Reviews

The Last Hour Of Gann by R. Lee Smith

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twoworldscollide's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

imaginativeotter's review against another edition

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Didn't like writing style

mysimas's review against another edition

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Didn’t get very far, the characters behaved too illogically for me to stomach. An example: during the flight to the new planet, the passengers would only be conscious for only a few hours total while spending the rest of the time in stasis. The protagonist thought that during the flight she’d be seated next to her (whiny, terrible, useless, annoying) sister, but because she signed them up too late, there were no free neighbouring seats left and they had to be seated apart. So the protagonist makes a Karen move and demands from the manager she and her sister are seated together. The manager tells Karen he can only do that by relocating them to a different class — which means that after the landing, they’d be housed in the district of the new group for the duration of their stay, aka 5 years. The kicker? Karen’s original class guaranteed far better living standards. But she can’t be separated from her adult sister for even 5 waking hours, so she throws away 5 years of comfort of the both of them instead. Like, hello? This woman is the supposed responsible older sibling??

Also, have I mentioned, Karen’s little sister was sooooo awful, worse than Draco Malfoy on his worst tirade!

mabmi's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

yasminal4's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No

1.0

It’s just too long for no reason and somehow every single character doesn’t know how to communicate

areniamar's review against another edition

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Sadly this is going in the DNF pile for the second time. I tried it back in like, 2022 and I didn’t get past the first couple of pages into Book II/when we first meet Meoraq.

I distinctly remembered HATING Nicci; she was so annoying and I cheered every time Amber told her to shut up and stop crying. I also remember just being super bored by Meoraq’s book/chapter and having zero interest in him staring at the sky for five pages.

But it’s two years later and since it does seem to get so much hype, I thought I’d give it one more try.

Good news? Last time I DNF’ed at 6% in, and this time I made it to 11%.

Bad news? I still hate Nicci and am still utterly bored by Mereoaq’s entire chapter. So really, nothing has changed.

This ain’t my first R Lee Smith book so I don’t even care about the dark content, but I am literally just so bored by the beginning of this novel. While I didn’t love Cottonwood, I would definitely pick that one up again over giving this one a third try.

annica_reads_books's review against another edition

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slow-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? Yes

5.0

Once again, I’m left speechless after finishing an R. Lee Smith book. Book? Odyssey? An epic adventure that consumed two weeks of my life? Semantics aside, I know now that R. Lee Smith can write nothing less than legendary, life-changing stories that leave me awestruck. The Last Hour of Gann was dark, offensive, bleak, tragic, and beautiful—an unforgettable journey that is sure to linger in my mind for a long time.

They were doing something that had never been done, had never even been tested in any real practical way. Fear was a perfectly reasonable reaction, but it still didn’t change the fact that they were homeless, jobless and alone.

I have seen a few other reviewers mention that not many authors could have pulled this book off, and I have to agree with them. R. Lee Smith’s unique voice is one of the very few who have the ability or the audacity to write this story and do it justice – a story of desolation and little hope for humanity with a reverential tone. I can only speculate as to how she’s able to write these things so well, but I’ve found that she is an author who can consistently bring the this level of depravity to the reader without restraint, almost with a sense of normalcy. Her books may inspire a visceral reaction in the reader with their offensive, grotesque, and violent nature, but she never uses those things to intentionally shock. She simply tells her stories without barriers.

“We could all hear her under the wind—…[ ] —crying— [ ] —begging us to come back.” [ ] And we left her there anyway. [ ] We all walked away and pretended we didn’t see those big weasel-things at all, didn’t we? We pretended we never heard her screaming.”

It’s difficult to describe this book in a few short words, but saying that it’s a sci-fi horror erotica with a romance between a human atheist and a lizard-like alien religious zealot would be a good starting point. You might notice parallels with a few other stories, remarkably, Lord of the Flies and, oddly enough, Wall-E. It wouldn’t be an R Lee Smith book if there weren’t strong undertones of a larger message, a larger purpose to the storytelling. But, Smith never comes out and tells you how to feel or what to believe as she describes the conflict. The beauty of her work lies in asking you, the reader, the questions and letting you decide the answers for yourself.

“He can’t throw me out,” she scoffed. “He can call himself Captain or Commander or King of the fucking Fly-People for all I care, but he can’t make me leave if I don’t want to.”
Crandall gave her a crooked, scornful smile.
“There’s this other book they made us read in school called Animal Farm. Bet you never read that one either, huh?”
Amber rolled her eyes. “No. Is there a pig in it?”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact, there’s two. One’s a real smart pig who wants to help all the dumb sheep and dogs and chickens on the farm, you know, live a better life. The other one’s pretty much a talker. Guess which pig takes over and which one disappears?”
“What happened to the sheep?” asked Amber.
Crandall quit smiling.

Smith’s heroines are unparalleled, and Amber shot straight up to the top of the list of my favorites of hers. What’s endearing to me is that R. Lee Smith doesn’t write about traditionally beautiful women. Or, if they are traditionally beautiful, their characteristics are not necessarily attractive to their alien male counterparts. Amber is tenacious, sarcastic, fat (for a time), hilarious, and someone that Meoraq (the hero) frequently calls “ugly” in his internal monologue. Amber is someone that I think a lot of women can see themselves in. Her self-deprecating humor made me chuckle quite often in the book. The most relatable trait of Ambers is the way that she lets her little sister Nicci guilt trip her walk all over her. It frustrated me often in the book, but it’s hard not to compare her actions to real people that I know do the same thing.

“And you forced Nicci on the ship, you say. I doubt you had her tied and dragging behind you, but even if so, you put her on the ship because you would not leave her behind. That is who you are, Soft-Skin. So say whatever you like about how evil you are and how poor a person and how small of worth, but even in the midst of all that, remember that you still took the time to thank me.”

Meoraq is our story’s hero, aka the lizard man male love interest. He has a mean temper, is stubborn as hell, and is willing to say whatever’s on his mind despite being a “man” of God (a.k.a. Sheul). Meoraq is wise, and I found myself highlighting his words quite often. At times, he's a ruthless teacher, one who's willing to give the group of humans a wake-up call about survival, and someone who's willing to say the tough things when needed.

He knew that joy can be a terrible thing to feel, when you know you can’t have it every day.

He may believe that God had given him this babysitting job, but she also knew that if he started looking for divine signs to quit, they were one funny-shaped cloud away from losing him. And when that happened, they were dead.

I never imagined that I’d need a romance between a religious zealot and a fierce atheist, but holy hell, Meoraq and Amber were explosive together. Their conflicting ideologies were poignant at times and downright hilarious at others. Meoraq quite often loses his patience with humans, which makes him a perfect love interest for Amber.

“You are an aggravating woman,” he told her, his hand slipping around to the small of her back. “You make me feel things there are no words for. You make me want to do things I do not know how to do. You also make me very angry. How fortunate that these are the times I most desire you.”

“How can you say you’re not mine when you gave everything you had to me? Everything you are…God gave you to me,” he murmured, nuzzling under her jaw. “Even when I did not know how to ask. He found you anyway and put you in my path. You are the woman I was born into this world to find.”

“I have often thought that you argue with me solely because you enjoy argument. Now I know it.”

Thus far, The Last Hour of Gann has more world-building than any other work I’ve read by R. Lee Smith. It’s appropriate for this story, however, because unlike Land of the Beautiful Dead and Cottonwood (which take place on Earth), The Last Hour of Gann mainly occurs on an alien planet. In addition, the alien religion is an integral part of the plot and Meoraq’s character, and the reader must understand their religion for much of the book to make sense. So, if the page count and world-building aspect are intimidating to you, I advise starting with another one of Smith’s works before starting this one. The slow start in this book might be more bearable if you have the foresight from one of her other works to know how beautiful her stories can be.

“You learned to stand before you walked. You learned to crawl before you stood. You learned to roll onto your belly before you crawled. You learned which way was up before you rolled. So. You want to learn how to survive here, you say, but to teach you those things, I have to begin at the beginning. I am teaching you exactly how I was taught, with far, far less slapping than either I received or you deserve.”

While this book is bleak and gruesome, it is also laced with some of the best humor I’ve encountered in literature. I found myself laughing out loud while reading, which is something I rarely do.

“Amber tossed down her coal-stirring stick. “God sees us, huh?” “Yes.” “Right now?” He seemed puzzled by the question. “Now and always.” Amber looked at the clouds. “Could you possibly make this day any worse?” she demanded. A drop of rain hit her in the eye. Then another. And then the skies opened up and began to pour, killing the last coals in just a few steam-hissing seconds and drenching her to the skin.”

My review will never do the beauty of this book justice, and it’s not meant to. Buckle up and sit back because this story is very much about the journey, not just the destination. The Sci-Fi genre is something that had never appealed to me before discovering R. Lee Smith’s work, but she’s proven me wrong once again. I will read anything, literally anything, this author writes. You’re probably an excellent potential reader for this story if you read my entire review. Take a chance on this monumental adventure because you’re in for one hell of a dark ride. The Last Hour of Gann is a masterpiece that I’m sure not to forget.

“You told me once that truth isn’t always just what someone says,” said Amber after a moment. “But what something is. What it means.”

“Because you told me the truth, even when you thought it was something I did not want to hear. That is how I know how much you love me.”

P.S. Don’t let Goodreads and Amazon deceive you about this book’s length. Both sites have this book’s page count listed at 706 pages, but there’s just no way that’s accurate. Comparing the size of the paperbacks between this and Land of the Beautiful Dead, this book is significantly bigger, and if you open the pages, the font is much smaller in The Last Hour of Gann. If Land of the Beautiful Dead is 751 pages, this story is undoubtedly at least 1000 pages in length.

Triggers: (This is not a comprehensive list. Spaces are added below to allow readers to avoid spoilers)
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Human-alien copulation
Explicit rape scenes
Graphic horror elements
Sodomy
Suicide
Murder
Infanticide
Slavery
Fat-Shaming
Misogyny/Sexism
Religious blasphemy
Classism
And more.

stephlunatic's review against another edition

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3.0

Ok, I'm torn on this book.

I loved the natural way the relationship developed between Amber and Meoraq. It was very believable and organic, especially considering this is an alien/human pairing.

The world-building, especially the philosophy/religion followed by the world, was fascinating. With human experience, Amber puts pieces of the true history together early in the storyline, but lets Meoraq draw his own conclusions. How Meoraq eventually resolves his beliefs with the truth in Xi'Matezh is heartening.

The harshness of the world is believable, especially considering the history of the people. Yes, there is rape towards the end, but it is perfunctory and generally doesn't affect the psyche of the characters. It's not described in great detail and doesn't have much weight/gravity. That almost makes it seem trivial, but maybe paired with everything else the humans experienced since the crash, they were numbed to additional trauma.

My biggest problem with the book is the length. It would have benefited from more editing and could have been half as long but just as impactful and memorable.

rihoward's review against another edition

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4.0

4.4 stars

Holy hell this was a long book but somehow still kept me enthralled.it wasn't my usual type of book since I love romance but it was fantastic.parts dragged on is the only reason I didn't rate higher.

glorpy's review against another edition

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Seriously not worth the read.

Content Warnings

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