619 reviews for:

Zoe's Tale

John Scalzi

3.73 AVERAGE


I always like this authors books and this one wasn’t an exception. I enjoyed the retelling of the last colony from Zoe’s point of view and found it to be interesting and funny and sad all at different points. I liked the teenage voice and the more in depth look at the Obin.
adventurous emotional funny fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Henrietta Potter in Space. Horatia Hornblower. Dime adventure novels from a hundred years ago, repolished. Sci-Fi comfort food. Likable characters that provide escape without stress. The prose is lucid, the underlying themes are engaging without being threatening. Scalzi uses the large toolkit of past creations in the genre, and to his credit makes a novel that is fun to read.

If you liked Zoe...try [b:The Forever War|21611|The Forever War|Joe Haldeman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167322714s/21611.jpg|423] or [b:Rite of Passage|229021|Rite of Passage|Alexei Panshin|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Ezw-M6U%2BL._SL75_.jpg|2160570]. Panshin won either a nebula or hugo almost 40 years ago for Rite...and it is virtually the same novel as Zoe. Will Zoe win a hugo this year?

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I freaken loved this continuation! At first i was worried that it was just going to be a retelling of the same story we just read but it was more. At some points i did feel like we already heard this but that was far and few for me. Zoes perspective on the events filled in holes left from the last colony. It also gives you another perspective on their family dynamics. My favorite line from this whole book is when Jane is telling Zoe “Demand something back.” This line really hit me.
adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous hopeful medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous emotional funny fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
adventurous challenging funny mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

YA trash that doesn't fit with the first three books. Not only is it written YA style, there's barely anything new, it's just the last book from a slightly different perspective.