Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.35 You Save: $21.60 (87%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Zoe's Tale
Book Review: POV means everything in a story . . .
Summary: 4 Stars
I stopped only a few pages into Scalzi's latest, thinking to myself, "I've read this story before." But I knew it was also a brand-new book. Only one thing to do: Cheat and read the author's Afterword first. Where I discovered I was both right and wrong. This is indeed the same story that was told in The Last Colony -- but from a different perspective and with some essential information added. John Perry and Jane Sagan, late of the Colonial Union's military forces and now semi-retired low-level bureaucrats on a bucolic colony planet, have adopted young Zoë Boutin, biological daughter of the man who provided artificial consciousness to the Obin, one of the many hundreds of species filling our part of the galaxy. This makes Zoë very special indeed to all the Obin; in fact, her welfare is a significant part of the peace treaty between the Obin and humanity, and she has two Obin bodyguards whose job is to keep her safe. Then John and Jane are recruited to lead the settlement of a new colony of a special character, and Zoë, now fifteen (I think) has to set about making new friends and dealing with a new home. Of course, the Colonial Union, being controlled as it is by the worst sort of politicians, hasn't told the settlers of Roanoke anything about the real reasons they were sent there, nor why they're being set up as bait, nor why they're worth more as dead symbols than as live settlers. And it's eventually down to Zoë to upset the CU's applecart and save her family and friends. Because this is Zoë telling the story in first person (the same story, more or less, that was told by her parents in the previous book),we learn a lot more about certain events and gloss over certain other things that we witnessed in much more detail from her parents' point of view. We also hear it all in Zöe's intelligent and precocious, but still adolescent voice, so that the whole thing comes across somewhat like a very well written Heinlein-style juvenile. Can't say fairer than that. Reading the two books a year apart allows you to forget and then re-learn much of the detail, which is why I would not recommend reading them back to back. But Scalzi is one of the best sf writers working these days and you definitely should read both of them.Book Review: Perhaps his best yet !
Summary: 5 Stars
Perhaps his best yet! This book was an unexpected treat, and he's not only come up with yet another surprising twist and extension of the series, he's managed to pull off two amazing feats of writer craftsmanship -- a parallel story and using a teenage girl as the lead -- and both wind up helping the story!
The book's lead character is Zoe, who was a significant character in the Last Colony and is given a lot more heart and characterzation and her own plotline in this one. This book should be read after the earlier works as it would be somewhat a spoiler for the plot twists in Ghost Brigades and Last Colony if you read this one first, and since it would be fine on it's own but seems like I appreciated this one more having the background from the others clear and could really focus on enjoying the new plot and the writers craftsmanship.
This book was an unexpected treat as I'd thought he was finished with the Old Man's War series or at least taking a break. The first book was a surprising new author and novel concepts, and the next two both extended the same universe and did a lot of amazing plot twists. But I'd thought he had used up all the novelty and play of technology consequences and strategic twists and main characters and maybe was at the end of the series or at least for a while. Instead, he comes back to the tale of Zoe, and managed to reveal more plot twists and strategic bits were going on at the same time, and really tell Zoe's story amazingly well.
Book Review: Satisfying finishing touch on the "Old Man's War" series
Summary: 5 Stars
"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.
Book Review: Snarky, spunky, and surprising; Zöe is AWESOME!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Zoe's Tale was my first foray into the Old Man's War universe, so the first chapter, which references several characters and places with which I was unfamiliar, confused me a bit. But I was so drawn in by Zöe's narration that the fact that I was an outsider in the story didn't bother me. Zöe is snarky and spunky; I loved watching her break up a fight using only words. Scalzi's impressive writing style effectively captures the 1st person POV of a sixteen-year-old girl!
Confessional: I was tempted to give this novel one star and nitpick on it (there is, for example, a misprint on page 109), just to see Scalzi go all "Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded" on it. But I resisted the temptation, because Zöe deserves all five of those little stars!
Book Review: So this is what teenage girls go through!
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes, it's just a continuation of TLC (The Lost Colony) but it also reveals a few things that were Not in TLC or were glossed over, overall, a very good companion to TLC.
For me, this is just another example of John Scalzi's great writing ability, not just to write a interesting story but to have a "surprise" for you (don't tell me you figured out the ending in any of his previous books!), in addition, this is another example of this writers ability to create characters that you can feel and care for.
You could say this is a "chick story" and well, yes, since it's from the perspective of a female teenager and if you're a bit sexiest, you may not enjoy a "female" hero (get the book, read it and get over it)
Zoe's Tale also set's up a few continuation plots for Zoe or Jane or John Perry (or all three). I for one look forward to more books from this writer. Just enough character building, action, sensitivity without all the filler of preaching or grandstanding on some personal crusade.
For me, he is a rising star in the SCI-FI genre and we need some more then ever, the old "ones" are dying.