The Last Colony by John Scalzi is the third novel in his Old Man’s War universe, and, at the time of publication, the last planned one in that setting. While the first novel, Old Man’s War, and the second, The Ghost Brigades, each stood on their own, The Last Colony also follows that trend to an extent. However, being three books into a universe does mean that having read the prior ones is a definite plus, especially as both John Perry and Jane Sagan return to the page as our protagonists.
The Conclave, a collective of over 400 alien species, has declared any attempts at colonisation by non-Conclave members on any planet will be met with the removal of the colony. The Colonial Defense Force (CDF), not a member of the Conclave, plans to make a mockery of this by setting up a new colony and leaking false information about its whereabouts, effectively nullifying the Conclave’s power and demands.
To run this colony a family is chosen, one with a history and capabilities that can help it succeed. John Perry is a CDF veteran with a decorated history; Jane Sagan, a former CDF special forces intelligence officer with knowledge usually reserved for the highest ranking CDF officers; and Zoe Boutin, daughter to the traitor Charles Boutin, and now worshipped by the Obin for her father’s work in bringing them consciousness.
With everyone kept in the dark about the purpose of this new colony – even the leaders – the colonists arrive at an unknown planet to learn of their fate: no technology and no communication with home. They are, essentially, alone. Will the colony survive and, more importantly for the CDF, will their plan to break the conclave work?
Following my re-reads of both Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades, I now return to The Last Colony with familiar characters from both the previous novels. John and Jane are already well fleshed out characters, but put in a new situation it paints them in a new light. We’ve seen them in the Colonial Defense Force but now we get treated to normal family life, at least for a while, before they’re thrown into the situation of being cut off from civilisation, and having to manage both the colony and people in order to survive. We also see their adopted daughter, Zoe, along with her two Obin companions, Hickory and Dickory, and the dynamic that they add. There is, at times, a normality to their family situation, at least until you remember that John is now mentally in his eighties, and Jane is younger than Zoe, though fortunately she doesn’t act it. Actually, now I’ve written that down it is distinctly not normal, in any way. But I digress.
The rest of the characters, ranging from politicians to farmers and all in between, are an interesting mix. The motivations and ideals they hold are well defined, yet different enough to allow for some disagreements and confrontations to occur. The situation they are in gives Scalzi a good stage to develop them further than I would have thought, and by telling people they can’t use technology it explores what a lot of people these days would feel very uncomfortable with. Not only does he delve into the complexities of the colony and their survival, he does it with ease and style, a couple of the reasons that his books are so readable.
What I’ve noticed the most about Scalzi’s writing is the way it has developed through the three books. Old Man’s War was all first person and although there was good description at times, it wasn’t about that. It was about telling the story. The Ghost Brigades stepped away from that point of view and included some info-dumping sections that sometimes felt a little, well, info-dumping-y. This time we have some first person, some third person and the info-dumping is a lot less obvious. It’s there, don’t be mistaken, but this time it just feels smoother and more a natural part of the narrative.
All the things I’ve come to expect from a John Scalzi novel were here again this time: interesting characters, a good story, action, adventure, intrigue, and, to a lesser extent, humour. It also wraps up the overall story arc nicely, yet leaving it open for a return. And return he did with Zoe’s Tale, The Human Division, and The End Of All Things – but they’re novels and reviews for the coming weeks.
With The Last Colony I wasn’t disappointed, and with the high expectations I had I can’t praise it any more than that. Recommended.
Publisher: http://panmacmillan.com
Author: http://www.scalzi.com
December 2015, 340 Pages
Paperback, ISBN: 9781447295402
Review from purchased copy
© 2015 Mark Chitty
I didn’t realize there were only three books in this series. I really enjoyed some of his shorts and have been meaning to take on old man’s war but I thought it meant investing into a huge series. Nice to know it isn’t too big and it concludes well.
There are now 6 books in the series, but when he wrote this one he planned on it being the last for a while – at least that’s what he says in the afterword! But still, 6 books isn’t too much, especially as the writing is so easy to get engrossed in 🙂
I enjoyed The Last Colony a lot, especially the ending. The only gripe I have with it is the (what looked like at a time) deus ex machina that was further explored in Zoe’s Tale was … well, a deus ex machina. That device just sort of appears, and even if there WAS a reason, (see: Zoe’s Tale), since we weren’t told about it in that book, it felt like an asspull.
That was my only real qualm. I hope you enjoy The Human Division. That might be my favorite (gasp!) of the series.
Maybe. It’s close : )
I understand what you’re saying re: the deus ex machina, but it does fit in with the wider universe where humans take technology for their own, even if this one was a little too close to the bone to give the resolution Scalzi wanted. I read Zoe’s Tale straight after this one and I think it deals with the issue as well as it could. Having a mega-advanced alien race to rely on has its benefits!
I think that The Human Division may be my favourite too – that’s on the reading stack next 🙂