This is a nice followup to Old Man's War. Scalzi again creates a great ride, that is deeply enjoyable and with great characters.

It helps to ..Show More »have read Old Man's War, but you could pick this one up and start here. This story takes place a few years after the events in Old Man's War. Jane Sagan is a Lt in the Ghost Brigades and assigned to the Kite. She uncovers a plot against the Colonial Union, and that there is a traitor helping out the enemies plotting against the Union. Most of the story follows the rather unusual method they use to track down the traitor... Very well written, held my attention throughout.

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I was surprised at this book having read the three others in the series. This is an alternate take on the events of Zoe's Tale. While that was through..Show More » the eyes of a 15-year-old girl, this is from the perspective of her father, the colony leader. The issues I have is there are too many continuity errors between these two books. Having listened to one, the other won't mesh well. I would suggest reading this version first, then do Zoe's Tale and treat it as a standalone novel.

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Do not read this book unless you've read the previous books in this series. The Last Colony is particular is required listening before listening to t..Show More »his book. I can't imagine anyone will like this book very much if they haven't listened to The Last Colony first, as this book covers the event of that book from a different perspective.

Let me start by saying, it's very rare for me to enjoy listening to a female narrator. I don't think there are very many talented female narrators, and much prefer to listen to men in most cases. That said, Tavia Gilbert gave a pretty amazing performance. The sarcasm came across really well, and in many scenes you could just feel the emotion in her words. She's definitely one of my favorite narrators now, and I will be looking specifically at books narrated by her in the future. Those of you that listen to books fairly often know how important it is to have a good narrator.

I think that the perspective shift of this book adds a lot to the story that was already there. Zoe is a strong character that's hard not to like. It goes into far more detail concerning Zoe's relationship with the Obin, especially Hickery and Dickery. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed reading about Zoe's relationship with her boyfriend Enzo. I'm not usually big into love stories, but it was very well done in this book. Frankly, I was surprised at how much I ended up enjoying this book altogether.

You shouldn't go into this book expecting Old Man's War. There aren't a lot of great battle scenes with lots of action. This is the events of The Last Colony from the perspective of a strong teenage girl thrust into adulthood before she should be. My only regret in finishing this book is that there are no longer any more books set in this universe to read. I loved them all, and Zoe's tale in particular has a special place in my heart. I urge everyone to give it a try.

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If you're just beginning this series with "Old Mans War"-and take note..these books really need to be listened to in order-the place to listen to this..Show More » totally different short story is after the second book.."The Ghost Brigades". IMO.

This short bit is written as a diary when Jane Sagan decides to make a big change in her life as a warrior and become a colonist. She downloads memories and thoughts that are supposed to be part of an encyclopedia on the fighters who have made the decision to change their lives but instead records personal thoughts on her past life (lives) and hopes for her future with John Perry.

Written in the first person, it's heartfelt, meaningful, and completely unlike anything Scalzi has previously written-and I commend him on his ability to write such a strong female personality into the book. It is good solid writing and Stephanie Wolfe does a grand job on the narration.

Scalzi himself gives a brief summary on the background of the short story and I am quite happy that he decided to fulfill his obligation by writing this....he really stretched himself and succeeded in making a tremendous addition to the series. A series I've come to enjoy a lot.

Do buy this if you've gotten hooked on the books-it adds a lot.

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