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Final Days #1
Final Days
The first installment in a riveting new SF series from the author of the Shoal Sequence It's 2235 and through the advent of wormhole technology more than a dozen interstellar colonies have been linked to Earth; but this new mode of transportation comes at a price and there are risks. Saul Dumont knows this better than anyone. He's still trying to cope with the loss of the wormhole link to the Galileo system, which has stranded him on Earth far from his wife and child for the past several years. Only weeks away from the link with Galileo finally being re-established, he stumbles across a conspiracy to suppress the discovery of a second, alien network of wormholes which lead billions of years into the future. A covert expedition is sent to what is named Site 17 to investigate, but when an accident occurs and one of the expedition, Mitchell Stone, disappears, they realize that they are dealing with something far beyond their understanding. When a second expedition travels via the wormholes to Earth in the near future of 2245 they discover a devastated, lifeless solar system—all except for one man, Mitchell Stone, recovered from an experimental cryogenics facility in the ruins of a lunar city. Stone may be the only surviving witness to the coming destruction of the Earth. But why is he the only survivor—and once he's brought back to the present, is there any way he and Saul can prevent the destruction that’s coming?
372 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2011
34 people are currently reading
1463 people want to read
About the author
Gary Gibson
52 books421 followersGary Gibson's first novel, Angel Stations, was published in 2004. Interzone called it "dense and involving, puzzling and perplexing. It's unabashed science fiction, with an almost "Golden Age" feel to it ..."
His second novel was Against Gravity in 2005; the Guardian described it as "building on current trends to produce a convincing picture of the world in 2096."
Stealing Light was first published in 2007, and garnered a wide range of positive reviews. The London Times called it: "A violent, inventive, relentlessly gripping adventure ... intelligently written and thought-provoking".
Stealing Light is the first volume in a four-book space opera, the final volume of which, Marauder, was published in 2013.
To date, Gary has written ten novels, most recently Extinction Game and its sequel, Survival Game.
His second novel was Against Gravity in 2005; the Guardian described it as "building on current trends to produce a convincing picture of the world in 2096."
Stealing Light was first published in 2007, and garnered a wide range of positive reviews. The London Times called it: "A violent, inventive, relentlessly gripping adventure ... intelligently written and thought-provoking".
Stealing Light is the first volume in a four-book space opera, the final volume of which, Marauder, was published in 2013.
To date, Gary has written ten novels, most recently Extinction Game and its sequel, Survival Game.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
September 2, 2022
An accessible and action-packed thriller about the end of the world. Why not?
When I read this, I was occasionally reminded of The Forge of God (they’re not so much the same, but they do both share the same sense of futility).
Now, before you throw me under the bus and cry “spoiler”, despite what I have said above you still don’t know how this pans out. Just trust me on that much.
Given the fact that there is actually quite a lot going on in Final Days (wormholes and wormhole politics, time travel and closed time loops, unpredictable alien artifacts from the future, and so on and so forth) the novel is actually kept quite lean. Kudos.
All in all, an interesting and (arguably) off-beat science fiction novel that wasn’t at all what I had expected. It’s nothing like the author’s Shoal sequence, for example.
After several false starts to this “review”, I realized it’s best to keep it short and sweet. So this is where I get off.
A well deserved 4 stars.
When I read this, I was occasionally reminded of The Forge of God (they’re not so much the same, but they do both share the same sense of futility).
Now, before you throw me under the bus and cry “spoiler”, despite what I have said above you still don’t know how this pans out. Just trust me on that much.
Given the fact that there is actually quite a lot going on in Final Days (wormholes and wormhole politics, time travel and closed time loops, unpredictable alien artifacts from the future, and so on and so forth) the novel is actually kept quite lean. Kudos.
All in all, an interesting and (arguably) off-beat science fiction novel that wasn’t at all what I had expected. It’s nothing like the author’s Shoal sequence, for example.
After several false starts to this “review”, I realized it’s best to keep it short and sweet. So this is where I get off.
A well deserved 4 stars.
August 26, 2011
4.5 Stars
I am a totally biased reviewer as this book contains all the elements of science fiction that I adore. Part space opera, part thriller, dabs of physics, and even some post apoc to tie it all together. A tight, fast paced plot line keeps you turning the pages. There is some great action, some cool science, and far out gadgets to make you want more.
This was my first Gibson novel, what have I been waiting for? His style comes across as being similar to Greg Bear's accessible science fiction, and he even would be considered similar to a simplified Alastair Reynolds. There is a great deal of science in this book, but it would appeal to more than just the hardcore space junkies, it is not overly technical at all.
This book is centered around Saul, an ASI agent that is charged with finding answers, hung out to dry as the fall guy, and put on the most wanted list, by the books end. He is a centered agent that has been working very hard at trying to find out who is responsible for the collapse of the Galileo worm hole. Saul's life has literally been on hold as with the collapse, he was separated from his wife and daughter. 10 years have passed since the incident, the repairs finally near completion.
Mitchell Stone is an interesting focus of this story. Gibson provides us with several interesting plot twists involving Mitchell.
There are many other great side characters and Gibson is not afraid to change the POV frequently. What I liked most about Gibson's structure was that he never stayed away from the main story line for too long a time.
The book plays out like a thriller or as others have said like a great FPS video game. As the book progresses, the plot unfolds into the end of the world scenario, where are heroes have to try and save the world. Saying that Saul goes through a lot would be a bit of an understatement. The book builds up nicely to a strong ending. Gibson leaves plenty of things unanswered which to me, makes this book work even more.
If you enjoy worm holes, time travel, gun toting, conspiracy centered, cool gadgets, end of the world doomsday, and a likable main protagonist, then this is the book for you. This is not a super technical science fiction and would probably be enjoyed by most action or thriller readers as well. I am now a fan of Gary Gibson.
October 8, 2011
Alas, a mess. The only thing that got me through to the end is the big SFnal apocalypse scenario, and we never do find out what thats all about. Theres a plot, but it makes no sense, and worse, isn't interesting. Theres lots and lots of characters, and none of them have a personality or, for the most part, even understandable goals. Stuff happens, then other stuff happens. A lot goes unresolved. Sub plots, minor characters and plot arcs get introduced and snuffed out at random, long before I formed any attachment to them, or even coherency. Theres some rather nice set pieces, like the aforementioned apocalypse and the alien planet iceberg drug labs of the opening, but thats about it.
