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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
I am glad i waited a long time to read this book. If I had read it right after The Last Colony I don't think I would have liked it as much. Fun read but still a little to familiar for me to just gush about.
Fun coming of age story of an intergalactic colonist on a colony targeted for extermination Brilliantly read by Tavia Gilbert.
adventurous
emotional
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
Honestly, I nearly gave up on Zoe’s Tale a few times during the first half of the book. I was annoyed by teenage Zoe and her friends, and I think that may partially be because I had read the first 3 Old Man’s War books in direct succession immediately before starting this one, and was used to the more serious, at times somber, tone. Also, the story seemed pretty slow to start since the story’s events were so fresh in my mind from The Last Colony.
But the second half! An epic and emotional rollercoaster, with laughter and tears interspersed. The additions to the story and Zoe’s role in them are wonderful. I’m so glad I didn’t stop halfway through.
But the second half! An epic and emotional rollercoaster, with laughter and tears interspersed. The additions to the story and Zoe’s role in them are wonderful. I’m so glad I didn’t stop halfway through.
More like 2.5 stars
Zoe's Tale is a strange book. It is a sidequel (not sure if this is even a word that exists), a book which presents most of the same events as The Last Colony with the difference that it is through the eyes of Zoe Perry-Boutin, the daughter of Charles Boutin from The Ghost Brigades who was then adopted by John Perry and Jane Sagan.
Sidequels are very tricky books. They start with a disadvantage from the start since the reader will most likely know most, if not all, of what happens in the book. This can be mitigated by offering a different enough perspective on events and by pushing the overall narrative of the series forward, but still it is a difficult prospect and one which isn't very often attempted. A Feast for Crows is the weakest book in the Game of Thrones series (at least according to my opinion and the average Goodreads rating) but at the same time I personally enjoyed how Glen Cook crafted Bleak Seasons which also acts as a sidequel of sorts to Dreams of Steel.
Unfortunately, Zoe's Tale is closer to the former rather than the latter. It starts all the way back in Huckleberry and ends during the penultimate chapter of The Last Colony. It doesn't push the narrative forward, nor does it provide any more backstory to its characters. But the bigger problem is that very little is actually new. The highlight for me was seeing Zoe's relationship with the Obin as well as some more exploration into their society and history but this was painfully brief. Even the one major event which was entirely skipped in the previous book and which is the only event for which only Zoe was present () is incredibly short and is over in around 40 pages which was very disappointing.
The main focus of this book seems to be Zoe's relationships and her development as a person. The main issue with the first is the way that Scalzi has written this series. Every book until this point had pretty much the same structure: event happens - time skip of a few weeks/months - next event happens. This worked fairly well up until The Last Colony where cracks began to show, however in the case of Zoe's Tale these cracks completely undermine the foundation of the book. This is because we are supposed to care about Zoe's relationship with her friends but at the same time we don't get to see all of it. All we experience are snippets, here and there where we are told "Zoe loves X" only to flip the page and suddenly a few weeks or months have passed and Zoe and X are no longer talking. This is further hurt by the fact that we already know what is going to happen and how these relationships will evolve. At no point was I ever invested in any of these relationships in the way I felt the author wanted me to be.
All this being said, an interesting main character can often carry a book. Unfortunately, Zoe isn't that. What she is, is a snarky teenager who speaks almost exclusively in sarcastic quips. This surprisingly wasn't as annoying as it could have been but some diversity would have been nice. She has a sort of arc in her struggle to accept the difference between what she is (the daughter of a traitor, the subject of a treaty between two species, an almost god-like figure for the Obin) and who she is. Unfortunately, she spends the entire book having basically no agency or initiative. She has one standout scene on Roanoke and then another one towards the end (although even that one was only after having been driven towards it by a Consu) and that's it. And it makes sense, she is only a teenager in a conflict of galactic proportions but it doesn't make it a good story.
