John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War universe now spans four novels, The Last Colony is the third. Of those initial three this is the one that is most a sequel. The first, Old Man’s War and the second, The Ghost Brigades each stand alone. And I think that The Last Colony actually can do so as well, but this is the first where the main characters are both from the previous books. That said, this is still a complete story and may even appeal to readers who may have not been crazy about the previous books.
The first two books were very much military sci-fi with quite a bit of action. I think this is what drove a lot of the comparisons to Heinlein. Scalzi himself has said that he is glad for those comparisons and they have helped him to sell books. (It is what got me to read Old Man’s War.) But what I find funny is that Scalzi’s similarity to Heinlein seem to me to be only in two regards. First that they are both excellent authors who can write a good story with compelling characters and second that they both wrote at least one story about a soldier in the future.
Heinlein used much of his fiction as a vehicle to illustrate and present his moral and political philosophy. Scalzi does too, but is not nearly as heavy handed in doing so. But even more importantly, the messages the two have to get across are not the same. If anyone could doubt this from the first two OMW novels (I don’t see how – but let’s just pretend.) then The Last Colony should ruthlessly crush that misconception.
The Last Colony picks up with our earlier heroes John Perry and Jane Sagan living peacefully with their relatively young family that includes adopted daughter Zoe. Things are nice and quiet for both, now regular colonists no longer in the military. They no longer have the special abilities of military members but they aren’t involved in regular combat any more either. But this quiet is short lived, when an old military acquaintance shows up and asks them to lead a new colony. Of course they accept, and then the ride begins.
The story twists and turns and is in many ways a political thriller. There is still some good action, but it is not the center piece of this tale. I enjoyed plowing through, to see where the next turn would come. The story does not fall into a rut of predictability. I had guesses where things would go next but I never ‘knew’ and a lot of my guesses where wrong, delightfully wrong because what happened was so much better than what I had thought.
Scalzi has created sympathetic and well rounded characters that pull the reader in with crisp and meaningful dialogue. Humor keeps things from getting too heavy and keeps the pace moving well. The book never feels preachy, but to get back to my earlier point, there are some strong messages. There is a strong value placed on life, all life. There is a strong value placed on the freedom of individuals; their right to know what is going on in their world and their right to determine for themselves how they will act. This is in strong contrast to Heinleins work, like Starship troopers, where there is a strong emphasis on the individual but just as high a value on setting aside those rights for the betterment of the race. Often this involved submission to a benevolent and mostly wise authority. In The Last Colony Scalzi does more to emphasize the danger of authority that does what it does because it can.
I am a hard-core Heinlein fan. I own everything published by the man and read many of them repeatedly. I see the similarities that Scalzi brings to the table but I think some have fallen into the trap of looking at everything Scalzi does in terms of Heinlein. I don’t think that is really the right path to getting the most out of Scalzi’s books. Does Scalzi owe a debt to the Sci-Fi masters? Of course, but he has his own strong voice and a high degree of skill in his craft.
The readers who felt that the military action side of Old Man’s War and Ghost Brigades was too heavy may really enjoy the more tactical and political emphasis they will find here. The flip side of that is Last Colony does not have the same sense of intimate involvement between the reader and protagonist. Often the viewpoint is more distant than in the previous two novels. This is necessary to take in the full scope of events and their import.
The afterword includes a note explaining that Scalzi is finished with John and Jane. This is a satisfying conclusion to their story while at the same time it is comforting to know that Scalzi has already been true to his word to return to this universe with Zoe’s Tale.
I would recommend that anyone new to the Old Man’s War universe, read the books in order. Not because it is necessary but because they are all so well written and fun to read. Anyone curious about the universe, but having trouble committing, can get a free taste by reading After the Coup a short story set in the Old Man’s War universe. This is a completely stand-alone story that will not spoil any of the plot line in the four novels. < a href="http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/fall2007/fiction-the-sagan-diary-by-john-scalzi/">The Sagan Diary is also available on-line, another short story but this one sitting between The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony.
On a final note, Scalzi’s blog is an excellent source of information about his work and writing in general. Aspiring authors (and many fiction readers seem to fall into this category) would do well to keep up with it as Scalzi is extremely transparent and free with advice from writing itself to the business side of being an author.
Title: The Last Colony
Author: John Scalzi
Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
Pages: 324
ISBN: 978-0-7653-5618-5
Rating: 8/10