last book + last stethoscope, part 56
It's true that I'm always putting a lil jacket on my Eko Core 500 for these posts--it's destined to be one of my all-time favorite scopes and you'll see it again and again. I just finished the final book in the Last Cuentista trilogy, and it'll take me some time to process the idea that this is supposed to be the end. There is so much vivid world-building in The Last Cuentista, Alebrijies, and Firesnake (pictured here), that I think Donna Higuera could spend a lifetime writing about Earth and Sagan civilizations of the future. The protagonist of this novel, Itzel, is a twelve-year-old aspiring scientist on the planet Sagan, though her time to explore and continue her late mother's scientific research is to be cut short when she's forced to work in the fields to support her agrarian society. But out of nowhere, her people receive a message from Earth, a planet few of them are old enough to remember--one they assume has been rendered uninhabitable. Suddenly, Itzel, her father, and others who are brave enough, have the opportunity to travel back to Earth and create their own civilization--but for a price. I loved that Higuera tied these three novels together, but at just 400 pages, there wasn't enough and that's my only complaint.