little_caprice's review against another edition
5.0
Incredible story of survival!
One of my 1st books of this author, and what can I say - I'm a fan! It's so unbelievably good I couldn't put it down right from beginning and had a week of hangover after I finished.
One of my 1st books of this author, and what can I say - I'm a fan! It's so unbelievably good I couldn't put it down right from beginning and had a week of hangover after I finished.
exjf56's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
lemon_'s review against another edition
4.0
I'm so torn on this. On one hand, R Lee Smith can world build sci fi / apocalyptic / dystopian settings like no other. and I am 100% okay with the level of violence and darkness set in Smith's books. the religious undertones and the starkly patriarchal society of this lizard world created some really interesting opportunities in terms of character development for Meoraq and also made the reader feel lost, just like the survivors in this strange world. also, the chapter on the crashlanding of the spaceship is incredible writing. 10/10 a perfect chapter.
also, up until until the group finds their first ancient/abandoned city, I was convinced this story would go the way of the planet of the apes and TWIST the humans are actually back on earth, in the future, when it's gone through an apocalypse.
this book has incredible characterisation; I think scott might be one of the most insanely depraved villain I've ever read about, simply given how benign some of his antagonism becomes, and how everyone else just gives in to his little dictatorship.
on the other hand, I do think that the story leaned a little bit too hard into Amber being the only good human, and literally all the others having basically no good traits. In some ways, that lacked a lot of depth and nuance and variety that I think a group of survivors like this would have. no one even tries to argue against Scott except on the very rare occassion.
additionally, I struggled in part with how long this book is. It is very dark and depressing, and it's just one bad thing after another. By the time 50-60%, I was already feeling like I had spent too long in this universe and I was feeling ready to be done and move onto another book, but I still had almost 50% to go. This isn't necessarily a failing of the book; perhaps I just wasn't in the strongest sci-fi headspace at the time, so I was ready to move on.
also, up until until the group finds their first ancient/abandoned city, I was convinced this story would go the way of the planet of the apes and TWIST the humans are actually back on earth, in the future, when it's gone through an apocalypse.
this book has incredible characterisation; I think scott might be one of the most insanely depraved villain I've ever read about, simply given how benign some of his antagonism becomes, and how everyone else just gives in to his little dictatorship.
on the other hand, I do think that the story leaned a little bit too hard into Amber being the only good human, and literally all the others having basically no good traits. In some ways, that lacked a lot of depth and nuance and variety that I think a group of survivors like this would have. no one even tries to argue against Scott except on the very rare occassion.
additionally, I struggled in part with how long this book is. It is very dark and depressing, and it's just one bad thing after another. By the time 50-60%, I was already feeling like I had spent too long in this universe and I was feeling ready to be done and move onto another book, but I still had almost 50% to go. This isn't necessarily a failing of the book; perhaps I just wasn't in the strongest sci-fi headspace at the time, so I was ready to move on.
rar32's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
zoepalladino's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Child death
geo_ix's review against another edition
4.0
This book needed some editing and it was super slow, but that being said I think the slowness also made it feel a little more real? Reading a few reviews a lot of higher star reviews all mention they disliked the repetition and lots of it should have been edited out, which I agree with to an extent, because while I'm annoyed Amber and everyone else never really grew or learned from their mistakes (she grew stronger but not really smarter) I also think a lot of people are really just like that, and it all ended up feeling like I was taking that long ass journey to the temple with them.
Many times I thought certain things would be revealed and they never happened, and I was greatly disappointed in no one caring in this world where certain people are below others that there was NO drama with one of their highest ranking people impregnating someone they refer to as an 'animal' and not a person. There was NOTHING and I don't know if it's because they didn't make it well known but whatever.
I didn't quite love the end. I was hooked throughout just because I wanted to know answers. I know they mentioned the Hour of Gann was ending and all that, but we don't see in those six days or whatever it is, the sun slowly coming out again etc, so your left feeling kind like, what just happened.