November 23, 2013
Interesting core idea and it is compelling enough to hold you until the end, but it's one of those near future SF books, where all the military are full-blown hard-asses, all the corporate suits are 100% ruthless demons, threatening everyone and everything with death for "knowing too much". Everyone gets captured and then escapes least twice. There's no particular standout character in this book and you never really care about any of their motives or wants.
And it's 2235 AD and cars still run on ethanol? Nah...you have man-sized fusion generators but cars run on ethanol they generate themselves from eating grass?
Apart from the core concept, the other ideas aren't fully developed and there's a lot of dead ends and undeveloped plotlines.
An interesting mess all up.
And it's 2235 AD and cars still run on ethanol? Nah...you have man-sized fusion generators but cars run on ethanol they generate themselves from eating grass?
Apart from the core concept, the other ideas aren't fully developed and there's a lot of dead ends and undeveloped plotlines.
An interesting mess all up.
August 10, 2011
Gary’s latest, his fifth novel, is a novel of future apocalypse and wormholes. Written in a fast paced style from a number of different people’s viewpoints, it is a cracking holiday read.
The story is set in 2235. The key premise of the tale is that wormholes, if one end is accelerated to relativistic speeds, can allow people to travel hundreds of light years quickly. People who travel outside the gate can eventually catch up with the people who have travelled through the gate but only by travelling at standard speeds. Thus we appear to travel in time, with those going through the wormholes able to travel into the future, so to speak.
We start the novel with an expedition. One of the things that wormhole travel has allowed humans to do is explore places far from Earth. There are relics out in the universe of other races, though seemingly long gone, which are being carefully explored. When an expedition is sent to Vault 17 in Gate Delta, a now-deserted Gateway of wormholes, Jeff Cairns sees two of their members seemingly killed, but then, moments later, one of them, Mitchell Stone, re-appears.
This is one of many mysteries the wormholes seem to have. On Earth, the loss of a wormhole connection to the Galileo colony a few years back, for reasons unknown, is another that has become a concern. The two places have yet to be re-connected (and as time goes on may or may not be due to what is happening on Earth.) Saul Dumont knows this better than anyone. He’s still trying to cope with the loss of the wormhole link to the Galileo system, which has stranded him on Earth far from his wife and child for the past several years.
Only weeks away from the link with Galileo finally being re-established, he stumbles across a conspiracy to suppress the discovery of a second, alien network of wormholes.
Things are complicated further when we discover the reason for the second expedition’s secrecy. They have travelled to the near future of 2245 and discovered a devastated, lifeless solar system - all except for the original Mitchell Stone, found preserved in a cryogenics chamber on Luna. Not only that but it seems that Earth has little time left. From video footage taken in the future, Copernicus City on the Moon is seen in ruins. Strange plant-like growths are seen mushrooming out of the Earth’s oceans, causing the Earth to be swathed in cloud and apparently killing all life beneath them. The Earth seems doomed, with most of its population unlikely to survive.
Saul realises that to stop further destruction, he has to shut down all the gateways, before the damage reaches the colonies. Fighting to get to the Moon to do this, he finds himself in a battle against one of the Mitchell Stones who seems equally keen to stop him.
This is a big Niven-esque type disaster novel, or perhaps a Greg Bear (Forge of God springs to mind), so much so that it really needs one of those dramatis personae lists at the front. Though there are the main characters, a number of others are there to help develop the plot, which are a little more less developed and can take careful following.
It’s also a book that you have to just accept at the beginning, even when things don’t always make immediate sense travelling forward and backward in time. It’s a tale that needs a while to set the scene and develop. Of course, as we have ‘seen’ video from 2245, we know what is going to happen: if the title of the book doesn’t give it away, it does seem that the future is set and unchangeable, though this is never as clear-cut as it sounds.
However by the mid-point of the book, this tale’s up and running and it’s a fast, exciting read with a dramatic twist towards the end and some very interesting developments which will no doubt be explored further in the next book.
I liked this a lot, in that it’s a plot-driven old-school type of tale with some great new ideas to make it work. I think this is Gary’s best to date, and look forward to the next in the series.
The story is set in 2235. The key premise of the tale is that wormholes, if one end is accelerated to relativistic speeds, can allow people to travel hundreds of light years quickly. People who travel outside the gate can eventually catch up with the people who have travelled through the gate but only by travelling at standard speeds. Thus we appear to travel in time, with those going through the wormholes able to travel into the future, so to speak.
We start the novel with an expedition. One of the things that wormhole travel has allowed humans to do is explore places far from Earth. There are relics out in the universe of other races, though seemingly long gone, which are being carefully explored. When an expedition is sent to Vault 17 in Gate Delta, a now-deserted Gateway of wormholes, Jeff Cairns sees two of their members seemingly killed, but then, moments later, one of them, Mitchell Stone, re-appears.
This is one of many mysteries the wormholes seem to have. On Earth, the loss of a wormhole connection to the Galileo colony a few years back, for reasons unknown, is another that has become a concern. The two places have yet to be re-connected (and as time goes on may or may not be due to what is happening on Earth.) Saul Dumont knows this better than anyone. He’s still trying to cope with the loss of the wormhole link to the Galileo system, which has stranded him on Earth far from his wife and child for the past several years.
Only weeks away from the link with Galileo finally being re-established, he stumbles across a conspiracy to suppress the discovery of a second, alien network of wormholes.
Things are complicated further when we discover the reason for the second expedition’s secrecy. They have travelled to the near future of 2245 and discovered a devastated, lifeless solar system - all except for the original Mitchell Stone, found preserved in a cryogenics chamber on Luna. Not only that but it seems that Earth has little time left. From video footage taken in the future, Copernicus City on the Moon is seen in ruins. Strange plant-like growths are seen mushrooming out of the Earth’s oceans, causing the Earth to be swathed in cloud and apparently killing all life beneath them. The Earth seems doomed, with most of its population unlikely to survive.
