Zoe's Tale

Scalzi just keeps banging out great Sci Fi.

"Zoe's Tale" is a touching story of a young girl's coming to grips with reality and responsibility in a dangerous colony world.

Everything Scalzi has written is great, and he's one of the bright lights of modern Science Fiction in the current gusher of vampire, werewolf, and demon fantasy novels.
Like Robert Heinlein, Scalzi's worlds are real.
As one person once said about Heinlein, "His worlds are so real, you can hear the water running through the pipes".
Scalzi's pipes are in good order, and I'm looking forward to anything he writes.

When I first picked this book up, I was a bit nervous to see if I would be able to grasp the plot or not, seeing as how this book connects to a larger series. I was pleased to find however, that this book stands very well on it's own. Though the plot at first appears to be the type that would be over-used, there were many smaller arcs that ranged from exploration to a life-or-death gamble. These all contribute to Zoe's personal growth, which an interesting story in itself. Anyone who is expecting a simple colonization story will be surprised.

My biggest complaint about the book was lack of detail in the characters as far as their looks went. Personality wise,they were lovable and was able to become attached to them. When it came to what they looked like, I was always hoping I would be lucky enough to recieve more detail on them in a physical sense, as to picture them in my mind. This mostly applied to Hickory and Dickory, the other Obin, the fantie, and General Gau.(I ended up picturing him as a giant ape in futaristic battle armor)Being the first book written by John Scalzi that I have read, I understand he might have added more detail in his previous books, still, detail should be present in every book.

Still, the book is good none the less, and provides a nice twist by viewing it through the mind of a teenage girl. Any major fan of the genre who wants something newer than just the average hack and slash should pick this book up.

Let me first say that I think John Scalzi is a wonderful writer. I read Old Man's War when it first came out and enjoyed it very much. Earlier this month I noted he had penned a few sequels and I decided to give them a go. In preparation for doing so I actually re-read Old Man's War and, surprisingly, I enjoyed it even more the second time around. I can say unhesitatingly that I feel that Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, and the Last Colony are all wonderful five star reads that evoke the best from the golden age of science fiction and yet are distinctly modern in their presentation.

Scalzi writes in a deceptively easy and smooth style and you glide silkily from one page to the next. His writing is leavened with liberal humor and spiced with adrenalin-fueled action scenes making for a thoroughly enjoyable treat. Many people have compared him to Robert Heinlein...I would go even farther. Scalzi could easily be Heinlein's clone when it comes to writing. Their styles are that similar. This is a good thing though, a grand thing, and I am so pleased that Scalzi is writing the books he is.

But...I have to say I was disappointed with Zoe's Tale in several ways. This is entirely my fault as I was so very excited to get a fourth installment in this series that I did not bother to read the publisher's blurb on the Amazon page. The fact I didn't do so is actually a form of homage to Scalzi because I have already decided that anything he writes is worthy of reading so I didn't really feel like I had to check out the plot first. Zoe's Tale simply retells the story of The Last Colony from the perspective of Zoe, a young teenaged girl. Since I just read The Last Colony a few days ago, I already knew what was going to happen and so there was little ability to generate tension during the story. I still very much enjoyed the smooth, humorous writing but the story itself was a little bit like eating leftovers that you aren't really interested in. It's better than not eating, but it's simply not that thrilling.

I think Scalzi did a remarkably good job of capturing the perspective and outlook of a teenage girl in the novel, which as he explains in the afterword is something of a challenge for a middle-aged guy to pull off. Speaking as another middle-aged guy it seemed to me like he did a good job, but then again, what do I know? Yet, since I am a middle-aged guy I do generally prefer stories told from an older perspective than that of a teenager. I definitely preferred the protagonists of the first three books from a narrative point-of-view. Shifting from an adult perspective to a teenaged one, while well done, detracted a little from the book for me. It could be a plus for others, but I share this so others can make informed decisions.

I must say that overall I enjoyed the book, but I probably would have ordered something else if I'd known beforehand what this was going to be (again, completely my fault). So my advice is to understand what you are buying here before you do it. This is a good book, very enjoyable, and it does throw in a few scenes and explanations that were not in The Last Colony, including a bit more about the werewolves. On the whole though, there isn't much additional informaiton here and I would have preferred a brand new story over a rehashed one. So I'll give this one five stars for the enoyable writing style that will keep me coming back for more, but three stars for not really adding anything new to the series, and settle out at four stars.

Zoe's Tale is a retelling of The Last Colony from Zoe's perspective, adding a fair amount of additional detail. Zoe's snarky attitude keep the overall tone light. But as Zoe's character develops she becomes quite the young woman. It is self-contained enough that it could be enjoyed by someone who hadn't read the prior trilogy.

"Zoe's Tale" is essentially a retelling of the events in Scalzi's previous novel in the "Old Man's War" universe, "The Last Colony". Thematically, there's no new ground being tread here, but this version of the tale is told by the teenage daughter of the TLC protagonists, which provides an interesting contrast.

Scalzi uses the opportunity to fill in a few of the gaps in the backstory in a way that avoids the "As you know, Bob" syndrome of intrusive exposition. The events are familiar to anyone who's read The Last Colony, but Zoe's take on things makes the retelling different and interesting enough for "Zoe's Tale" to stand on its own very well.

Stand-out characters include Zoe's sensitive and intelligent boyfriend Enzo, and her best friend Gretchen, whose latent sarcasm and sense of humor mesh well with Zoe's own. (The interactions between the teenagers of Roanoke colony contain some of the funniest exchanges in the entire Old Man's War series, and Scalzi is quite adept at both convincingly writing their voices, and giving their characters dimension.)

Overall, "Zoe's Tale" is a satisfying finishing touch to the Old Man's War universe, which gains a little more depth and dimension with Zoe's perspective--not only on the events, but also on life, teenage angst, identity issues, and the status of family and friends in one's life. Zoe is a remarkably layered and believable character, one of the most convincing and positive depictions of a teenage girl you'll find in any genre.