BOOK REVIEW: THE LAST ASTRONAUT by DAVID WELLINGTON

When I picked up THE LAST ASTRONAUT in search of an alien encounter plot, I hadn’t expected the story to grab me as intensely as it did and I just had to recommend this for our #ScarySciFiSummer readathon!

Set in the near-future year of 2057 (or more specifically, the year many of us Millennials will probably be in our 60s and 70s), an unknown space object enters our solar system and is believed to be an alien star-ship. Keeping it secret from the public while considering the best course of action, NASA seeks out Commander Sally Jansen, a veteran astronaut haunted by a failed space mission to Mars twenty years in her past. In spite of her hesitancy, NASA wants Sally--along with three other scientists--on the mission to identify and try to communicate with the strange alien object. But the crew quickly learns that this space object is nothing like their preconceived notions of an alien spacecraft. What they’ve encountered is far worse, putting planet Earth in grave danger.

This is considered sci-fi horror—and there are some intense, gnarly, disturbing parts to this book—but it felt more like sci-fi suspense to me. But don’t let that deter you from picking it up! Wellington created a fully immersible reading experience that I just had to share with others. If you like flawed and brilliant female protagonists, space missions, science jargon, suspense, and a unique otherworldly encounter experienced from multiple perspectives, I think you should give this one a go!

(4/5⭐)