The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera

4.5 stars YA

I don’t read a lot of fantasy but I thought this sounded interesting, “But Petra’s world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children – among them Petra and her family – have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race.”

What exactly would this world be like? I have to tell you after the first part of the book sets up the storyline, the rest of the book was action! Hailey’s Comet has been thrown off course leaving everyone in a panic. Evacuating Earth, they select only a few of scientists and their family to start over on new planet over 300 years away. Petra wants to be a story teller like her grandmother as she loves the stories she tells and she wants to pass them on. Yet, Petra learns that as they’re in flight, each of the participates will be listening to information that they will need to survive in their new surroundings. This new information will be vital to their success on the new planet, yet Petra knows that she will lose her grandmother’s stories if she is subjected to this vital information.

Arriving on the new planet, excitement and hope should have filled the air, yet that’s not the case. What this group thought and anticipated was not what waited for them. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough as I needed to know what this new planet contained.

Like these participates, I wasn’t expecting what occurred. I felt relieved that they had finally made it yet to arrive and now what will happen? I felt a deep connection with the characters as they tried to figure things out. This was one book that I couldn’t put this book down until I finally finished it. I don’t read a lot of science fiction so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.