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

performance inconsistencies detract

The previous books were all narrated by one person. This book was performed by a different narrator. The new narrator brought along different ways to pronounce character names and other words. This was very distracting and easily avoidable by a minimal amount of research.

Had me sobbing.

It is a rare piece of SF that moves me to sobs. This one did.

Narrator was perfect for the part and amazing stor

Honestly, completely different from the rest of the entire story and stands up to in every way.

Zoe is awesome

this was an amazing book I really enjoyed it I just wish you could have went on a little longer but I'm satisfied how it ended

Last Colony retread

I did not find this book as satisfying as the others in this series. This is essentially a summarization of Book 3 The Last Colony but told by a snarky teenager. Recommend skipping this book and going right to book 5.

Pronunciation

A handful of proper nouns (Like Boutin) are pronounced differently than in previous books. Not necessarily the voice actors fault. After hearing places and names prounounced one way for two or three books, hearing them pronounced differently can be jarring.

Great story!

What did you love best about Zoe's Tale?

Interesting after listening to the Last Colony. Interesting perspective.

What does Tavia Gilbert bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She was very good. She was able to do the adolescent voices without making them sound like they were 5 years old.

Good story. Significant pronunciation differences

The thing that threw me was the number of names and things pronounced in this book differently than the last one. I would have thought the narrator would have listened to the last book to keep the words consistent.

I also didn't care for the fact that all non-protagonist voices were just breathy versions of her main voice.

drawn in from the very beginning.

this is a just wow. truly told from a teenager point of view. you never forget all the little complications of a teenage girl and the rollercoaster of emotions.

Adds a lot of character to The Last Colony

I love the same story through different eyes approach to this story. The relationship between Zoey and the Obin is much more intricate through her lenses. I love all the new characters in Gretchen, Magdy, and Enzo. Zoey is an awesome character and we get to read about her adventures alone. Great addition to the series!