The Last Colony | 
 enlarge | Author: John Scalzi
Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  63 reviews
Sales Rank: 1285
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.4 x 1.2
ISBN: 076535618X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780765356185
ASIN: 076535618X
Publication Date: July 29, 2008
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Product Description
Retired from his fighting days, John Perry is now village ombudsman for a human colony on distant Huckleberry. With his wife, former Special Forces warrior Jane Sagan, he farms several acres, adjudicates local disputes, and enjoys watching his adopted daughter grow up.
That is, until his and Jane's past reaches out to bring them back into the game — as leaders of a new human colony, to be peopled by settlers from all the major human worlds, for a deep political purpose that will put Perry and Sagan back in the thick of interstellar politics, betrayal, and war.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 58 more reviews...
 Plots and hazards on a New Colony September 29, 2008
John Perry, the main character of the excellent _Old Man's War_, which kicks off this trilogy, has left the Colonial Defense Forces and is a colonial administrator (ombudsman) on a quiet farming colony with his wife, Jane Sagan (formerly of the Special Forces), and their adopted 13 year old daughter Zoe. General Rybicki, a man from Perry's past, arrives with a proposal that he and Jane lead a new colony that is being planned. After eight years of peaceful predictability, he's ready for a change.
Unfortunately, the new colony of Roanoke lives up to its namesake. Things go bizarrely wrong from the start, with hidden conditions and plans imposed on them by the Colonial Union. Hints about the way the Colonial Union controls information and has too much power over all of humanity point to problems that come to fruition in this book. Intrigues and plots have placed John in the position of both fall-guy and possibly the only savior in a situation that could lead down the road to the failure of mankind in space.
This book covers, briefly, life on an established colony, the planning and politics involved in a the colonization of a new world and the dangers from enemies in space (and betrayal by their own government) and natural hazards on the ground. Then there are the tricky decisions and maneuvers in order to deal with the huge threat to the entire Colonial Union.
These books can be read as stand-alones even though they have common characters, but why not start at the beginning, since they are all excellent books full of adventure and suspense? This is a universe with exciting tales that one wish would never end.
The Last Colony September 21, 2008
A good story. Guy just can't write them fast enough. Rushed the ending a little bit but overall a good job. Makes you hope this is not the end of the story.
The Last Colony September 16, 2008
The Last Colony
This book is the latest in John Scalzi's series of super humans, and while many have considered him the next Heinlein, that bit gets bandied around way too much. He is not the next Heinlein but he is an phenomenal writer. The Old Man's war series (This is book 3 of the series) is some of the best writing to come out of the "brat pack" of authors (Sagan, Scalzi, and Doctorow) that are setting down some of the newer riffs in modern science fiction writing.
The last colony is a book about love, hope, betrayal, and stubbornness, and how all of that will overcome the best laid machinations of government and military. When you promote someone and give them freedom of action to do something, never be surprised that they will work on their own agenda rather than yours.
The story starts off with the Hero John Perry and his wife Sagan are talked into leading a colony after the events in Old Mans War and Sagan's story in the Ghost Brigades. We also learn how Zoe (adopted daughter) has become the icon of an alien race without emotions, and how the starting to be teenage daughter deals with that, along with colonizing a new planet. Of course everything also goes wrong, the combined space races have declared a moratorium on new colonies without approval of the interstellar alliance. If you do they wipe out your colony from orbit, which is not the way that you want to end your day. The interesting part about this is the colonial defense group does not want to be part of the alliance, but along comes Perry and Sagan. And things do not end up the way that anyone expected them to be. While there is no planned follow up and Zoe's Tale is not yet available, this is one universe that is worth exploring, and hopefully Scalzi will continue the story because it is compelling, interesting, and just plain fun to read science fiction.
Rated this book 5 stars, this is a must purchase, but get the whole series, this is the 3rd in the series, and you will really want the background information.
The Last Colony September 16, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Last Colony
This book is the latest in John Scalzi's series of super humans, and while many have considered him the next Heinlein, that bit gets bandied around way too much. He is not the next Heinlein but he is an phenomenal writer. The Old Man's war series (This is book 3 of the series) is some of the best writing to come out of the "brat pack" of authors (Sagan, Scalzi, and Doctorow) that are setting down some of the newer riffs in modern science fiction writing.
The last colony is a book about love, hope, betrayal, and stubbornness, and how all of that will overcome the best laid machinations of government and military. When you promote someone and give them freedom of action to do something, never be surprised that they will work on their own agenda rather than yours.
The story starts off with the Hero John Perry and his wife Sagan are talked into leading a colony after the events in Old Mans War and Sagan's story in the Ghost Brigades. We also learn how Zoe (adopted daughter) has become the icon of an alien race without emotions, and how the starting to be teenage daughter deals with that, along with colonizing a new planet. Of course everything also goes wrong, the combined space races have declared a moratorium on new colonies without approval of the interstellar alliance. If you do they wipe out your colony from orbit, which is not the way that you want to end your day. The interesting part about this is the colonial defense group does not want to be part of the alliance, but along comes Perry and Sagan. And things do not end up the way that anyone expected them to be. While there is no planned follow up and Zoe's Tale is not yet available, this is one universe that is worth exploring, and hopefully Scalzi will continue the story because it is compelling, interesting, and just plain fun to read science fiction.
Rated this book 5 stars, this is a must purchase, but get the whole series, this is the 3rd in the series, and you will really want the background information.
 Completing a trilogy September 14, 2008
I liked the first of the series this book is the third in (Old Man's War) while thinking it a bit light. But the second (The Ghost Brigades) is wonderful - a well paced, plotted and interesting trip into the Universe introduced in Old Mans War.
But this third book doesn't live up to The Ghost Brigades. It's entertaining but not as creative or engaging and ends with a complete deus ex machina solution.
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