The Last Astronaut (edition 2019)

by David Wellington (Author)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
302	21	88,087	(3.36)	7
"A tense and thrilling sci-fi adventure of space exploration and first contact, perfect for fans of The Martian, Arrival, and Interstellar. Sally Jansen was NASA's leading astronaut, until a mission to Mars ended in disaster. Haunted by her failure, she now lives in semiretirement, convinced her days in space are over. She's wrong. A large alien object has entered the solar system and is now poised above the Earth. It has made no attempt to communicate and has ignored all incoming transmissions. With no other living astronauts to turn to, NASA wants Jansen to lead an expedition to the object. For all the dangers of the mission, it's the shot at redemption she always longed for. But as the object slowly begins to reveal its terrifying secrets, what began as a journey to make First Contact becomes a desperate struggle for survival...and one thing becomes horribly clear: the future of humanity lies in Jansen's hands"--… (more)

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Member:	DreaMichelle419
Title:	The Last Astronaut
Authors:	David Wellington (Author)
Info:	Orbit (2019), 402 pages
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
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The Last Astronaut by David Wellington

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Showing 1-5 of 19 (next | show all)

Good setup and great way to tie up the story on the end, but the journey itself was a bit too unbelievable. (

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Guide2 | Jun 9, 2024 |

Upon spying this one on the shelf, my reaction was “David Wellington and Space? Yes, please! I had read his Vampire series and his Zombie series, well, gobbled them down, like a box of theatre candy that doesn’t even make it to opening titles. Very enjoyable and way too short.
This one is a bit longer and it feels it. Not that it's boring. But the Vampires and Zombies were on Earth, a known setting, while this one has world building to do. And what a journey it is. Interesting exploration, like Fantastic Voyage and terrifying mortality, like Aliens.
If you enjoy Sci-fi and horror, highly recommended. (

)

VictoriaPL | May 4, 2024 |

I really liked this book. The story gripped me from the beginning and the suspense kept me interested the whole time. The author really conveyed the immensity of space, and what its like to be in outer space as a tiny human. The body horror was really gross and scary, as well as the looming, oppressive darkness that was inside 2I. The writing was very cinematic and I could see this being made into a movie someday. I could easily visualize what the characters were going through (literally) and I loved the imagery. The reason its not getting 5 stars is because the characters felt shallow. Each character had one or two traits and didn't stray from those traits. But that didn't really diminish the whole story, but it could have been a richer experience with more nuance and depth to the characters. I was pretty riveted during the entire read, and enjoyed the overall experience. (

)

quickmind | Oct 5, 2023 |

Blending science fiction and horror in the best ways possible, The Last Astronaut is a compulsive read with gorgeous writing. The believability of the characters and the nuance with which Wellington writes make it impossible to put the book down, even when it threatens nightmares. I'm so glad to have stumbled upon this read, and from here on out, I'll be reading everything Wellington writes--I can't wait to look up his other publications.

Absolutely recommended. (

)

whitewavedarling | Aug 17, 2023 |

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2023/06/2023070-last-astronaut-david-wellington.h... (

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tamaranth | Jun 16, 2023 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
David Wellington	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Panepinto, Lauren	Cover designer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Tusing, Megan	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Arthur C. Clarke Award (Shortlist – 2020)

Audie Award (Finalist – Science Fiction – 2020)

Seiun Award (Nominee – Translated Novel – 2023)

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Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2019-07

People/Characters

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Epigraph

Dedication

For Jennifer, who always brings me home

First words

"It's a grand old flag, it's a high-flying flag..."

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Hinton, Will

Long, James

Krishnan, Priyanka

Blurbers

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

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▾Book descriptions

"A tense and thrilling sci-fi adventure of space exploration and first contact, perfect for fans of The Martian, Arrival, and Interstellar. Sally Jansen was NASA's leading astronaut, until a mission to Mars ended in disaster. Haunted by her failure, she now lives in semiretirement, convinced her days in space are over. She's wrong. A large alien object has entered the solar system and is now poised above the Earth. It has made no attempt to communicate and has ignored all incoming transmissions. With no other living astronauts to turn to, NASA wants Jansen to lead an expedition to the object. For all the dangers of the mission, it's the shot at redemption she always longed for. But as the object slowly begins to reveal its terrifying secrets, what began as a journey to make First Contact becomes a desperate struggle for survival...and one thing becomes horribly clear: the future of humanity lies in Jansen's hands"--

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