I’m not an unreserved Scalzi fan overall, but I enjoy his work. This one is interesting – a parallel version of events in The Last Colony, explaining a bunch of things that happened from the perspective of Zoë, teenage adopted daughter of the heroes of the other “Old Man’s War” series. It holds together quite well as an independent novel, though. A lot of it revolves around Zoë’s peculiar relationship with the alien Obin – those who’ve actually read all the Old Man’s War series (which I found I hadn’t, actually) will know what I mean, and those who haven’t should get to enjoy the reveal. Zoë is a really engaging first-person narrator, the personal and political events are very well done, and I recommend the book.