The Last Colony
by John Scalzi
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Book Summary Information
Author: John ScalziEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-07-29
ISBN: 076535618X
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
Book Reviews of The Last Colony
Book Review: The perils of emigration
Summary: 5 Stars
The Last Colony is the conclusion of John Scalzi's science fiction trilogy that began with Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades. The first novel followed John Perry as he left Earth to become a super-soldier for the Colonial Defense Force and met Jane Sagan, the Special Forces soldier created from the genetic material of John's late wife. The Ghost Brigades, among other things hinted at the formation of an alliance of alien planets called the Conclave, that threatened to stop human colonization. In The Last Colony, the Conclave is fully formed and John will be tangled in a plot to stop this organization.
As the novel opens, John and Jane are living and working on a colony planet called Huckleberry, along with their adopted teenage daughter Zoe. Zoe, for reasons linked to The Ghost Brigades, is something of a goddess to a race called the Obin, and is watched over by a pair of the aliens known as Hickory and Dickory (named by Zoe when she was much younger). The two are offered a chance to lead and help establish a new colony to be called Roanoke.
Roanoke is special for a couple reasons. For one thing, unlike other human colonies that were populated solely by residents of Earth, Roanoke's colonists will come only from other colonies. In addition, as the first colony to be established after the founding of the Conclave, it is likely to be opposed by that alliance. In fact, soon John and Jane will find that Roanoke is to be a pawn in a dangerous game played by the Colonial Union.
First, the colonists find they have been sent to a different planet than expected, and once there, are completely cut off from the rest of the CU. This isolation is designed to keep them from being discovered by the Conclave. To make this isolation worse, the colonists cannot go home and cannot even use any significant technology. What's worse, this new planet was not fully surveyed, and contains another hostile intelligent race who are soon known as the werewolves. Eventually, the veil will be lifted as the CU plans a special attack on the Conclave, one that will have unexpected consequences.
All of which places John and Jane in a precarious situation, forced to play the CU's game even though they could die in the process. It becomes more and more apparent that the CU may represent humans, but does so by monopolizing the flow of people and information, a practice that threatens humanity almost as much as the Conclave.
Like its predecessors, The Last Colony is a good book, one that should delight fans as it brings John and Jane back. The only real flaw is the subplot with the werewolves, which Scalzi seems to more-or-less drop as the main story hits its full stride. Happily, this problem does not overly detract from the book's overall quality. While it should not be read as a standalone book, The Last Colony will please fans of his earlier works.
Summary of The Last Colony
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.
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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