THE LAST WATCH by J.S. Dewes – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes
Series: The Divide #1
Published by Tor Books on April 20 2021
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Pages: 480
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

The nitty-gritty: Come for the characters, stay for the pulse-pounding action! The Last Watch is an excellent debut with heart, humor and thrills galore.

A scrappy band of misfits sent to the outer reaches of the galaxy to protect humanity from a dangerous enemy; a newly recruited member of the team who is trying to hide his identity; and a disgraced captain who is determined to hold everything together, even in the face of uncertainty and equipment failure. In space, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and the crew of the Argus is about to find out just how bad things can get. The Last Watch is J.S. Dewes’ debut, and what a wild ride this was! I’m always surprised when a debut comes along that doesn’t feel like a debut, and this book is one of the most assured and polished ones I’ve ever read. Fans of shows like Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and The Expanse are really going to love this high octane, edge-of-your-seat space opera that has much more to offer than just thrills.

The story revolves around the crew of the Argus, the home base for a group of ships tasked with maintaining the buoys along the Divide, the very edge of the universe. Long ago, an alien species called Viators nearly wiped out the human race, and having been driven off, the possibility remains that they could come back some day. Enter the Sentinels, ex-military soldiers and criminals with nowhere else to go, sent to the far reaches of space to protect the Core. Life here is harsh and dangerous, but the Legion insists that the buoys be maintained, even though Viators haven’t been seen for hundreds of years.

Adequin Rake is the captain of the Argus and has her hands full with over two thousand Sentinels under her command. The long days are mostly routine, that is until sensors show that the Divide seems to be moving toward them. And that’s a very bad thing, because when the Divide expands, the universe and everything in it is in danger of collapsing. Time is running out, and Rake and her crew must find a way to stop it and save the universe. 

I had an absolute blast with this book! For the most part, the pace never slows down, and the characters go from one disaster to the next, each more dire than the last. The story is set far in the future, after humanity has survived two wars against the Viators. The Inner Core is where the most privileged people live, and as you go further out, the Outer Core is less desirable, but for some it’s the only choice they have. Even further out is the Divide, and this is where the action takes place. The crew of the Argus is basically stuck out there, and some know they will never see the Core again. This sense of being stranded really added tension to the story, and the author clearly did a lot of research because she goes into all sorts of scary details about all the things that can go wrong in space: comms going down, unexpected explosions, dangerous ship repairs, and much more. Oh, and did I mention that as you get closer to the Divide, time starts to get wonky? And by wonky I mean the crew experiences freaky “time ripples” where doppelgangers randomly appear and disappear.

But as much fun as I had with the action sequences, the real strength of this book is the characters and their relationships with each other. Dewes takes one of my favorite tropes, the found family, and does a bang-up job with it. Leading the crew is Excubitor (Captain) Adequin Rake, a tough as nails but surprisingly empathetic woman who was assigned to the Argus after a mishap in the last war with the Viators. Rake is a great combination of hard-ass and supportive, ready to beat someone up for insubordination, but on the other hand willing to go down with her ship to save her crew. Then we have Cavalon Mercer, an exiled prince who is trying to escape his family. Cav is royalty, but he wants to keep that fact a secret, even though he has certain characteristics that give him away, like his special gold and bronze Imprint tattoos. Cav is a fantastic character and sort of reminded me of Indiana Jones!

But as much as I loved these two individually, I really enjoyed the way their friendship developed. The relationship between Cavalon and Rake starts out rocky, since Cav has no military experience and doesn’t know how to behave on a ship. He fumbles a lot in the beginning, learning how to follow orders without mouthing off, but it doesn’t take long for him to win over Rake, especially since he has a wealth of knowledge at his disposal—medical, engineering, and astrophysics training—that conveniently comes in handy later in the story. You would think there might be a romance brewing between the two, but thankfully Dewes doesn’t go there—at least for now. Really good friendships, especially between men and women, are tough to find, but Dewes digs into the idea of “platonic love” and creates friendships that were so satisfying. (If you want to read more about her take on this, check out this Tor.com article). Oddly enough, the one actual romance in the story didn’t really work for me, but it only plays a small part in the overall story.

And while Rake and Cavalon take center stage, Dewes rounds out her crew with a bunch of other well developed and interesting side characters. Griffith Bach fought in the war with Rake, and they are best friends and love each other dearly. Jackin North is a talented pilot and engineer and another good friend of Rake’s. Mesa Darox is a fascinating character with an air of mystery surrounding her. She’s a Savant, one of the genetically engineered creations of the Viators, a mix of human and alien, and I’m so curious to learn more about her past. Emery and her sidekick Warner add some humor to the story: Emery is constantly smacking her gum, and I found her simply adorable!

And speaking of humor, I was not expecting this book to be so funny. The Last Watch is full of wry humor, peppered in among all the serious moments and nail-biting action. I always love stories that can successfully combine both elements, and Dewes has really mastered that concept.

This is a big world and there is a lot of information to absorb. Because of that, there were a few things that weren’t fully explained. For example, Rake and Griffith are called “Titans” and I have no idea what that means (unless I missed the explanation). We also get glimpses into the past and the events that led to the creation of the Sentinels, as well as the characters’ backstories and why they became Sentinels in the first place. We’re briefly introduced to the royalty of the Core, the Allied Monarchies (which Cavalon is part of). And then there is the mystery of the Viators and their connection to the Divide. All of these elements will probably be expanded upon in future books, and I’m OK with that. This is one of those series that could easily have many many sequels, because the world building is so rich and varied. In my opinion, the ending of The Last Watch was simply perfect, and I am beyond excited to dive into the next book, The Exiled Fleet. If you are a sci-fi fan at all, you will not want to miss the start to one of the best series of the year.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.