[BOTM] - SERIES PICK - Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi

[Anna]

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

Book 4 of the Old Man's War Series, Zoe's Tale by author John Scalzi is our SERIES PICK for the month of September.



"How do you tell your part in the biggest tale in history?

I ask because it's what I have to do. I'm Zoe Boutin Perry: A colonist stranded on a deadly pioneer world. Holy icon to a race of aliens. A player (and a pawn) in a interstellar chess match to save humanity, or to see it fall. Witness to history. Friend. Daughter. Human. Seventeen years old.

Everyone on Earth knows the tale I am part of. But you don't know my tale: How I did what I did — how I did what I had to do — not just to stay alive but to keep you alive, too. All of you. I'm going to tell it to you now, the only way I know how: not straight but true, the whole thing, to try make you feel what I felt: the joy and terror and uncertainty, panic and wonder, despair and hope. Everything that happened, bringing us to Earth, and Earth out of its captivity. All through my eyes.

It's a story you know. But you don't know it all..."

Are you reading Zoe's Tale? Shout it out in the comments thread below to find out who else is reading it and discuss what you think about the book. Just remember to be kind ...use the spoiler .html (view spoiler)[so you don't ruin the fun for other people (hide spoiler)] or open your own spoiler-filled discussion thread in the Book Buddies Club folder located w-a-y at the bottom of the main community page where you can discuss the book in spoilery goodness.

[Anna]

John wrote: "I went to look at Zoe's Tale at Amazon, thinking about buying it, and the preview is a really bad photocopy. It's almost a cliché of bad photocopying and I am wondering if that's deliberate for s..."

I just checked John. Yes ... the paperback version looks yucky. But if you go to the Kindle edition page to look at that preview it's nice and crisp (though displayed in 10-point type which I imagine you'll want to size up). HERE: http://www.amazon.com/Zoes-Tale-John-...

[Tom]

I'm about 80 percent of the way through it and am enjoying it. It fleshes out Zoe's story and that of the Roanoke colony. I must say I prefer The Last Colony though. Zoe's Tale reads like a young adult novel, focusing on Zoe's life and her relationships while Last Colony focuses more on the colony and the Machiavellian interactions between the Colonial Union and the alliance they are up against.

[Rion]

@Tom: I'm glad I'm not the only one. I honestly thought that John Scalzi's daughter had written this one. I was bored throughout most of the book because it was basically just a retelling of The Last Colony in a young female perspective. Very creative on Scalzi's part and it really showed that he had more range than I'd thought. It's almost like he was harassing his daughter Athena all the time while writing this book asking her for pointers on what it's like to be a teenage girl. I can't remember how many parts of the story were actually new. I remember three for sure. There was more elaboration of the voyage to Roanoke, there was more added to the whole werewolf hunt and the species as a whole was fleshed out more, (view spoiler)[and the ending added a new journey off world that helped flesh out the end events in The Last Colony. (hide spoiler)]

[Tom]

Rion wrote: "It's almost like he was harassing his daughter Athena all the time while writing this book asking her for pointers on what it's like to be a teenage girl."

I can definitely see that!

I just finished it and was really impressed with the ending. It tied a bog bow on a relationship that, while discussed previously, had not received the focus of attention that it deserved.

I also liked the new scene with the werewolves that you mentioned. It highlighted Zoe's skills as a negotiator, skills she would need in the future. I do have a problem with the fact that she didn't tell John/Jane about it. Knowledge of what happened would have had a huge impact on relations between the colonists and the werewolves.

[Michel]

Too much YA for me in this book. I think this was the worst in the Old Man's War series Scalzi. Actually, this made me quit reading Scalzi at all, but I guess I need to pick up Redshirts soon.

[Tom]

Michel wrote: "Too much YA for me in this book."

I think I've been vaccinated. I've been reading to my daughters for 18 years now and have apparently built up a tolerance. Fortunately, their tastes have matured.

[Ryan]

Scalzi says in the author's note that his daughter was 9 when he was writing this book, so Zoe is not based on her. Rather, he asked women he knows what they remember of their teenage years.