Zoe's Tale

Old Man's War, Book 4

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

Length: 10 hrs

Publisher's summary

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.

©2008 John Scalzi (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Another angle on a good story

This was an amazing retelling of the last colony and is good for the person who wants yo know every other detail which is me. But Tavia Gilbert should have listened to the other books because some things like races, names and other stuff she pronounced them in her own way. it was pretty irritating.

Hope there is another in the series soon!

Naturally I listened to this series out of order but thoroughly enjoyed it. He continues to surprise me with how attached I get to his characters.

Superb!!!

Cool fill in and backstory covering questions and gaps left in "The Last Colony". Have and will continue to recommend to others!!!!

Perfect Companion & Completion of "Last Colony"

"Zoe's Tale" is the retelling and fill-in of events from "The Last Colony" from Zoe's point of view. Where one might think that a complete story was told in a novel ("The Last Colony"), through this audio book we are provided adventure, facts, and events not revealed (or even known by other characters in the former novel). Never once did this complementary audio book become boring or break from the plot of it's twin, "The Last Colony." In fact, I very much enjoyed the telling of new adventures that only Zoe would know and be able to tell regarding John Scalzi's "Old Man's War" series of audio books. Well, that's about all I'd like to say about this wonderful audio book, the next in the series awaits me and I am anxious to begin!

Best yet!

Loved this point of view from Zoe. The reader was the best yet and I appreciate how Scalzi's writing has evolved. The earlier books bogged a bit with all the "Jane said", "John said" dialogue. I'll listen to it again for sure.

Witty Sci-Fi

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is a good book but I'm not sure if I would recommend this as a must read. If you have the time and the book is available from the library I would suggest it or if you have a few extra credits to burn.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Zoe's Tale ?

The connection between Zoe and the Obin.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Countless moments of laughter and tear or two toward the end.

Any additional comments?

If I could go back in time I would convince John Scalzi to combine this book and the 3rd book. the combine would have been on par with the quality of the 1st book Old Mans War. The perfect combination would mainly focus on Zoe's perceptive with a few sections from John perceptive for added detail. Honestly, the only worth I see in the 3rd book is that it provides background information for this book.

Outstanding!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Found myself laughing quite a bit throughout the whole story.
So far every Scalzi book I've listened to I've really enjoyed but I found this one told from the viewpoint of the teenage daughter thoroughly enjoyable.
I have only one complaint about John Scalzi's writing; his really annoying habit of using "he said, she said, he said she said after almost every comment during a conversation between 2 people.
It's like he thinks the people reading, or especially listening to the book are too dumb to know who is saying what or keeping track of what the difference of the people having the conversion.
It is very annoying but it hasn't kept me from listening to all the books in this series.

Gives Ender's Shadow a Run for its $

I read Scalzi every chance I get. He has quickly become ranked among my all-time favorite authors. This tale more or less parallels Last Colony, but from Zoe Boutin Perry's pov. And it's a corker! Can't wait to get to Human Division.

different narrators didn't talk

the story is fantastic I love John Scalzi, however the narrator on this book used different pronunciation with makes the story confusing when the first three book were consistent. also I noticed mistakes where won't names were used.

Worth it for the ending

Typically I don't like rehash books of the same plot from a different point of view. And honestly much of the first half of this book was a slog with a few gems here and there. But the second half of the book was well worth it and provided a lot of new information about the races and political situation of the wider universe. So be prepared to slog through the first half for the great ending.