One thing that you have to be aware of about this book is that it's a retelling of the last book in the series from the perspective of Zoe Boutin Perry rather than Administrator John Perry. That's the difference between this book and the previous one in the series, The Last Colony, and that's all it is. It isn't the story of Zoe's life before or after the events in the previous book. That defines and constrains the story, and for those of you you have already read the book, it will be the book's greatest weakness.

In deciding whether to buy this book, the reader faces the same paradoxes and problems that come up when deciding whether to buy a special edition DVD. Sure, you watched it before and liked it, but did you like it enough to buy it again and go through it all one more time?

While tending to be more self-contained than the other Old Man's War novels, it doesn't really tell the story of Zoe's life, despite what the title suggests. I would have liked to see what happens to her for a few more chapter after the end of The Last Colony. Instead, Zoe's Tale ends even before the point where The Last Colony did.

The portrayal of events from Zoe's perspective often seems contrived. She's constantly underfoot, spying on and witnessing the same events told, and she's constantly going on secret adventures that mirror the adventures of the adults.

At points, her own personality shines through, such as in the teaser opening, which is a treat, but most of the time it's just a rewritten version of what you've probably already read by this point, with the addition of lots of mooning over the boy Enzo. There are a few additional anecdotes, but nothing too substantial. All the additional narrative could have probably gone into a short story, like the other short stories

I think this book could really have benefited from being written by a guest author, someone new to the series. John Scalzi's writing style just isn't varied and versatile enough to make the same material interesting twice. That's a shame.

I'm not saying you shouldn't read it. After spending three previous books with the Old Man's War universe, I felt fond enough of the characters and the universe to plow through this one too, for the sake of completion. But I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't read the previous books before. That's where the strength of this one lies, probably; It'd be a good introduction to the series for people who haven't read any of it yet.