John Scalzi’s THE LAST COLONY
February 3, 2013 at 12:05 pm 2 comments
I am doing my best not to devour this series as quickly as possible which is proving a huge challenge. The third book in the Old Man’s War series sees the return of John Perry, the hero of the first book. And like The Ghost Brigades Scalzi explores another aspect of the universe and future he has created; colonization.
John Perry has retired from the Colonial Defense Force (CDF) and has settled into his job as administrator of a colony on the planet Huckleberry with his wife and adopted daughter. After almost a decade of waging war Perry is enjoying the relative quiet life. But the universe is far from quiet and the Colonial Union, the government responsible for human activity in space, needs John to help establish a new colony on the planet of Roanoke.
I loved this storyline. The first two books have been about the Colonial Defense Force and their role defending human colonies from alien attacks. Now we get to see first hand how these colonies are established. But there is more than meets the eye and the colony Perry is trying to establishing is a pawn in a much bigger game. One that could see not only the end of colonization but the end of humanity.
Everything is far from black and white in Scalzi’s futuristic universe. Humanity’s place in the universe has been subtly questioned, by humans and aliens, in the first two books and is completely opened up in this book. The politics is intriguing and complicated and interspersed with Scalzi’s trademark humour and action. It was great to have John Perry back and we’ll see how long I can hold out before reading the next book.
ISBN: 9780765356185
Format: Paperback
Price: $11.15
Imprint: TOR
Price: $ 7.99
Publisher: Tor
ISBN: 9781743033388
Pages: 320
Format: EPUB
Entry filed under: Book Reviews. Tags: books, colonization, science fiction.
1.
DoingDewey | February 3, 2013 at 12:39 pm
I just read Scalzi’s Red Shirts and while the idea was awesome, I wasn’t too impressed by the execution. I’ve been hearing good things about Old Man’s War from everyone, so I might have to give him a second chance
2.
John Scalzi’s ZOE’S TALE | Bite The Book - Book Reviews and Industry Views | February 26, 2013 at 9:41 pm
[...] The Last Colony was a political thriller full of tension, action and knife-edge diplomacy. Zoe’s Tale is a coming of age story. It is about a teenager discovering the world is a much bigger place that she realised and that she must find her place in it. Add that story to a huge universe with multiple human colonies as well as alien species and I guarantee you haven’t read a book like this before. [...]