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Zoe's Tale is written in the same easy-to-read style that I like about Scalzi's works. Given that it's supposed to be from the perspective of Zoe, a teen no less, I guess it's inevitable. However, this one seems too easy. or rather, too teeny. Still, it was a good read. It's definitely not at par with Scalzi's earlier Old Man's War books, but good enough for it to be worth reading.
The character development was first rate, and there were a few genuine tear-jerker moments. Zoe is a positive role model with the strength of her mother, the sense of humor of her father and the complexities and conflicting emotions of any modern-day teenager.I look forward to the next book in the series, and I hope the author doesn't take too long of a break before committing to it. Scalzi has a dry wit that punctuates nearly all of the dialogue between Zoe and her friends. I just finished Zoe's Tale and I'm surprised that I could enjoy a book told from the perspective of a high school aged girl. Advanced technologies allow young men to be genetically enhanced (as was Jane in TLC) to be as potent a warrior as Special Forces. This book would make a perfect gift for the female 12 to 14-year old reader in your family.
It is admirable that Scalzi has created a great sci-fi novel from a girl's perspective.
Particularly noteworthy is the last Enzo poem to Zoe.
Get back to the military theme for 330 pages.
The previous three books in the series were excellent reads, but this one was the funniest.
Might I suggest that Scalzi give the Perry clan a rest and introduce a new central character as a raw recruit to the CU similar to Dirac in The Ghost Brigades, or the original John Perry in Old Man's War.
It was beautiful, and reminds the reader what a talent Scalzi is.This book, while paralleling The Last Colony, easily stands alone, and can be read without requiring knowledge of the previous three.
It is sufficiently displaced from the central characters and action of the previous book that I never felt that I was reading the same story over again.One last thing.
How about Magdy joins the CDU under dire circumstances requiring new recruits from the colonies.
Hey, it's a dangerous Universe out there.
Scalzi did a good job of backfilling the story to put Zoe's adventure into context, and I never once felt lost.Now by every other determinant, I have to say that I found "Zoe's Tale" to be more of a YA book than an 'adult-adult' book. It would be suitable, by the way, for MG (middle schoolers) if some mild cursing is allowable. This is the first Scalzi book I've read -- yeah, I know, my bad, but I haven't read any scifi/fantasy until just recently; after a decade or so of wallowing in other genres.That it's the last volume in a multi-book universe is pretty much how I sometimes fall into things, but it puts me in the position of being able to review this book as a stand-alone. In addition, the plotting is not devious nor, in fact, complete. Scalzi's a good story teller. The story is interesting, the pacing quick, the writing good. (They provide an instrument to move the story ahead and that's it).All in all, I enjoyed "Zoe's Tale", though I had to put on my YA/MG mindset.
No real adult situations. From that point of view I have to say that I thought it held up very well. No real violence. however the emotional tone is simplistic, which is to say when people/Obin are dying no body's running amok tearing their hair out. For example, there are very interesting creatures that are introduced, made to look like they might be integral to the plot, but they aren't heard from again. The writing is fun and funny. **Above Average**Pam T~mom and reviewer for BooksforKids-reviews(1048)
There was a time when books were both expensive and rare. Zoe's Tale is a retelling of the story from The Last Colony, but from the point of view of the adopted teenage daughter of the main characters in The Lost Colony. This book just dragged and by the time I reached the middle, I realized I didn't care about the story or any of the characters. We are blessed to live in a world where there are many wonderful books to read. However, Heinlein started writing in the era of "pulp" science fiction and could generally write an engaging story. When I had read through half of Zoe's Take and the book was still tedious, I returned it to the friend who had lent it to me. There were few writers, there were no public libraries and people read, and reread, the classics. While The Lost Colony was not terribly memorable, at least it was readable.
I then picked up Charles Stross' The Family Trade (Merchant Princes), which I have enjoyed much more.Perhaps I didn't like the book because I am a middle aged man, not a teenager. The teenagers in the book seemed utterly boring to me and, perhaps, they were equally boring to Scalzi. John Scalzi seems to be heavily influenced by Robert Heinlein. Zoe's Tale was like reading a story that Heinlein had written after taking a tranquilizer.
