Book Review: The Last Colony
Before I begin, I should put a small disclaimer on this. I really like John Scalzi. And I'm not the only one in the DCBA. I'm just saying that as a fan, I may be a little more lenient on him that I should be. Not that the whole review will be slanted, mind you, I'm just making you aware that I have gobbled up every one of Scalzi's books (with the exception of Agent to the Stars and the limited The Sagan Diary) thus far, and I plan to continue to do so. Anyway, on with the review.
Disclaimer 2: There might be some spoilers in here, especially for those who haven't read Old Man's War or The Ghost Brigades.
The Last Colony purports to be the final chapter in the 'Old Man's War' Trilogy (would the Sagan Trilogy be a better name?), and it certainly lives up to the task. As always, I found this Scalzi venture a fun read, as well as action packed. This time, John Perry and Jane Sagan are husband and wife, living with an adopted daughter and her bodyguards on a colony, peacefully living their lives, when they get asked to be the leaders of a new colony. That gets them thrown into a whole new world of trouble (literally!).
The characterizations are pretty spot on, and I am sad to see the main characters go. I am not sure we got inside Perry's head as much as we did during OMW, or Jane's during TGB, but nonetheless we get a good sense of who these people are.
The book is a quick read at 300 pages, and frankly, it could have been twice as long, or even split into two books. I say that because sometimes it feels rushed. Months pass by in a couple of pages, and I would have liked to see life on the new colony unfold in a little more detailed manner. There's enough action to satisfy the Saganverse fan, but I felt the strength of the book was in the parts that focused on the life on the colony and the interaction between the other colonists besides the Perry household.
Brevity besides, The Last Colony is a great read, and has some real plot twists I couldn't figure out, which is rare for most Sci-Fi books I come across. There was one character that reminded me of a certain starship captain (or maybe a close parody of him), and I'm not sure that was intentional or not, it could just be my brain playing into that archetype.
All in all, if you've read the first two parts of the trilogy, The Last Colony is well worth it. And if you haven't, the Old Man's War mass market paperback
is out now, and so is the one for The Ghost Brigades
. Money well spent for any Sci-Fi fan.
Related links:
Disclaimer 2: There might be some spoilers in here, especially for those who haven't read Old Man's War or The Ghost Brigades.
The Last Colony purports to be the final chapter in the 'Old Man's War' Trilogy (would the Sagan Trilogy be a better name?), and it certainly lives up to the task. As always, I found this Scalzi venture a fun read, as well as action packed. This time, John Perry and Jane Sagan are husband and wife, living with an adopted daughter and her bodyguards on a colony, peacefully living their lives, when they get asked to be the leaders of a new colony. That gets them thrown into a whole new world of trouble (literally!).
The characterizations are pretty spot on, and I am sad to see the main characters go. I am not sure we got inside Perry's head as much as we did during OMW, or Jane's during TGB, but nonetheless we get a good sense of who these people are.
The book is a quick read at 300 pages, and frankly, it could have been twice as long, or even split into two books. I say that because sometimes it feels rushed. Months pass by in a couple of pages, and I would have liked to see life on the new colony unfold in a little more detailed manner. There's enough action to satisfy the Saganverse fan, but I felt the strength of the book was in the parts that focused on the life on the colony and the interaction between the other colonists besides the Perry household.
Brevity besides, The Last Colony is a great read, and has some real plot twists I couldn't figure out, which is rare for most Sci-Fi books I come across. There was one character that reminded me of a certain starship captain (or maybe a close parody of him), and I'm not sure that was intentional or not, it could just be my brain playing into that archetype.
All in all, if you've read the first two parts of the trilogy, The Last Colony is well worth it. And if you haven't, the Old Man's War mass market paperback
is out now, and so is the one for The Ghost Brigades. Money well spent for any Sci-Fi fan.Related links:
- My (really short!) review of Old Man's War
- My (longer) review of Scalzi's The Android's Dream
- Hube's post on Scalzi
- John Scalzi's personal blog, the Whatever
Labels: Book Review, Scalzi, Sci-Fi
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