I've reported previously on The Android's Dream and Old Man's War. The Last Colony continues the story of John Perry and his wife, Jane Sagan, from the latter novel (and also from The Ghost Brigades and Sagan's Diary, which I haven't read.In this one, Perry and Sagan are asked to head up a new colony on a planet called Roanoake. A huge alien alliance opposes allowing any more human colonies, and the colonists soon find that their own Colonial Union has tricked them and sent them to a different destination from the one they'd planned. They're on an unnamed planet where they can use only the most primitive of tools. There's a savage native race, that the colonists haven't been told about. And the double-crossing is only beginning.
This book has a lot going on. It's a survivalist novel, a political novel, and a space opera. For starters. Pretty soon The Fate of Humanity Hangs in the Balance. Old-fashioned in the best sense but up-to-date in the best sense, too. I'd certainly recommend it.
One old cranky English teacher complaint. I wish Scalzi wouldn't write "[Yoder] glanced up at Jane and I." And "But you're telling me that you chose Jane and I to lead Roanoake was because . . . ." Arrgggghhhh.
7 comments:
Fine novel. I came late to Mr. Scalzi, but I caught up fast.
He's going to be around for a long time, I think.
I didn't like Last Colony quite as much as Old Man's War, but I do consider myself a Scalzi fan. Good stuff.
VG
I liked the first book better, too, but this one was a lot of fun.
It was just this sort of grammatical lapse that just lost Scalzi the fanwriter Hugo. Never offend the Crider Ex-Prof Tendency. (And Damien Broderick is getting spoof spam in your name, in other news.)
Is good grammar required in dialogue?
I enjoyed OLD MAN'S WAR, and I guess you can skip directly to the third book in the trilogy because the second entry, GHOST BRIGADES, apparently has entirely new characters.
Only by old retired English teachers.
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