Near Death Horizon

by L.A. Morton-Yates

How can you stop something that killed a planet?


Sent to negotiate an alliance with the alien species known as the Occassi, the diplomats of the ES Votum awaken from their 135 year voyage to find a dead world and a silent universe. With 12,000 colonists still in hypersleep aboard their vessel, the team must embark on a new to solve the mystery of the Occassi’s extinction and somehow make their world habitable again. As tenuous exploration quickly devolves into desperate survival, one man must achieve the to turn the husk of a dead world into the cradle for humanity’s future.


Tragic, philosophical, and deeply inspiring, Near Death Horizon takes readers through hell and back out again.

281 pages, Paperback

Published March 6, 2026

Reviews

[Lesley]

I hadn’t delved too much into the sphere of science fiction before this, but I found myself intrigued by the story and I throughly enjoyed my read of this book. Some quick thoughts are that I thought the rapport between Braaten and Caldwell was humorous and entertaining and gave some lightheartedness to the beginning of the book. Rhett’s character slowly and realistically evolves as the book progresses and given all of what he goes through… It seems so relatable when part of his ending quote is “You may not understand me completely. I know I’ve changed. I’ve lost things. Maybe some of them are still here? Maybe not.”

[Connor Stemler]

Fantastic is the word that came to mind when I just finished this

Without spoiling anything I will say that this novel is a fantastic synthesis of what makes science fiction great

A phenomenal testament to the will of the human spirit to overcome overwhelming odds in a quest for home and most importantly the ones we love

I can’t say enough good things about this book and I heartily believe that almost anyone could find something to connect with within its pages

[Julie]

The first part of this book was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the hook coupled with the character development. Then, things shift--the story stops being about the people and turns into an Odysseus-like plot wherein there is much travel and travail with what I found to be quite a lot of repetition. Unfortunately, as the plot holes mounted and the character lacked any engaging encounters or thoughts for me, I became frustrated with the story being told. I skimmed the last 30% (which heralds another huge shift that I found even less compelling). I think the style and voice are great, but the story itself most likely suffers from NaNoWriMo-itis.

If you liked Project Hail Mary, you might give this one a go.

Thank you to NetGalley and Synthesis Press for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Sazerina Wilde]

Near Death Horizon by L.A. Morton-Yates is not merely a lost in space story, but a quiet, aching meditation on loneliness, resilience, and the fragile stubbornness of hope. What begins as exploration becomes something far more intimate and harrowing, where desolation feels almost alive and survival is never certain. Morton-Yates captures the emotional weight of isolation with haunting clarity, making every step forward feel hard-won. Through failure, determination, and the will to endure, the novel becomes a powerful reflection of humanity itself, evocative science fiction at its most human.

[Erik Hilbert]

Not sure how I feel about this book overall. I’ve read a number of first contact stories, and a first contact gone wrong with cosmic horror immediately piqued my interest, but it wasn’t what I had expected, mostly due to the distinct lack of aforementioned cosmic horror.

I thought the book was pretty dull right up until they landed on the planet and I didn’t think any of the characters were very interesting in the beginning, although the question of why Earth hadn’t transmitted any more messages and why the aliens were missing definitely helps to keep curious enough to read more.

The second quarter-ish(?) of the book is more fun to read, at least of me, for three reasons. One: I was kind of banking on there being some sort of eldritch abomination. I mistakenly thought the storm was the effect, not the cause. The eerie atmosphere and the way Galerkin spoke of “the planet trying to kill them” and the blurb with the planet-killer was setting off my consmic horror sensors. Honestly, still don’t know what the author was going for with Galerkin, but in retrospect, the synopsis makes sense and it was just me misinterpreting it. Oh, well. Two: the recordings that the captain did really helped with connecting with the characters, unlike in the beginning. The third reason is that I thought the way the alien plants were described was very cool.

Once it was revealed what happened to the Occassi, I lost most of my investment in the story. Mostly, I was bummed out by the fact that the horrors not beyond comprehensio. I did think they were interested and I liked to see more weird alien nature stuff, but I my fascination was very much overshadowed by my disappointment.

By the end of the book, I actually started to like it again. There were more of the stuff I liked: recordings and purple tomatoes. The isolation was also interesting to read about, for sure. An epilogue years later would have been great though, imo. Would have been nice to see if Earth ever responds and what the passengers of Votum manage to achieve.

You can probably see why my feelings are mixed about this. I do think it’s a decent book with some interesting stuff, as long as you do not go into this with the assumption that there will be lovecraftian monsters in it like I did. I thought the speculative biology was really awesome, for instance, but I think my having the wrong idea of the book in the beginning really changed the experience for me the worse.