Publishing date: 25.02.2025 (DD/MM/YYYY)
Thank you to NetGalley and JAB Books for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

TLDR: Sentient and friendly aliens inhabit a planet meant for resource harvesting, the humans on mission to consider the planet meet the aliens and get attached

In The Last Days of Good People we see a group of people on a mission to consider a planet for resource harvesting, but surprise, there is sentient life on the planet. At the same time, there is a deadly bacteria/virus on the planet actively killing the alien life that gets infected. The humans manage contact with the alien life and might get a little too attached ...

The characters themselves here were pretty standard, at least in terms of the humans. We have a broody one, a strict one, a busy one, the main character that is a blend of them and a little clueless, plus a few extras we don't see much of in the story. Alien wise was a little mixed, but they also follow the common beats of "alien life in a contact with aliens" kind of book. The leader, the child, the old and wise one, the sidekick to one of the above, and the background characters. One of them I got a little more attached to than expected.

Pacing is a little weird. Clearly time is passing, but it feels like the same day throughout the book. Like every event is happening within 24 hours.

Story was okay. I did suspect almost everything that happened would happen, so there are no real surprises or rug-pulls.

I liked the world-building here. It was easy to visualize the planet, the flora, the fauna, and the aliens themselves. However, I did not like the "everyday" of the book. Everything blended together. I could split the book into three parts, the meeting, the everyday and learning, the end. The middle part takes up a lot of pages and isn't really that interesting ...

I think the intended age-range would be Young Adult and adult. Anything younger and it might be too boring. I also think the book would fit the general sci-fi audience, but especially those who enjoy the more domestic aspect of sci-fi books as there isn't much action to be found here.

I am giving this book 3 stars. Not bad, not good, just a-okay.

I was quite intrigued by the premise of this book. I am often drawn to first contact stories.

I think that the writing could be a bit dry and detached. I think this was most evident in the human characters, as you don't really get to know them or their dynamic that well. I think more time could have been spent in conversation discussing the ethics, philosophies, and ramifications of what they were doing on this planet. The actions of the humans didn't make a lot of sense to me, and while I was interested in the differences between the two species, I think an opportunity was missed to say something deeper about the flaws of humanity. But I did enjoy the scientific comparisons of the evolutions of each species. I loved the rettys and how they, their language, and their society were depicted.

The ending of this book didn't make much sense to me, unfortunately. Again, it felt detached and kind of out of left field.

I think I would most recommend this book to those who enjoy Murderbot by Martha Wells, or particularly enjoyed the relationship with Rocky in Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. This book doesn't quite have the humor of the others, but it is still similar.

What to say about The Last Days of Good People by A.T. Sayre? It's a simple premise and well executed, but the writing left a lot to be desired. I was never fully engrossed and if it wasn't only 200 odd pages then I would have stopped partway through. As it is it's a good study of first contact and the intervention protocols many future societies put in place.
I will admit I wasn't expecting the ending, so that was a nice surprise after feeling like everything was wrapped up already at the 3/4 mark.

This was phenomenal. I was fully immersed in the world building and loved each of the villagers. The main character Warin’s growth was natural, you felt his fear, hesitation, bonds, and grief. I held back tears despite knowing the end for the Rettys, it didn’t make their conclusion any less painful. The twist at the end fully took me by surprise! Watching someone advocate and shout so loud for the fairness of others only to become bitter and become the doom of those who they once fought so hard for was disheartening but was the best villain for this book!

This left me breathless and I hung onto every back. I have so many questions as to what happened to Dav, the remaining native, THE LEAF??

Honestly this has become my first 5 star read of the year and I am honored to have the opportunity to read this. I look forward to seeing more form this author. Job VERY well done.

Unfortunately, I did not finish this book.

I’ve liked dystopian/apocalyptic books in the past, but I couldn’t get into this one. From the beginning, I felt like I got dropped into a story and was missing the first 100 pages or so. I read until about 20% hoping that we’d get more back story and understand a little better how we got to that point, but it wasn’t working for me.

There were also several parts where it seemed like we were getting a lot of unnecessary details, and other parts where I wished for more insight.

I’m sure this would work for someone who likes sci fi as they may have more interest in the other planet and creatures. Also for someone who likes shorter length books.