The Last Hope of Earth - Lan Wright

**** A novel between pessimism for mankind and hope for nature

Once again I find a topical science fiction classic novel. Although the science part is very imaginative, because the book was written in 1965, and gives an anything but realistic image of Mars, the themes and the way in which the plot unfolds could pass it off as a very recently written book.
The originality of the events narrated is particularly surprising. It is about a future, which fortunately did not become true (the story is set in 1986), in which a kind of seaweed has devastated the Earth. The last hope seems the Red Planet that humans are trying to colonize. When the protagonist, Benbow, is sent to Mars to participate in this project, soon he realizes that those who are in charge are hiding something.
The story is of broad scope and complexity to be a relatively short novel. You see the author’s ability to move the view a bit further, imagining great scenarios. Although the book is characterised by a remarkable melancholy, which still continues to the end, you can see the optimism of the 60s on the ability of mankind to realize large enterprises, but also in respect of Earth and nature, at the same time you notice the pessimism about the human tendency to deceit, which turns against mankind itself in a sort of paradox. However, this story that stars with dark tones ends on a note of hope, although it is not at all a happy ending.
I loved it. I felt involved in the vicissitudes of the protagonist and I suffered with him. Perhaps the excessive pessimism has prevented me from giving the fifth star, but I appreciated very much the idea that mankind cannot do anything against the nature, whether it is to destroy or save it. Nature does by itself, you just have to adapt and wait.

The Last Hope of Earth on Amazon.com.

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