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toivo 's review for:
The Last Colony
by John Scalzi
Third installment in the Old Man's War series. It can be read as a standalone, although understanding the characters and context is somewhat aided by having read the first two novels.
It's "old school" sci-fi / space adventure, with a cucumber cool protagonist, his wife, and an adopted daughter "simply" doing the right thing and saving humanity in the progress. It's lacking the gravitas to be a great book, but it is a fun little space romp. The characters don't have that much depth, but are likeable and obviously heroic, in motives and actions.
The world building is lacking; the basic setting is that there are plenty of aliens out there, and they (and humanity) are not above waging war to claim worlds for themselves. Humanity in particular has the Colonial Union / military who is keeping most of the citizens in the dark about what's happening with the aliens in general. The setting works for a couple of specific social commentary points, but not much beyond that. The aliens are not really explored much at all or even described, and when they are, they are basically Star Trek aliens, i.e. fairly indistinguishable from humans, rather than, well, alien.
Typically for Scalzi it has wry humor and witty dialogue.
It's "old school" sci-fi / space adventure, with a cucumber cool protagonist, his wife, and an adopted daughter "simply" doing the right thing and saving humanity in the progress. It's lacking the gravitas to be a great book, but it is a fun little space romp. The characters don't have that much depth, but are likeable and obviously heroic, in motives and actions.
The world building is lacking; the basic setting is that there are plenty of aliens out there, and they (and humanity) are not above waging war to claim worlds for themselves. Humanity in particular has the Colonial Union / military who is keeping most of the citizens in the dark about what's happening with the aliens in general. The setting works for a couple of specific social commentary points, but not much beyond that. The aliens are not really explored much at all or even described, and when they are, they are basically Star Trek aliens, i.e. fairly indistinguishable from humans, rather than, well, alien.
Typically for Scalzi it has wry humor and witty dialogue.