I think this book was a unique concept I had never heard of before. I mean, c’mon, traveling the stars with a CAT? That’s just PERFECT for pet lovers! Surprisingly, even amongst the quirky kind of sci-fi, everything felt genuinely real when it comes to the characters. I highly suggest this book for those who are fans of Japanese translated fiction!

I thought this was very charming! The way familial ties and obligations are talked about is truly stunning. Also can we please talk about the way grief is talked about in this book!!! The way The Last Stand is viewed took my breath away. Yes. Yes. Yes. I had so much fun having out in space and eating pizza. The way they talked about being archivist, made me wish that was an actual job that I could apply for.

“Life is what we have the most in common with every other creature. We all want to live and we become scared when living is threatening. All of us just want to survive and be comfortable and be happy.”

This was really not what I was expecting but what an enjoyable reading experience!

I am not a typical sci-fi reader but when I saw the colorful cover of this book I knew I needed to read it. The entire story takes place in space and while some may think that could be boring, it was absolutely not. This is a shorter read at a little over 200 pages with sibling love, a cat named pumpkin that is LIVING IN SPACE (how cute), and a race to save the planet. There is grief and adventure too which I found extremely relatable.

This story has so much heart and I think you’ll like it too!

Thank you @netgalley and @thehive @htpbooks for the early copy

This one is out now!

A cute and cozy sci-fi story with relatively high stakes (something is causing extinction events) but with the camera in close on two siblings and their cat who are charged with finding alien artifacts and archiving information about them. Except there's a for-profit corporation who keeps beating them there and then copyrighting the information and locking it behind paywalls.

It's super cute and cozy, but I found the writing a little YA--I don't believe this was advertised as YA (it's tagged as adult on goodreads), but it has that first person POV where emotional things are said directly instead of shown more often (ie, "I was so mad at him. At myself.") and jokes or references that aimed a bit younger (an ailment called "Popping the cosmic grape" that caused welts which looked like grapes; a last recording from an alien from a wiped-out species who liked to sit on the sofa and watch cartoons with her dad); which is fine if I were going in for YA. Not a flaw with the writing, which was absolutely solid in that specific style, but perhaps with the marketing! I did have trouble with viewing the aliens (whose ancient recordings our protagonist Scout is watching) as alien in any interesting way; their society was exactly like ours, down to marriages and weddings (with honeymoons), couches, tv shows, etc--which I guess was the point, to be honest, but wasn't personally what I like in my sci-fi; I enjoy when aliens are relatable emotionally but culturally distinct.

The emotional core of the story is very strong, though, and when the feelings come out, they come OUT. The impact is real and it's all about the little moments that matter.

If you're looking for cozy sci-fi with a lot of feelings, this is a great choice. There's lots of lingering on daily life, eating food and petting cats, in between all the cosmic adventure! Definitely a fun read.

The Last Gifts of the Universe is a quick and emotional story- in fact, much more emotional than I'd assumed based on the cover! (I do love the cover- I just didn't expect the feels, basically!) It's a pretty cool concept, humanity has figured out how to explore the universe, only... there's no one left to visit. There's evidence of plenty of long-dead civilizations, but no one is still currently around. So when we meet Scout, their brother Kieran, and cat Pumpkin, suffice it to say things are a little lonely. Scout's mission is basically recovering relics from the long-gone groups on the planets they check out.

I really enjoyed the sibling dynamic of this one, and the differing perspectives. I, personally, am more of a Kieran. I want to be where the people are, where Scout is super content to be on the ship with their tiny family forever. But before they can worry about all of that, they all need to figure out how to keep humanity from facing the same fate as the ancient aliens did. So the stakes are certainly high, and the emotions are too. I feel like this might be a series, or at least, has the potential to be one? I'm here for it, if it is!

Bottom Line: Loved this sibling adventure to the edges of the universe, and the cat, we cannot ever forget Pumpkin the cat.

Normally I would be all over a book that involves space adventures and a cat, but this one just never got going. The characters were a bit two dimensional and the story never really took off, everything seemed a bit repetitive. Thanks to NetGalley for a chance to read and review this book.

