Veronica Roth

Nessa Luna

This was a really short but nice story about the last days of earth and scientists who try to decide which flora they want to bring with them to mankind's new destination. I didn't really like Samantha too much, but I loved her short friendship with another scientist and I did enjoy the way it ended (and gods I want a full story now).

C. J. Daley 

This is part of the Amazon Original ‘Forward Collection’ curated by Blake Crouch. This is my first experience with the author, and I enjoyed it. These are available through prime for free on kindle or audible! 

Two weeks before an asteroid destroys all of earth, a group of scientists are still dealing with the small stuff. And by that I mean seeds and plants. Most of earth is already evacuated, but this group is taxed with cataloguing samples for humanity’s long journey to somewhere new. Somewhere in the growing panic, Samantha finds a new species, and with that, a new lease on hope. 

This was a well done short about what it means to be human, and what ties us to our humanity. In the event that we’d need to leave earth, would you be able to willingly give up your home? 

Personally a 4/5*. Narration from Evan Rachel Wood was great!

Vilandra

A nice little story. I liked the hopeful message at the end.

The earth is on the eve of being struck by an asteroid that will destroy the planet and all life on it. Samantha is a scientist identifying and preparing plant samples for one of the two ARK space ships that will help the humans live and have a habitable environment on a new planet. Also, recording and preserving a record of life on earth. This is a reflective and melancholy story about loss, a life lived under the shadow of dread, and is it possible to choose hope? Quiet and beautiful. 

Cheryl Hedlund

Midori Kobayashi

3/5stars

For just 39 pages, this book does have a very slow pace but in a good way. The dialogues are sparse but the atmosphere build up is amazing. Very contemplative, very melancholic. 

Haven't read the controversial Divergent series by Veronica Roth but this novella was beautifully done.

This was my fourth read from the Forward collection and by far the second fav, The Last Conversation being on top right now.

Ley Stanton

Suhasa SJ

Loved the authentic and beautiful description of the various flowers. Loved the narration of Evan Rachel Wood. It was more like a romantic story than a sci-fi story. No thrilling moments like others in the Forward collection.

Cindy Lieberman

An asteroid is hurtling toward Earth (not the one that’s coming close to us next month, but a very large one - hypothetically - expected to make impact). Most people have left on ark ships headed to other habitable planets. But up in the Arctic Circle, a group of scientists continue to catalog plant species and store seeds for the future. A lovely, sad tale about family, memory and loss.

Milo Jean

Personally I found this story to be quite boring. It was beautifully written and getting to hear about the way the world ends and the culture around that was interesting but mostly nothing happens in this story aside from cataloging flowers and that’s just not an interesting story to me.

Tanja Hoffmann

Olivera Mitić

Michelle Xu

The Forward Collection Overall: 3.5 stars.

It's hard to give the overall collection a rating because some stories were hits and others were misses.

Ark - 3 stars
This was a short story about the last days of Earth and the scientists left on it before leaving. It was definitely more of a character exploration rather than plot driven. It was only 38 pages but it went by a bit slowly for me. I had a hard time getting into it, but still appreciated the melancholy and lonely feelings that this short story gave me. The story provided a thoughtful reflection on home and leaving a life behind.

Juliana Matias

Another apocalyptical story – pre/peri-apocalyptical this time. Samantha is an horticulturist, cataloguing flora in the Artic Circle with one of the last groups of people to leave the planet which is about to be destroyed.

The story is told in parallel between the current time and flashbacks, which makes you slowly understand what is going on with our protagonist.

Personally, I didn’t really connect with the main character but the story was still interesting. It’s fine as a short story.

Ruth Parker 

This was a nice enovella which I enjoyed a lot. There were stronger stories in this series, but this one was believable and made me think about existence as a whole as well as life and what makes us human. It was a great story and while it was a little slow, it was good to feel connected to the characters in this story.

Ark

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