The Last Cuentista is a YA science fiction novel by Donna Barba Higuera which was published in 2021. The story uses an astronomical threat to annihilate the human species to explore themes related to the existential propensity toward self-annihilation which threatens humanity from within.
The story relates the events that take place after an ark-like spaceship is launched before the expected collision between Halley’s Comet and Earth. The ship sets off on a four-hundred earth-year journey to the nearest planet deemed to be potentially welcoming to the continued evolution of human beings. Most of these space pilgrims make the journey while in a state of suspended animation, but the duties of taking care of themselves and the ship are handled by fully conscious humans known as Monitors who rely on generational overturn throughout the long voyage. Unbeknownst to the sleeping occupants is a radical revolutionary movement calling itself the Collective. By hacking into a sophisticated program that educates the unconscious passengers, the Collective creates an alternative history of humanity that requires a purging of memories or, in the event of failure, the purging of the actual person who still remembers. Only one person manages to avoid either fate, the young daughter of two scientists, Petra. The Collective’s agenda is to ensure the survival of humanity in the aftermath of reaching their planetary destination. The purpose of the memory purges is to correct the flaws within humanity that led to never-ending conflicts on Earth. If everyone thinks the same thing and the same way, the Collective theorizes, then all those petty disputes that erupt into full-scale wars will be avoided. Since Petra is the only passenger to wake back into consciousness with her memories intact, she becomes the center of an individualist rebellion. When she starts telling stories that she remembers to the other passengers, they begin as mere entertainment. Gradually, however, her listeners begin to tap into their own suppressed memories and they realize that her stories are not fiction, but their history. Thus the stage is set for a showdown between the Collective and those who have awoken to the truth.
This summary of the plot seems to indicate that the story will be a somewhat didactic tale of conformity versus individuality in which the forces of conformity are the embodiment of all things bad. What makes the story more interesting is that the ideology of the Collective is explored in enough detail to allow for a range of agreement on the part of readers. While most will likely reject their philosophy when combined with their extremist means of achieving it, it is also likely that most readers will agree with some of the fundamental arguments. After all, it is very hard to refute the concept that humans starting over as a new civilization on a distant planet would benefit from attempting to coerce a far-reaching spirit of cooperation. It is not the idea of everyone being on the same page that is the problem, of course. The manipulative way in which the Collective effectively brainwashes unconscious people and kills those upon whom the brainwashing fails and then ultimately determines that the weaker members must be sacrificed to ensure the survival of the strong effectively demonstrates that no matter how positive the intention may be, even the purest ideological motives will ultimately be compromised by tyranny.
This is a novel geared toward middle-school readers and as such it may seem to be carrying a thematic load a bit heavier than usual. What keeps the story from bogging down under that weight is the dynamic main character in Petra. It is also her bountiful optimism that individualism will inevitably defeat the dark forces of extreme and oppressive conformity that keep this story from becoming a dystopic nightmare.
