I am conflicted about this one. On one hand the parallels between this future world and our world right now are undeniable, and that made connecting with the story much more visceral. The dystopian world was incredibly believable because everything happening there is happening now, and aside from the whole landing on Mars aspect it really does look like the future of real Earth.
From a fiction perspective, the plot as a whole was fine, but I was really waiting for it to actually go somewhere. The launch into space doesn't take place until far into the book, and though I enjoyed this latter part more it did feel more rushed than the delayed buildup from the earlier part. I'm not so sure that the characters felt particularly real either, compared to the society they inhabit. A lot of them were underdeveloped, and others had a tendency to be annoying.
The ending came about super abruptly, and though it sets up the next book well, I don't think it worked to deliver payoff from the book that I had just read. I'm not sure that I'll go ahead and read the subsequent books.

This is a very difficult book to review. On one hand, one of the main characters is absolutely insufferable. On the other hand the other main character is much more enjoyable to read and is very nuanced. Also, the story itself is very compelling. The plot immediately grabs you, and there’s an urgency to the story as well, which keeps you hooked on it. It is a very philosophical story considering how sci-fi heavy it is. I have found that a lot of of my favourite sci-fi stories have been ones that had a lot of philosophical themes, particularly pertaining to humanity. I am not a religious person, in fact I am formerly religious and have since left the faith because of how I was raised in it. So, the religious themes are a little difficult for me to rate in an unbiased way. Not being said I think there was a good balance. This book didn’t focus on just one religious sect, nor did it hold one above the others, which I have found to be the case in lots of books that talk on religion. This was an extremely diverse cast, in terms of gender identity, religious affiliation, race, and of course personality. I’m on the fence about continuing the series, but I am leaning more towards continuing it.

A thrilling and thought provoking sci-fi. A team is being sent to Mars on a one way ticket to help the colony that's already there as the Earth is dying. Full of good characters that grow with the story. This is a well written novel that the author paced just about right. I am looking forward to the next book. Thanks to John Murry press and Netgalley for this review ARC.

A Sci-Fi with Soul

This is a thought-provoking sci-fi novel that explores humanity’s last chance to start over on Mars, after Earth collapses under the weight of ecological and political ruin. Though it’s set in 2056 with a spaceship and a handpicked crew of thinkers, scientists, and a spiritual guide, this book isn’t about aliens or high-tech heroics—it’s about who we are and who we need to become.

I love that McLaren, known for his nonfiction on faith and justice, uses fiction to also ask the big questions: What do we carry with us when we try again? Can we build a better world without first transforming ourselves? Through diverse, flawed characters and poetic, philosophical reflections, The Last Voyage becomes a mirror for our current moment, too.

The story resonates with me because of its blend of timely themes—climate collapse, white nationalism, systemic harm—with timeless ones like love, grief, wisdom, and hope. McLaren doesn’t offer easy answers but prompts us to think bigger questions about what might actually save us. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the state of the world now, this novel might not comfort you—but it will move you.

My thanks to NetGalley for the review copy of this book.

This novel is definitely timely, considering what is going on in the world right now. The setting is a ravaged planet Earth on the brink of extinction in the year 2056. The world is ruled by Oligarchs who care nothing about humanity, and in their pursuit of total domination, have succeeded in causing catastrophic consequences. Australia is perpetually on fire, California is uninhabitable, nations are on the brink of nuclear war, people are starving, etc., etc. It looks like the only solution is for a select group of humans to relocate to Mars and start a new civilization. The Mars base has already been established, and one last group is set to leave Earth forever, ergo, "The Last Voyage.:"

Okay, that's an interesting premise, and I was intrigued. Two secondary characters, Thurman and Ekaterina, spearheaded the mission to Mars via a clandestine company called Macopro. Their relationship and involvement in the mission's success or failure is well-developed. All participants in the mission must agree to procreate, which might cause problems for some characters.

