Zoe's Tale

This seems to be a retelling of the events in [book:The Lost Colony] from Zoe's point of view. There are a few details that weren't told (or happened off-stage) in that book, but not enough to hold my attention. Did someone say, “Hey, Scalzi? You gotta write a Young Adult novel, man!” at some point? Blah.

A sarcastic teenage girl tells an Old Man's War. Ugh.

Scalzi does a great job capturing the voice of a teenage girl. That's great writing... but Gilmore Girls in space is not my thing.

Just a Young Adult version of “The Last Colony”, completely unnecessary.

What can I tell you about Zoe's Tale other than the fact that I loved it and that you should definitely read it? I suppose I could tell you why right?

First of all the best part about Zoe's Tale is Zoe herself. A sarcastic, witty, intelligent girl I couldn't help but think if that her story was told by someone else with only half her charm the story would not have snared me quite as effectively. Zoe felt so real and she was so likable that I wish that I could meet her in person. I've never read a character so self-aware and honest with herself that I have to give props to Mr. Scalzi for writing a teenage girl so well. Read more

A very good twice told tale.

This was a very good addition to The Last Colony. It was refreshing to see things through another perspective other than John and Janes.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has ventured into the Old Mans War universe.

I put off reading this book for a really long time. I wanted to finish the OMW series, but honestly I liked each book a little less than the previous one, and seeing as this one was a retelling of my not so favorite installment told in the first person from the perspective of a teenage girl, a Chosen One teenage girl no less, I didn't think it would be my favorite in the series.

It's my favorite in the series.

Scalzi pulls off Zoe's voice with a skill I honestly didn't know he had in him. I think the fact that our narrator is a teenage girl and thus does a lot of internal monologuing helps limit his tendency to over-speech tag that that usually gets on my nerves. Zoe's Tale cleans up a lot of dangling plot points from Last Colony and adds an extremely different perspective on the events we do see. Scalzi has used Zoe as a tool and a plot point in this series as much as the Obin do, and this volume really gave her a chance to become a real character.

The real reason I'm giving this book a five though is that it dragged my emotions in every way possible. Maybe it's just that I'm having a rough week and kinda ready to cry on a dime, but I cried twice in this book during events that didn't make me bat an eyelash on Last Colony. The funny bits were hilarious, the sad bits were gut-wrenching, and the exciting bits were heart-pumping. There were some notable moments of cheese (Singing...? Really...?) but I have a deep abiding love of cheese, so I'll let that go.

If Last Colony disappointed you, definitely give Zoe's Tale a chance to make up for it. It is well worth your time.

When I realized that this book would be retelling the Lost Colony from a different viewpoint, I feared that it would be boring - along the lines of “I've read this story before... zzz”. Congratulations to the author for keeping it interesting - and for managing to give the viewpoint of a teenage girl as well as he did.

This isn't a spoiler, because it really has nothing to do with the plot. I think I found a minor discrepancy: at the end of the book, Magdy kisses Zoe on the cheek and it is mentioned that it was a remarkable first . . . but he had kissed her on the cheek once before.

Executive Summary: Easily the weakest in the series so far, but the second half of this book makes up for the slow start. 3.5 Stars rounded up.Audio book: The audio is fine. It makes sense that they switched to a female narrator instead of William Dufris. Tavia Gilbert makes me feel like I'm listening to a teenager. I'm not sure that's a good thing, but it certainly fits the narrative. This is a series that works well in audio, and this one is no different.Full ReviewI've dragged my feet on listening to this one. I liked [b:The Last Colony 88071 The Last Colony (Old Man's War #3) John Scalzi https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406858062s/88071.jpg 18279847] fine, but not so much that I really wanted to read it again from Zoe's perspective. I was unwilling to skip it though before continuing on with the series, so I finally pulled the trigger.I'm happy to report, that Mr. Scalzi does a good job of writing a companion novel. He goes into detail on things that were minor plot points in the original novel, and leaves major plot points as minor details in this one. If you haven't read Last Colony first, this book wouldn't be nearly as good.As I was never a teen-aged girl, I can't speak to how well Mr. Scalzi captures that voice. I've heard complaints that he doesn't do a very good job. I have no complaints, but your mileage may vary.My major issue was I felt like the first half of the book was slow. Things picked up eventually, but I didn't find it as fun as the first three in the series. Instead of the politics and military stuff, there is a lot more of teenager's problems. Relationships with friends and dating. It's not really my cup of tea.But Mr. Scalzi always writes pretty fast paced stories, and the humor is still pretty good. If you're a completionist like I am, you'll want to read this, and should enjoy it fine. If you're on the fence about reading it, I'd say you can probably skip it without issue. Or so it seems without having read [b:The Human Division 15698479 The Human Division (Old Man's War, #5) John Scalzi https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1341582413s/15698479.jpg 21356077]. It does fill in some much needed details about Zoe's actions at the end of Last Colony, and for that alone I think it's worth reading.

