Zoe's Tale

If you must read this book find a library and skip the first 200 pages. Nothing like Scalzi's other books and barely science fiction, more like Nancy Drew.

This is the fourth book set in the Old Man's War universe, but it's not a continuation of the story arcs he established in the first three, but rather a retelling of the events of the third book, The Last Colony, but told this time from a very different perspective, that of sixteen year old Zoe Boutin-Perry, daughter of a traitor, the object of a major treaty between the Colonial Union and the Obin, and adopted by John and Jane Perry.

Now doing something like this is fraught with peril, as readers of the earlier books will certainly know how everything ends, and will therefore have little sense of suspense throughout this work. It is even more perilous for a middle-aged man to attempt to find the correct `voice' for a teenaged female, one that rings true and will appeal to younger readers, and still engage readers of much greater ages. I'm happy to say that Mr. Scalzi has very deftly has succeeded very, very well with both the characterization and being able to still hold at least this reader glued to the pages, even without the suspense.

Zoe herself is a full-bodied person, one you'd definitely like to meet, someone you come to care about a great deal over the course of this work. She's not perfect, she makes mistakes, occasionally her sarcasm and biting comments might make you grimace, and there is an element of unthinking `me-ness' to her, an attitude that she's unique. But in this case, she really is unique - not many girls can say that they are the goddess-object of an entire alien race. But besides her, several of her close friends also come alive as real people, something that's a little rare in first-person perspective works. Gretchen, Magdy, and Enzo are very much real people, and even better, real teenagers.

Certain aspects of other major players are given better backgrounds, most especially the Obin and Zoe's two Obin bodyguards, Hickory and Dickory, and a certain story `hole' in The Last Colony gets a better, fuller explanation. These are nice touches that help hold your interest.

Scalzi's writing style has much to do with your enjoyment of this book. It's witty, sarcastic, funny, thoughtful, and incredibly easy to read, a trait he shares with a writer he's often compared to, namely Robert Heinlein. But beyond this, in this book he also grabs your jugular of emotional response, expertly playing you like a harp, and making you at time furious, sad, and very strongly up-lifted to the point of tears. It's just this strong emotional content that makes me think this book is better than The Last Colony, and on par with the first book of this series, Old Man's War.

All in all, a great accomplishment, one that should appeal to both teenagers and old codgers like me.

---Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

(I received a Zoe's Tale ARC through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program)

Zoe Boutin Perry was never a significant character on her own merits in the previous John Scalzi book "The Last Colony" - a key to parts of the plot, but more important there for what she was than who she was. Combine that with her involvement in the one big plot gap of the book - where key events happened offscreen - and there's plenty of room for something like "Zoe's Tale", which covers roughly the same time period but from the perspective of Zoe rather than her parents.

And Zoe's Tale it truly is - though the previous books in the Old Man's War series were primarily from first person perspective, they were not as focused on a single character. As a result, Zoe may be Scalzi's best established character; the note-perfect sarcasm was a little overplayed (Scalzi is great at snark) but not by much. Plus, it allows him free reign with her primary conflict - growing as a person and facing the issue of who she is as a person versus her role as a icon to an alien species and part of a treaty between that species and humanity.

The personal focus also causes a problem, however; it's not as easy to switch the grand events occurring during the novel. This leads to some strained info dumping on occasion as the reader has to be caught up on the background plot to understand what's going on. Scalzi also manages to write himself into a corner later on, setting up a big fight scene that he can't write out - it would completely throw off the books pacing and is too large to manage - so he has to offhandedly dispatch it in 7 words.

For all that this is a parallel to the third book in a series, it feels accessible as a standalone book; the plot dumping helps, but the book is mostly shaped well on its own. There are a couple minor points that a new reader is unlikely to get - the roles of Phoenix and Earth, certain aspects of the CDF - but they're not significant distractions. Zoe's Tale is as good a place as any to start with Scalzi, and a good book in its own right.

****

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3POUDPOVWZNJG I loved Zoe's voice and connected with her immediately, but since this does cover the same ground as Last Colony it lost a bit of punch there. I'd recommend this to teens and enthusiastic fans of the Old Man's War universe - it would stand alone nicely so would make a great gift to a teen who hadn't read the others yet.

Zoe's Tale is an excellent addition to the OMW universe. This retelling of the events in Lost Colony from the perspective of Zoe, John and Jane's teenage daughter, offers fresh insight and adds interesting details.

This is a great book to share with the teens in your life, too. The story is very approachable for teens, but well written and entertaining for adults.