The Last Human: A Novel

by Zack Jordan

The last human in the universe must battle unfathomable alien intelligences—and confront the truth about humanity—in this ambitious, galaxy-spanning debut
 
“A good old-fashioned space opera in a thoroughly fresh package.”—Andy Weir, author of The Martian
 
“Big ideas and believable science amid a roller-coaster ride of aliens, AI, superintelligence, and the future of humanity.”—Dennis E. Taylor, author of We Are Legion

Most days, Sarya doesn’t feel like the most terrifying creature in the galaxy. Most days, she’s got other things on her mind. Like hiding her identity among the hundreds of alien species roaming the corridors of Watertower Station. Or making sure her adoptive mother doesn’t casually eviscerate one of their neighbors. Again.
 
And most days, she can almost accept that she’ll never know the truth—that she’ll never know why humanity was deemed too dangerous to exist. Or whether she really is—impossibly—the lone survivor of a species destroyed a millennium ago. That is, until an encounter with a bounty hunter and a miles-long kinetic projectile leaves her life and her perspective shattered.
 
Thrown into the universe at the helm of a stolen ship—with the dubious assistance of a rebellious spacesuit, an android death enthusiast on his sixtieth lifetime, and a ball of fluff with an IQ in the thousands—Sarya begins to uncover an impossible truth. What if humanity’s death and her own existence are simply two moves in a demented cosmic game, one played out by vast alien intellects? Stranger still, what if these mad gods are offering Sarya a seat at their table—and a second chance for humanity?
 
The Last Human is a sneakily brilliant, gleefully oddball space-opera debut—a masterful play on perspective, intelligence, and free will, wrapped in a rollicking journey through a strange and crowded galaxy.

• ISBN10: 0451499816
• ISBN13: 9780451499813
• Publish Date: 24 March 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Del Rey Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 448
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780451499813

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Last Human is a difficult-to-classify work of speculative fiction by Zack Jordan. Released 24th March 2020 by Penguin Random House on their Del Rey imprint, it's 448 pages and available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

This is a difficult book for me to review. It starts out like a coming of age adventure quest novel with alien life-forms, rebellious teenager, spaceships, quirky sidekicks and all, and then it shifts major gears a couple of times and left me scratching my head by the end. One thing through all the tiers/cycles of the book though, this author can write very very well. There are a number of technically demanding constructions in the book including what is, effectively, telepathic communication on a huge scale, and the author handles it deftly and understandably.

There was a moderate amount of humor included in the dialogue and plot and a majority of it fell flat for me. Some of it was situational (the last human, an angsty teenager whose mother is a giant vicious spider alien called appropriately enough, The Widow, having typical mother daughter issues), some of it was just too vague to strike me as funny/humorous. I do understand that humor is darned difficult under the best of circumstances and this book had so much going on that it's no wonder it didn't always work.

I left this review for more than a week and it has grown on me, but it wasn't a book which grabbed me by the face and wouldn't let go. The author is quite devastatingly capable however, and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for future works.

Three and a half stars (rounded up for quality writing).

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[chymerra]

I usually do not read science fiction for review. That doesn’t mean I don’t read that genre. I wouldn’t say I like do not like reviewing that genre. So how did I end up with The Last Human for review? Easy, I wished for it on NetGalley and the publisher granted my wish.

The Last Human is the story of Sarya. Sarya is the adopted daughter of Shenya the Widow and she lives on a space station. But, Sarya is also the last of her species, a Human. Sarya’s mother and herself have worked carefully to hide what Sarya is. Everything was okay until a bounty hunter showed up and everything went sideways. The result was Sarya on the run with a spacesuit who can think for itself, an android who is obsessed with death and a super-smart fluffball (think a Tribble) and her protector. When two gods approach Sarya with a chance to make right past wrongs, she has to make a choice. Does she accept what they individually offer? Or does she go her own way?

The plotline for The Last Human was well written and kept my attention. There was a little bit of lag (when Sarya was inside the Observer’s brain), but the author was able to pull past it. There was also no dropped storylines or characters, which was a massive plus for me.

Sarya was an awesome character. She knew that she was Human, and she knew that she needed to keep her Humanity secret. If she didn’t, she would have been killed on sight. She loved her mother, Shenya the Widow, and was devastated when Shenya gave her life to let Sarya escape. She did make some rash decisions, but that only highlighted her Humanity. Her actions at the end of the book were exciting and thought-provoking.

The science fiction angle of the book was wonderfully written. It has been a long while since I read a space opera that I enjoyed. The worlds, the technology, the other life forms were fantastically written. I loved that the author broke the book up into the tiers of intelligence. I also loved that he gave excerpts of the rules and a glimpse into why Humanity was wiped out.

The end of The Last Human was satisfying. It raised a lot of questions for me. Those questions weren’t to do with the book but with the question “Is there life out there.”