The Last Gifts of the Universe by Riley August

AN AUDIBLE BEST OF THE YEAR PICK for 2024!
A Waterstones August Book of the Month Pick!

"A quietly profound story about grief, purpose, and our place in the universe...Come for the cat, stay for the story."--Sunyi Dean, internationally bestselling author of The Book Eaters

A dying universe. A search for answers. An adventure at the end of a trillion lifetimes.

When the Home worlds finally achieved the technology to venture out into the stars, they found a graveyard of dead civilisations. What befell them is unknown. All Home knows is that they are the last ones left - and whatever came for the others will one day come for them.

Scout is an Archivist who scours the dead worlds of the cosmos for their last gifts: interesting technology, cultural rituals - anything left behind that might be useful to Home and their survival. During an excavation on a lifeless planet, Scout unearths something unbelievable: a surviving message from an alien who witnessed the world-ending entity thousands of years ago.

Now Scout, their brother and their sometimes-fearless, space-faring cat, Pumpkin, must race to save what matters most.

"The Last Gifts of the Universe is a meditation on grief and meaning disguised in the spacesuit of a thrilling, beam-me-up galactic treasure hunt. Riley August has written a quietly wonderful, hopeful novel that heals the parts of you that you didn't know were hurt." --Julie Leong, author of The Teller of Small Fortunes

For readers who love:

• Cozy sci-fi by T.J. Klune and Becky Chambers
• Hope-core space stories such as Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary
• LGBTQ+ representation
• Healing stories about grief and second chances
• Cats in space

• Paperback
• ISBN: 9781335002686
• 288 pages
• Published by Hanover Square Press
• Published on September 1, 2026