The Last Watch

The Divide Series, Book 1

By: J. S. Dewes

Narrated by: Andrew Eiden, Nicol Zanzarella

"Both readers are brilliant and nail the characterization in a way that instantly connects them to the listener. Everything here is top-notch." (Booklist, starred review)

The Expanse meets Game of Thrones in J. S. Dewes' fast-paced sci-fi adventure The Last Watch, where a handful of soldiers stand between humanity and annihilation.

The Divide.

It’s the edge of the universe.

Now it’s collapsing - and taking everyone and everything with it.

The only ones who can stop it are the Sentinels - the recruits, exiles, and court-martialed dregs of the military.

At the Divide, Adequin Rake commands the Argus. She has no resources, no comms - nothing, except for the soldiers that no one wanted. Her ace in the hole could be Cavalon Mercer - genius, asshole, and exiled prince who nuked his grandfather's genetic facility for “reasons”.

She knows they’re humanity's last chance.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

©2021 J. S. Dewes (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"An epic tale of survival at the end of the universe." (Megan O'Keefe, author of Velocity Weapon)

"Crisp writing, vivid characters, and a plot that beguiles the imagination. The Last Watch is a stunning military sci-fi debut. I was hooked from the opening lines. If you like science fiction, then this book is definitely for you." (Jasper T. Scott, USA Today best-selling author)

"The Last Watch is an amazing debut. The smart world-building and explode-off-the page action scenes make it perfect for fans of The Expanse and other fast-paced Sci Fi. I predict that Dewes is going to be a 'must read' author for years to come." (Michael Mammay, author of Planetside)

Enjoyed this one

Although the "Science" seems really far fetched, this was a fun story with interesting characters. looking forward to next book.

Character transition

Kept me interested over the miles. Good one for a drive. On my way to the sequel

Another "new to me" author

I keep going back and forth with trying to decide whether or not it is better to read reviews prior to reading a book. Sometimes it is extremely helpful, yet other times, it can color your expectations - whether good or bad - and create some pre-conceived opinions that you may not have reached on your own.

Why am I mentioning this? Well, I wanted to get a peek at what this book was about and got caught going down the rabbit hole with reviews. One of the comments I read was that there wasn't enough character development and we didn't get enough reasons to like the main characters, to root for them. So when I started reading, that was in the back of my mind.

In the end, I enjoyed this book. The storyline, the world building, and yes, the characters were unique, interesting, and well developed. I really liked the two main MC's - Adequin Rake and Cavalon Mercer - but Cav was completely my favorite. Yes, there could have been more character development. It would have been great to learn more about their backgrounds earlier in the book but I still felt enough of a pull for Cav and for Rake to understand them and to root for them.

Where I think the concept might have been started was where there is a fairly significant loss of life in the beginning of the story, but because it was mostly at the beginning and we didn't really KNOW any of the characters, it was more like just reading about an event. There was no actual "feelings" for me one way or another. That is dramatically different from the end where there is another "event" that definitely hit me in the feels, even though this character in particular wasn't that well developed either, but by that time I WAS invested with Rake and it impacted me for that reason.

I will say that by the end of the first book there was enough character growth (especially in Cavalon) that I honestly FELT proud of him and was completely invested in his journey. Rake, on the other hand, was a little more difficult to unpack, but her personality traits and her utter confidence and strength made it easy to respect her. There were some fun secondary characters- Em, Jackin, Owen and Puck - that also seemed to add to the breadth of the story.

I'm not much of a science fiction fan, but this book was easy enough to follow along with. There was enough "science lingo" to make things seem plausible and there weren't that many times where you just had to throw out any plausibility - at least, it all seemed to work once you bought into the initial concept. I listened to most of this on audio and felt like the narrators, specifically the male narrator - Andrew Eiden - did a fantastic job. This book seems like it was written to be made into a movie and after finishing the book I learned that the author is a screen writer. That actually made sense because there were many, many descriptive visual cues in the story that seemed to make the movie in my head easier to develop.

So, I am off to book 2. After all, saving the universe is not an easy job - I need to follow along with the gang to see what's going to happen next......

Worth the read

overall the book was very enjoyable but the pacing was a bit off-putting. There were some excellent moments and one in particular in the latter half of the story that was enough for me to go ahead and pre-order the next book!. looking forward to the next half of the story!!

A story inside a world I need to know

I loved how this story existed inside a world, I guess "universe" would be more appropriate, that I need to know more about. The Sentinels find themselves in a fight against time and the edge of the universe, and this story focuses on that. I've been a sucker for a survival story every since I read the Hatchet when I was a kid. These characters find a way to keep going when they could easily give up. I kept reading to find out how they could make it through, and at what cost. The implications for everything that can result for their choices are enough to make me seek out book two asap.

Excellent book, looking forward to the rest.

My only criticisms are the lack of language used to describe what the characters were going through. One of the main characters has some heavy PTSD and decision fatigue, along with heavy guilt from a past decision. But when they are hit with heavy issues it they get stuck, the descriptions and reasoning is lacking even though the reader knows what's going on. It makes for less heavy feeling when these issues return. Stakes don't match the actuality when seen as a whole because I don't feel the paralysis or the momentum behind the issue.
Beyond that, loved it. Plots within Plots, character arcs, and increasing danger.
Oh... and big eye rolls to the people complaining about curse words. There were hardly any... and even if there were, then don't play the book for your Sunday school class. Try a Chuck Palahniuk book some time you delicate things.

not bad. not fantastic either.

It stays away from a lot of the typical stereotypes for this genre which is good. The Science is good. seems legit without being overwhelming. the MC was a bit weak. usually I get a little tired of a MC that's way OP and doesn't know it or w/e but with this I kinda wished he was a little op. just a little. The MC is not powerful or really all that special really. only thing that sets him apart is his family heritage and his education, which is meh. I couldn't even remember his name for the 1st half of the book so yea. also, I guess the author was making a point that in the future, relationships will definitely not be bound by gender and male on male relationships were completely common and almost expected kinda. examples came up like 4 times with no character comments at all. it was bad or overwhelming at all, it was just kinda odd. didn't really fit I guess.
overall the story was unique and I did enjoy the story and will for sure get the next book.

Interesting, but uneven

Decent but uneven story. Good ideas, but narrative gets bogged down in the details of minor events and the repetition of interpersonal conversations and inner monologues. Narrators are OK. Not a bad listen, but could have been more.

A solid demonstration of science fiction

This novel has pretty much everything you could hope to see in science fiction: aliens, inexplicable tech, ftl travel, cybernetic body mods, far-future society; heck, it's got a novel end-of-the-universe peril thrown in too.

Looking forward to the sequel.

man what a ride

can't say enought great things about this..
funny sarcastic male main
a not gonna take any S main female

2 great narrators done in the way if kings style...female narrator for her side male for his side.

lots of great laugh out moments, little bit of crying.
just a great story all the way thru.

and to be honest I liked it better than the expanse, and I liked the expanse alot. but the politi al side kid of slogged it sometimes