Zoe's Tale | 
 enlarge | Author: John Scalzi
Publisher: Tor Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.23
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Rating:  35 reviews
Sales Rank: 9705
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.3
ISBN: 0765316986
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780765316981
Publication Date: August 19, 2008
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 30 more reviews...
 For Sci-Fi Fans and Teen Girls August 19, 2008
lenore531 (Wichita, KS United States)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
The hard core sci-fi cover might make you think otherwise, but Zoe's Tale is chiefly an empowering yet sweet coming of age story about 17 year old Zoe, both player and pawn in a complex interstellar battle between the Colonial Union (the human alliance) and the Conclave (an alliance of roughly 400 alien species). If you've read The Last Colony, I guess you probably know how it all turns out since this is apparently a novel with a parallel timeline told from a different perspective. If you haven't, no matter, as this exciting tale can stand on its own.
Zoe, her adopted parents, her two alien bodyguards and about 2000 settlers from 10 different human colonies are sent off by the Colonial Union to colonize a new planet called Roanoke (and anyone who knows American history will appreciate the irony of the name). As it turns out, the Colonial Union has plans that don't have the best interests of the colonists at heart. But fortunately, Zoe is not the type of girl who goes down without fight, especially when the lives of her parents, her new best friend Gretchen (with whom she has a great sarcastic rapport) and her new boyfriend Enzo's lives are at stake.
I like sci-fi, but I've never been big on books where alien races make up a big part of the narrative because of all the exposition you normally have to slog through. Author John Scalzi is wise to keep this to a minimum and the aliens he does introduce even manage to be entertaining (picture big spider like creatures at a hoedown and try not to laugh). Don't let the star trek like premise turn you off, because Zoe, an ordinary teenage girl asked to be extraordinary, is worth getting to know. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Although this isn't a YA novel, Publisher Tor is actively courting the teen market. And with a heroine as appealing and strong as Zoe, I think they just might succeed.
See more of my reviews at presentinglenore.blogspot.com
Well written addition to the OMW universe August 19, 2008
J. Jensen (Pacific NW)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
John Scalzi's latest is an excellent addition to the 'Old Man's War' universe. If you haven't read any of the previous books, don't be afraid to jump right in with this one. It works just as well as a stand along novel and was written that way on purpose. Mr. Scalzi continues to impress me with each novel he releases. His writing style is quick, entertaining, and the characters really come alive for the reader.
Zoe's Tale takes place during the same events as 'The Last Colony' but from the perspective of a 16 year old girl. The bare bones of the story are that Zoe's parents are picked to lead a planetary colony. Adding to the risks of starting a colony from nothing, the colonists must also fear being attacked by other alien races that compete for any habitable planet. Not only are there lots of alien species in the universe, but they are all fighting over the same planets and are hyper xenophobic to boot. Zoe, her family, and the entire colony are pawns in a intergalactic power struggle.
I highly recommend this book.
Satisfying finishing touch on the "Old Man's War" series August 24, 2008
Marko Kloos (Enfield, NH)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
"Zoe's Tale" is essentially a retelling of the events in Scalzi's previous novel in the "Old Man's War" universe, "The Last Colony". Thematically, there's no new ground being tread here, but this version of the tale is told by the teenage daughter of the TLC protagonists, which provides an interesting contrast.
Scalzi uses the opportunity to fill in a few of the gaps in the backstory in a way that avoids the "As you know, Bob" syndrome of intrusive exposition. The events are familiar to anyone who's read The Last Colony, but Zoe's take on things makes the retelling different and interesting enough for "Zoe's Tale" to stand on its own very well.
Stand-out characters include Zoe's sensitive and intelligent boyfriend Enzo, and her best friend Gretchen, whose latent sarcasm and sense of humor mesh well with Zoe's own. (The interactions between the teenagers of Roanoke colony contain some of the funniest exchanges in the entire Old Man's War series, and Scalzi is quite adept at both convincingly writing their voices, and giving their characters dimension.)
Overall, "Zoe's Tale" is a satisfying finishing touch to the Old Man's War universe, which gains a little more depth and dimension with Zoe's perspective--not only on the events, but also on life, teenage angst, identity issues, and the status of family and friends in one's life. Zoe is a remarkably layered and believable character, one of the most convincing and positive depictions of a teenage girl you'll find in any genre.
So this is what teenage girls go through! August 24, 2008
Pete Orzech (Naperville, IL)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Yes, it's just a continuation of TLC (The Lost Colony) but it also reveals a few things that were Not in TLC or were glossed over, overall, a very good companion to TLC.
For me, this is just another example of John Scalzi's great writing ability, not just to write a interesting story but to have a "surprise" for you (don't tell me you figured out the ending in any of his previous books!), in addition, this is another example of this writers ability to create characters that you can feel and care for.
You could say this is a "chick story" and well, yes, since it's from the perspective of a female teenager and if you're a bit sexiest, you may not enjoy a "female" hero (get the book, read it and get over it)
Zoe's Tale also set's up a few continuation plots for Zoe or Jane or John Perry (or all three). I for one look forward to more books from this writer. Just enough character building, action, sensitivity without all the filler of preaching or grandstanding on some personal crusade.
For me, he is a rising star in the SCI-FI genre and we need some more then ever, the old "ones" are dying.
Another home run in a series of home runs August 29, 2008
Dave in Missouri
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Scalzi just keeps banging out great Sci Fi.
"Zoe's Tale" is a touching story of a young girl's coming to grips with reality and responsibility in a dangerous colony world.
Everything Scalzi has written is great, and he's one of the bright lights of modern Science Fiction in the current gusher of vampire, werewolf, and demon fantasy novels.
Like Robert Heinlein, Scalzi's worlds are real.
As one person once said about Heinlein, "His worlds are so real, you can hear the water running through the pipes".
Scalzi's pipes are in good order, and I'm looking forward to anything he writes.
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