The Last Colony

I liked that this third book in the series takes us back to the protagonist of Old Man's War (John Perry) and characters from the second book (Jane Sagan and Zoe). We follow the characters in the process of starting a new colony in another planet: Roanoke. I think John Perry has always been my favourite character because of his human traits. I missed some more development about the race inhabiting the planet: it seems it could develop into a main plot issue, but it's totally forgotten at some point. There are some interesting discussions about the costs of war, colonization rights and genocide in the name of peace. These themes are never explored too deeply, making it a light read overall.

This book continues the trend of fleshing out the universe of Old Man's War and the ending opens up opportunities that make me excited for the rest of the books in the series but I kind of found this one to be slower and not as fun as the other two books. I'll probably continue the rest of the series in the future though.

I've enjoyed both the previous books in this series, and the third was pretty much just what I expected. Scalzi's books read like an Sci-Fi action movie, and I'm honestly amazed there hasn't been any sort of film based on this series yet, possibly directed by Joss Whedon. The human drama is perfectly balanced against the epic space war and would by all rights be a rocking flick.

It's not a flick, though, it's a novel, and it has its faults. Scalzi still overuses the “said” speech tag to a distracting level, and I tend to speed-read the dialogue so I don't process the tags. The dialogue is incredibly clever, though, so I'll forgive that. This book also has a very different theme from the first two, which I thought had a lot to do with what “age” means relative to experience. The Last Colony takes a big leap away from that, and I don't get the sense that John Perry is 88 or that Jane Sagan is 16. They've both stopped showing their ages so much and act mostly like any other middle-aged couple.

That said, they are another pair for my short list of successful, effective married couples, so that's nice.

The theme of this book is much more about parenting and balancing honesty with safety. We get the microcosm of this with John, Jane, and Zoe as they try to protect their daughter who may be better equipped to handle things than they expect. This expands to John and Jane taking care of the colony and limiting the information they give to colonists, sometimes at great cost. Then the Colonial Unions information stranglehold on the colonies all the way back to Earth. Scalzi seems to be making the statement that with-holding information, though often necessary, always has consequences. I don't think he's blanket-stating: inform everyone of everything every time, but he does say that people have a right to make their own decisions and need all the information available to make the best ones. I certainly appreciate that theme.

Scalzi is always a nice break for me from heavier literature, and The Last Colony didn't let me down. It was fast-paced, action-packed, and bitingly clever. The characters are likable if not the most multi-dimensional, and everything ends with satisfying closure while still leaving room to go back. That's how I like my series. I don't have the fourth book yet, though I'll without a doubt acquire it eventually. Scalzi's world is always a fun place to spend a slow weekend.

There's an easy brilliance to the OMW series that I think shines at its best in Last Colony. At any moment you may feel like you're reading a light novel with snappy dialog and a straightforward plot. The phrase ‘beach reading' May even flit through your mind. But the. You'll realize that these characters are green super soldiers, alien generals with eye stalks and emotionless guardians of a teenage girl. Then it strikes you that the themes aren't just love and family and such but also war and oppression and politics and the meaning of being human. And that's when you realize that Scalzi is a devilish little genius with a clever plan behind his smile. I believe and fervently hope he uses his powers for good.

Executive Summary: Another fun, quick read in the Old Man's War seriesAudio book: As must as I enjoy Wil Wheaton for Mr. Scalzi's other books, I think William Dufris is a great fit for this series. This is especially true with the return of John Perry as the protagonist.Full ReviewIf you look at my read shelf, you'll see that I read a lot more fantasy than science fiction. I think if I was aware of more sci-fi like this series, I'd probably read a lot more.I've read several books by Mr. Scalzi, but the Old Man's war books have been my favorite, and this is the best of the series so far. The previous two have read more like stand alone, but this one really builds on elements and characters established in the previous books.This once again blends action, politics and humor to make for a really enjoyable read. This time instead of being with the regular army or the elite ghost brigades, we get a view of colony life, through the eyes of some familiar characters.As much as I enjoyed [b:The Ghost Brigades 239399 The Ghost Brigades (Old Man's War, #2) John Scalzi https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1391051274s/239399.jpg 18279845], I really found myself missing John Perry. It was nice to have another book from his perspective.There is even more politics in this one we start with small scale (local colony) politics and move to larger scale with the Colonial Union as well as galactic politics with other species. For some reason despite not liking real world politics, I find them the most enjoyable part of many sci-fi and fantasy books.That isn't to say this book is completely without action, but it certainly takes a back seat to the politics in this one.Coming in around 10 hours this is a really quick read/listen but didn't feel rushed or too short. I look forward to listening to the next two books in the series.

Part 3 of the John Scalzi Old Man's War series carries the torch quite well, delivering a good story, advancing/developing the characters we meet and ones we've come to enjoy in the previous 2 books.

Very briefly, this is a continuation of the story with John Perry and Jane Sagan as the primary protagonists. They've settled down as colonists on a human planet when the United Defense Force comes calling. Along the way, they are tricked and cornered. Scalzi continues his excellent way of telling stories, infusing suspense, action, and humor while producing a story that ends up feeling satisfyingly deep and nuanced.

If you haven't read any of these, definitely start with Old Man's War (which is first in the series) before moving on to The Ghost Brigades prior to picking up this one. Those are both 5-star reads, so it's worth the time and effort. This is a good series to invest your time.

In this third book in the Old Man's War series we now find John Perry and Jane Sagan following their time in military service and, along with their adopted daughter Zoë, now living as colonists on an established Colonial Union colony planet. They are living a peaceful farming life but that will soon end when they are contacted by a military officer from the Colonial Union and tagged to become the leaders setting up a new human colony on the planet named Roanoke. What will be different about the new colony is that its 2500 colonists will be made up of members from other established rival CU colony worlds and not from Earth. To make things even more interesting, 400 alien races have joined together to form the Conclave of planets and have made it clear that they will not allow any other race that is not part of the Conclave to form any new colonies. When John and Jane decide to accept the challenge of starting the new colony they will find that the CU has not been completely honest with them about the world they are being sent to or about the Conclave and its activities. They will soon find themselves caught in the middle of an interstellar conflict and with their colony on Roanoke at the center of that conflict. Like the previous two novels in the series there are many twists and turns with lots of action, making this another page-turner.