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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
Having enjoyed the charming Acknowledgements, I now know that the questions raised by the last book for me, (and apparently many other readers!) were not addressed in tandem because the author wasn't sure they required answering and was worried about length. Hav
ing read The Last Colony and now Zoe's Tale, I can say I would have preferred if they were a singular, bulkier book. While there are some surprises involved in seeing the story from Zoe's POV, new plot points are not offered until after the 300 page mark, outside of a few moments that are important to Zoe's character development, not necessarily the overall plot. If Zoe is a character that reappears in the series, it would be worth knowing all that's happened, but if you want to skip The Last Colony rehash, I feel like you could just read the last 100 pages of Zoe's Tale for fresh material. I sincerely hope that Zoe is a character we get to follow in a unique story in this series because I feel like where it ended, I'm just starting to get to know her. For a teenager, she is breathtakingly self-assured and competent, and while John Perry and Jane Sagan are also impressive individuals met in earlier books, I felt close to them because of the vulnerabilities and flaws the reader becomes acquainted with.
If you love Scalzi's writing as I do, it's still a fun time. Maybe I'm just biased by the fact that I read the last book recently, but I worry that other readers might feel this entry in the series is more plot than characters, and familiar plot at that. 🤷🏼‍♂️
ing read The Last Colony and now Zoe's Tale, I can say I would have preferred if they were a singular, bulkier book. While there are some surprises involved in seeing the story from Zoe's POV, new plot points are not offered until after the 300 page mark, outside of a few moments that are important to Zoe's character development, not necessarily the overall plot. If Zoe is a character that reappears in the series, it would be worth knowing all that's happened, but if you want to skip The Last Colony rehash, I feel like you could just read the last 100 pages of Zoe's Tale for fresh material. I sincerely hope that Zoe is a character we get to follow in a unique story in this series because I feel like where it ended, I'm just starting to get to know her. For a teenager, she is breathtakingly self-assured and competent, and while John Perry and Jane Sagan are also impressive individuals met in earlier books, I felt close to them because of the vulnerabilities and flaws the reader becomes acquainted with.
If you love Scalzi's writing as I do, it's still a fun time. Maybe I'm just biased by the fact that I read the last book recently, but I worry that other readers might feel this entry in the series is more plot than characters, and familiar plot at that. 🤷🏼‍♂️
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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:
Yes
slow-paced
I didn't expect [b:Zoe's Tale|2102600|Zoe's Tale (Old Man's War, #4)|John Scalzi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1301108028l/2102600._SX50_.jpg|18280032] to be my favorite entry in the Old Man's War series, but here we are. The book retells the story of [b:The Last Colony|88071|The Last Colony (Old Man's War, #3)|John Scalzi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1437660786l/88071._SY75_.jpg|18279847] through the eyes of Zoe Perry, the adopted daughter of John Perry (the protagonist from Book 1 and 3) and Jane Perry (a main character from Book one and two).
I went into the story with low expectations because I dislike these tropes. But, dammit, [a:John Scalzi|4763|John Scalzi|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1562613145p2/4763.jpg] didn't just recon what didn't work in the last book (or what was intentionally left out so he had room to write this story), but instead added an entire layer of intrigue to his geo-political story world.
Zoe's interactions with the Obin and the Conclave brilliantly opened up this universe. Her point-of-view, which is linked to the non-human part of this universe, enabled the read to explore the "alien invaders" through a lens that wasn't human. Now, it's helpful that neither faction—the aliens nor the humans—had been portrayed as "evil" or "good" in the series, which made this transition easier. Still, we hadn't spent time with their intentions until this book.
The first few acts of the book, before she leaves Roanoke (the colony her parents ran in Book three), felt like a young adult novel, while the later acts felt more like an [a:Isaac Asimov|16667|Isaac Asimov|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1341965730p2/16667.jpg]-lite rumination on the world. And Zoe's participation in that—she was humanities representative—felt right. (The youth—the young—will always see the world in its best light and not as it is.)
I'm not a fan of science-fiction series because authors tend to get lost in what doesn't matter and drawn towards bright, shiny explosions. But Scalzi's Old Man's War series does just the opposite. The deeper he gets into the series, the smaller we get. He digs into the interpersonal relationships, and—as we know in real life—that is where the right people in the right place can make the right kind of changes.
I went into the story with low expectations because I dislike these tropes. But, dammit, [a:John Scalzi|4763|John Scalzi|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1562613145p2/4763.jpg] didn't just recon what didn't work in the last book (or what was intentionally left out so he had room to write this story), but instead added an entire layer of intrigue to his geo-political story world.
Zoe's interactions with the Obin and the Conclave brilliantly opened up this universe. Her point-of-view, which is linked to the non-human part of this universe, enabled the read to explore the "alien invaders" through a lens that wasn't human. Now, it's helpful that neither faction—the aliens nor the humans—had been portrayed as "evil" or "good" in the series, which made this transition easier. Still, we hadn't spent time with their intentions until this book.
The first few acts of the book, before she leaves Roanoke (the colony her parents ran in Book three), felt like a young adult novel, while the later acts felt more like an [a:Isaac Asimov|16667|Isaac Asimov|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1341965730p2/16667.jpg]-lite rumination on the world. And Zoe's participation in that—she was humanities representative—felt right. (The youth—the young—will always see the world in its best light and not as it is.)
I'm not a fan of science-fiction series because authors tend to get lost in what doesn't matter and drawn towards bright, shiny explosions. But Scalzi's Old Man's War series does just the opposite. The deeper he gets into the series, the smaller we get. He digs into the interpersonal relationships, and—as we know in real life—that is where the right people in the right place can make the right kind of changes.
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Basically, book 3 told by Zoe. I enjoyed it, but I would have liked to have seen her go further than just the story in book 4. I wanted more! Hopefully in the next few books. Scalzi does a much better job writing females in this book than she did in that weird short story told by Jane.
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Despite being the same story as the third book, but told from another point of view, the book fills the gaps left previously , adding interesting and breathtaking twists to the already well written story.
I confess, I skimmed a lot in the beginning because it so closely rehashed events in The Last Colony; but the further in I got the more closely I had to read and for possibly the last quarter of the book I was crying. It seemed more heart wrenching to read about what happened to Enzo & co. from this perspective, as well as the goodbyes and interaction with Zoe and the Obin. On to The Human Division!