Week 29 Reviews: A History of What Comes Next, Until the Last of Me, For the First Time, Again

From Goodreads:

Showing that truth is stranger than fiction, Sylvain Neuvel weaves a scfi thriller reminiscent of Blake Crouch and Andy Weir, blending a fast moving, darkly satirical look at 1940s rocketry with an exploration of the amorality of progress and the nature of violence in A History of What Comes Next.

Always run, never fight.

Preserve the knowledge.

Survive at all costs.

Take them to the stars.

Over 99 identical generations, Mia's family has shaped human history to push them to the stars, making brutal, wrenching choices and sacrificing countless lives. Her turn comes at the dawn of the age of rocketry. Her mission: to lure Wernher Von Braun away from the Nazi party and into the American rocket program, and secure the future of the space race.

But Mia's family is not the only group pushing the levers of history: an even more ruthless enemy lurks behind the scenes.

A darkly satirical first contact thriller, as seen through the eyes of the women who make progress possible and the men who are determined to stop them...

From Goodreads:

The First Rule is the most important: 'Always run, never fight'.

For 3000 years Mia's family has shaped Earth's history to push humanity to the stars, making brutal, wrenching choices along the way.

And now, in the year of 1968, Mia finds herself about to help launch the first people into space. She can't take them to the stars, not quite yet. But with her adversary almost upon her, and with the future of the planet at stake, it's becoming clearer that obeying the First Rule is no longer an option.

For the first time since her line's first generation, Mia will have to choose to stand her ground, knowing that the overwhelming odds mean that she risks not only her bloodline, but also the future of the human race.

Sylvain Neuvel's sci-fi thriller Until the Last of Me is a fast, darkly satirical alternate history of the 1960s space race in which the struggle isn't to be the first to the stars - but the last one standing.

From Goodreads:

For the First Time, Again is the closing chapter in Sylvian Neuvel's acclaimed Take Them to the Stars trilogy.

When you don’t know The Rules it's hard to stay safe.

After a traumatic incident, Aster finds that her blood work comes back with some unusual readings. Unsurprising, as she's the last of an alien race called the Kibsu, though she doesn't know it.

She finds herself the focus of a hunt, with her mortal enemies, the Trackers, on one side, and the American government on the other. But help has come from a most unexpected quarter.

Whoever finds her first, it won't be good news for Aster, or for the world!

My Review:
I loved reading these books! I devoured them in audio, just like I did in his other series, and I'm glad that I did, because I'm pretty sure that these were full cast audio just like the Themis Files. And this story about the Kibsu, each consecutive pair doing their best to get humanity to the stars, it was such a great read! 

Watching these sets of ladies, who look exactly like their mother, and their mother, all the way to the beginning, with their mission, was so great. And where this series started, with WWII, which seems to be the main thrust before the space race started, was so fascinating! 

We mainly followed the Kibsu, the various pairs, from WWII, until the 90's. But we also got little bits of previous Kibsu, from the very first to the unique particulars each pair could face. And a few perspectives from the Trackers, which was interesting, and really rounded out this world! 

That ending of For the First Time Again, it was so clever, but just a little bit bittersweet. She accomplished her goals, but what that meant made for some hard decisions. But oh, I absolutely loved that bonus epilogue! I kinda makes me hope that we got a novella, at the very least, that explores the future that the epilogue opens up! 

These were such fantastic reads, and I can't wait to read more by Sylvain Neuvel! 

Author: Sylvain Neuvel
Series: Take Them to the Stars #1, 2, 3
Read: July 16th, 17th, 17th, 2023 
Source: Library 
Reason Why: Love his writing and it sounded really great, and they're Historical Fiction 2023 Books and Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2023 Books!
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: February 2nd 2021, March 29th 2022, April 18th 2023

A History of What Comes Next: 

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Until the Last of Me:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

For the First Time, Again:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars