I tried really hard to like this book. It took me about three tries to get all the way through. It was so boring. I think it's a wonderful idea but I found that the writing fell flat. I had high hopes for this book and the author but I was pretty disappointed in the end.

'The Last Machine in the Solar System' by Matthew Isaac Sobin is about as somber as the title sounds.

A machine named Jonathan reflects on his creator Nikolai and the death of humanity. His journey in space is also one to find a place to live out the rest of his days. The human race was doomed because it stayed in our solar system, and was a victim of the Sun. For a machine, Jonathan seems to have a lot of human emotion and eloquence of speech. His musings are not without feeling.

The book included some sketched illustrations. I didn't care for those and they didn't add anything to the story for me. In fact, the kind of distracted me every time they showed up. I liked that this felt like something out of the golden age of science fiction. At 80 pages, this felt like the exact right length for the story that is told.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Inkshares and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to reivew this ebook.

This whole story is exactly what the title indicates. The solar system is “gone” and we are treated to the thoughts of the last machine in the solar system, who was built to actually witness the end of our solar system. Very imaginative and I loved picturing the scene’s he was seeing as he flew around our solar system documenting the changes in our universe. A great addition to any sci-fi fan’s collection.

I received this via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars. The eponymous “Last Machine” in the solar system is an intelligent, sophisticated robot, one well-built enough to survive for over two billion years. That’s long enough to observe the slow dying of our sun and to record the fate of humanity.

Jonathan is a 7 foot tall, humanoid robot, endowed by his creator, Nikolai, with the ability to feel a range of human emotions, including curiosity, sorrow, love and loneliness. Jonathan spends many years being taught by Nikolai, traveling and learning to observe the state of humanity. After Nikolai dies, Jonathan watches as humans colonize Mars, transporting most of Earth’s remaining animal life to that planet as Earth becomes less habitable due to the greenhouse effect and the sun’s increasing heat. As the sun slowly reddens and enlarges over the eons, Jonathan asks himself what humans will do.

"There was so much time; surely this was humanity’s greatest ally. They had millions of years, maybe billions. And I wondered, how would they escape? Could they cast off the guillotine that revealed itself daily as the brightest object in the sky? … The crux of humanity’s riddle has always been whether they could disentangle themselves and their path from the energy source that gave rise to them in the first place."

It’s a thoughtful, elegiac tale, more focused on philosophical musings than on plot. This poignant memoir does make you think about humanity and our strengths and weaknesses. While I never felt fully engaged with this novelette — I think because nearly everything was told rather than shown, creating an emotional distance between the reader and the events — I did appreciate the ideas it explores. Jonathan is an AI with the deepest empathy for the human condition.

The Last Machine in the Universe won second place in an Inkshares contest, through which its publication was crowdfunded. The text is accompanied by several Jack Katz pencil sketches of Jonathan and his human inventor/mentor Nikolai.

A nicely written novella that - in that way that sci-fi sometimes does so well - fearlessly mixes philosophy with science as well as larger ruminations on what it means to be sentient. Highly recommended!

I have grown tired of the conventional hero's journey and this novelette fits in properly.
Told from the viewpoint of an observer, our protagonist is no hero tasked with a destiny. He is simply an android tasked to observe until our solar system's end.
We see, as usual, the ugliness of humans, but there is also a reluctant love for his own creator.
I think this novelette is "just right" but not for people who want conventional stories.

Really hard-core sci-fi, almost Asimov class writing. A sobering look at humanity, our dependence on the sun, where it went wrong, all viewed from the end of things.

This novella reminded me of Frankenstein in the sense that Jonathan is The Last Machine in the Solar System and this writing presents his ruminations on his demise and humanity. He is the last of his kind and of humanity and much of the novella is analyzing why humanity could not save itself and his birth. To be honest the beginning of the novella intrigued me more and it was when I found the character most compelling. While he has a very clinical voice, despite the presence of his emotions, the beginning felt more personal. Whereas the beginning was about his experiences, the latter half of the novella was about his opinions why humanity could not save itself. It paints a somewhat pessimistic view of humanity, and seems to ask its readers, at the end, how can we avoid our doom?

If you're craving sci-fi with that classic, sciencey feel, this novella hits the spot. Artificial intelligence Jonathan tells the story of the destruction of humanity and the end of the solar system and shows us that, no how hard we humans try to be completely independent, that's simply not how the universe works. It's a fascinating story, one that really gets your mind thinking about a lot of things at once. Would love to read more by Sobin!

A super-interesting thought experiment: If a single intelligent machine was the only thing left in our solar system, having experienced our / mankind's present, and future, and demise, what would it's thoughts and emotions be?

This is a very nicely written novella examining this question, which it does quite well. Written in first-person from the POV of the machine, it looks at humanity's high achievements, considers our weaknesses, and postulates what our future might be.

A short, quick read that's worth your time if you enjoy thinking about how time might unfold for humanity.

Thanks to Netgalley and Inkshares for the ARC.

-4 and a half stars-

Normally I find myself having to plow through 700+ pages to get the kind of sci-fi satisfaction that I got from this book, but this short little novelette gave me a lot of the things that are so difficult to find in modern sci-fi.

The story is told from the perspective of a machine who has been alone not just since the destruction of the civilized portion of the solar system, but really since the death of his beloved creator. For a book told a couple billion years after the destruction of humanity, it really is incredibly hopeful, and that is something I really took heart in. Jonathan, while having no great love for humanity, still was surprisingly tender and respectful when discussing the strengths and weaknesses of human society.

The last few pages, and the revelation of Jonathan's physical legacy left me a little confused at first, but the more I thought about it the more I really enjoyed the way that Sobin brought the story to a close. While I certainly would have enjoyed a lengthier story, I do think these 60 pages of TLMITSS were darn near perfect, and I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a short story from the point of view of an android built to outlive the death of humanity, Earth, Mars, and our solar system in general. We witness his "birth", his experiences on Earth and later Mars, and eventually moves on to billions of years later when the sun has become a white dwarf.

Following the tradition of classic scifi, there is a lot of social commentary. One major point is how humans can accomplish a lot if we work together, but we're too driven by our individual selfish needs. It's very fitting for the isolationist tendencies we're seeing right now.

One quote I did thoroughly enjoy:
I think far more foresight was needed; once the layman can see the issue, it is already too late to remedy.

There's hard science in this, but I do think it's a case of, if you look too hard it'll become a bit fuzzy.

The author did state at the end that he was planning on making this into a full length novel. However, this does work very well at the current length.

The Last Machine in the Solar System by Matthew Isaac Sobin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This novella hearkens back to the good old days of Asimov or the general Campbellian SF universe where we focus on the nuts and bolts of the universe, or in this case, the solar system, as our robot observer watches our old red sun engulf the planets.

Of course, humanity is long dead. We're talking billions of years and I have doubts about the next ten.

That being said, this novella is very contemplative and enjoyable, adding little fun reflections on creativity and Jonathan's birth as well, but mostly we've got some great jewels like terraforming mars and igniting Jupiter as either long-dead history or possibilities, and this is where the author shows his chops as someone who knows the SF field and is writing a love-letter to it.

The only complaint I have is one that the author already addressed at the end: It needs to be longer and he is writing more. :) I'm quite good with that. Thanks!

This is for anyone who loves the whole concept of our Solar System's death. Or maybe you're just in a mood. :)

Thanks goes to Netgalley for this ARC!