Saul realises that to stop further destruction, he has to shut down all the gateways, before the damage reaches the colonies. Fighting to get to the Moon to do this, he finds himself in a battle against one of the Mitchell Stones who seems equally keen to stop him.
This is a big Niven-esque type disaster novel, or perhaps a Greg Bear (Forge of God springs to mind), so much so that it really needs one of those dramatis personae lists at the front. Though there are the main characters, a number of others are there to help develop the plot, which are a little more less developed and can take careful following.
It’s also a book that you have to just accept at the beginning, even when things don’t always make immediate sense travelling forward and backward in time. It’s a tale that needs a while to set the scene and develop. Of course, as we have ‘seen’ video from 2245, we know what is going to happen: if the title of the book doesn’t give it away, it does seem that the future is set and unchangeable, though this is never as clear-cut as it sounds.
However by the mid-point of the book, this tale’s up and running and it’s a fast, exciting read with a dramatic twist towards the end and some very interesting developments which will no doubt be explored further in the next book.
I liked this a lot, in that it’s a plot-driven old-school type of tale with some great new ideas to make it work. I think this is Gary’s best to date, and look forward to the next in the series.
October 16, 2013
My sister's a fan of Gary Gibson, but she wasn't sure what I'd think of it (despite our shared appreciation for Alastair Reynolds -- almost all her copies of his books originally belonged to me, in fact!). Turns out, I quite liked it. My main interest is normally characters I can relate to, but sometimes that takes a back seat: not so much here, but the story was well-paced enough to keep me turning the pages.
Actually, I found the most intriguing part to be the first chapter or so. After that, it becomes less about weird alien technology and more spy-thriller-y, which is less my thing. Still, there's enough of a question mark about the technology and the causes of what's going on in this apocalyptic scenario to keep a decent sense of mystery going.
This sounds kind of lukewarm, especially coming off the high that was 2001: A Space Odyssey, but I did quite enjoy it and I will probably read the sequel, and more of Gary Gibson's work. Maybe not as a priority, but it's on my mental list.
Actually, I found the most intriguing part to be the first chapter or so. After that, it becomes less about weird alien technology and more spy-thriller-y, which is less my thing. Still, there's enough of a question mark about the technology and the causes of what's going on in this apocalyptic scenario to keep a decent sense of mystery going.
This sounds kind of lukewarm, especially coming off the high that was 2001: A Space Odyssey, but I did quite enjoy it and I will probably read the sequel, and more of Gary Gibson's work. Maybe not as a priority, but it's on my mental list.
May 26, 2014
Hmmm…tricky one, this. I tried to like it, honest, but the alleged intricate plot, compelling characters and superbly imagined alien civilisation were nowhere to be seen. What I saw was a plot predicated on a very esoteric bit of physics (time travel via FTL wormholes), sloppy grammar, an over abundance of shallow, disposable characters and a disappointing linear and unfulfilling plot. Think Tom Clancy does the script for a Stargate game and you won’t be too far from the truth. I had hoped, all the way through, that there would be some overarching conspiracy to add some meat to the paltry plot but it never happened. You are left with loose ends flapping about all over the place and an overall impression of ‘why?’; what was the point of the story but mostly why have I just spent several weeks of bed-time reads struggling to enjoy this?
July 17, 2012
This novel with its complex plot, mind-bending ideas and heavy science will appeal to every Greg Bear's fan. I will never have enough of this kind of science-fiction.
January 9, 2018
Final Days is my first experience of Gary Gibson's novels but it most certainly won't be the last. Without really know what was in store for me, I was hooked after a few chapters while the last half was a veritable rocket trip of a read!
Final Days combines science fiction, thriller and apocalyptic vision with an accessible mix of lightness and depth that made my jaw drop while bending my mind into all sorts of shapes at the idea of time travel, alien wormholes, stranded colonies, and humanity and free will on the brink of extinction. Quite apart from the mindblowing ideas and the thrilling pace of the excellent plot, the characters are a joy to get to know. And there are so many of them! Final days may have challenged my memory skills but I thoroughly enjoyed every page.
I suspect that if you know little about science fiction but want to find a way in, Final Days is just the book.
Final Days combines science fiction, thriller and apocalyptic vision with an accessible mix of lightness and depth that made my jaw drop while bending my mind into all sorts of shapes at the idea of time travel, alien wormholes, stranded colonies, and humanity and free will on the brink of extinction. Quite apart from the mindblowing ideas and the thrilling pace of the excellent plot, the characters are a joy to get to know. And there are so many of them! Final days may have challenged my memory skills but I thoroughly enjoyed every page.
I suspect that if you know little about science fiction but want to find a way in, Final Days is just the book.
July 23, 2014
Gary Gibson's sixth novel and another standalone - though there will be a loose sequel next year - like his first two superb Angel Stations and Against Gravity is a combination of time travel, Tipplerian speculation and apocalyptic sf. While the first and third are not particular favorites though there are books in the same vein like the Earth trilogy of Sean Williams that I liked a lot, the second is another familiar trope of sf though of more recent origin and the book was clearly heading that way so its main revelation was not really that big a surprise for me.
This said Final Days has all the characteristics that made Gary Gibson such a favorite writer of mine: great style, flow ing narration that keeps one turning pages, compelling characters and enough twists to keep me guessing - even though here the general picture became reasonably clear after a while, there is a lot going on and the fate of the main characters plays out to the end so to speak.
I will have a full FBC review asap - overall another strong winner from the author
FBC Rv:
INTRODUCTION: Scottish sf writer Gary Gibson burst onto the scene in 2004 with a very ambitious debut Angel Stations which made me a big time fan. While having some debut flaws like lack of balance and even too much ambition for the relatively limited page count, Angel Stations is not your "average" debut, but a very complex and mature novel that pays several close readings. His second novel, Against Gravity, quite different in tone was another hit with me and then turning his hand to "popular" new space opera on a galactic canvas and with all the associated paraphernalia, Mr. Gibson completed the Shoal trilogy of which its debut Stealing Light was my top sf novel of the year.
So with five novels that worked very well, Final Days was understandably another asap book for me despite that its main themes hinted in the blurb below: time travel and apocalyptic sf are among my least favorite in sf.
