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Zoe's Tale
by John Scalzi (Goodreads Author)
by John Scalzi (Goodreads Author)
Natalie's review
bookshelves: sci-fi, ya, young-readers-for-all-ages
Mar 05, 11
bookshelves: sci-fi, ya, young-readers-for-all-ages
Read from February 26 to March 05, 2011
Looking back over this series and its characters who have kept me entertained these past several weeks, the most appropriate thing I can say is: "Thanks"!
This story in particular takes place in parallel time to John Scalzi's earlier The Last Colony. Scalzi' "tips his hat" to Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card and to Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead for their inspiration.
Then Scalzi acknowledges how writing a parallel time novel that does not, in vact, just lazily retell the story in a previous books is hard. Like the hardest thing I've done as a writer to this point.
What John Scalzi does in Zoe's Tale IS hard, and he does it well for which he should be commended. Each of these books also represents Scalzi's willingness to learn something new, to try something new. The series is a writerly accomplishment in character development and perspective alone! Scalzi is an author who does not shy away from gender, or age, or otherness, in his exploration of conciousness and what it means to be aware of it, to protect it, to nurture it.
This story in particular takes place in parallel time to John Scalzi's earlier The Last Colony. Scalzi' "tips his hat" to Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card and to Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead for their inspiration.
Then Scalzi acknowledges how writing a parallel time novel that does not, in vact, just lazily retell the story in a previous books is hard. Like the hardest thing I've done as a writer to this point.
What John Scalzi does in Zoe's Tale IS hard, and he does it well for which he should be commended. Each of these books also represents Scalzi's willingness to learn something new, to try something new. The series is a writerly accomplishment in character development and perspective alone! Scalzi is an author who does not shy away from gender, or age, or otherness, in his exploration of conciousness and what it means to be aware of it, to protect it, to nurture it.
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Reading Progress
| 03/03/2011 | page 204 |
|
64.0% | "Appreciating that Scalzi can write from anyone's point of view: women soldiers, retired men, civil servants, teenage girls, etc. Some characters are beter realized than others, but the interior voices & humour of all are rock solid. Quite remarkable!" |
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Jason
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rated it 5 stars
Feb 28, 2011 06:05am
Natalie - Just came across this on John Scalzi's blog...Old Man's War has been optioned for a movie: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/02/23...
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I will totally go buy a big popcorn and sit in the theater to see how they adapt the story to a screenplay -because the characters' humour and the interior dialogue of the brainpal(s) is so much a part of how John Scalzi pulls off such an outrageous story and keeps it entertaining! I wonder who they will cast as Jane? I guess Avatar paved the way for this in a big way? Jason wrote: "Natalie - Just came across this on John Scalzi's blog...Old Man's War has been optioned for a movie: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/02/23......"
Jason,I'm already with you on where Old Man's War falls on the continuum!
. . . I was thinking more in terms of whether the way Avatar was staged and whether their special effects would pave the way with producers and audiences for the Old Man's War adaptation?
The way Avatar used live-action actors rendered on the screen in different skin colors, dimensions, etc, but retained the actors ability to act emotionally and physically may have made Old Man's War seem more achievable on film?
Getting the Ghost Brigades characters and the transformation of the new recruits right seems like such an important part of the book to get right on film?
The way the recruits marvel in their new bodies is one of the the things about the book I would like to see well done on screen.
Maybe that's a less risky thing to produce now that audiences have more or less accepted Avatar ?
I should probably confess here that Avatar bugged me A L O T on a bunch of different levels, esp the derivative parts and the wanton way it borrowed from other films, especially Dinotopia (of all things!) That series's cinematography and effects staff has worked on so much since then that they appear to have tried out in Dinotopia.
That is one "boys" show that I will never regret watching as a mom, it has incredible scene making & animating and combination of live action and special effects!
Jason wrote: "I was just thinking about avatar.
Just for the record - Old Man's War came first. :-)"
I've the first in this series on my wishlist. I note that he wrote it when he was in his early 30's - so his empathic ability is def. important.