If you've read reviews you'll obviously see this book has multiple rape scenes in it, it's also hard for me to not pity Meoraq knowing all the information. The others are just gross men, they were never at the point of no control they knew their actions, Meoraq was taken over by his 'sickness'. And what makes me more upset is that this whole world turned out to be believing this stupid lie and him and all the men trained to be like him were groomed to live a certain way to 'save' everyone, and all it was ended up being a way to keep them from flying into a rage, repopulate and slowly kill off the crazed ones by making them fight to the death for 'justice'. Thinking about it, anyone could do anything and also murder someone because of their system. Hell some guy was literally selling off his daughters for sex and his trial got another person murdered and him a slap on the wrist.
Their system was twisted and shocking and in all of that I still really enjoyed reading. However my missing star all comes down to editing. Even the sample shows many, many editing issues. I wasn't a fan of the inner dialogue being in single quotation marks and regular spoken dialogue being in double because I was constantly thinking someone was speaking out loud and they weren't. Which seems like something silly to complain about, but with such a long book it made it feel harder to read somehow. There was also a lot of regular grammar mistakes, even just in the SAMPLE. Lots of lower case i's that I personally don't appreciate when I'm purchasing something if it happens regularly, and it did. But that all being said when I couldn't stand the really disjointed writing in the beginning (it felt very list-like) it eventually wasn't an issue for me. I did however, still hate ALL the humans. Amber, her sister, Scott, and all them other little twerps.
Which comes to my final issue, and that's the humans. I wish just one or two of the human colony at times spoke up and not all 48 people were sheep to Scott, because that made it feel a little less real, just because they're all adults and they all felt cool arguing with Amber but Scott spoke and they all shut up and it's not like he was stronger than everyone or anything so it just didn't quite feel right at times. That also being said, their earth is very clearly not our earth so they probably even then wouldn't be what we would expect. No one can have kids because there's too many people, selling drugs sex and all those vices and keeping everyone poor because there's no resources but the ones we make. There were so many similarities with this new world I thought the ship HAD returned and the lizards were an evolutionary thing but that wasn't what happened (bummer, no one knew they were super old). But in the end everyone was a bully and NOONE, seemed to want to survive even for just now. Amber was the only one learning, and even seeing that no one asked to join even before they didn't all hate her. Even after they'd been rescued, everyone whined about needing 'saving' and he worst of all was Nicci. I already couldn't stand her, but after her captivity and her becoming her mother I know you can clearly see she's not right of mind but she also was starting to portray her mother early on and after her captivity I literally HATED her. She was a vile, selfish thing. I wanted to slap Amber for sticking around with her and all these things that went on in the background were never told to her so she just kept going back to them all because they're her sister and race. I just can't with her, they never got along it's not the same and it was annoying. But, it also made good reading so blah.
Many times I thought certain things would be revealed and they never happened, and I was greatly disappointed in no one caring in this world where certain people are below others that there was NO drama with one of their highest ranking people impregnating someone they refer to as an 'animal' and not a person. There was NOTHING and I don't know if it's because they didn't make it well known but whatever.
I didn't quite love the end. I was hooked throughout just because I wanted to know answers. I know they mentioned the Hour of Gann was ending and all that, but we don't see in those six days or whatever it is, the sun slowly coming out again etc, so your left feeling kind like, what just happened.
If you've read reviews you'll obviously see this book has multiple rape scenes in it, it's also hard for me to not pity Meoraq knowing all the information. The others are just gross men, they were never at the point of no control they knew their actions, Meoraq was taken over by his 'sickness'. And what makes me more upset is that this whole world turned out to be believing this stupid lie and him and all the men trained to be like him were groomed to live a certain way to 'save' everyone, and all it was ended up being a way to keep them from flying into a rage, repopulate and slowly kill off the crazed ones by making them fight to the death for 'justice'. Thinking about it, anyone could do anything and also murder someone because of their system. Hell some guy was literally selling off his daughters for sex and his trial got another person murdered and him a slap on the wrist.
Their system was twisted and shocking and in all of that I still really enjoyed reading. However my missing star all comes down to editing. Even the sample shows many, many editing issues. I wasn't a fan of the inner dialogue being in single quotation marks and regular spoken dialogue being in double because I was constantly thinking someone was speaking out loud and they weren't. Which seems like something silly to complain about, but with such a long book it made it feel harder to read somehow. There was also a lot of regular grammar mistakes, even just in the SAMPLE. Lots of lower case i's that I personally don't appreciate when I'm purchasing something if it happens regularly, and it did. But that all being said when I couldn't stand the really disjointed writing in the beginning (it felt very list-like) it eventually wasn't an issue for me. I did however, still hate ALL the humans. Amber, her sister, Scott, and all them other little twerps.