This book is really well written and perfectly complements the second and third books in the series. I suppose that it could be read as a stand-alone like the others, but I think it would leave more questions since it glosses over many events that are major plot points in the other books. I now cannot imagine reading [b:The Last Colony 88071 The Last Colony (Old Man's War, #3) John Scalzi http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312021759s/88071.jpg 18279847] without reading this book with it.

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A middle aged man writing (poorly) from the perspective of a teenage girl is just about the last thing I want to read.

Zoe on John Perryn adoptiotytär. John Perry taas on Old Man's War -kirjan avaruussotien veteraani. Mokasin kirjavalinnassa sen verran, että Zoe's Tale on viimeisin neljästä Old Man's Warin maailmaan sijoittuvasta kirjasta, enkä ole välissä ilmestyneitä lukenut, mutta eipä tuo mainittavammin lukukokemusta pilannut.

Tarina kertoo siirtokunnasta, jonka johtajaksi John Perry on valittu. Siirtokunta on poikkeuksellinen, sillä sen asukkaat eivät tule Maasta vaan muista ihmisten siirtokunnista. Se on ensimmäinen siirtokuntien siirtokunta ja siksi erikoistapaus. Erikoista on siirtokunnan alkukin, sillä heti prologissa selviää, että matkalla jokin menee pieleen — mutta sitten lukija heitetäänkin muistelemaan menneitä.

Zoe ei ole ihan tavanomainen 17-vuotias teinityttö. Hänen isänsä kehitti tietoisuuden obineille, avaruusolioiden rodulle, ja sen johdosta obinit suorastaan jumaloivat Zoea. Zoe on itse asiassa keskeinen pykälä obinien ja ihmisten välisessä sopimuksessa... Vähempikin riittää pistämään teinitytön sekaisin.

Zoen vaiheet Roanoken siirtokunnassa ovat värikkäitä ja kiinnostavia. Toisaalta kirjaan mahtuu normaalia teinihöpsötystä, jonka vuoksi Zoe's Tale mielletään toisinaan nuortenkirjaksi. Miksei niinkin, mutta kyllä kirja aikuiselle scifin ystävälle toimii aivan oivallisesti. Tarina on vetävä ja teinipäähenkilöt siedettäviä.

Zoe's Talelle oivallinen kumppani on sarjan kolmas osa, The Last Colony, joka kertoo itse asiassa saman tarinan, vain toisesta näkökulmasta. Scalzi kommentoi Zoe's Talen lopussa, että tällaisen rinnakkaistarinan kirjoittaminen saattaa tuntua helpolta, mutta itse asiassa oli vaikeinta mitä Scalzi on kirjallisella urallaan tehnyt. Täytyypä tutustua The Last Colonyynkin, konsepti ainakin on mielenkiintoinen. (14.1.2011)

Creo que pocos autores son capaces de hacerte reir hasta en la sección de Agradecimientos. Creo también que son pocos los autores con capacidad para contarte la misma historia en paralelo y terminar disfrutándola con la misma intensidad. Mierda, si se le ocurriría escribir la versión de Hickory o Dickory estaría dispuesto a leerla. Mis más sinceros respetos a John Scalzi. Se ha convertido rápidamente en uno de mis autores favoritos de Ciencia Ficción.

En esta cuarta entrega de la saga La Vieja Guardia, se cuentan los eventos ocurridos en La colonia perdida desde la perspectiva de Zoë. Algunos puntos del libro anterior son aclarados como: ¿qué pasó con los hombres lobo de Roanoke?, ¿cómo consiguió Zoë el campo extractor de manos de los consu?

Tenía mis dudas antes de empezarlo pero valió la pena cada capítulo del libro. Excelente.

If you've read John Scalzi's “The Last Colony” then this will be a rehash of that tale. However, now we live that story through the eyes of John and Jane's adopted teenage daughter Zoe. Even though I knew the outcome of the tale I found Zoe's teenage perspective interesting and the banter between her and her other teenage friends often amusing. This story has many emotionally uplifting and sad parts as well. And, Scalzi filled in some gaps that were missing from the original story. Now we learn more about the “werewolf” species that killed some members of the Roanoke colony. Now we know what happened when Zoe was sent away from the Roanoke colony on a mission to meet with the Conclave leader General Gau. My only slight criticism is that Zoe comes across a bit OP at times. I had put this book aside for a bit while I delved into some horror novels, but when I returned to the book, I ripped right through it. So, I recommend it for anyone following the “Old Man's War” series.

This is basically the same story as told in the previous installment of the series, only from a different perspective. And IMHO it shifts to a kind of young-adult book which is slightly disappointing. The storytelling is good, as usually with Scalzi, and the language is witty. However, it feels pretty bland and almost entirely uninteresting for someone coming from the previous book. The only real info we get is a more in-depth description of the Obin race. It could have been a short-story instead.