
Last Exit
Reviews

I got my audio copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher. I've been a Max Gladstone fan for a long time. I loved the craft books, adored "Bookburners," the multi-author audio project he created. His collaboration with Amal El-Mohtar, "This Is How You Lose The Time War" was my favorite book of 2019. So it's fair to say I came in with high expectations. The book met, and then exceeded these expectations. Since people like to invent genres, and I'm people too, let me try and coin a term: LAST EXIT is a work of Quantum Fantasy. This is a subgenre of science fantasy that takes place in our world and/or adjacent worlds, and is informed by quantum physics. The two books I would put in this subgenre are LAST EXIT and Cadwell Turnbull's NO GODS, NO MONSTERS. Both books are dark, deal very much with our current reality, have more than a tinge of horror. Both books are about change and stasis, and have epic plots with finely drawn characters. Gladstone and Turnbull are also both very, very good at the writing thing. I won't talk about plot, here, and even delving into themes can be tricky, spoiler-wise. I will say this books has a fractured found family, friendship and love, and a terrifying and insidious villain. This is a book about trying to fix mistakes, and about how even the smartest people can - in the right circumstances - be idiots. It is also very much a book about trauma. Personal and societal. I think this is the first truly great book I've read in 2022.