I would definitely this as cozy sci-fi. Scout is out in space with their brother and their cat, looking for caches of information left by fallen civilizations. They come across one that seems to promise information about the entity that caused its collapse and go on a hunt to find further information, competing with another company.

The themes in this book revolve around loss and grief while maintaining a hope for the future.

Also there's a cat in a spacesuit, so you can't go wrong!

I was drawn in by the cute cover and stuck around for the fun queer space opera slash apocalyptic treasure hunting survival story. This debut takes place in a world that is barely surviving in the midst of many deteriorating or extinct societies. Protagonist Scout is an archivist who searches the universe for its last remaining artifacts with their trusty feline companion Pumpkin and sometimes their brother.

With wit and heart, this was great on audio with fantastic clips from the past interspersed with the main storyline. Highly recommended for fans of authors like Andy Weir or the book Moon dust in my hairnet by J.R. Creaden. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

The Last Gifts of the Universe is a sci-fi novel that follows Scout, their sibling, Kieran, and their cat, Pumpkin, in outer space as archivists scouring dead planets for clues to prepare for apocalypses. Scout and Kieran's relationship is sweet The cover is very cute and Pumpkin is so adorable.

I do find the book to be a little anticlimactic and relatively low risk, which led to me being quite bored the whole way through. Since it's short, I felt like the themes weren't sufficiently addressed. I'm not the biggest fan of Scout's personality. While I didn't connect to the main characters, I did to the ones from the message, which is a testament to how strong that plot line is.

If you're a fan of cats and cosy stories with slight tension, you might like this one. Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, Riley August, and NetGalley for this e-ARC!

this was a surprisingly cute, funny, sentimental book about the entire universe ending! i enjoyed all of the characters, the adventures they went on, the cat with insane attitude. It also was a perfect palette cleaners

thank you to netgalley and the publisher and for eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book had a fascinating premise. I enjoyed the closed door setting of two people alone in a spaceship with nowhere to go, and the excursions planet side helped take off some of the tension that the setting can create. I liked the characters, although they were very under-developed and didn't have much nuance. I would have liked to more background and flavor. All you knew about the brother was that he liked pizza and was a techie. I wanted to know him and to know Scout more. For siblings living together in a small space we didn't get much variety in their interaction.

I wanted to know more about the Archivists too, how does their organization work, are they an organization just from Scout's home planet? The author did a good job giving the 'bad guys' some depth, but only as compared to the main characters. The story is a good one, but the book feels a little under-baked. It either needed an edit down to a novella or a bit of expansion to fully support a novel. The excursions to get caches felt a little repetitive.

I wanted more from this story, and I think the bones were in there, it just didn't quite get there.

The one thing I didn’t know science fiction needed? A cat… in space. Pumpkin by far steals the show but the siblings are no slouches as characters either. This story felt like it could be a side story arc of Mass Effect. I really loved the siblings relationship, the exploration of grief and loss, and corporate greed vs. the greater good.

"It’s strange what hindsight does. Takes all the layers of emotions and flattens them, turns them either good or bad. It can take time to see the shadows as something beautiful."

If I had to classify this into a sub-genre it would definitely fall into the cozy side of science fiction. That being said, it still is space based and there are terrifying and bloody moments. There wasn’t a single dull moment in this book, on or off the ship. The world-building was superb and enhanced by observing Pumpkin or Pumpkin’s reactions to each planet or situation.

"He lived his life in a way that made the people around him shine brighter."

I would recommend this to readers who love science fiction, cozy reads, cats, Mass Effect, and adventure. I will be on the lookout for more from this author, and just beware, Pumpkin may become your newest obsession. I would read a second book in this world – I would love to know if they eventually figure out a solution.

