2055, you'd think that was a no brainer. Except for the failure of the Orion 6 Mars mission in 2034, which led to the shutdown of manned spaceflight. Sally Jansen, the mission commander of that voyage made it back to earth with most of her crew but was never able to let go of the choices she had to make to do that. Nor did the public let her forget them.

But we still need to go, and so NASA pulls out the Orion 7 capsule it's been keeping in storage, swaps out all the parts that might have decayed, and puts Sally back in the big red chair. The world may see her as the woman who killed our chances to go to Mars, but NASA's director sees her in a different light. Also along are Sunny Steven's the astrophysicist who discovered the object, Rao, an exobiologist, and Major Windsor Hawkins. It's a NASA mission, or will be, right up to the moment we decide the object presents a danger to earth. Which, really was the moment it started changing course towards the planet, but we can pretend, can't we?

What follows is part high tech space drama, part trip through a Stranger Things version of Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, and an impressive examination of how different minds and cultures approach a problem. NASA, scientists, the military, alien life, and oh yes...KSpace.

KSpace stands in for SpaceX here, or whatever comes after it, sending its own mission to the object, with a completely different mindset than the others, one that jumps right in and sees everyone else as competition.

After eons traveling in the cold of interstellar space, the object is waking up, and no matter what anyone expected to find, the truth is much, much, weirder and more terrifying. Unless you've watched the Expanse, seen Alien, read Rendevous with Rama, and enjoy Lovecraft. Then, less so, but it's still its own story.

If there's a sequel, it might be Dune with a bit of Stranger in a Strange Land for spice. But probably not.

I fucking loved this book. This is one of the best books I’ve read this year (and possibly better than any I read last year as well). It never went where I was expecting it to go and for someone who reads quite a lot that is such a rarity.

I was completely immersed in David Wellington’s world. The alien object that they encounter was fascinating and different enough from anything i had read (at least that I can remember) that my mind was constantly at work picturing it all. The author does a great job of not overwhelming the reader with walls of world-building. Instead he deals it out carefully so that you are discovering the object right along with the characters.

Even though The Last Astronaut is listed as purely science fiction, the general feel of it put me in mind of my favorite sci-fi horror movie. I’m talking, of course, about Event Horizon. As each piece was revealed and I got sucked deeper into the “Holy shit” zone (you know what I’m talking about) that movie in all it’s twisted glory kept springing to mind. (Basically what I’m saying here is for the love of God can someone please make this a movie ASAP? Also cast Jamie Lee Curtis as Sally Jensen while you’re at it. It needs a queen owning it the way only she can.

At roughly 400 pages, this is a tight novel that refuses to meander the way a lot of the thicker science fiction novels being released lately do. if you’re looking for a nicely paced read that will take you on one hell of an adventure into unknown territory, look no further than The Last Astronaut.

Ground Control to Major T…………OMG, WHAT IS THAT THING????

Lol – so, I admit it. When I started reading this book, the background music in my mind was totally Ground Control to Major Tom. I was digging our space scenes, marveling at the amount of detail and danger that the author put into his book, and, even with some tragic scenes, kind of in a state of zen-enjoyment.

And then. Oh, and then…

The background music changed. Instead of David Bowie, I heard creaks and groans and drips and screams and that eerie silence that comes when you know SOMETHING IS GOING TO GET YOU!

I loved this. Every moment of it. I’ve already recommended it to a bunch of people and I want it to be a movie – not starring Sigourney Weaver, but I’d like her to have a cameo in it.

An amazing mix of hard science, action, and pure adrenaline SF.

Five. Perfect. Stars.

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

A fantastic scifi adventure, taking elements from films like Gravity, Arrival, and Annihilation to make something unique and enthralling. The story effectively captures the combined awe and terror of exploring the unknown.

I’m absolutely delighted to be the first person reviewing this book, because it’s awesome and I’ve got great things to say about it. Wellington first came to my attention with his Monster Island trilogy, one of the first zombie books I’ve read and a great story in itself. I mean I still remember the twist from it, that says a lot. But actually my preference has always been toward standalones. When his latest appeared on Netgalley, I requested it without even reading the plot summary. I figured this guy has got the chops to tell a good astronaut story and I was right. The eponymous space adventurer is Sally Jansen, the woman who almost singlehandedly put NASA…well, not out of business, but certainly operating in reduced dimensions. Space voyaging is finicky business…one disastrous mission and it’s all over. All Sally wanted was to go to Mars, but a technical glitch resulted in a horrific (and televised) death of another astronaut and that was that. No one wants that sort of publicity, no one can get funding with that kind of publicity. Sally Jansen retired from NASA and NASA retired from active space ventures, concentrating instead on the theoretical studies, satellites, etc. The active duties have been taken over by private companies, such as KSpace. 21 years pass and suddenly a large object is discovered on a collision course with Earth and the twist is that it doesn’t behave like a mindless celestial body, it’s decelerating on its own accord, which shows intelligence. Terrifying, isn’t it. Well, that’s nothing. The real terror begins a hastily put together mission sets of to investigate. And who best to lead to team than the last person to have done so years ago…enter the last astronaut. KSpace, of course, also sends a ship. Now there are two teams trying to figure out an alien craft unlike any they might have imagined or tried to understand before. This is where earth logic fails. This is where nightmares begin. This is a story of First Contact like no other. And it’s fun, oh so much fun. Very heavily laced with technology and logistics, often to a weighing down effect, this novel is rendered with such meticulous detail that it makes for a fairly slow read, but what it offers in exchange is a completely immersive reading experience. An exchange well worth it. It reads not just with cinematic vividness, but almost like…well, like a virtual reality experience if there was technology available to do so realistically. The alien ship and its forbidding darkness and terrifying secrets are executed with haunting stark realism. It’s very, very difficult to put this book down. The characters will engage you too, especially Sally, who gets a strangely appropriate ending tribute, but the writing and descriptions are what’ll draw you in and have you glued for the duration and looking up cautiously in the night sky afterwards. What an awesome space adventure. Recommended for all fans of science fiction. Thanks Netgalley.

Is this book isn’t made into a movie. I’ll be shocked. Seriously, this has big screen written all over it, along with bestseller of course. Astronaut Sally Jansen gets a chance to redeem herself after a disastrous mission to Mars left one of her crew dead over twenty years after the event. It’s the mid 21st century and NASA has all but disappeared. They exist as a small group of underfunded scientists who launch deep space probes. But now, a mysterious object is approaching the earth, something unnatural, a probe, a ship? No one knows, but now the head of what’s left of NASA wants Sally to take a small crew into space to determine what this otherworldly ship is, and what it’s intentions are. A private space group has also launched a team of astronauts to the probe and they get there first. Sally and her crew find their competitors ship outside the alien craft, but the other earthlings have vanished inside the alien ship and not returned. So Sally decides to launch a rescue….I made the mistake of staring this before I went to bed, I couldn’t stop until I was finished and I literally bit my fingernails down to the nub. Proceed with caution if you have a heart condition