And if you know your history, then you may see why calling the colony "Roanoke" is equivalent to calling it "Oh, yeah. She just has this tremendously appealing voice. However, those who haven't read THE LAST COLONY may feel that Scalzi glosses over those same key events. ZOE'S TALE runs parallel to the events that took place in The Last Colony, and Scalzi admits in the afterword that he wrote this novel mostly a) to address several plot holes in THE LAST COLONY that reader feedback had pointed out and b) because fans were clamoring for more Zoë, who is one of the most intriguing (and, in my opinion, underused) characters in THE LAST COLONY.Good news for folks already familiar with THE LAST COLONY, Scalzi doesn't indulge much in repetitive detail in ZOE'S TALE.
We're Fu@%&d-ville." Needless to say, things aren't all as they seem.Zoë Boutin-Perry is accompanied and bodyguarded by two intimidating extraterrestrials she had named Hickory and Dickory when she was very young. Somewhen in the future, Zoë Boutin-Perry inhabits a universe teeming with sentient alien races, and all these life forms are fighting over habitable, as yet uncolonized planets. The adopted daughter of John Perry and Jane Sagan, her life irrevocably changes (again) when the CDF (Colony Defense Forces) asks John and Jane (who are retired military) to forego their pastoral existence on their backwater world to instead head up a seed colony. John Scalzi graduated to my must-read list a while ago, never mind that he doesn't yet have a lot of books under his belt. She just wants to hang out with her equally sarcastic best friend and also daydream about her boyfriend or maybe teach her scary bodyguards to sing in a hootenanny. Off the top of my head, in recent years, only David Gerrold's Starsiders trilogy, John Varley's Red Thunder, and Steven Gould's Jumper: A Novel have come this close. This is when the coming-of-age aspect really impacts the reader, when Zoë discovers the true measure of the Obin's devotion.
So the tone is different, and it feels like a different story, even if Scalzi more or less covers the same events.Zoë has a unique life. This works out pretty well in reading ZOE'S TALE because I found myself pleasantly surprised at some unfolding event which I'd forgotten. She just wants to be Zoë, and not Goddess of the Obin or whatever.It's been a while since I read THE LAST COLONY, so the plot points have dimmed a bit. Zoë is a 17-year-old girl, whip-smart and very sarcastic, and her priorities differ drastically from those of John Perry, the main character in THE LAST COLONY. He introduces the overlapping moments and then veers off into unexplored territory. But I'd always been intrigued with Zoë and am happy as pig in slop that Scalzi chose to revisit the up-against-it Roanoke colony thru her teen-centric perspective. We learn what went down with Zoë when she was "off-camera" in THE LAST COLONY. A crucial element in the Obin's peace treaty with the Colonial Union is that two of the Obin be allowed to live with Zoë and to record her as she grew up.
John and Jane agree, and off they and Zoë and their extended family go to an unknown planet called Roanoke. Zoë being the only living link the Odin have to their benefactor, she is revered by them. I think these passages, in the last quarter of the book, demonstrate Scalzi's ability to write extremely powerful, emotionally wrenching scenes within the framework of high adventure. ZOE'S TALE is the fourth entry in what was supposed to be only a trilogy in Scalzi's Old Man's War series, and, although not touted as such, this one feels more like Young Adult sci-fi, and it is a riveting read. But most of the key moments happen when she finds herself going it alone.
We follow her starting from just before she and her family leave the planet of Huckleberry and then on to her adventures on Roanoke, a colony which, by the way, was promptly abandoned by the Colonial Union, leaving the frantic settlers to fend for themselves. There isn't a false note anywhere. And, as much as I like David Rice (protagonist in JUMPER), if forced to choose, I'd rather catch up with Zoë Boutin-Perry anyday. Seventeen years old now, Zoë begins to rebel against being the subject of such idolization. Still, my two cents is that even if you haven't read the companion novel, ZOE'S TALE still manages to tell a complete stand-alone story.So, yeah, this is a rehashing, and yet it works primarily because of the central protagonist, who we get to know as she tells her tale in first person narrative.
This book has wit, is accessible and so very readable, and, yeah, I'm reminded of that feel-good Golden Age of sci-fi literature. Hickory and Dickory are Obin, a wicked scary alien race which was granted self-awareness by Zoë's now dead biological father (who was something of a mad scientist). Thru Zoë's life experiences, the Obin hope to learn what it is like to live. And Scalzi also manages to fill in those plot holes, namely what happened to the werewolves and also the backstory behind the deux-ex-machina nature of that final action sequence in THE LAST COLONY (re: the sapper device).Folks are comparing ZOE'S TALE to Heinlein's classic juvenile works, and I can see why. Or maybe it's 'cause she rocks that snarky attitude.
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