My big problem is with the two main characters -- Eve, a scholar of ethics and comparative religion, and her somewhat estranged father, Colfax, who is an ornithologist, former advisor to the President, atheist, narcissist, alcoholic and the most annoying character I think I have ever encountered in a book. Colfax has failed at work, love and parenting, and he tries to compensate by showing off his intellect by filling every sentence he utters with $20 words. Their incessant bickering, mostly about religion, is tiring. Eve was recruited for the mission because there has been an alarming number of apparent suicides at the Mars base, and Thurman thinks she can help with morale, spiritual guidance and social interactions. Colfax was only included because Eve didn't want her father left alone to endure the expected end of planet Earth.

After the crew left Earth, I thought the descriptions of the actual space journey were interesting -- except for Eve and Colfax arguing non-stop. Some things bugged me, like two puppies brought along are stuck in cages most of the time (because no gravity, of course), and the "astronauts' take them out and toss them about for entertainment. Also, the author's personal political views are front and center, and while I may agree with his views, other readers may be offended.

The Last Voyage is the first in a three-part series. I wish the story had been kept to one book, because there was a lot that could have been condensed in the first novel. Nevertheless, I plan to read the upcoming sequels just to see what happens. And I guess that is the point! Would round up to 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Hodder and Stoughton for the opportunity to read the book and provide an honest review.

An exciting premise, executed in a 60s sci-fi style - more telling than showing - with the murder mystery left more towards the end. However, I definitely appreciate how it read out. Initially, I hoped it would continue working up towards a tempo as opposed to plateauing and covering most of its points through heavy dialog, but enough chapters in and I got into its groove and enjoyed where it took me.

I have two major qualms, however, which is what takes the rating down some notches; first, it was jarring to have agreed completely with the first half of the book's critique and commentary on past, current, and future society - to then suddenly be disagreeing with what I found was a lazy exposition of a rather questionable political view. The Palestinian angle needs to be reworked in more ways than one - a very small and perhaps innocuous example would be a character trying to pronounce something in an accent different from her own 'Israeli-Arab-xx' accent. If she's part Israeli and part Palestinian, her accent should be part Palestinian just as well as it is part Israeli - Palestinians have their own accent to Arabic, and in fact their own dialect, as all MENA regions do. There's more there that I had issues with, but I shall not get into them here. Simply put, the book could have done with a more revised and aware Palestinian angle, or gone without it completely if it couldn't do it right, to achieve better realism/truth to form.

Second, I understand that, given the style of writing and needs of the premise, the worldbuilding took up paragraphs of dialog. However, when there's real conversation between characters about their own personal opinions and points that are not as much 'author talking through characters' as actual characters having their moments to flesh out their dynamics with each other and their own personalities, the dialogs continue to take on a slightly unnatural rhythm, and that irked me a little as well.

In general, the book takes itself quite seriously, which I find mostly alright, except for some instances where it's quite wrong. There are some striking lines, and beautifully humane emotions I've saved for myself to revisit later and think over. I greatly appreciated those. It's definitely a book that will stay with me, for reasons good and bad. Currently, I'm not sure if I'll pick up the second book when it comes out, but I'm definitely curious to see what other people will think of it.

A good book but a bit long winded at times. I liked the mix of characters and how they tried to adjust to a whole new life. I always find it interesting how characters in these stories will cope with impossible odds and thought this was a good portrayal. At times the pacing was good but then there were others I struggled to get through.

I thought some of the jargon was a bit too complex for casual sci fi readers but that’s just me.

I would recommend this book for people who like dystopian books and who have an interest in science.

3.5/5 stars, rounded up. This book had a very literary feel to it. Brian McLaren is an excellent writer and has addressed some very interesting ideas in this near-future science fiction novel - book 1 of a planned trilogy.

I struggled with this story at first. The early part of this book focused primarily on one character that was not very likable. At roughly the 1/3 point of the novel, the story brought in more characters and began to address the more substantial ideas of the story. In particular, McLaren spends a great deal of time in considering the definitions and importance to humanity of culture, religion, and community. He does an excellent job of looking at these ideas historically and philosophically as well as discussing what these concepts mean for his future dystopian society that is on the verge of self-destruction.

I am rounding up my rating to 4/5 stars primarily because of the last half of this book. Once the last voyage gets started, we see the interaction among the characters, learn more about each of their pasts, and learn more about the politics that we are dealing with in this future world.

I recommend this novel for the whole cast of characters, for the ideas that the author has brought to the story, and for the near-future politics and similarities we can see in our modern world.