I think this book was just a bit to grim for me to slot it into the cozy scifi pigeon hole I was expecting which threw off my reading. I really enjoyed all the characters, who weren't the typical scifi/space opera characters (there is a cat in a spacesuit- enough said), but still had the fun quirkiness I expected while also balancing some fairly heavy baggage. For me the light just didn't balance out all the dark. It is so well written and the premise is fascinating, but the amount of times this book broke or ripped my heart left me a bit of a mess at the end. I think that there are so many readers this book is perfect for, and I am so happy this book exists but it just wasn't the right book at the right time for me.

Super cute book. I really enjoyed reading it. Would definitely recommend other people I know read it as well.

First off, this might be one of my favorite book covers of all time. Pumpkin the cat ftw! This book is a little darker than I expected from the cover, but not in a bad way. Even though the premise starts out a bit dark, I thought overall this was a somewhat cozy read, although there were definitely some emotional moments. I thought Scout was excellently written and loved the character overall. In the end, this is a book about a person trying to take care of loved ones while performing a vital mission. If you're looking for a quick cozy sci fi read this one is for you!

I got this ARC on a whim. I loved the cover, because I have an orange cat (who I actually did consider naming Pumpkin) and I too would take him into space with me if at all possible. I was so interested by the description. Scout (which is my dog’s name coincidentally enough) makes for a really compelling narrator and I love their relationships with both their brother, Kieran, and Pumpkin the cat. This book was so beautiful and lovingly written. It’s such a love letter to life and loss and humanity. I highly highly highly recommend if you are like me and love a space book that isn’t a Space Book.

The Last Gifts of the Universe takes place in a scifi universe where multiple galaxies have been wiped of all life except for the Home galaxy. Scout and her brother Kieran (plus Pumpkin the cat) travel the universe trying to discover the cause of these extinction events and how to prevent it from happening to their Home. On the way, they have to compete with the megacorporation Verity Co. who would put any new information behind a massive paywall. (Oh and also recover from the loss of their mother).

Despite the dark subject matter, I found this book to be an oddly cozy slice of science fiction. This story isn't a grand space opera, and I rather like that. It's nice to see smaller scale stories in the science fiction genre. I appreciate that Scout is an everywoman character. She has no magical powers or crazy special skills. She's just doing her best and trying to save her home. (Huge shout out to the author for not including a romance, it was so not needed).

I thought it was brilliant of the author to intersperse the last thoughts of the leader of one of the doomed species with the main story. Also, the mistranslation of what a 'last stand' is for that species was such a great little twist. (I'll avoid spoiling here!) There were recurring themes throughout the book of love, grief and sacrifice that were shown to transcend time, space and species. And honestly, that is god damn beautiful.

I highly recommend (but I do agree with June....space is no place for a cat! )

Reviews going live on Goodreads, Storygraph, Fable and Tiktok on 10/4

This was such a cute, short read. I inhaled it in one sitting, letting the story warm me - it's definitely one for those queers who have feelings about space and exploration and lonely spirits bonding. Really leaves a lovely aftertaste.

We follow Scout an Archivist, her brother Kieran, and their cat Pumpkin. Their civilization is the only one left, their universe was full of many planets full of life, but there has been an unknown threat leaving anything that comes into it's path desolate. They are tasked with visiting the dead civilizations and gathering anything left behind, information, technology, etc. But they are not the only ones doing so, there is a for profit organization trying to beat them to anything useful.

This book was a cute cozy time. It has a very interesting premise, and I enjoyed the characters. I wanted so much more of the story, it was too short. It have a good amount of humor and tension and was very readable.

Genre: scifi, space opera

Scout and their brother Kieran are Archivists, and they uncover the journal of an alien woman named Blyreena who lived hundreds of years ago. Scout's civilization is the last remaining in the universe and Blyreena's journals may say why. Along with their mostly smart cat, Pumpkin, Scout is determined to figure out this mystery before the Remnants (zombies?) get them.

The premise of The Last Gifts Of The Universe is actually a little dark, but I really love how Riley August leans into the fun to keep the book light when it needs to be. I really enjoyed reading it, and though I was originally hoping for something more zany, I found the balance of whimsical and space opera to be really satisfying.

I read the ebook, but think this would likely translate well to audio, as there are "recording transcripts" from Blyreena's journals.