Publishing date: 25.02.2025 (DD/MM/YYYY) 

Thank you to NetGalley and JAB Books for the ARC. My opinions are my own. 

TLDR: Sentient and friendly aliens inhabit a planet meant for resource harvesting, the humans on mission to consider the planet meet the aliens and get attached

In The Last Days of Good People we see a group of people on a mission to consider a planet for resource harvesting, but surprise, there is sentient life on the planet. At the same time, there is a deadly bacteria/virus on the planet actively killing the alien life that gets infected. The humans manage contact with the alien life and might get a little too attached ...

The characters themselves here were pretty standard, at least in terms of the humans. We have a broody one, a strict one, a busy one, the main character that is a blend of them and a little clueless, plus a few extras we don't see much of in the story. Alien wise was a little mixed, but they also follow the common beats of "alien life in a contact with aliens" kind of book. The leader, the child, the old and wise one, the sidekick to one of the above, and the background characters. One of them I got a little more attached to than expected. 

Pacing is a little weird. Clearly time is passing, but it feels like the same day throughout the book. Like every event is happening within 24 hours. 

Story was okay. I did suspect almost everything that happened would happen, so there are no real surprises or rug-pulls. 

I liked the world-building here. It was easy to visualize the planet, the flora, the fauna, and the aliens themselves. However, I did not like the "everyday" of the book. Everything blended together. I could split the book into three parts, the meeting, the everyday and learning, the end. The middle part takes up a lot of pages and isn't really that interesting ...

I think the intended age-range would be Young Adult and adult. Anything younger and it might be too boring. I also think the book would fit the general sci-fi audience, but especially those who enjoy the more domestic aspect of sci-fi books as there isn't much action to be found here. 

I am giving this book 3 stars. Not bad, not good, just a-okay.