"But this new mode of transportation comes at a price and there are risks. Saul Dumont knows this better than anyone. He’s still trying to cope with the loss of the wormhole link to the Galileo system, which has stranded him on Earth far from his wife and child for the past several years.
Only weeks away from the link with Galileo finally being re-established, he stumbles across a conspiracy to suppress the discovery of a second, alien network of wormholes which lead billions of years in the future. A covert expedition is sent to what is named Site 17 to investigate, but when an accident occurs and one of the expedition, Mitchell Stone, disappears – they realise that they are dealing with something far beyond their understanding.
When a second expedition travels via the wormholes to Earth in the near future of 2245 they discover a devastated, lifeless solar system - all except for one man, Mitchell Stone, recovered from an experimental cryogenics facility in the ruins of a lunar city.
Stone may be the only surviving witness to the coming destruction of the Earth. But why is he the only survivor — and once he’s brought back to the present, is there any way he and Saul can prevent the destruction that’s coming"
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Starting in the past of our narrative but in the far future of the universe - all this being possible due to the wonders of an alien wormhole network that crisscrosses the spacetime - Final Days is a novel that has a puzzle like structure for maybe a third and then turns into pure action for the rest of its 350 odd pages. So in the first several chapters we have several plotlines developing and while they seem disparate it's worth paying close attention to their details which hint at how they will start converging.
The author starts each chapter with both location and the Earth timeline, though on occasion the story also takes place aeons away "objective" as the universe is concerned and that is important to note since the book progresses linearly as "Home Date" goes from January 2235 to some months later, but the plot twists back through time and fits piece by piece as the reader slowly discovers.
While having several more POV's that are important in outlining the global picture, Final Days has three main protagonists whose actions we follow: scientists Jeff Cairns part of one of the teams investigating the recently discovered far future alien wormhole network and Mitchell Stone from another such team whose close encounter with the alien artifacts gets the ball rolling so to speak, while grounding the novel, government agent Saul Dumont provides both the main action sequences and the "human" link between the seemingly disparate story-lines.
Complicated personal relationships with both Jeff and Mitchell that are slowly revealed and his personal tragedy of having his wife and daughter on the wrong side of a wormhole network link that had been severed ten years previously by still unknown but presumably hostile groups to the main Western Coalition government that controls the human wormhole network and hence the access to the "colonies", a near future reopening of that link as the government's slower than light ships finally are closing in, and current dangerous but seemingly routine undercover work, put Saul Dumont squarely in the center of the novel from the tension packed second chapter to the superb ending that wraps up nicely most threads.
Final Days (A+) has all the characteristics that have made Gary Gibson such a favorite writer of mine: great style, flowing narration that keeps one turning pages, compelling characters and enough twists to keep me guessing - even though here the general picture became reasonably clear after a while, there is a lot going on and the fate of the main characters plays out to the end so to speak. While a loose sequel titled Thousand Emperors is scheduled for next year, Final Days is a standalone novel in all ways that matter and it is another very strong showing for the author.
This said Final Days has all the characteristics that made Gary Gibson such a favorite writer of mine: great style, flow ing narration that keeps one turning pages, compelling characters and enough twists to keep me guessing - even though here the general picture became reasonably clear after a while, there is a lot going on and the fate of the main characters plays out to the end so to speak.
I will have a full FBC review asap - overall another strong winner from the author
FBC Rv:
INTRODUCTION: Scottish sf writer Gary Gibson burst onto the scene in 2004 with a very ambitious debut Angel Stations which made me a big time fan. While having some debut flaws like lack of balance and even too much ambition for the relatively limited page count, Angel Stations is not your "average" debut, but a very complex and mature novel that pays several close readings. His second novel, Against Gravity, quite different in tone was another hit with me and then turning his hand to "popular" new space opera on a galactic canvas and with all the associated paraphernalia, Mr. Gibson completed the Shoal trilogy of which its debut Stealing Light was my top sf novel of the year.
So with five novels that worked very well, Final Days was understandably another asap book for me despite that its main themes hinted in the blurb below: time travel and apocalyptic sf are among my least favorite in sf.
"But this new mode of transportation comes at a price and there are risks. Saul Dumont knows this better than anyone. He’s still trying to cope with the loss of the wormhole link to the Galileo system, which has stranded him on Earth far from his wife and child for the past several years.
Only weeks away from the link with Galileo finally being re-established, he stumbles across a conspiracy to suppress the discovery of a second, alien network of wormholes which lead billions of years in the future. A covert expedition is sent to what is named Site 17 to investigate, but when an accident occurs and one of the expedition, Mitchell Stone, disappears – they realise that they are dealing with something far beyond their understanding.
When a second expedition travels via the wormholes to Earth in the near future of 2245 they discover a devastated, lifeless solar system - all except for one man, Mitchell Stone, recovered from an experimental cryogenics facility in the ruins of a lunar city.
Stone may be the only surviving witness to the coming destruction of the Earth. But why is he the only survivor — and once he’s brought back to the present, is there any way he and Saul can prevent the destruction that’s coming"
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Starting in the past of our narrative but in the far future of the universe - all this being possible due to the wonders of an alien wormhole network that crisscrosses the spacetime - Final Days is a novel that has a puzzle like structure for maybe a third and then turns into pure action for the rest of its 350 odd pages. So in the first several chapters we have several plotlines developing and while they seem disparate it's worth paying close attention to their details which hint at how they will start converging.
The author starts each chapter with both location and the Earth timeline, though on occasion the story also takes place aeons away "objective" as the universe is concerned and that is important to note since the book progresses linearly as "Home Date" goes from January 2235 to some months later, but the plot twists back through time and fits piece by piece as the reader slowly discovers.
While having several more POV's that are important in outlining the global picture, Final Days has three main protagonists whose actions we follow: scientists Jeff Cairns part of one of the teams investigating the recently discovered far future alien wormhole network and Mitchell Stone from another such team whose close encounter with the alien artifacts gets the ball rolling so to speak, while grounding the novel, government agent Saul Dumont provides both the main action sequences and the "human" link between the seemingly disparate story-lines.