Which comes to my final issue, and that's the humans. I wish just one or two of the human colony at times spoke up and not all 48 people were sheep to Scott, because that made it feel a little less real, just because they're all adults and they all felt cool arguing with Amber but Scott spoke and they all shut up and it's not like he was stronger than everyone or anything so it just didn't quite feel right at times. That also being said, their earth is very clearly not our earth so they probably even then wouldn't be what we would expect. No one can have kids because there's too many people, selling drugs sex and all those vices and keeping everyone poor because there's no resources but the ones we make. There were so many similarities with this new world I thought the ship HAD returned and the lizards were an evolutionary thing but that wasn't what happened (bummer, no one knew they were super old). But in the end everyone was a bully and NOONE, seemed to want to survive even for just now. Amber was the only one learning, and even seeing that no one asked to join even before they didn't all hate her. Even after they'd been rescued, everyone whined about needing 'saving' and he worst of all was Nicci. I already couldn't stand her, but after her captivity and her becoming her mother I know you can clearly see she's not right of mind but she also was starting to portray her mother early on and after her captivity I literally HATED her. She was a vile, selfish thing. I wanted to slap Amber for sticking around with her and all these things that went on in the background were never told to her so she just kept going back to them all because they're her sister and race. I just can't with her, they never got along it's not the same and it was annoying. But, it also made good reading so blah.
moirwyn's review against another edition
5.0
This review originally appeared on my blog, Books Without Any Pictures: http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2019/07/09/the-last-hour-of-gann-by-r-lee-smith/
After reading R. Lee Smith’s undead erotica novel last month, my friends and I decided to make monster romance book club (well, that’s the sanitized version of the name) into a regular event. We all loved R. Lee Smith’s worldbuilding, and we knew that she had another monster romance, this time featuring an alien lizardman as the love interest.
The Last Hour of Gann starts out in a futuristic and dystopian Earth. The planet is overpopulated, society has broken down, and Amber and her sister Nikki have just lost their mother, who was a prostitute. Amber and her sister have few options. They can’t afford the rent, and it’s basically prostitution (not particularly viable as a profession) or glorified slavery. But instead, Amber is able to book passage on the first ever colony ship to another planet. It’s not a *great* option, but it’s a shot at a better life. Unfortunately, the ship is run by a greedy corporation, and it never makes it to its destination. Instead, it crash lands on the planet Gann.
Meoraq is a lizard man warrior priest who lives on Gann. His father has recently died, and he’s having a rough time of it, because it means that he’ll need to leave his religious post to take over the family estate. Meoraq doesn’t really feel called to a life where he’ll marry, settle down, and be tied to the estate. He prefers battle and adventure. He prays to his god for direction, and immediately sees a column of fire in the sky. And so he goes off into the wilderness only to find alien creatures who have crash landed on his planet.
One of the really neat things about The Last Hour of Gann is that we get to see the humans from an outside perspective starting pretty early in the book. Meoraq looks at them as aliens, and has plenty of existential crises because nobody has ever heard of people from other planets (or even seen other planets, for that matter, as Gann is a post-apocalyptic wasteland where the sky is always obscured by clouds, and the sun and stars just aren’t visible). And since very few humans survived the crash, they’re engaged in a kind of Lord of the Flies breakdown of their society.
When the ship crash lands, Amber is one of the only practical people. She wants to get away from the wreckage in case of explosion. She wants to try to find food and shelter, and to figure out how they’re going to survive. But a man name Scott assumes the role of defacto leader, because he’s charismatic and tells people what they want to hear–let’s wait here, we can hope for a rescue, we’re not really stuck here, everything’s going to be okay. He blames problems in the camp on Amber’s negativity, and people would rather listen to his bluster than work on concrete solutions to their problems. The tension between Amber and Scott is a recurring theme throughout the book, especially as Amber slowly learns more social skills, and Scott becomes more and more unhinged.
