Moment of Extinction by Paul Hardy

Title: Moment of Extinction
Author: Paul Hardy
Read Type: Indie review
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You can purchase a copy of this book from Amazon US - Amazon UK - Smashwords - Barnes & Noble - Kobo – iTunes
You can find out more about the author on Goodreads , his website and Twitter

The last survivors of a doomed world have been rescued and taken to safety in another universe, but they’re still dying out. All their rescuers can do is take them to see the ocean one last time – and try to persuade them to let their last child survive.

This is a prequel to the novel "The Last Man on Earth Club", also available for Kindle (but there are no spoilers here to worry about).

Strong language: None

Drugs: None

Violence: None

Sexual content: None

I collected a copy of Moment of extinction via a free promotion on Amazon.

Moment of Extinction is a stand alone short story of an imminently dying species, but also the prequel to The Last Man On Earth club, a novel about a group of people, each the last of their species.

Moment of Extinction is a complex plot to be handled in such a short space. I felt this was dealt with well, handing out information in nuggets, around the emotional scenes, while leaving less urgent information as a mystery to be handled in another scene. As well as being complex I found it surprising and original, a real spin on "people are never really gone as long as well remember them".

As a species, the Yenoma are able to pass their souls on to somebody else when they die and still be able to take control of the body at times. At times this left people appearing to argue with themselves, switching ages and sexes. This process puts more strain on their bodies however, speeding the demise. It was a heart breaking process to read.

I found it difficult to rate the characterisations due to the switching of personalities, but as a species and people I was drawn to them. I found them diverse and enigmatic, sometimes a bit like that uncle everybody has but tries to brush under the carpet, but never cardboard cut-outs even when a particular character only had a few lines to express themselves.

I recommend this story and would be interested in reading the novel that stems off of it. I think when the author has more room to express themselves it will be something special.

I give this story a 3.5 but for the sake of ratings sites I will round it up to a 4