Complicated personal relationships with both Jeff and Mitchell that are slowly revealed and his personal tragedy of having his wife and daughter on the wrong side of a wormhole network link that had been severed ten years previously by still unknown but presumably hostile groups to the main Western Coalition government that controls the human wormhole network and hence the access to the "colonies", a near future reopening of that link as the government's slower than light ships finally are closing in, and current dangerous but seemingly routine undercover work, put Saul Dumont squarely in the center of the novel from the tension packed second chapter to the superb ending that wraps up nicely most threads.
Final Days (A+) has all the characteristics that have made Gary Gibson such a favorite writer of mine: great style, flowing narration that keeps one turning pages, compelling characters and enough twists to keep me guessing - even though here the general picture became reasonably clear after a while, there is a lot going on and the fate of the main characters plays out to the end so to speak. While a loose sequel titled Thousand Emperors is scheduled for next year, Final Days is a standalone novel in all ways that matter and it is another very strong showing for the author.
June 8, 2019
2.5 Stars rounded up...
Some interesting ideas, but messy execution.
A lot of characters are introduced and disappears again, without making any lasting impression and the overall storyline disappears in unfinished side stories.
Not going to read the sequel.
Some interesting ideas, but messy execution.
A lot of characters are introduced and disappears again, without making any lasting impression and the overall storyline disappears in unfinished side stories.
Not going to read the sequel.
October 11, 2011
After I read Angel Stations way back in 2008 I knew Gary Gibson was an author I would be reading more of. I followed that up by reading Stealing Light and that didn't change my opinion at all, rather it reinforced it. Nova War, the sequel to Stealing Light, was also a great read, but for reasons that still escape me I never got around to the final book in that series, Empire of Light. Final Days is his new book in a brand new setting and, as expected, reaffirms Gary's position as one of the top SF writers active today.
In the distant future a team from Earth has, through a network of alien wormholes, discovered the ruins left behind by another civilisation, codenamed Site 17. This is a future where the stars have died and the galaxies spread out so far that nothing is visible in the night sky. But there is much here that is of interest to those in power, and they want to find out the secrets of this place. During one of the excursions Mitchell Stone is trapped in a pit and swallowed by liquid that fills it from nowhere with great speed. But when the rest of the team find him minutes later out of his suit and in apparent disorientation the question is raised: what has happened to him? This is not the end of Mitchell Stone, for a human made wormhole has been into Earth's future and found a devastated and lifeless planet, all except for Mitchell Stone who is found in stasis on the lunar facilities that hold all wormholes to humanity's interstellar colonies.
Saul Dumont is a government operative, working in the upper echelons on undercover and secretive missions, his one goal to find out who was responsible for the termination of the Galileo wormhole that left him stranded light years from his family. But his investigations lead him to some interesting facts, facts that those in power would rather he not know. And then the alien growths start across the planet, growths that will signal the end of the Earth and all who live there...
Final Days is one of those novels that has a major hook in the first chapter, raising all sorts of questions and possibilities, but then seemingly goes off on a tangent. I must admit that this pulled me up a little to start with, but as the book progressed the pieces started falling into place. The puzzle that is thrown up at the start involves Mitchell Stone and the incident at Site 17, and then the discovery of a dead Earth mere years into the future - but with Mitchell Stone found in stasis in the lunar city. As the only person that knows what happened he's a tool the government use to glean these details. His colleague from Site 17, Jeff Cairns, has his suspicions too and he starts to make his own enquiries into the situation. Saul Dumont is the other part of the puzzle, seemingly unrelated at the start but becoming an increasingly bigger factor in the story as more and more information comes to light.
Admittedly, it took me a while to get my head around the time-travel aspect of Final Days, but to be honest I simply took what I was being told as fact and let the story carry me along. And that it did! Final Days is a little hard to pigeonhole - it's part time travel, part apocalyptic, part mystery, part action - but one thing that I found was how easy it was to get into and read. Gibson has managed to mix all of these aspects without relying too heavily on any one of them, but equally bringing them all into play to great effect.
One of the big things when writing a novel that involves time travel into the future is the fact that the ending is revealed pretty much straight away. What made Final Days stand out from the crowd was the way in which Gibson was able to give this information freely, but then keep the details hidden, dropping them here and there throughout the novel to allow the bigger picture time to fully reveal itself. It's quite an achievement and, by the end, very successful.
Final Days is a great novel, full of ideas and events that shows once again why science fiction is such a great genre. In the right hands SF can be wonderful, inventive, and hugely enjoyable - and Gary Gibson is just that sort of author. Highly recommended.
In the distant future a team from Earth has, through a network of alien wormholes, discovered the ruins left behind by another civilisation, codenamed Site 17. This is a future where the stars have died and the galaxies spread out so far that nothing is visible in the night sky. But there is much here that is of interest to those in power, and they want to find out the secrets of this place. During one of the excursions Mitchell Stone is trapped in a pit and swallowed by liquid that fills it from nowhere with great speed. But when the rest of the team find him minutes later out of his suit and in apparent disorientation the question is raised: what has happened to him? This is not the end of Mitchell Stone, for a human made wormhole has been into Earth's future and found a devastated and lifeless planet, all except for Mitchell Stone who is found in stasis on the lunar facilities that hold all wormholes to humanity's interstellar colonies.
Saul Dumont is a government operative, working in the upper echelons on undercover and secretive missions, his one goal to find out who was responsible for the termination of the Galileo wormhole that left him stranded light years from his family. But his investigations lead him to some interesting facts, facts that those in power would rather he not know. And then the alien growths start across the planet, growths that will signal the end of the Earth and all who live there...
Final Days is one of those novels that has a major hook in the first chapter, raising all sorts of questions and possibilities, but then seemingly goes off on a tangent. I must admit that this pulled me up a little to start with, but as the book progressed the pieces started falling into place. The puzzle that is thrown up at the start involves Mitchell Stone and the incident at Site 17, and then the discovery of a dead Earth mere years into the future - but with Mitchell Stone found in stasis in the lunar city. As the only person that knows what happened he's a tool the government use to glean these details. His colleague from Site 17, Jeff Cairns, has his suspicions too and he starts to make his own enquiries into the situation. Saul Dumont is the other part of the puzzle, seemingly unrelated at the start but becoming an increasingly bigger factor in the story as more and more information comes to light.
