The Last Colony by John Scalzi

Let me tell you of the worlds I’ve left behind.

The third book in John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War universe follows John Perry, Jane Sagan and their adopted daughter, Zoe.

Retired from the Colonial Defense Force, John and his family are enjoying life in an agricultural village on the planet Huckleberry working as village ombudsman and constable. Life is good.

Of course, that state of affairs is never going to last! And when General Rybicki arrives for a visit, life is going to get very interesting once more.

The Colonial Union only allows people from Earth to start new colonies, but the peoples of existing colonies want to as well. and are beginning to make their voices heard.

The Conclave the new enemy coalition introduced in The Ghost Brigades, is starting to impose its will on the universe, and is being kept secret by the Colonial Union from its people.

And, it is with this backdrop that General Rybicki invites John and Jane to lead a new colony, a unique colony, one not made up from ex-patriots from Earth, but instead from other planets in the union.

As their new home comes into view, and with the strains of Auld Lang Syne still echoing around the Magellan (the huge ship that has brought them to this spot), Perry’s assistant turns to him and tells him they are at the wrong planet. This is followed soon after by the Magellan’s captain’s announcement that they no longer have control of their engines.

The Colonial Union is fighting a political game, with John and Jane’s new colony as the pawns.

And pawns are there to be sacrificed.

This is a slightly different book to the first two in the trilogy, with the bang bang action of the first to giving way to political maneuvering and much more time is spent on the characters and the sometimes minute of their lives. This works well, because when it becomes obvious the Colonial Union are playing with there lives, you care even more new colonists.

And can I just say how great it is to have John Perry back! He has got to be one of my favourite characters of the last few years reading, and his sarcastic one-upmanship with his assistant Savitri Guntupalli, is a joy to read.

John and Jane are also joined by their daughter, Zoe, who does her best to both mock & love her 90-year-old adopted dad. I can’t tell you just how much I am looking forward to meeting Zoe properly in her own book, Zoe’s Tale, which follows the events in The Last Colony from her teenage point-of-view.

While, there is less action in this book, it is certainly not missed, Scalzi once again, excels at writing characters and their interactions and that is what makes his books so much fun to read. And this one is no different. Excellent, excellent read.

[rating: 94/100]

Buy, The Last Colony from Amazon.

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