A debut science fiction novel, The Last Voyage (2025) by Brian D. McLaren features a group of astronauts aboard a space flight to Mars in 2056. With the imminent potential destruction of earth, two international oligarchs choose eight scientists with engineering and ecology skills to go and establish a human friendly environment supporting life and populate Mars. A somewhat benign dystopian Sci-Fi tale that lacks specific technology and futuristic feel makes for a three star read rating. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without any inducement. With thanks to John Murray Press and the author for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes.

The Last Voyage has an interesting story and some good ideas, but I found the writing style a bit challenging at times. There were a lot of big words and complex sentences that made it harder for me to stay fully engaged. The plot had potential, but the language sometimes got in the way of the flow.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this early copy.

An interesting book about colonising Mars and leaving Earth forever. This book is set in the year 2050. As envisioned by the author there are no countries and it is the Oligarchs, a group of wealthy businessmen who rule the world and fight against each other for more control. 2 benefactors contribute to establish a colony in Mars and this book “the Last Voyage” is all about a select team of scientists, engineers and other specialists taking off on that last spaceflight out of Earth to mars. They face innumerable hurdles, and there is no way they can return. The book is the first of the trilogy the author has planned, and it ends on a suspenseful note. Looking forward to the next in the series.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for review. The opinions expressed herein are my own.

An interesting and all too real scenario about a group of people trying to escape a dying Earth and help a suffering colony. It’s a little heavy on the science talk and intrigue, but I’m looking forward to more.

I enjoyed this sci fi dystopian book about a group of people heading to Mars to continue humanity, while oligarchs have ruined earth and are trying to stop this group so that they can go instead.

What follows is an interesting book full of human interactions, some space stuff, drama, mystery, and even some action.

The concept of the book was really good. I’m definitely interested in reading more of this story. While there was quite a bit of philosophical discussion in the middle of the book which did slow it down quite a bit, I still enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book.

The Last Voyage by Brian D. McLaren

Will this be my last voyage? Brian D. McLaren serves up a science fiction novel that revolves around the idea of a futuristic world on the brink of disaster. As humanity will inevitably fail under the weight of self-imposed afflictions, the oligarchs see a path to a better life far away on Mars. Much like modern-day times, the rich have employed teams of engineers, all specializing in their fields, with an ambition to terraform Mars. McLaren walks us through a final voyage upon a ship where there is no turning back. The endgame mounts for the travelers who are asked to leave everything behind for the betterment of humanity’s chance to further future generations upon a distant planet. Again, I pose the question: Will this be “my” last voyage?

My assessment has to be meticulously thought out. First off, I would like to present an idea that seems diluted at this point. Rich people are funding the idea of shuttling themselves to Mars before Earth implodes. The creativity involved is somewhat underwhelming, but I can overlook that if the characters pique my interest. Unfortunately, none of the team assembled on the final ascent held my attention. The crotchety older statesman, narcissistic in nature, continuously spits out words that will have you grabbing a Webster’s dictionary for definitions. I get it; he was supposed to be unlikable, and the author did excel in his aspirations in writing of Colfax. Colfax’s daughter Eve is a bit of a religious savant, brought along to help with an existing problematic issue arising in the Mars colony at the present moment. Through various transmissions with an existing council on Mars, it looks as if people are losing their passion for life and questioning this new existence on another planet. The rest of the crew, with all their various forms of expertise, bring some variety to the tale, but nothing I would consider memorable.

As I read the novel, further into space I climbed. The meetings were called, the turmoil spinning out of control. Truths are revealed with tumultuous consequences. The book slowly meandered, and meandered, and meandered. No planet in sight. I almost felt as if I was reading another version of Orbital by Samantha Harvey, this one more of the Big Brother variety. We watch the fighting and feel the emotions. There is just a missing element of those types of characters I want to root for. There was a lack of action and intrigue. It’s a handful of people singing Kumbaya with various individuals lamenting how stupid the whole situation was. If I am 95% of the way into a book and want to see Mars reached, is that an indictment of my reading prowess?