Admittedly, it took me a while to get my head around the time-travel aspect of Final Days, but to be honest I simply took what I was being told as fact and let the story carry me along. And that it did! Final Days is a little hard to pigeonhole - it's part time travel, part apocalyptic, part mystery, part action - but one thing that I found was how easy it was to get into and read. Gibson has managed to mix all of these aspects without relying too heavily on any one of them, but equally bringing them all into play to great effect.
One of the big things when writing a novel that involves time travel into the future is the fact that the ending is revealed pretty much straight away. What made Final Days stand out from the crowd was the way in which Gibson was able to give this information freely, but then keep the details hidden, dropping them here and there throughout the novel to allow the bigger picture time to fully reveal itself. It's quite an achievement and, by the end, very successful.
Final Days is a great novel, full of ideas and events that shows once again why science fiction is such a great genre. In the right hands SF can be wonderful, inventive, and hugely enjoyable - and Gary Gibson is just that sort of author. Highly recommended.
May 3, 2013
Gary Gibson's "Final Days" was equal parts action/thriller and far-thought SF that forces the reader to consider the purpose and motives of aliens so far removed from our own time that the stars and their galaxies have all burned out to embers, and the dilemma of Free Will in an observed time-loop.
The braided story lines of the main protagonists merge closer and closer together as the novel reaches its climax, and at no point does the momentum or adrenalin ebb for long. Cliché as it sounds, this truly is a 'non-stop' storyline where the characters are all pursued with deadly consequence and the very highest of stakes. There are several moments where one character unravels a portion of the story's mystery already known to one of the other characters, and the reader is rewarded with a goose-bump irony that is the privilege of omniscient narration. However, this kind of scene plays out one or two times too often for my tastes, and instead becomes tedious recapping. Overall, though, the pacing is quite balanced and holds the attention throughout.
At a more thought-provoking level, a scientific speculation about limited forms of time-travel enabled by accelerating one end of a wormhole to relativistic speeds, leads to a very intriguing situation: Can one change the future glimpsed by such means? The author credits scientists Kip Thorne and Ray Kurzweil with the original concepts he exploits for his plot. He ramps the wonder up by introducing a future alien civilization which has extended this technology to its very furthest extents, and then confronted the resulting dilemma of achieving free will when your future has already been observed, and therefore, determined. These same questions play out in smaller scale by the main characters who are trying to either escape or prevent the imminent destruction of the Earth.
"Final Days" will appeal to fans of Peter F. Hamilton and Neal Asher, synthesizing the strengths of each.
The braided story lines of the main protagonists merge closer and closer together as the novel reaches its climax, and at no point does the momentum or adrenalin ebb for long. Cliché as it sounds, this truly is a 'non-stop' storyline where the characters are all pursued with deadly consequence and the very highest of stakes. There are several moments where one character unravels a portion of the story's mystery already known to one of the other characters, and the reader is rewarded with a goose-bump irony that is the privilege of omniscient narration. However, this kind of scene plays out one or two times too often for my tastes, and instead becomes tedious recapping. Overall, though, the pacing is quite balanced and holds the attention throughout.
At a more thought-provoking level, a scientific speculation about limited forms of time-travel enabled by accelerating one end of a wormhole to relativistic speeds, leads to a very intriguing situation: Can one change the future glimpsed by such means? The author credits scientists Kip Thorne and Ray Kurzweil with the original concepts he exploits for his plot. He ramps the wonder up by introducing a future alien civilization which has extended this technology to its very furthest extents, and then confronted the resulting dilemma of achieving free will when your future has already been observed, and therefore, determined. These same questions play out in smaller scale by the main characters who are trying to either escape or prevent the imminent destruction of the Earth.
"Final Days" will appeal to fans of Peter F. Hamilton and Neal Asher, synthesizing the strengths of each.
March 30, 2013
Some interesting ideas although the underlying scientific theory felt a little dated, more 1970s than 2010s. The technological ideas & invention were great fun, though.
I didn't like the manipulation of the readers' opinions of the characters towards the end of the book. I'd have much preferred it if Gibson had left it up to the reader to decide whom they rooted for. He'd done alright in a number of places: for example, before the klutz, he'd left some important minor characters fate unsaid as they overlooked their particular cliff, which was satisfying.
I get the feeling two people wrote this book. The great majority was written by the first chap, who wrote an open flowing thriller with a good exploration of ideas and a fairly sophisticated development of not uninteresting characters. Then came the clutz with the sledgehammer and the ten minute deadline to wrap the plot up ASAP. Well, that's an exaggeration, but not nearly enough of one. I could go back through the book to play spot the join, but I'm not going to do so.
First half four stars, second half two stars, hence three stars.
I didn't like the manipulation of the readers' opinions of the characters towards the end of the book. I'd have much preferred it if Gibson had left it up to the reader to decide whom they rooted for. He'd done alright in a number of places: for example, before the klutz, he'd left some important minor characters fate unsaid as they overlooked their particular cliff, which was satisfying.
I get the feeling two people wrote this book. The great majority was written by the first chap, who wrote an open flowing thriller with a good exploration of ideas and a fairly sophisticated development of not uninteresting characters. Then came the clutz with the sledgehammer and the ten minute deadline to wrap the plot up ASAP. Well, that's an exaggeration, but not nearly enough of one. I could go back through the book to play spot the join, but I'm not going to do so.
First half four stars, second half two stars, hence three stars.
January 4, 2013
Too action-oriented and focused on cool visuals for me, especially as the physics feels wrong, and various highly advanced technologies seem to have had minimal impact on Gibson's future society as compared with the present day. (Essentially, it's West vs East with cooler toys.)
Apart from not even handwaving the construction, care and maintenance of exotic matter bridges, and casually tossing off transporting wormhole ends at near-C velocities (the energy budget of that seems about as far advanced from Gibson's portable tokamaks as they would be from coal fires), I got really annoyed with his reversal of which wormhole end permits future directed time travel, and didn't much care for single world determinism as a consequence of closed timelike curves.
But if you're looking for action and don't care too much about the motivations of characters or the internal consistency of the world building, the book might work for you.