Rating this book is a very difficult thing. I can't say that I hated it, nor that it annoyed me in any particular way. It's not exactly bad, only superfluous. And I did like the bits concerning the Obin, I liked that one scene on Roanoke where she saves her friends, and even some of the General Gao part, although it was quite a bit silly. And overall I enjoy Scalzi's writing even as his style frustrates me sometimes. But at the same time this is the weakest entry in the series so far, by quite a margin. I'll leave it at 3 stars just because I don't actively dislike it.
Zoe's Tale is a strange book. It is a sidequel (not sure if this is even a word that exists), a book which presents most of the same events as The Last Colony with the difference that it is through the eyes of Zoe Perry-Boutin, the daughter of Charles Boutin from The Ghost Brigades who was then adopted by John Perry and Jane Sagan.
Sidequels are very tricky books. They start with a disadvantage from the start since the reader will most likely know most, if not all, of what happens in the book. This can be mitigated by offering a different enough perspective on events and by pushing the overall narrative of the series forward, but still it is a difficult prospect and one which isn't very often attempted. A Feast for Crows is the weakest book in the Game of Thrones series (at least according to my opinion and the average Goodreads rating) but at the same time I personally enjoyed how Glen Cook crafted Bleak Seasons which also acts as a sidequel of sorts to Dreams of Steel.
Unfortunately, Zoe's Tale is closer to the former rather than the latter. It starts all the way back in Huckleberry and ends during the penultimate chapter of The Last Colony. It doesn't push the narrative forward, nor does it provide any more backstory to its characters. But the bigger problem is that very little is actually new. The highlight for me was seeing Zoe's relationship with the Obin as well as some more exploration into their society and history but this was painfully brief. Even the one major event which was entirely skipped in the previous book and which is the only event for which only Zoe was present (
Spoiler
her journey to the Conclave and the deal with the ConsuThe main focus of this book seems to be Zoe's relationships and her development as a person. The main issue with the first is the way that Scalzi has written this series. Every book until this point had pretty much the same structure: event happens - time skip of a few weeks/months - next event happens. This worked fairly well up until The Last Colony where cracks began to show, however in the case of Zoe's Tale these cracks completely undermine the foundation of the book. This is because we are supposed to care about Zoe's relationship with her friends but at the same time we don't get to see all of it. All we experience are snippets, here and there where we are told "Zoe loves X" only to flip the page and suddenly a few weeks or months have passed and Zoe and X are no longer talking. This is further hurt by the fact that we already know what is going to happen and how these relationships will evolve. At no point was I ever invested in any of these relationships in the way I felt the author wanted me to be.
All this being said, an interesting main character can often carry a book. Unfortunately, Zoe isn't that. What she is, is a snarky teenager who speaks almost exclusively in sarcastic quips. This surprisingly wasn't as annoying as it could have been but some diversity would have been nice. She has a sort of arc in her struggle to accept the difference between what she is (the daughter of a traitor, the subject of a treaty between two species, an almost god-like figure for the Obin) and who she is. Unfortunately, she spends the entire book having basically no agency or initiative. She has one standout scene on Roanoke and then another one towards the end (although even that one was only after having been driven towards it by a Consu) and that's it. And it makes sense, she is only a teenager in a conflict of galactic proportions but it doesn't make it a good story.
Rating this book is a very difficult thing. I can't say that I hated it, nor that it annoyed me in any particular way. It's not exactly bad, only superfluous. And I did like the bits concerning the Obin, I liked that one scene on Roanoke where she saves her friends, and even some of the General Gao part, although it was quite a bit silly. And overall I enjoy Scalzi's writing even as his style frustrates me sometimes. But at the same time this is the weakest entry in the series so far, by quite a margin. I'll leave it at 3 stars just because I don't actively dislike it.
A story we all know and yet know nothing about. That was quite a clever trick.
Three and a half stars, so I’ll round it up to four. A nice conclusion to this arc and a book that is actually better than I thought it would. I really enjoyed The Last Colony and feared this one would be boring. But it wasn’t. It adds some elements to the story and completes it. It’s probably the weakest book in the series so far but still enjoyable and worth reading.
Retelling of the previous book as a Young Adult...
adventurous
emotional
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:
Yes
I think that seeing Zoe's perspective was interesting but I think it could have been incorporated into Last Colony instead of stretching it out into a separate novel.