I wanted to love this title. It started, interestingly enough, with some urgency. The breakneck speed at which they had to pack up and exit Earth's hemisphere left brought forth an excitement that we would be on Mars within the next 100 pages. Terrorists, explosions, and an ala “Mission Impossible" type of escape, courtesy of white vans at the team's disposal. I buckled up; I was heading to the red planet. Yet, here I am awaiting the next installment.

I am a completionist and sometimes a glutton for punishment. There is that part of me that needs to know if they ever reach that godforsaken planet and what happens. Albeit, it's that little voice in my head that looks over my shoulder at the vast black hole of my TBRs, saying, Nope, I am done. For me, this gets 2 out of 5 stars. Venture at your risk!

I made it to 40% and stopped at yet another scientific conversation about a launch to Mars that still hadn’t occurred, and I have given up hope it was every going to. Plus, I needed a dictionary with me to look up half of the conversations happening because I think the author thought he needed to use every large and pretentious word ever invented. I tried because it was an ARC, but this was truly impossible to continue.

One of the other things that bothered me was that this book was happening in 2056, yet the references to the current political climate and the overall feel didn't bring the setting forward from today. And the book was bogged down with so much politics it made the story very heavy. And one more mention of the word "oligarch" and I was going to pull out my hair. It was just too much. I found all of that a huge obstacle to overcome... outside of the writing style.

Unfortunately, I wasn't as impressed by this as I hoped. The premise was excellent, but the execution was not.

The positives are that the writing was wonderful and intriguing. However, I think that the amount of exposition was almost undigestable. There was so much telling instead of showing, and it didn't come over well. In my experience, no one talks the way the characters do about things. They don't give paragraph long explanations about topics when the other person is already supposed to have some kind of idea as to what's going on. I also thought the way some chapters ended was really odd and off-putting. Sometimes, a chapter would end halfway through a conversation, in a place where there wasn't enough suspense or something to end it. It made reading the scenes quite jarring.

I wish I could have enjoyed this more. It took way too long to get to the payoff, the main character is instantly dislikeable, and I just needed more. I'm so sorry I couldn't give this a better review, though I wholeheartedly appreciated Netgalley allowing me to read the ARC.

I thoroughly enjoyed how the author mixed science fiction with this world’s problems.
The writing was really well done however there were a few bits that focussed more on the scientific explanation which took a while to grasp.
It is a thought provoking read that I did enjoy !

Wow this was depressing, set in the near future with oligarchs controlling presidents and social media ,this was barely science fiction. It felt almost current with misinformation rampant and the ecosystem being ignored and the world in dire straits.
And stick people into a confined space and everyone knows they will soon go stir crazy.
I felt that the first third of the book was very slow with much of the philosophising being repeated. I did get rather tired of Eve and Colfax permanently niggling each other with their opposing views on religion. Although labelled as a sci-fi novel these issues discussed at length could equally have been set in an early polar expedition or on a  nuclear sub under the ice for example.
I was disappointed at the end to discover this was only the first book of three..
I don't feel inspired to read the next two especially as the very brief synopsis of book three gave too much away.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

The Last Voyager is one of those books that sticks with you long after you turn the last page. The writing is smooth and engaging, making big philosophical ideas feel natural rather than overwhelming. The pacing is just right—never too slow, never rushed—letting you really sink into the journey.

What really stood out to me was the character development. The protagonist’s transformation feels real, and the supporting characters add layers to the story without feeling like filler. The plot weaves adventure with deeper existential questions in a way that kept me thinking. Some parts lean heavy on philosophy, but overall, it’s a fascinating and rewarding read.

This took a very long time for me to get through.

With the understanding - after some research - of the author's background that I deeply respect as a person of faith myself, I don't think I was personally able to dig into this book as much as I would have liked.

What comes to mind when I read this book is how so much is said with so very little happening, I slugged through reading this, and practically procrastinated this review because I was deeply dissatisfied on reading this book.

The concept itself is really interesting but it falls short in its execution. I found myself more confused than intrigued in the story, it felt like so many moments were going on for way too long in addition to being needlessly complicated.

All the best to the author and any and all future works, I suppose this wasn't my style but still, I really appreciated the opportunity to read it early.
(I will not be posting this review to Goodreads or any platforms.)