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John Scalzi's The Last Colony
John Scalzi, one of my favorite new SF writers, is out on tour. For some reason, said tour couldn't bring him to Chicago, but thanks to the magic of Amazon.com, a copy of his latest book, The Last Colony
, showed up on my doorstep.
The Last Colony is the third and (for a time at least) final book set in the universe first explored in Old Man's War. Although it is a sequel, and stars several characters from the previous books, I think there's enough separation so that folks new to the series can catch up.
The plot is simple enough. The Colonial Union, the authoritarian ruler of humanity, wants to establish a colony on a new world, Roanoke. Unlike previous colonies, which were founded directly from Earth, they are allowing other colonized worlds to send people. Which leads to a decision to ask John Perry and Jane Sagan, former soldiers who are now married, to lead the colony.
Choosing former soldiers as leaders makes a lot of sense in the Old Man's War universe. There are hundreds of sentient, colonial species, all of whom are at war with each other over colonizable worlds. So not only do colonists face the dangers of an unknown world, but any of a hundred alien species could drop in and wipe out the colony.
Unfortunately for Perry and Sagan, but fortunate for the reader, the Colonial Union is simply not playing straight with anybody, human or alien. This fact promptly gets the colonists into massive trouble, and very nearly wiped out on several occasions. This makes for an entertaining read, especially considering Scalzi's wry and fast-paced writing style.
As the third book of a trilogy, the novel wraps up a lot of the open threads of this universe. One of the key criticisms of the previous books was that it was unclear if the Colonial Union was a good or a bad government, especially as its characters were off slaughtering aliens by the planetload. In this book, we finally get the information needed to make that judgment. Not only that, but some characters act on that information, in surprising ways.
The Last Colony is less overtly a military SF piece then the previous books, which in my view makes it better then its predecessors. It's also both a fitting cap to the previous books and a great standalone read. I highly recommend The Last Colony.
, showed up on my doorstep. The Last Colony is the third and (for a time at least) final book set in the universe first explored in Old Man's War. Although it is a sequel, and stars several characters from the previous books, I think there's enough separation so that folks new to the series can catch up.
The plot is simple enough. The Colonial Union, the authoritarian ruler of humanity, wants to establish a colony on a new world, Roanoke. Unlike previous colonies, which were founded directly from Earth, they are allowing other colonized worlds to send people. Which leads to a decision to ask John Perry and Jane Sagan, former soldiers who are now married, to lead the colony.
Choosing former soldiers as leaders makes a lot of sense in the Old Man's War universe. There are hundreds of sentient, colonial species, all of whom are at war with each other over colonizable worlds. So not only do colonists face the dangers of an unknown world, but any of a hundred alien species could drop in and wipe out the colony.
Unfortunately for Perry and Sagan, but fortunate for the reader, the Colonial Union is simply not playing straight with anybody, human or alien. This fact promptly gets the colonists into massive trouble, and very nearly wiped out on several occasions. This makes for an entertaining read, especially considering Scalzi's wry and fast-paced writing style.
As the third book of a trilogy, the novel wraps up a lot of the open threads of this universe. One of the key criticisms of the previous books was that it was unclear if the Colonial Union was a good or a bad government, especially as its characters were off slaughtering aliens by the planetload. In this book, we finally get the information needed to make that judgment. Not only that, but some characters act on that information, in surprising ways.
The Last Colony is less overtly a military SF piece then the previous books, which in my view makes it better then its predecessors. It's also both a fitting cap to the previous books and a great standalone read. I highly recommend The Last Colony.