Shortly after the crash landing, Amber tries to hunt some wildlife so that the humans can eat as their rations run dry. And on her hunt, she meets Meoraq. Meoraq sees this as another sign from his god, and so he starts trying to take care of the humans, almost as if they are pets. Scott doesn’t like it, but he is content to be taken care of. Meanwhile, Amber befriends Meoraq, and keeps trying to get him to teach her how to survive on his planet. Meoraq is amused by Amber’s self-reliance, and slowly, gradually, the two begin a relationship.
The Last Hour of Gann may be a sexy novel about a human falling in love with a lizardman, but it’s a slow burn romance that has intricate worldbuilding and incredibly beautiful writing. As with the first R. Lee Smith novel we picked up, we went in with low expectations, but found them completely surpassed.
I could go on about this book all day, and I had written several more paragraphs that I accidentally deleted (thanks WordPress updates that changed how many steps go into publishing a post), but here are a few key things that stuck out to me:
There was a lot more sexual violence in Gann than in Land of the Beautiful Dead, so if that’s something you don’t want in a book, then steer clear.
The worldbuilding in Gann was fantastic. It’s set on a post-apocalyptic planet, and finding out what happened to the planet and how that shaped society for generations to come was a key plot point.
Religion and spirituality was a major theme throughout the book. Meoraq is a religious fundamentalist, and as the book proceeds, he learns that a lot of his beliefs were legends and superstitions related to the previous apocalypse. Meanwhile Amber is a literalist, pragmatic to a fault, and as the book progresses, she learns to respect Meoraq’s beliefs and to come to a more spiritual understanding of the world.
Amber and Meoraq both had a lot of family-related baggage to unpack. On Amber’s end, she feels a tremendous amount of guilt for getting her sister shipwrecked on an alien planet, and Nikki constantly uses that guilt to manipulate her. On Meoraq’s end, he needs to learn to understand his father, and to see that his relationship with his mother wasn’t a weakness, but a strength. And it’s not an easy realization for either of our main characters.
Overall, both this and R. Lee Smith’s other book are better than they have any right to be, and I will happily keep reading more of her monster romances. This book had everything I could ask for–an alien planet, a love story, a sci-fi adventure, and an archaeological/historical exploration of a dead civilization. A++
After reading R. Lee Smith’s undead erotica novel last month, my friends and I decided to make monster romance book club (well, that’s the sanitized version of the name) into a regular event. We all loved R. Lee Smith’s worldbuilding, and we knew that she had another monster romance, this time featuring an alien lizardman as the love interest.
The Last Hour of Gann starts out in a futuristic and dystopian Earth. The planet is overpopulated, society has broken down, and Amber and her sister Nikki have just lost their mother, who was a prostitute. Amber and her sister have few options. They can’t afford the rent, and it’s basically prostitution (not particularly viable as a profession) or glorified slavery. But instead, Amber is able to book passage on the first ever colony ship to another planet. It’s not a *great* option, but it’s a shot at a better life. Unfortunately, the ship is run by a greedy corporation, and it never makes it to its destination. Instead, it crash lands on the planet Gann.
Meoraq is a lizard man warrior priest who lives on Gann. His father has recently died, and he’s having a rough time of it, because it means that he’ll need to leave his religious post to take over the family estate. Meoraq doesn’t really feel called to a life where he’ll marry, settle down, and be tied to the estate. He prefers battle and adventure. He prays to his god for direction, and immediately sees a column of fire in the sky. And so he goes off into the wilderness only to find alien creatures who have crash landed on his planet.
One of the really neat things about The Last Hour of Gann is that we get to see the humans from an outside perspective starting pretty early in the book. Meoraq looks at them as aliens, and has plenty of existential crises because nobody has ever heard of people from other planets (or even seen other planets, for that matter, as Gann is a post-apocalyptic wasteland where the sky is always obscured by clouds, and the sun and stars just aren’t visible). And since very few humans survived the crash, they’re engaged in a kind of Lord of the Flies breakdown of their society.
When the ship crash lands, Amber is one of the only practical people. She wants to get away from the wreckage in case of explosion. She wants to try to find food and shelter, and to figure out how they’re going to survive. But a man name Scott assumes the role of defacto leader, because he’s charismatic and tells people what they want to hear–let’s wait here, we can hope for a rescue, we’re not really stuck here, everything’s going to be okay. He blames problems in the camp on Amber’s negativity, and people would rather listen to his bluster than work on concrete solutions to their problems. The tension between Amber and Scott is a recurring theme throughout the book, especially as Amber slowly learns more social skills, and Scott becomes more and more unhinged.