Apart from not even handwaving the construction, care and maintenance of exotic matter bridges, and casually tossing off transporting wormhole ends at near-C velocities (the energy budget of that seems about as far advanced from Gibson's portable tokamaks as they would be from coal fires), I got really annoyed with his reversal of which wormhole end permits future directed time travel, and didn't much care for single world determinism as a consequence of closed timelike curves.
But if you're looking for action and don't care too much about the motivations of characters or the internal consistency of the world building, the book might work for you.
June 5, 2015
This science fiction book has all of the trappings: worm holes with gates, alien technology from the future, a human turned into something alien, etc. What it lacks is empathy in it's main characters. Perhaps it's because we never really get to know them. The main protagonist is a bit of an anti-hero, which is fine if the reader can get to like him for some reason, but it takes more than his being unable to reach his wife for ten years to elicit empathy, especially since he had an affair and seemed more enamored with her than with the woman he was supposedly trying to get to at any cost. Most of the characters needed to be more developed for this to be a truly great story. The plot was potentially thrilling and had some twists and turns, but the settings weren't always described in a way that gave a clear picture. The framework was there but needed to be better developed. This story has the potential of being great, but in it's present form is merely good.
December 23, 2015
I received this book for free from Goodreads First Reads in exchange for an honest review...
I could not, and I repeat NOT, get into this book at all. It was a tragic mess of a book. It bounced all over the place, had one to many characters that were boring and bland and so many didn't even seem to have a real contribution to the story, the plot was weak and pointless and going nowhere, and the writing was terrible. It felt like the author just grabbed a little bit of everything, lazily threw it all into the same story, and hoped that it would turn into a good book (which I can assure you, it didn't). In the end, I was glad for the book to be over. It wasn't interesting, it wasn't exciting, and it was beyond confusing.
I could not, and I repeat NOT, get into this book at all. It was a tragic mess of a book. It bounced all over the place, had one to many characters that were boring and bland and so many didn't even seem to have a real contribution to the story, the plot was weak and pointless and going nowhere, and the writing was terrible. It felt like the author just grabbed a little bit of everything, lazily threw it all into the same story, and hoped that it would turn into a good book (which I can assure you, it didn't). In the end, I was glad for the book to be over. It wasn't interesting, it wasn't exciting, and it was beyond confusing.
September 13, 2015
Honestly, this could've been a better book. The premise is fine and allows for a lot of story but it just never pays off. There's a lot of backstory left unresolved that I'd like to know about.
At the same time the story could've worked as a Clancy book. Remove all the sf components except wormholes as time travel vehicle and it still would've worked.
I think it can be made to work without time travel even. While that doesn't make it a bad book in itself, it does make it bad sf.
There's some clunky writing here and there but I enjoyed the book enough to keep reading.
Two stars. There are better books out there. I finished it but wouldn't recommend it to my past self.
At the same time the story could've worked as a Clancy book. Remove all the sf components except wormholes as time travel vehicle and it still would've worked.
I think it can be made to work without time travel even. While that doesn't make it a bad book in itself, it does make it bad sf.
There's some clunky writing here and there but I enjoyed the book enough to keep reading.
Two stars. There are better books out there. I finished it but wouldn't recommend it to my past self.
May 30, 2012
A very page-turning piece of sci-fi! Read this book in one day. My one quibble is that too much of the action is grounded on Earth, in a gritty mystery, instead of in the colonies or down a wormhole in the far future. But perhaps that's the best way to introduce readers to this universe. The best bits, the mystery of the Founders and their artifacts are kept too much in reserve. But maybe we'll learn more in future volumes of this series. This is book One of a series.
March 10, 2013
Read all his books sofar. Like all of them except this one.
Without spoiling too much, theres a escape and some other parts that are pretty unbelievable.
If the guy who gets help to escape is so important why is he guarded so very poorly?
Also the way some other main characters get easy access to ought-to-be well secured areas is way to easy.
Shame, main idea and plot is pretty good.
Without spoiling too much, theres a escape and some other parts that are pretty unbelievable.
If the guy who gets help to escape is so important why is he guarded so very poorly?
Also the way some other main characters get easy access to ought-to-be well secured areas is way to easy.
Shame, main idea and plot is pretty good.
May 22, 2020
Written liked it is meant to be sold to be made into a cheap and brainless movie series. Explosions and shootouts, but none of the intrigue and curiosity of the first chapter . It so different in tone, detail and scope that it's likely to be written by someone else or scrapped from another book idea. (or the rest of the book being ghost-written)
The first chapter? : Future-day archeologists exploring and navigating a even more futuristic vault/ark on a planet an ancient-wormhole away, which is trapped with a multitude of deadly sci-fiction inspired traps. Thought that in rest of the book, they would explore this unfathomably large complex further , where the complex would serve as the antagonist, and stumble upon an artifact which would cause the eponymous event? nay
Rest of the book? : Guns and explosions while a classical hero (of every contrivance and convenience neatly laid for his way) tries to retrieve a stolen artifact from the said vault/ark on Earth ( or any other planet which is made out to be no different than Earth ) , PLUS two other story threads jumbled into the mix to spoil any momentum. And they are all anti-heroes, and their confrontations? Against faceless baddies.
The first chapter? : Future-day archeologists exploring and navigating a even more futuristic vault/ark on a planet an ancient-wormhole away, which is trapped with a multitude of deadly sci-fiction inspired traps. Thought that in rest of the book, they would explore this unfathomably large complex further , where the complex would serve as the antagonist, and stumble upon an artifact which would cause the eponymous event? nay
Rest of the book? : Guns and explosions while a classical hero (of every contrivance and convenience neatly laid for his way) tries to retrieve a stolen artifact from the said vault/ark on Earth ( or any other planet which is made out to be no different than Earth ) , PLUS two other story threads jumbled into the mix to spoil any momentum. And they are all anti-heroes, and their confrontations? Against faceless baddies.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 14, 2022
I tried reading this once before and gave up—although I don’t think I was in the ‘correct mood’ for it. Then I saw it in a charity shop last weekend and figured I’d try again, since I read time travel books for work.
It’s okay, actually. Upsides: (1) The ideas involved are pretty awesome and (2) it’s fairly easy to read. Downside: (1) The best idea, from the first chapter where the characters travel to trillions of years in the future, is never used again; (2) The main characters aren’t well developed and it’s difficult to easily distinguish them except from their having different names; (3) the all action prose might be easy to read, but would be better as a Netflix TV series.
