The Last Watch by J. S. Dewes
Reviewed By: Jeremy Zentner, Adult Services Assistant
Genre: Science Fiction
Suggested Age: Adults, Teens
What Is This Book About? Adequin Rake commands a warship stationed at The Divide, a timeless force of nature into which humanity once drove its greatest enemy. There hasn’t been an incursion in years, and everyone knows that serving at The Divide usually means your military career is dead in the water. The sentiment isn’t much different for Cavalon, the newest arrival. The only difference is that he’s a civilian, a royal, and very much out of his element. When The Divide begins to collapse in what appears to be a cosmic reversal of the Big Bang, Adequin must lead her people to safety, while Cavalon is given a chance to prove he’s more than the spoiled prince everyone assumes he is.
My Review: The Last Watch feels like a blend of Firefly, The Expanse, and maybe A Game of Thrones when it comes to Castle Black. All of this with highly advanced technology and a regimented military culture. Dewes packs in a great deal of world-building in this story: humanity has spread across the galaxy after surviving a war with a fearsome species that nearly wiped out all sentient life. Aristocratic dynasties rule vast regions of space, yet a central elected body attempts to maintain overall authority and keep order.
The technology is richly imagined as warp drives, artificial stargates, and mysterious alien relics underpins all interstellar space travel. At the heart of the story is the mentorship dynamic between Cavalon and Adequin. Both are headstrong, capable in their own ways, and forced to rely on each other despite their very different backgrounds and skill sets. Their interplay adds energy and depth to a story already full of high-stakes tension and cosmic mystery. Read this if you enjoy space operas, scrappy crew stories, or general military sci-fi.
Three Words that Describe this Book: sci-fi, space opera, action
Give This A Try if You Like… The Expanse series, A Memory Called Empire, The Honorverse series, Starship Troopers, Old Man’s War, Ancillary Justice, The Collapsing Empire, Ender’s Game
Rating: 4/5