Shortly after the crash landing, Amber tries to hunt some wildlife so that the humans can eat as their rations run dry. And on her hunt, she meets Meoraq. Meoraq sees this as another sign from his god, and so he starts trying to take care of the humans, almost as if they are pets. Scott doesn’t like it, but he is content to be taken care of. Meanwhile, Amber befriends Meoraq, and keeps trying to get him to teach her how to survive on his planet. Meoraq is amused by Amber’s self-reliance, and slowly, gradually, the two begin a relationship.
The Last Hour of Gann may be a sexy novel about a human falling in love with a lizardman, but it’s a slow burn romance that has intricate worldbuilding and incredibly beautiful writing. As with the first R. Lee Smith novel we picked up, we went in with low expectations, but found them completely surpassed.
I could go on about this book all day, and I had written several more paragraphs that I accidentally deleted (thanks WordPress updates that changed how many steps go into publishing a post), but here are a few key things that stuck out to me:
There was a lot more sexual violence in Gann than in Land of the Beautiful Dead, so if that’s something you don’t want in a book, then steer clear.
The worldbuilding in Gann was fantastic. It’s set on a post-apocalyptic planet, and finding out what happened to the planet and how that shaped society for generations to come was a key plot point.
Religion and spirituality was a major theme throughout the book. Meoraq is a religious fundamentalist, and as the book proceeds, he learns that a lot of his beliefs were legends and superstitions related to the previous apocalypse. Meanwhile Amber is a literalist, pragmatic to a fault, and as the book progresses, she learns to respect Meoraq’s beliefs and to come to a more spiritual understanding of the world.
Amber and Meoraq both had a lot of family-related baggage to unpack. On Amber’s end, she feels a tremendous amount of guilt for getting her sister shipwrecked on an alien planet, and Nikki constantly uses that guilt to manipulate her. On Meoraq’s end, he needs to learn to understand his father, and to see that his relationship with his mother wasn’t a weakness, but a strength. And it’s not an easy realization for either of our main characters.
Overall, both this and R. Lee Smith’s other book are better than they have any right to be, and I will happily keep reading more of her monster romances. This book had everything I could ask for–an alien planet, a love story, a sci-fi adventure, and an archaeological/historical exploration of a dead civilization. A++
cluckingbell's review against another edition
4.0
There's a lot going on in this book, so I'll just say I enjoyed it and forget any attempt at substantive commentary; with a story like this, it's hard not to be spoilery anyway. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the writing, and while it's easily one of the longest books I've ever read, I never once got bored or annoyed by the pace or plotting. (I'm also the sort of person who can happily watch 5 episodes of a TV series in a row but gets fidgety during a 90-minute movie, so YMMV.) I sort of need—nay, demand!—a sequel, as there were a lot of interesting lizard people only barely introduced in this book that I need to learn more about, and I want to know/see some other things I won't mention for fear of being spoilery.
thisistaylort's review against another edition
What the fuck is wrong with people? I don't know how many times I've seen this recommended, just rave reviews, and honest to god, I'm never been more puzzled. For starters, this book is LONG. I DNF'ed at 62%, that's over ten (10!) hours of reading. There is zero romance, much less chemistry between the main characters.
I'm convinced this was either written by a man or by a woman who hates women. Meoraq is a nuanced, complicated hero while Amber is a caricature. Her thoughts and reactions are so unbelievable, and the only reason Meoraq is attracted to her is because Amber "isn't like other girls".
My only saving grace is that I stopped reading before it go too dark or rapey. The world building and clash of cultures had a lot of potential, but I just couldn't do it.
I'm off to reread one of my favorite Alice Coldbreath book's as a nice chaser. Peace.
I'm convinced this was either written by a man or by a woman who hates women. Meoraq is a nuanced, complicated hero while Amber is a caricature. Her thoughts and reactions are so unbelievable, and the only reason Meoraq is attracted to her is because Amber "isn't like other girls".
My only saving grace is that I stopped reading before it go too dark or rapey. The world building and clash of cultures had a lot of potential, but I just couldn't do it.
I'm off to reread one of my favorite Alice Coldbreath book's as a nice chaser. Peace.