Good enough for me to read the sequel.
SPOILER!
The big ‘twist’ is that if you time travel then this removes free will from people from the before the point that you time travelled. I had a bit of ‘imaginative resistance’ to that idea, since it’s nonsensical. But I guess that’s a problem for me as a philosopher, not for you as a reader. Physicists who read books dicking around with the laws of nature probably get it all the time.
It’s okay, actually. Upsides: (1) The ideas involved are pretty awesome and (2) it’s fairly easy to read. Downside: (1) The best idea, from the first chapter where the characters travel to trillions of years in the future, is never used again; (2) The main characters aren’t well developed and it’s difficult to easily distinguish them except from their having different names; (3) the all action prose might be easy to read, but would be better as a Netflix TV series.
Good enough for me to read the sequel.
SPOILER!
The big ‘twist’ is that if you time travel then this removes free will from people from the before the point that you time travelled. I had a bit of ‘imaginative resistance’ to that idea, since it’s nonsensical. But I guess that’s a problem for me as a philosopher, not for you as a reader. Physicists who read books dicking around with the laws of nature probably get it all the time.
February 16, 2018
The first Gary Gibson book I have read and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was.
The ending was a bit of a of an anti-climax.
The wormhole network used to travel to other worlds seems similar to the Commonwealth universe of Peter F. Hamilton, whose Pandora Star & Judas Unchained are two bloody good books.
No real hostile aliens to speak of, just their artefacts that the ASI in their infinite wisdom, bring back to Earth, without knowing what the hell they could unleash.
Pandora unbound anyone.
Mitchell Stone who was changed by the Founder tech in ways beyond the ASI,s understanding, is he hero or villain?
Saul Dumont the ex ASI who is finding out the truth bit by bit about the "alien flowers"
decimating Earth.
Is there a sequel as the ending is a bit mehhhh.
The ending was a bit of a of an anti-climax.
The wormhole network used to travel to other worlds seems similar to the Commonwealth universe of Peter F. Hamilton, whose Pandora Star & Judas Unchained are two bloody good books.
No real hostile aliens to speak of, just their artefacts that the ASI in their infinite wisdom, bring back to Earth, without knowing what the hell they could unleash.
Pandora unbound anyone.
Mitchell Stone who was changed by the Founder tech in ways beyond the ASI,s understanding, is he hero or villain?
Saul Dumont the ex ASI who is finding out the truth bit by bit about the "alien flowers"
decimating Earth.
Is there a sequel as the ending is a bit mehhhh.
June 12, 2022
Set in the far future of interstellar colonization Final Days deals with time travel, shadowy government bodies, futuristic sleuths, and the end of the world (namely our own). An expedition into a vast abandoned alien structure that goes horribly wrong sets off a chain of events that could just lead to the end of life on Earth by something stolen from that alien structure. Over the course of one horrifying month a struggle begins to at first try to stop the coming Armageddon and then to survive it as seen through the eyes of an a small group who figure out what is going on.
The book is very dark but full of action; it doesn't get dull. The events that transpire pull the story along at an uncontrollable breakneck speed.
At 373 pages it's a very quick read and an enjoyable one.
The book is very dark but full of action; it doesn't get dull. The events that transpire pull the story along at an uncontrollable breakneck speed.
At 373 pages it's a very quick read and an enjoyable one.
April 10, 2023
It took me a little while to wrap my mind around this perplexing time travel paradox. Wormholes and ancient artifacts are all good ingredients for a fascinating read. These are all thought-provoking ideas. The premise was interesting and intriguing, but sadly the narrative went in another direction and left me with more questions than answers. The characters were decent enough, the story was engaging, and there was an exciting and mysterious element to the story, but it ultimately turned into a game of cat and mouse, and betrayal.
I felt that the most important questions were left unanswered, unless the author wanted me to use my imagination, which I'm sadly lacking, and need to be taken by the hand and guided to the conclusion. I just felt a little disappointed.
I felt that the most important questions were left unanswered, unless the author wanted me to use my imagination, which I'm sadly lacking, and need to be taken by the hand and guided to the conclusion. I just felt a little disappointed.
June 23, 2018
This book was not what i expected from it. Somehow i thought it was a cyberpunk novel but it is mainly scifi without many cyberpunk features. The book is pretty good and has some interesting ideas. It could be shorter for the better of it though, there are some instances where you basically get the same plot development information through different characters, and i understand that there is sometimes a point to it, like giving different perspectives on what is happening, but it is not the case in this book. The book starts a bit slow but it is mainly because of relatively high detalization of the world the author is building, which for me was definetly a plus.
July 20, 2025
Amalgamation of a space opera with a dystopian fugitive plot. (As I Personally think is very important n these types of books) The fictional future is an interesting setting. Hard science elements are incorporated well into the narrative acting to serve the story arc. Occasionally threads do resolve themselves a bit abruptly. I both dislike & like this as though it does feel like things may have been a bit rushed but it does serve to make the plot as a whole feel more streamlined & lean. Well worth a read for anyone that’s interested in (slightly dystopian) futures that incorporate bigger more existential elements.
November 22, 2021
Maybe more like 2.5 stars. At times this was really cool. The world-building was interesting, and I liked the noir, detective, gritty space-opera feel. But there were too many characters, and a few were easily confused with each other. The story was kind of all over the place, unnecessarily. I wanted to like it more, and I was hoping it would come together more at the end. But the conclusion didn't satisfy, I didn't care much about any of the characters, and it just felt unjustifiably expansive and complicated.
May 11, 2018
3.5 An inventive apocalypse scenario set in a spacefaring future with a tasteful touch of politics and corruption. The scarcity of believable female characters and the white-normative portrayal of characters of color was a bummer.
March 1, 2019
Wanting more of the Founders network less politics
In the end , sort of "meh". Great elements bogged down by odd character sub plots and political warbling. I wanted more of the Founders and artifacts.
In the end , sort of "meh". Great elements bogged down by odd character sub plots and political warbling. I wanted more of the Founders and artifacts.
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