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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
If you've read John Scalzi's "The Last Colony" then this will be a rehash of that tale. However, now we live that story through the eyes of John and Jane's adopted teenage daughter Zoe. Even though I knew the outcome of the tale I found Zoe's teenage perspective interesting and the banter between her and her other teenage friends often amusing. This story has many emotionally uplifting and sad parts as well. And, Scalzi filled in some gaps that were missing from the original story. Now we learn more about the "werewolf" species that killed some members of the Roanoke colony. Now we know what happened when Zoe was sent away from the Roanoke colony on a mission to meet with the Conclave leader General Gau. My only slight criticism is that Zoe comes across a bit OP at times. I had put this book aside for a bit while I delved into some horror novels, but when I returned to the book, I ripped right through it. So, I recommend it for anyone following the "Old Man's War" series.
So the first book in the series starts with this old guy who signs up for the space military. After signing up, his brain (consciousness) gets put in a new genetically modified 25 year old body along with a bunch of other old farts. Naturally he and all the other old people, infused with 25 year old hormones, just bang it out for like a week straight. Just an uncomfortable SciFi orgy.
How we got from weird orgy to a young adult novel in three books boggles my mind.
I didn’t like this book and I think I’m done with the series. I kept reading a couple chapters and saying “this is really bad“ and then talking myself into reading some more, hoping that it gets better. It didn’t.
I don’t know that I can adequately express how much I did not enjoy this. I don’t particularly like young adult novels. I don’t know why the author did this. Most of the criticisms I have just stem directly from the young adult orientation here: tone, flow, terrible one note unrealistic conversation, the Mary Sue-ness of the main character.
I think I’m more frustrated with this than I would otherwise be because I liked the other books despite some of those deficits being present. But because it’s young-adulty, all of these things seem magnified. It’s like they took the worst parts of the other books and emphasized them. Concentrated awfulness. Magnified Fuckery. A distillation of obnoxious tics. I want to forget.
How we got from weird orgy to a young adult novel in three books boggles my mind.
I didn’t like this book and I think I’m done with the series. I kept reading a couple chapters and saying “this is really bad“ and then talking myself into reading some more, hoping that it gets better. It didn’t.
I don’t know that I can adequately express how much I did not enjoy this. I don’t particularly like young adult novels. I don’t know why the author did this. Most of the criticisms I have just stem directly from the young adult orientation here: tone, flow, terrible one note unrealistic conversation, the Mary Sue-ness of the main character.
I think I’m more frustrated with this than I would otherwise be because I liked the other books despite some of those deficits being present. But because it’s young-adulty, all of these things seem magnified. It’s like they took the worst parts of the other books and emphasized them. Concentrated awfulness. Magnified Fuckery. A distillation of obnoxious tics. I want to forget.
adventurous
funny
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
I have to admit, I was ready to not like this book. I had just finished The Last Colony and wasn’t too excited when I realized this book would just be rehashing the same story from a different perspective. It was a bit of a slog going through it so soon after finishing The Last Colony, but I’m glad that I did.
It really picks up on the end after Zoe leaves Roanoke, which happens far too late in the book, but the story was good and I ended up enjoying it.
Looking forward to the next in the series!
It really picks up on the end after Zoe leaves Roanoke, which happens far too late in the book, but the story was good and I ended up enjoying it.
Looking forward to the next in the series!
tl;dr: Not worth the time. Skip it and move to the next book in the series.
I love Scalzi's writing, but the ONLY added content between this book and his last (The Last Colony) is finding out 1) that Zoe trains to fight, and 2) what ended up happening when she contacted General Gau. The rest is just recycled plot from his previous book, told from the perspective of a poorly written teenaged girl. The rest of Scalzi's novels are plot- and setting-driven. This, on the other hand, struck me as a poor attempt at a character-driven story—something he's not familiar with or good at, and through the lens of a teenage girl, something he is not. Her character fluctuated between moody, sarcastic teen and all-too-accomplished near-adult which resulted in a regurgitated story told by an impressively flat main character. You're better off skipping it and moving to the next one in the series, The Human Division.
I love Scalzi's writing, but the ONLY added content between this book and his last (The Last Colony) is finding out 1) that Zoe trains to fight, and 2) what ended up happening when she contacted General Gau. The rest is just recycled plot from his previous book, told from the perspective of a poorly written teenaged girl. The rest of Scalzi's novels are plot- and setting-driven. This, on the other hand, struck me as a poor attempt at a character-driven story—something he's not familiar with or good at, and through the lens of a teenage girl, something he is not. Her character fluctuated between moody, sarcastic teen and all-too-accomplished near-adult which resulted in a regurgitated story told by an impressively flat main character. You're better off skipping it and moving to the next one in the series, The Human Division.
adventurous
fast-paced
adventurous
funny
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
Oh good, now I know what happened in the missing pieces from the Lost Colony timeline. The teenager is a bit too rational for an average teen, but I can live with that.
I'm noticing a trend with Scalzi's books. The first half is more often than not pretty "meh" or just okay and then the second half just blows the door off its hinges. The first Old Man's War was fantastic from start to finish, but the rest are more uneven like that, but at least it's good that he ends them on such a high note. I just wish they were all great all the way through.
In the afterword he mentions that it's hard to write a parallel storyline book and I think that's what shows the most in this one. I'm giving this a 3, but in reality it's more of a 3.8 or so, but I can't bring myself to give it that 4, because the first half was just so uninteresting for the most part, because I already knew what was happening. The best parts of the book are when Scalzi diverges from the story of The Last Colony and tells the reader something new. He also didn't quite nail the teenage girl voice. It still read like a man. And that's okay and undertandable. I don't think I could ever write a teenage girl convincingly.
So all in all, I liked this book, some parts a whole lot and some parts less so. Shrugging while scanreading plus eyes tearing up equals a 3, I guess.
In the afterword he mentions that it's hard to write a parallel storyline book and I think that's what shows the most in this one. I'm giving this a 3, but in reality it's more of a 3.8 or so, but I can't bring myself to give it that 4, because the first half was just so uninteresting for the most part, because I already knew what was happening. The best parts of the book are when Scalzi diverges from the story of The Last Colony and tells the reader something new. He also didn't quite nail the teenage girl voice. It still read like a man. And that's okay and undertandable. I don't think I could ever write a teenage girl convincingly.
So all in all, I liked this book, some parts a whole lot and some parts less so. Shrugging while scanreading plus eyes tearing up equals a 3, I guess.
I liked how this book fleshed out Zoe's perspective. However, I ended up skimming large parts of the book as it just wasn't interesting. The parts that we didn't know anything about, like meeting the creatures in the woods and the Obin - those were fascinating.