But this contemplative, melancholic novella was really well done.Īn asteroid is about to crash into the earth, and it's a worldwide extinction event - the asteroid has been appropriately named Finis. I thought Veronica Roth's DIVERGENT trilogy went off the rails in the second book, and I never even read the controversial third book. Well, this read was actually a pleasant surprise for me. The Last Conversation by Paul Tremblay - ⭑⭑⭑⭑☆ You Have Arrived at Your Destination by Amor Towles - ⭑⭑⭑⭑☆ It's just too bad that the story itself was not as compelling as the idea suggests. After I had read it and given it some thought, it struck me as a kind of love letter to our planet. The idea itself is very simple and it presents a sad nostalgia for Earth and all still left to discover about it. There's some understated beauty to it, but the lack of connection with the characters or any real emotional drive to the story kept me at a distance. Most have already been evacuated and Earth's last days are rapidly approaching in the form of an asteroid. Samantha is a scientist, cataloging plant samples to take on the Ark when the final people leave Earth.

It's a very slow, quiet tale, exploring the beauty of Earth through horticulture. I like this story more when looking back over it than I did while I was reading. To be fair, I think I liked it more than a lot of other readers did, judging by the reviews, but it was very slow for such a short story. Ark was my second read from the Forward collection and my second least favourite.

Ascendant book veronica roth