The Last Day of Captain Lincoln is the debut novel from EXO Books and is a novella that is intriguing, captivating, exciting and inspirational.

This 133-page book was heart-warming whilst also being a book that made you cry, it was a book that you could take something away from, an important lesson that you could learn. That’s why this book was so good.

Captain Lincoln’s last day is the hardest day of his life. 

An old, one time Captain of the interstellar spaceship USNAS Hope Eternal, Lincoln always knew that this day would come. For just as birthdays are carefully planned, so are deaths. And although he must reckon with his fate, this is not a somber story. It is a tale of love and sacrifice, told in the context of the most advanced civilization ever to exist—a society that has taken to the stars in an effort to save all that is best in humanity. 

Follow Lincoln through his internal struggles, his joy in having lived, and his journey to peace. 

I’m not going to talk about the first six and a half pages of this book – not because they’re irrelevant (because the theme of those six and a half pages fits nicely with the theme of the book – death) – I’m going to talk about the illustrations first.

If you decide to read this novella (please do) you will find some gorgeous illustrations by Kimberly Hazen along the way. They are not illustrations that you would normally expect to find in a book. The pictures remind me of artwork that I saw when I was walking around the Pompidou museum in Paris. It really is artwork. They are ugly drawings but they are beautiful and portray the emotions that are being felt throughout the book. 

“It was the first time that he’d cried in a very long time. All of his emotions poured out now, in a great rush of release: it was sadness tinged with bitterness, but mostly an intensely deep feeling of loss.”

– EXO Books, The Last Day of Captain Lincoln

This is an amazing and inspirational tale following our protagonist, Captain Lincoln as he lives his last day on the USNAS Hope Eternal. Through his eyes, we read a story that is heart-breaking and joyous, warm and cold. It has such a rich narration and with the accompaniment of quotes from various dead people such as Vincent Van Gogh and Ralph Waldo Emerson that appear throughout the novella. The quote fit right in with the story and add another dimension of understanding to what we are reading. We are reading about death, isn’t it fair to include quotes from dead people about loss, beauty, and living? I think so. 

The only reason that this book is four stars is because some of the speeches that the characters give are way too long. I was so tempted to skim read and get to the end of the dialogue but I knew that I couldn’t. For example, there is a speech that Salk gives about peppers that is five pages long. Five pages. About peppers. It was quite humorous actually. 

However, there are many speeches throughout this book that aren’t boring (and not about peppers). There is one in particular that Lincoln gives about death to a group of ten-year-olds. The speech sounds like an academic essay one would write for a university. It’s philosophical and eye-opening that I was so engrossed whilst reading it. 

The characters were beautifully written, the setting of the spaceship was brilliantly described and I absolutely loved hearing about the technology that they had on the USNAS. I’m so glad that I got to read this book and I do urge everyone to give this book a go!


Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review


EXO Books is a publishing company set up by a husband and his wife in New York City. The husband writes under the pen name of EXO Books.